Bear in mind that even 800Ds with an appropriate set of amps driving them (you really should bi-amp them to get near the dynamics of the BL5s) are at least twice the cost of BL5s. Even then you won't get the same overall tonal accuracy as Bl5s...

The BeoLab 5s are the only speakers I've ever listened to where I feel I'm getting an honestly truthful reproduction of the original recording, not an interpretation. By far the most 'accurate' sounding speakers I've heard, despite their *modest* price tag (believe me, the price is very modest when you start looking at really serious hifi). BeoLab 9s

If you use a BeoLab 2 with BeoLab 9s, you will end up with more bass, and deeper bass. A BeoLab 2 will raise most homes to their foundations if you really push it enough - it's massively powerful, great for music where bass really makes up a large part of the overall sound, such as club music and a lot of dub. However, the BeoLab 2 does have it's drawbacks

Oh I know they aren't exactly the best drivers available. You only need to listen to the B&W XT4s to hear what modern technology can do with a column speaker, but they are slightly wider than the BeoLab 8000s and closer to a stretched out BeoLab 3 in terms of the driver size...

With Leopard however, Spotlight has now been executed IMO, perfectly, making Quicksilver mostly redundant...

I agree RE the 'spread too thin' comment. B&O produce fantastic A/V equipment, although they have had a few issues keeping up lately with the video advances, I think this is true of most brands to a certain degree. Their latest 'proper' audio products (BeoLab 9, BeoSound 4) have been fantastic. I find it difficult to fault the BeoLab 9, and the BS4

They can't exactly use large drivers can they? Everybody always goes on about the cost of the drivers, but bear in mind that you can get very high quality drivers for very little cost...

The limitation of the column speakers is not the cabinet volume. BeoLab 3s have less cabinet volume than BeoLab 6000s, let alone 8000s, and they go deeper than both. The limitation of the column speakers is in their very nature - they're columns, meaning you can only fit a small driver. This was part of the problem with the BeoLab 1 too, for it's size

The macBook Pros have the same feature. The light next to my iSight camera shines right through the aluminium. It would be nice to see a useful integration of the technology...

Can't be done. The drive cones from the BeoLab 7-1 are too big for the BeoLab 8000.