B&W N803 or Signature 805?

Jamesw20, thanks for your recommendation in the Cremona Auditors. I will keep that in mind but it's likely I'll end up with the B&W's as I would like the versatility of the speakers being used in HT applications, and the fact that I'm biased toward B&W's at this point of time.

Mboldda1, I loved the Grand Pianos when I first bought them. Lived with them for a couple of years and had no complaints. But after I had a chance to listen to the N805 with the same components in my system, I then realized the shortcomings of the GP's, certain things I would like to have that are missing with these speakers. Both are great speakers but I just preferred the B&W's. As many have said, those who prefer Sonus Fabers won't like B&W's and vice versa. It just took me about 3+ years to figure out what I've been missing all this while.

Enjoy your music.

I also prefer to sound of B&W's 800 Series Speakers to Sonus Faber (and most others). The B&Ws with music, sound more realistic to me. Especially non-electric instruments and female vocals they just sound more real. B&Ws really shine with live-recorded acoustic music. This is their sweet-spot.

The N803 or 803S is a better all-around Speaker then the 805 unless your room is too small to accommodate a floor-stander. Stereophile Magazine gave the Nautilus 803 a "Class A Rating" back in 2001. This is a very good Speaker, and in my experience gives you much of what the larger 800 Series Speakers have to offer.

any reason you purchased the grand pianos since you don't like the way they sound?

If you like the look/feel of SF, try the cremona auditors. I've owned both the sig 805 and the cremona and for stereo, the cremona is a factor better. For HT I like the s805.

Thanks for responses. To put in another way, I preferred the B&W sound more than Sonus Fabers. I have owned the N805 and liked them much more than the Grand Pianos which are too warm for my listening preferences with a rolled off high frequency/treble.

The N805 is not too bad but was hoping to get more transparency, detail and dynamics with either both speakers mentioned.

Cheers.

For me it's realy hard to imagin how to outperform Grand Pianos with B&W N803 or S805, but in comparison between N803 and 805 I liked better the monitors. Monitors beat with presentation, tightness and imaging.

The Tweeter of the Signature is a lot better than the one of the N803. Is is more detailled and less harsh. But the 803N goes a lot deeper in the low freq. So it depends what you are looking for. Maybe an 804S is a better solution.