Following up on my post... earlier today had an opportunity to listen to the new 328be and compare against an 803d3. The Revels were hooked up to a Krell system and the 803s were hooked up to a McIntosh setup. They were on opposite sides of the room.
The dealer played a variety of music for me as well as test tones (with subs on to show what is there and what is not there). Despite what the numbers say, in that particular room, the 328s seemed to have cleaner base than the 803s.
The 328s essentially sounded like crisper and fuller versions of the f208. Really easy to listen to. They were pretty good off axis as well as I moved around the room. Overall, the sound was smooth and even. The striking difference when switching to the 803s was how much more forward they are than the Revels and how "grittier" they sounded. I could hear grittiness in the singers voice on the 803s that the 328s smoothed over. I felt that the singer was in front of the plane of the speakers with the 803s as compared to the Revels being flat.
I think in that environment, the 803s may be a bit more interesting to listen to as they are more revealing. I'm not sure interesting is good though in the long run when you are not sitting there critically listening and comparing. The Revels were just terrific.
Interestingly, I picked the f208s over the f228be last year. I thought that the f228be sounded a bit harsh (same reason I didn't buy 702s2s last year) and the 208 sounded more musical to me. The 328 did not have that harshness/brightness that I remember the 228 having.
The dealer told me that they need to be pulled from the wall a bit for them to sound good (2 ports in back) so they may not work in the room I originally intended to put them (not much opportunity to pull from the walls). I really like the 328s enough to want to buy them and try them in my home. I may end up moving the 208s into the dual/HT setup I originally envisioned and keep the 328s for the main 2 channel listening area.
Also... the shipping boxes are roadie boxes. Wow.. they are huge. It's actually a minus to me - where do I store them?!
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