[jpgr4blu]

Hi Bruno 2009:
I have heard B&W's lines together with Focal's many times in NYC at Sound By Singer (Focal) and B&W (a number of dealers). B&W's high end offerings always left me cold as I always thought the crossovers were not properly implemented and the sound was always a bit disjointed to me. When paired with warmer electronics like McIntosh, these anomalies were glossed over to the point where I actually considered purchasing that combo. It is a match made in heaven--beautiful--but not very transparent. Furthermore, I have always thought that the mid and lower level B&W speakers were among the best on the market for their price. As a counter, I note that HiFi News and Record Review recently gave B&W's new flagship an outstanding review so maybe they have improved, maybe they disagree with me or maybe it's a sound better understood and appreciated in Britain. I'll have to give them a listen to see what's new under the sun in the UK.

Re Focal, I have liked virtually every speaker I have ever heard from them, the weakness being implementation of the Be tweeter which can be seamless or annoying.I'm not sure if the annoying part was based on an annoying source (I've always heard with cds and streaming--never vinyl) or the tweeter itself. I have also gone through listening sessions where the tweeter did not bother me and was, in fact, superb.
As for Wilson, years back, I thought they made flashy speakers with a cavernous presentation of highly analytical but nonmusical sound. That is because I had only heard the Watt Puppy 6s that apparently were not properly set up. With the advent of the Sophias and WP 7s, the sound to me became very musical with all of the attributes I sought in a speaker. Things have only improved at Wilson since then. But, proper set up (very necessary for Sashas and higher priced speakers--not so much for Yvette and Sabrina) and electronics (low powered ss sounds terrible on anything other than Yvette and Sabrina) are required. Once those elements are in place, Wilson's take the overall sound to a level that IMHO can not be surpassed at their respective prices.
There is nothing like hearing these speaker brands side by side with appropriate electronics which I have done only with Wilson and B&W. But that was at least 5 years ago. In that contest, it was not even close.
I note your concern re Wilson tweeters. Wilson now uses a silk dome and not the older titanium Focal. As for your comment on bass reproduction, I have always found Wilson's to be the best of these 3 brands at accurate and deep bass reproduction and indeed overall dynamic contrast in all aspects.
Listen to Sasha2 or Alexias if you can. I think you will be impressed.
This, of course is one man's opinion. Others no less familiar with these brands may disagree and they would not be wrong.
Happy New Year to all.