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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

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loopinglou
avnut
153 posts
 
I am a B&W N801 owner. When I demoed them in the showrooms, I never really liked the sound. The sound was never convincing. At times the sound was dry and lifeless.
When I installed them in my listening room with a good combination of upstream components, the speakers became everything I dreamed of...after over a year of trial and error in speaker placement. If you hear dryness, I would try tubes for the mids and tweets, a tube preamp, and play around with different cables. The difference to my ears was amazing.
anhchungdoan
2 posts
 
Amazing how two people with different ears can come up with the same opinions about B&W. Bravo Ttrulis! Yes, the B&W pairs will not and cannot be intergrated. May be, B&W should sell their speakers individually so consumers can pick and choose and maybe out of random, we can find a matching pairs. Also the marvelous Natilus tweeter makes Diana Krall voice metallic high. So sorry Diana but I still love your silky voice. I own GP from Sonus, Aerius I by M/L and none of these give me these symtoms. Some of these hi-end reviewers must sold their souls for a few extra dollars. But let's be fair, B&W is good for a second system while working or reading but not a system for serious listenning. I dare any one to do a/b comparison B&W with Logan and Sonus Faber. I did. Sorry, B&W my money goes some place else from now on.
joe_b
421 posts
 
I have found B&W's, expecially the current and recent models to be very revealing of any flaws upstream, which I think accounts for the diversity of opinions on them. I went thru 3 amplifiers and a cd transport before I found a combination that worked with mine, but once I got the right setup, they sound very good.
darinr
7 posts
 
In regards to Flips response.I own b+w's myself but I must admit I have only every heard them properly setup once in a store.Everytime I heard them in a store I thought..There is nothing about this demonstration that would make me want to buy them.I have found this to be true for a number of speakers that have received rave reviews.I chalk it up to dealers that don't know what good sound is.So why did I buy my 801's....because I had a friend who had worked in the recording industry for years.He said the first time he heard them in the late 70's that he had been quit impressed.He doesn't impress easily,doesn't believe in wire or voodoo.So as you can see I really valued his opinion.I bought them and have always been happy with them..Do I think they are the best?NO...no speaker is but b+w do so many things very well...some speakers excel in areas .I find that b+w overall has the fewest weak points...
makhan
3 posts
 
I too am a B&W 610i series owner and although I cannot disagree with the brightness in the upper frequencies, I must admit that coupled with a warmer sounding gear the results are breathtaking. Also, to get a hint of why reviewers are so enamored with the brand, check out the article in Sound on Sound.com where independent tests for accuracy and other criteria were conducted on 'hifi' versus 'pro' studio monitors and results confirmed B&W was the most faithful to the original mic'd recordings. So faithful, in fact, that the reviewer (and studio recording engineer) agreed that B&W's could easily replace their existing studio monitors without causing any audtioning concerns at all.
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