Well Rich, I asume your only discussing 2 channel applications...but you didn't mention the room conciderations/placement/price points/or sytem matching components you may be concidering, or already have!!..which all makes a differnce.
If your chosing your speakers first, then good! This is the single most important element in the chain besides the room (which would need to be adressed, as you probably already know the room it's going in, right?) And, yes, ultimately you shouldn't expect to simply sit the speaker down in YOUR space and expect em to just sound great!...it'll take some tinkering and time...
Back to the speaker choices...
I think what needs to be said here, to properly fine point your choices for speakers, is what speaker is going to make sense with my setup choices and arangement! Will it work with your room/system/setup for best results for what I listen to, and expect from the system!
For instance, is it going to be played loud?...small room?...big room?...close to the walls?...out?...is your chair next to a close wall?...will it mate with the gear that makes sense for you as well?...etc...?
I think if you become more specific about your situation and needs/uses, some better recommendations (even between what you narrowed down) can be more specifically taylored to what you might want to concider!
However, if that's more than you want to hear, I personally would rule out the JM Labs stuff myself, as I find most of their stuff rather bright sounding! I do like the Thiel CS6's a lot for classical and such (but you'll need the strongest amp in the world to make em jump at all dynamically!) The B&W's, while not as refined, quite as detaild, and transparent as the Thiels in my experience with them, will give you more flexibility out of some of the B&W offerings.
You can Biamp the B&W's, which are much easier to drive and more punchy over all than the Thiels, with much less power and demand! If you Biamp the B&W's, you'll even get more drive and slam out of em, and with better perfomance all around if you do it right!
However, in the end, to be critical to critical to critical (you may not be...God bless ya), The B&W's aren't as refined and neutral/transparant and detailed as the Thiels, but they may be more fun!...depends on the listner/requirement...
...Let's hear more about your situation/system/needs
If your chosing your speakers first, then good! This is the single most important element in the chain besides the room (which would need to be adressed, as you probably already know the room it's going in, right?) And, yes, ultimately you shouldn't expect to simply sit the speaker down in YOUR space and expect em to just sound great!...it'll take some tinkering and time...
Back to the speaker choices...
I think what needs to be said here, to properly fine point your choices for speakers, is what speaker is going to make sense with my setup choices and arangement! Will it work with your room/system/setup for best results for what I listen to, and expect from the system!
For instance, is it going to be played loud?...small room?...big room?...close to the walls?...out?...is your chair next to a close wall?...will it mate with the gear that makes sense for you as well?...etc...?
I think if you become more specific about your situation and needs/uses, some better recommendations (even between what you narrowed down) can be more specifically taylored to what you might want to concider!
However, if that's more than you want to hear, I personally would rule out the JM Labs stuff myself, as I find most of their stuff rather bright sounding! I do like the Thiel CS6's a lot for classical and such (but you'll need the strongest amp in the world to make em jump at all dynamically!) The B&W's, while not as refined, quite as detaild, and transparent as the Thiels in my experience with them, will give you more flexibility out of some of the B&W offerings.
You can Biamp the B&W's, which are much easier to drive and more punchy over all than the Thiels, with much less power and demand! If you Biamp the B&W's, you'll even get more drive and slam out of em, and with better perfomance all around if you do it right!
However, in the end, to be critical to critical to critical (you may not be...God bless ya), The B&W's aren't as refined and neutral/transparant and detailed as the Thiels, but they may be more fun!...depends on the listner/requirement...
...Let's hear more about your situation/system/needs