Am I the only one who thinks B&W is mid-fi?

To Spluta,
first of all, no wonder you didn't like the N801's, driven with a measly 200W! The 801 requires at least 300 and even more before they begin to open up. That particular model could really benefit from bi-amping. This thread just amazes me how ridicoulously biased it is toward a fantastic speaker iine. Any of the Nautilus line from the 804 on up is very revealing, "junk in = junk out" The electronics matched have a lot to do with the end result. I recently heard a set of 802's powered with a Krell, it was muddy. the same set powered with a Threshold was majical. I have a set of N804's powered with a Classe 300 amp, Classe pre and CDP and the synergy is great. I will agree that the BW line tends to be overpriced, but the Nautilus line of speakers are definetly not the kind of junk some of you want to portray it as.

I have heard alot of B&W speakers.Ihave never been impressed.They are good at marketing to yuppies, thats about it!

I'd like to know what specific speaker model(s) the original poster listened to. The B&W line sound very different across the board, as just about any line of speakers. What kind of equipment was driving the B&Ws? A speaker's sound is only relative to what's feeding it, especially B&Ws.

Back while I was in college in the late 80s, wanting to upgrade my entry level bookshelf speakers, I auditioned Polk, Infinity, Canton, B&W, etc. The B&Ws I listened to were mid level floorstaninding ones in their line. They were ok, but didn't impress me in any way and could be catagorized as "mid-fi". The sound wasn't very balanced. The lows were a bit overpowering and not as well defined as I would've liked. I was disappointed. But, for kicks I had the salesman switch to the 801s (then B&W's flagship). He switched the speaker cables to the 801s and turned up the amp. WOW! Unbelievable. Very open and revealing. Didn't sound boxy. The highs, mids and lows were very well balanced in relations to each other. The highs were unbelievably clean and not fatiguing at all. The mids were very smooth and the low end was well defined and not boomy at all.

After listening to the 801s I was ruined for anything less, especially the B&Ws I auditioned just before the 801s! But a college student like myself could never dream of affording the 801s....

Truth be told, after being tired of auditioning speakers at various dealers, I settled on a pair of Bose 6.2s (you can bash that one too) and tried desparately to forget about the wonderful music the 801s put out. They (the Bose) sounded okay in the dealer's showroom, but sounded much better at home. That's when I learned one of the cardinal rules of audio: if possible, audition in your home. There are a lot of variables when audtioning equipment at various dealers, but the one constant is what you have at home, in terms of both equipment and acoustics. Years later and being in the market to start a whole new system from scratch, I'm going to take a serious look at B&W's Nautilus line, perhaps the 805s.

Audio, like anything else is relative. People who are musicians hear differently than people who aren't. Musicians who play electric instruments hear differently than musicians who play acoustic instruments, etc.

L

Hi, Mikez!

I agree with you when saying "B&W is mid-fi".
There are some very good models but only in the very high price regions (the "bigger" Nautilus models). The one, and perhaps the only I really liked, was the B&W 801 matrixIII loudspeakers-they were truly great speakers in their time (and very good even these days, i believe).

The majority of their speakers over the past years are left behind many, even smaller, speaker brands soundwise. Where I think they excell is finish and especially marketing. They allways look very pretty(what is a good thing but don't make them sound better) and impressive.

But thats my oppinion (and oppinions are just that - nothing more)... I'm sure there are people out there who like their B&W speakers and it's good so.

Best regards to all of you,
David.

Had my N803's FR for nearly 2 years. Not happy at all. Started off with N805's but they were no good so relegated them to being back speakers in my surround system. Thought I'd give some time to like them but really couldnt. Good for Home Cinema but awful for music. Currently in the process of selling off all my Home Cinema gear since I listen to more music know. Will buy Revel Studios instead...will sound good when I get my Cello Performance II amp!