New B&W

First, I have always LOVED the B&W sound. Slightly forward and not truly neutral, they somehow have always sounded very natural and often "magical" to my ears especially in the midrange and tweeter.

Short story: I think that neither the S NOR the D version sound better than the previous plain Nautilus line. In fact I think they sound worse.

Due to financial hardship I was forced to sell my 804 Nautilus speakers. Now with a steady job I am back in the market to replenish my audio system.

I have been auditioning speakers and have somewhat narrowed my choices but I emotionally want to stay with B&W so I audition them often.

Today I auditioned the 803S, the 804S and the 803D. As previous posters said the 803s sound a little bit fuller than the 804s which is tighter. At FIRST blush the 803Ds do sound better but it is because the tweeter is smoother. All demos were down with Ayre MX-R monoblocks which is very important to this demo later.

However all the new models suffer from a lack of imaging, clarity and consistentcy through the range. The feel disjointed and unnatural. I have no idea how they measure but it seems, especially on the D versions that they enhanced the specific inaccuracies that has always caused the B&W sound to the point where it breaks down. It is a disjointed and muddy speaker, but the individual drivers are so good that it still manages to sound quite nice.

I was disappointed. Turns out they had a trade-in set of 804 Nautilus speakers there. They confidently demo'ed those for me as well anxious to show how much better the new models were.

Well the 804s kicked the butt of ALL the new models. I first hought that maybe it was break-in of the newer models but was told all of them have at least 500 hours on them.

The 804s are just more homogenous and harminous. The drivers are just much better integrated together than in the new S or D version. As a result, they image better, they were clearer, they were faster, there was no "gaps" in the sound. Although not having the bass of the 803S or D they were both fuller and punchier. I do believe that the individual drivers by themselves are or may be better in the new versions, but the speaker DESIGN is just better in the old model.

The old version in my view is MUCH more musical, and involving. It has that B&W sound but it is not amped on steroids like the new versions. I know that a lot of people will say I am nuts, and most will assume I am because many believe:

1. A new model speaker MUST be an improvement over the last generation
2. Hi-fi quality is DIRECTLY proportional to the cost so if the new versions are more expensive then they are better made and must sound better.

Neither in my recent experience is true. Actually no B&W is on my final auditioning list. That honor goes to Vandersteen 3A sig, Vandersteen Quatro and Quad 22L2(which is an absolutely amazing speaker-maybe not in the end run better than the Vandy's but better than any of the B&Ws and 1/3 less)

IMPORTANT NOTE: The amplifier used in this test is incredibly important. the old Nautilus line was STUPID difficult to drive properly. Really at a minimum you need 400W into 4 OHMS for them to come alive with a very high damping factor. When the old Nautilus series does not have this level of power, they get muddled and congested sounding in difficult or complicated passages, or big excursions. It is a strange type of clipping they have becuase the impedance curve is so difficult on the old Nautilus. Give them enough power (the Ayre worked great, but Spectron Class D marries with these the best) and they sing. The newer versions had this muddiness and congestion but it never went away even with the high power amp.

Recommendation: Buy a set of 804 or 803 Nautilus used, but a 500W per channel amp, and you will still have money left over and a much better version of the B&W sound.

Flame away :)