Moving from B&W 802 Nautilus to 800 Nautilus ??


I currently own B&W 802 Nautilus speakers and have the opportunity to move up to the 800N. I assume this is a no brainer but have not had the opportunity to hear the 800's in person.
My main concern is that some have described the 800 Nautilus as a lean sounding and bright speaker. I DO NOT hear that from my 802's and would assume the 800 is fuller and deeper in the bottom end, not lighter> Anyone had the opportunity to do a side-by side?
I have BAT 51 pre, Esoteric X03 cd and ML 436 monos on the front end of the 802's.
Please help !!
Thanks,
Bill
billandsol
I have both speakers, the older N800's and the 802's. Driven by a variety of electronics. I have never thought these speakers, 800's or 802's to sound bright and lean. I know electronics play a big part of speaker matching. I have been successfull with German electronics from Octave, a pair of 140 watt tube mono amps on the 800's sounds incredible. I use the 802's with a Sunfire home theater receiver and they sound great as well. I used to drive the 800's with a pair of Bryston 4BSST's and that was a great experience as well. Before that, I had two sets of Soundcraftsman A5001 amplifiers, 20 plus years old, driving the 800's with no problems. One of the Soundcraftsman ended up with a German collector of vintage hifi. Anyway, if you get the electronics right, you will hear great music with these speakers. I believe many others who have had bad listening experiences did not have matched electronics with these speakers. Try them on your system and validate it yourself.

Good luck,
Ciao,
Audioquest4life
Hi Bill,

I have been able to hear them side by side and I think the 800's are a better speaker, top to bottom. They are designed to the be reference piece in the Nautilus line, excepting the actual Nautilus speakers, of course. The 800s use different crossovers and with the 2 10's, they are still musical without being bass heavy. Jumping to the 800s and getting full return may require a look at different electronics - the 800s can create a tough load depending on what you listen to.

For what its worth, I also have the 802s and am looking to jump to the 800s. I don't care for the "processed" sound of the diamond series, so I think it is going to be the 800 sigs for me.

Good luck!
You got to hand it to B&W, they have done a good job of marketing plausible options for customers who want more from those who have purchased their speakers. Somewhere someone is thinking if they had only got the 802 instead of the 803.