.BTW- I personally like the 802G's better with my lite Frams !! But the 902-8A originals sounds fabulous too.They are so close it could be a toss up.But in my experiments (blind) i picked the 802G's.. To each his own !
More isn't always better. In this case it may be that the HF extension of the 902 caused an imbalance in the system to your ear that is more accustomed to the signature of the 802G. I've seen people have this experience in other situations.

They are so close it could be a toss up
Absolutely concur.

It cannot be over emphasized that we're talking about very small differences here..

I also want to emphasize that i do not dislike the 802G or think it is a bad or flawed driver. In the simplest terms it is my opinion that the earlier style 802's with annular steel phase plugs(damped cover, no loading cap) are capable of the smoothest 500hz XO transition(for some listeners the midrange performance at XO is what makes or breaks a loudspeaker), and the 902 has the best HF extension and long term magnetic stability of the small format drivers. While it's still an excellent driver, the 802G's most outstanding characteristic among it's peers seems to be it's market value.