and the winner is.. Revel
 

In our living room system, I focused on stand mounters, and did not worry about frequencies below 40 Hz for this system. Off-axis listening important for this system.

The contenders (not in any order), all home demo-ed, with dealer side-by-side listening as well:

1. Focal Sopra #1. A real stunner to look at (if you like art-deco) and not too bad to listen to either. For the performance, a bit large, otherwise it would be in our home.

2. Magico A1. Fantastic sound, dispersion and control. But massive (in weight with Sound Anchor Stands) and not very room friendly. Considered the S1, MK II - dealer listen only. Heavy and with M-cast finish, a bit pricey.

3. DynAudio Contour 20i. Heritage not available for demo, could not find Confidence. Did not do as well as others off-axis.

4. B&W 805 D3. Liked this a lot, a noticeable high-end sizzle - was expecting this based on reviews. Not bad, just there. Off-axis 'ok'.

5. Harbeth 30.2 XD. Nice enough, but not for us. Dealer listen only.

6. Revel M126Be. The winner. Not quite as deep as the Focal - but close, sound very similar otherwise. Off-axis champ. Room friendly. But getting better stands.

I wanted to spend more, but the Revels won out. Side by side with Focal and B&W 805. Dynaudio and Magico side-by side (not a fair fight IMO).

Other contenders included Paradigm (too hot for me) and Aerial 5T - I had owned the 6T's - sorry to have moved on from them actually. But the Revels with much newer drivers bettered the 5T's especially in dynamics (ability to play loud, etc.)

I just picked up a pair of Revel M126Be as well and am impressed with their performance. They go surprisingly deep and full a room well for their size. They make me wonder how good some of their larger floorstanders would be.

M126Be is a great speaker. I auditioned them extensively before I bought my current speakers, and the M126Be is a wonderful speaker. I ultimately selected the F228Be's, as I wanted a bit deeper bass without using subs. But all of the Revel Performa Be's sound very very good :-)

Just curious what you mean by high end sizzle on the 805d3’s? I don’t own them so no bias here, I’m just wondering.

It appears to be deliberate from B&W - they have a noticeable upper end emphasis - check out various reviews and measurements. I was listening for it in side-by side tests - picked it up on some cymbal attacks. Not bad at all, just 'there'.

Next time I’m in seeing the local dealer I’ll have a listen and see if I notice it. The Klipsch Heresy and Klipsch Forte to me have a very pronounced upper end that made me pass on them.