B&W Nautilus 800.....where's the bass?


Is it a well known fact that these speakers lack bass? I just bought them used...two years old....and am very dissappointed in the low end. My CDM 9 NT rears have more bass than these. No kidding. Is this a known problem with this speaker, or could there be something wrong? Since the 9's and the 800's are playing at the same time on the same system I do not think there is any need to list the equipment, but I will just in case it matters.
Sunfire Theatre Grand 2 processor ( all speakers are set to large)
Denon 3910 CDP
Adcom 300 by 7 ( 800's are bi amped with four of the channels.....phase is correct)
speaker wire is 14 guage in a very thick outside jacket
Thanks for your help.
baffled

Showing 3 responses by leonx

I am well known in the audio world for many years. I used 802 Nautilus speakers for more than 6 years and now I use 800 Nautilus speakers. I modified some parts of the 802's and used rubber absorbers. Because by using these absorbers the middle and high freq. will be less harsh and the low will be more tight. What equipment you put to you speakers will come out of your speakers. When you listen to your system you hear to every part of your system and of course your room. Every part has his own property. That means when you use more different brands you can use more properties. The sound you like is 100% personal. So you have to look for the sound you like most. When you use power amplifiers of less power, you will get less bass and a less realistic sound of low freq. When you have a big room you need more power to get a full sound in your room. Oh yes the 800 needs power to get a good and realistic sound in the low freq. But when you use the right equipment it can do things only a few speakers can do. The focus of this speaker is of a level I never heard before. When you play accoustic music with a few instruments it is very intimate. You can give every player a hand when you are listening. When you do would play this music by a Wilson or the Vocal speakers you will miss this feeling. It is less intimate and it does not reach you soul inside. It is a 100% fact that Nautilus speakers dominate the market. I don't like the way the way th advertise. But the sell over 50& of the whole highendmarket. That means the rest all together sell less. It is also a fact that this speaker is used in many studio's. When a person says that the don't he has to come with facts before he makes this anouncements. Some people call this speaker lean, but I call it neutral. It is less lean than Avalon speakers are, because the bass is muce more warm and sounds rounder. With my system it sounds very musical, detailed, fast, a lot of depth, a focus to die for, a wide stage and very intimidate

My system: 800 Nautilus, Meridian 800 V4 ( model 2005), Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 power, Nordost Valhalla speaker cable, 2 Valhalla powercables, 1 MIT AC-1 Oracle powercable, Acapella rca with WBT Nextgen, feet of silence, KE Powersource ( conditioner )

I have listen many times to the 800's with Mark Levenson and Classe, but I never liked the sound of it. It never touched my soul, and that is where music is all about. My hobby first is music and after that my hobby and my work is audio and also vison. A system is just something to play music with, that is the essential part of it all.

Bobby
When you have tried and compared many loudspeakers, amps, cables of many brands, sources, conditioners etc you understand what they can do in a system. When you talk to a person about his system and what he ( and sometimes a she ) wants to change you use the properties of all the brands there are to find that sound that person is looking for. Because with the right combination of equipment that person will be satisfied and will listen to Music for many hours. Instead of listenig to equipment and looking for the sound you are looking for. ( all those years ) Music will touch your hart when you understand the art of making the right combination.....
I think a system is musical when It can touch your soul. And that will always be a personal taste. You have to think about the sound you are looking for. I advise and sell different cables to people who hve many times very expensive systems. The problem you find all those times is that they do not have the knowledge to make the right combination, and in our country ( The Netherlands )the people who work in this business have that knowledge either. Many people are looing al thos years for the sound the are looking for. They spend a lot of money and they never will be satisfied. So the people who work in this business have to learn to listen to there clients instead of that customers have to listen to them.

Bobby