I have become a B&W N805 owner in the last month. I must have listened to twelve different brands of speakers,including floorstanders and standmounts. My room being about 14'x15' does not need a lot to fill it up. My tastes range from jazz(the real stuff,not that smooth crap)to classical and old rock. I found no setup in any audio store that gave a true account of any speaker I auditioned. But I kept coming back to the 805N. What I heard was not brightness,but very sweet and controled highs. I didn't expect much bass cause it's a freekin bookshelf speaker. But the heart of the thing,the midrange is what won me over. Miles' horn was what I heard in a small club in Detroit some years ago. Herbie Hancock's piano had real weight and sounded like a piano. Vocals were really there. Now your upstream gear does make a difference and mine is currenly Lexicon and Rotel with some other stuff thrown in. But to all of the naysayer about B&W,I guess thats why God invented more the one speaker.
Review: B & W Loudspeakers Nautilus 805 Monitor
Category: Speakers
My musical tastes run from classical to soft rock.
The most important aspects of sound for me are the ability
of any sound system to take me as close as possible to the musical event itself. The music must move me to feel what the composer of the song wants to convey in his or her music. The worst thing a system could do to turn me off is
to place a veil between myself and my music, so clarity is of most importance to me. I have had the B&W Nautilus 805's
in my music system for about 2 1/2 years now. The 805's replaced my Vandersteen 2ce's. The addition of the 805's to my system have brought me to a new emotional high, as now Celine Dion can raise the hairs on my back as never before.
The 805's strengths are the following: 1)clear silky smooth
highs.2)excellent rendition of vocals.3)Great soundstaging
ability and 4)surprising amount of defined low bass that they produce from such a small box. I have yet to determine any weakness from these speakers yet other than the ability
to go lower in the bass region. If money were no object I would still own these speakers as they give me great pleasure.
Associated gear
VPI HW19 Mk3 Turntable
Koetsu Rosewood Needle
SME V Tonearm
Levinson 38 Pre-Amp.
Levinson 334 Power Amp
Levinson 37 Compact disc transport
Similar products
JM Labs Mini Utopia
My musical tastes run from classical to soft rock.
The most important aspects of sound for me are the ability
of any sound system to take me as close as possible to the musical event itself. The music must move me to feel what the composer of the song wants to convey in his or her music. The worst thing a system could do to turn me off is
to place a veil between myself and my music, so clarity is of most importance to me. I have had the B&W Nautilus 805's
in my music system for about 2 1/2 years now. The 805's replaced my Vandersteen 2ce's. The addition of the 805's to my system have brought me to a new emotional high, as now Celine Dion can raise the hairs on my back as never before.
The 805's strengths are the following: 1)clear silky smooth
highs.2)excellent rendition of vocals.3)Great soundstaging
ability and 4)surprising amount of defined low bass that they produce from such a small box. I have yet to determine any weakness from these speakers yet other than the ability
to go lower in the bass region. If money were no object I would still own these speakers as they give me great pleasure.
Associated gear
VPI HW19 Mk3 Turntable
Koetsu Rosewood Needle
SME V Tonearm
Levinson 38 Pre-Amp.
Levinson 334 Power Amp
Levinson 37 Compact disc transport
Similar products
JM Labs Mini Utopia