Pardon me whilst I wander a bit....
I am very happy with the 805's. I am not really well versed on the terminology of describing speaker sound but my best description is very natural. I found the 805's pushed the improvement I found when I switched from a Sony receiver to the 1050 one more notch. I started hearing detail in my music that I never noticed before. I even found several CD's that I don't like that much anymore because the detail is revealing flaws in the CD I never noticed before. I compared the 805's to the entire 600 series and found them to be warmer and more detailed. I selected the 805's over the 804's mostly because I preferred their footprint and because the 805's with the HTM2 and the stands was already about $1000 over my desired budget. I have a small apartment so I preferred the smaller speakers. The cost is very close if you are going to purchase the stands for the 805's.

For a completely honest opinion I would have to add that the only negative I find with these speakers is they are a little directional. I had to put a lot of effort into placing them in my room for the optimal sound. Perhaps because my room is small and I am close to the speakers. I found the 600 series didn't do this when I was tried them at the store. When the 600's were playing I didn't know which speaker in the lineup I was listening to until I got very close to them to check. With the 805's if I am not in the sweet spot I find I can hear the speaker I am closest too much more causing a noticeable degrade in the sound stage. I really preferred the sound of the 805's so I decided to accept this issue and deal with it by placing the speakers more carefully. I don't know if the 804's have the same effect.

As for the range of these speakers I haven't found anything they can't handle. I don't even have a subwoofer so I set the crossover on the 1050 to 60Hz and I am very happy with the base I am getting from the 1050's. The main difference in the 805's and the 804's is that the 805's have a single driver handling both the base and the midrange. This driver is surrounded by a rubber ring to allow it to handle both tasks better without distortion. The 804's have the same driver without the ring handling the midrange and then have two separate speakers handling the base. For the difference in the price considering the stands I would probably opt for the 804's if I had to make the decision now. If course as always the best way for him to decide is going to be to get some good sample CD's that test the range and test drive the speakers in a side by side comparison.