Upgrade from B&W 802D1 to Focal Utopia Scala Evo

@james633 

Ferrofluid does dry out and affect the sound in almost all speakers.

I don't think the diamond dome tweeters use ferrofluid for cooling. Supposedly the diamond dome is rigid and efficient at dissipating heat that they eliminated the need for ferrofluid.

@onehorsepony B&Ws are hard to beat. But I would give the focals a chance. 
1st of all, the drivers need some break in time. The speakers may sound harsh because the woofers aren’t fully broken in yet. You get mostly treble and harsh mids if the bass isn’t balancing out the rest of the sonic spectrum. That’s one. 
Second thing to consider is changing speakers changes the voicing of your system. It’s major uprooting of what used to be a well tuned system. Cables that worked with B&Ws may not work with the Focals. I would go with all copper neutral sounding cables. No silver. Get a baseline. Pick up a set of bluejeans interconnects and see what that does. If it tames the harshness proceed to audition higher end copper cables. 
And make sure your speakers are positioned correctly. That can take some time with trial and error. Keep the test tones running to flex the woofers. Give them at least 100hrs. Then decide. 

If you sell the 802's.  I may be interested...  Just saying...

they are boring, however somewhat neutral, per what i have read...

You need to decide what sound you like and then many can give you input, maybe even the Carpathian...  Hah...

Seriously though, decide on a price point, and also a sound, and this cadre online will give good input, IMO.

Last night, I hooked up my very old Arcam CD-72 CD player (around 2000) and compared it to my current Mark Levinson 5101 SACD player.

I found that the older (cheaper) Arcam CD-72 player actually made everything sound not as sharp and edgy. Actually, more listenable. I realize it is probably a mis-match for such high end speakers to be matched to a lower end source, but it sounded better than the Mark Levinson.

Now I realize the Mark Levinson has more defined / deeper bass, more air, more detail, but also more edginess and harshness.

What am I hearing? and what is the real issue?

Now I realize the Mark Levinson has more defined / deeper bass, more air, more detail, but also more edginess and harshness.

What am I hearing? and what is the real issue?
 

You are hearing what I mentioned in my response above. Changing speakers is a major impact on the synergy of your system. You have changed the sound signature and how it interacts with your room. Adding the old cd player that rolls off high frequencies and rounds off edges helped a bit but it’s a band aid. 
 

You have to look at every piece of electronics, cables and the most important component, your room acoustics. And give the focals a chance to break in. The woofers need some time to loosen up and start producing bass that will balance it all out within the possibilities of the room acoustics. 
 

Can you list all your components, cables and room treatments(rugs, any acoustic panels, etc.)