i was able to audition the 902 and 908 this weekend thanks to rey of 5th ave megamall who was very accomodating. i had the listening room to myself for about an hour. first thing i noticed about these spkrs was the very detailed sound, w/c makes me think they're voiced for HT. reminds me alot of yamaha, they say its the best for HT but falls slightly behind on audio. but i think that depends on your taste in audio. i happen to like detailed sound.
the 902 doesn't have much bass below 55hz. i think this is what some guys have been telling me about mordaunts being "bitin". compared to my AE bookshelf w/c also had small 5" woofers, they sounded thin. AE aegis ones go down 38hz. for comparison, monitor audio B2 with bigger 6" woofers go down 42hz, still short of the AE but it has tighter/punchier bass.
however, the 902 combined with mordaunt's 907w subwoofer sounded very good. this combi kicks ass and does 23hz. i figure its just a matter of taste since the the 902+907 combination doesnt cost much more than the AE or MA pair. among these 3 bookshelf spkrs (sori i havnt heard that many), i think AE had best imaging & vocals, MA most exciting, and MS the best value. the B2 and 902 seemed to my ears to have the same detailed character except for the fatter bass on the B2. i guess its not a fair comparison. the 902 should be compared to the B1, and the B2 should be compared to the 912. i say let them pick on their own size.. hehe. anyway, having owned the AE which goes lower than both, you would still need a fast sub to get full range.
on to the 908, i was treated to a BIG sound that gave justice to my rock cd's. dang i haven't enjoyed rock this much for a very long time. its the flagship floorstander with sidefiring 10" woofers. Hi-fi Choice was right on the money when they said this is not a speaker for resolving musical minutae, it puts scale & dynamics before transparency. drums sounded big & punchy but trumpets sound like they're coming straight from the speakers. i thought the fixed crossover point between the 10" woofer and the dual 5" mids was too high at 100hz, ideal for HT but lessens the warmth on vocals when playing audio tracks. it had the same effect when i set the speaker size of my AE spkrs to small, w/c cuts off the low freq at 100hz and feeds the rest to my sub. for HT this sounds better, but for vocals i prefer full range.
the verdict? im gonna buy the 908 + 902 + 905c + 907w combi this week. the mission m5x set looks tantalizing but that one costs about twice the MS set. maybe in 5yrs time i'd have enough dough to upgrade to that.