I've not heard the Diva's, but I did compare the M22 and B&W 601's. Your ears were not deceiving you. The B&W's are waaaaaaaaay overrated. Muddy, muddy, muddy. My bf, who couldn't care much less about my HT hobby even mentioned that the B&W's sounded really bad. From what I've heard, B&W doesn't make a good speaker until you get up into their new 700 series. Then you're talking about big money.
For a bookshelf speaker at $500 or less, there were only three contenders when I was shopping.
1) Energy C3
2) Ascend 170
3) Axiom M22
I went with the M22ti. I fell in love with it's clarity and detail. The Ascend sound really, really good too, but you'll have to deal with their looks. Finally the Energy C3. A beautifully made speaker. If you'll be using these new speakers without a subwoofer, the Energy may be worth checking out. It does have quite a bit more bass than either the Ascend or Axiom, but it sacrifices some midrange clarity. Still a decent speaker. (And by far the best made, best looking of the three.)
Good luck!
