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B&W 804 Nautilus help

Have a friend who wants to build a system around B&W 804 Nautilus'. He has a rather awkward room, a bit on the small side with many varying dimensions which don't permit equall distances or surfaces to the side walls, little distance to the rear wall and a requires a near field listening postion. The room does have quite a few openings to adjoining spaces how ever.
Now to the heart of the matter, any thoughts on complimentary components. B&W indicates that these speakers drop down to 3 OHMS and suggest 50 to 200 watts per channel. First prioroity, power amp and line level only pre-amp (remote would be nice, but not absolutley required). Would like to keep these two units under $2500. Second priority is the digital source. He is interested primarily with CD playback but has some interest in DVD and digital recording. Would like to keep this under $1200. He currently has some single ended and balanced Wire World Eclipse interconnects and Wire World Polaris speaker cable. He is willing to consider other cable options after the first and second priorties are resolved.
He has requested a warm yet detailed sound and has eclectic taste in music.
As always thanks in advance for your help.
unsound
cdc
1,785 posts
 
The 150 wpc A300 is $1,600. If you go seprarates MF is $3,200 new. I would agree that McIntosh is warmer still. I found Krell harsh and fatiguing (over listening over time), Bryston bright, and Krell, Bryston, Sim all had mid-bass bloat that was really annoying.
Here's where I'll draw the ire of people here but for MY ears (which are exceptionally acute) I am perfectly happy with a Marantz CD burner - the DR 6050 is excellent, warm and got some great ATS I/C's from http://www.accessories4less.com for only $9.95 a set.
If you want to bi-wire the leatest take I heard is only if high/low imepdances differ greatly and speaker cables runs are long (over 12 feet?)
rlb61
789 posts
 
I really like the sound of Musical Fidelity gear with the N804s. I'm currently running a MF A3cr preamp and A300cr power amp (225 wpc). I'm expecting a Nu-Vista 3D CD player tomorrow. The N804s really do love power and bi-wiring definitely makes a positive difference with them.
xcellentaudio
1 posts
 
Digital Source suggestion:

The Pioneer DV-47a; a non-fatiguing optical source with first rate audio and video performance…Not only does it play CD, but DVD, SACD (multi channel), DVD-Audio (multi channel), and CD-R. The DV-47a is a truly universal optical disc player that will prevent your friend from upgrading soon because of incompatibility.
Lowest I’ve seen
Retial~$1,200 Online dealer new~$799 Audiogon~$699

If your friend decides to allocate funds to the digital source, then I suggest the Pioneer DV-AX 10. This is also a “universal” player. I have not auditioned this optical drive, however numerous favorable reviews have been written. The cons? It won’t play multi channel DVD-Audio or SACD, however it has balanced outputs, unlike the DV-47a, which is advantageous in my system. Finally, it is about 2K more then the DV-47a from Audiogon.
Lowest I’ve seen
Retail~$5,000 Online dealer new~ $3,300 Audiogon~$2,600

Best Regards,

Jayson
goone
136 posts
 
Helo, I have try a lot of amps with the 804 it is really what your friend want does he want music or hi-fi sound, music try the classe or bat, HI-FI neutral control the bass ML or Sim, conrad is very warm and sweet sounding forget about Bryston will hurt your ear. Best of luck
joeb
121 posts
 
Ok, I have a set of N804's. Tried them with underpowered gear and they were a waste of a fine speaker. I now have a Classe CA 300 and Classe cp50 pre-amp. That really brought them to life. Dynamic range, and clarity, good sound stage and decent base, highs are good and mid's exceptional. They need plenty of power to sound their best, don't skimp on the amp.
good luck
joeb
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