Hey rlb61, congrats on the success. I’m coming in late, but read your thread with interest. I’ve owned B&W in the past, loved the 805 series. I’ve written in other threads how the new D3 are really nice, and sound great, but for the incremental improvement the cost is somewhat (that word may be an understatement) disproportionate. Like you, I have a small room, and had good success with a sealed sub (REL Strata III). Glad to see it worked out without having to spend huge money and without giving up on speakers you still enjoyed.
Heard the B&W N804d3s ...
I've owned the original iteration of the N804s since I bought them new in '01. After 15 years, I thought perhaps it was time to upgrade to a newer model. So, I auditioned the new N804d3s at a local retailer. They sounded great, and are an improvement over the originals in the areas of bass slam and airiness. However, that step up to my ears is equivalent to about 10-15%. Not sure that that sort of improvement justifies the price ($9K for the d3s vs. $3,500 for the original N804s), although "upgradeitis" tempts me to pull the plug. Is it just me, or does the law of diminishing returns apply in this case? Your thoughts on this or the qualitiative differences between the old and new Nautilus lines would be most appreciated.