MMBL - Well, I along with I think one other member are the sole representatives of the Avalon Acoustics club around here. The short answer is the Opus ceramique is an older speaker, especially in comparison to the newer B&W D3 series, so you probably would be getting an upgrade in technology and speaker driver. I believe the 803D3 retails around $17,000 so you're not really comparing apples to apples when you take into account the price and how old the Avalons are. That being said, I've listened to the new B&Ws and to my ears I would NEVER choose the comparable B&W in price to an equivalent Avalon Acoustics loudspeaker. If you love the way the Avalons sound, I would be combing some authorized dealers to see if there are any equipment steals or open box models of the Eidolon Diamonds, Compas, or Indras out there. Those would be more in comparison to the 803D3 range and I would be very surprised to see the B&Ws outperform the Avalons I mentioned, but of course, the typical caveat, without listening to both you really won't know!
- Buck
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Library: Speakers: Avalon Acoustics Isis, Subwoofers: (2) REL Acoustics 212SE Amplification: D’agostino Momentum preamplifier, D’agostino S250 stereo amplifier Digital: dCS Rossini CD/SACD transport, dCS Rossini DAC/streamer/master clock. Analog: Brinkmann Taurus table, Lyra Etna Lambda, Audio Research Ref. Phono 3
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