Sound!!!!!!!?xD;?xA;Looks

A little lean in the very bottom end

I don't own these speakers (I wish I did) I listened to the 804's at audition ?xD;?xA;systems, for some time while looking for a new set of speakers, I purchased a ?xD;?xA;pair of Vandersteen2c;s and they are very nice. However if i could have ?xD;?xA;aforded the extra bucks for the B&W's thats what I would have bought, these are very?xD;?xA;accurate speakers!! if you play poorly recorded music it is going to sound poor. Equipment?xD;?xA;is a factor, care must be taken on choosing matching equipment. Clearly this speaker as ?xD;?xA;well as many others that are accurate in nature are not going to be for everyone, ?xD;?xA;these speakers matched with good equipment are very tuff to beat at $3500 a pair. Very Highly recomended

Similar Products Used:

B&W 803II?xD;?xA;Vandersteen 2c?xD;?xA;Thiel 3.6

Soundstage, stylish, complements good recordings.

Will reveal weaknesses in some recordings. For example, remastered Vladimir Horowitz cd's are a bit flat.

Purchased the Nautilus 804s in early August, '02. Break in period is long, real long. Once entered, though, the soundstage is deep, wide and precise. Couldn't be more pleased. No problems ecountered with placement. Lots of bass reserve. System: Denon A/V 5803 Denon 4800 DVM Rotel 955 cd Sony C225ES Super Audio SACD/CD player MIT Terminator2 Bi-Wire Nautilus 804 Main Nautilus HTM1 Center Nautilus 805 Surround Boston VRS10 rears

Similar Products Used:

B&W 805

Good build quality and detail high end.

High demand on amp. Forwarding high and tough drive bass.

I have auditioned 804 for more than one month and I have to say that it disappointed me. I have listened it in different stores with different setups: ARCOM FMJ32 + ARCOM FMJ Integrated AMP ARCOM FMJ32 + Bryston P20 + 9BST(use only two channel) LINN Genki + Bryston P25 + 4B SST ARCOM FMJ32 + Proceed PreAMP + HPA2 The combination of Bryston + B&W804 just doesn't sounds right especially in the mid and low end. The base is compressed and the mid doesn't open up. The ARCOM Integrated + 804 does give the right sound. But the base is not too hard and missing the lower end. The reason could be the lack of output power (85W/channel) on the amp. The Proceed + 804 does produce the best result with transperent response from low to high frequency range. It looks that the selection of amp is very important for 804 and the B&W804 requires much more drive power from the amp and it is very hard the drive, especially the lower end. The Marklevison + 801 was used as a reference. Also LINN with active drive can produce a much better sound and much close to what the Marklevison sounds with lower price.

Similar Products Used:

Listen to 801, LINN Espek, JMLab 926, CDM 9NT.

Great looking speaker with much nicer finishes than the CDM series.

Price jump from the NT series isn't justified, is dwarfed in performance by the 803's and by many other speakers in it's price range.

I walked into the store wanting to love these speakers, but things went awry. I listened to them hooked to Musical Fidelity gear first and they sounded edgy and distant, lacking any sense of space or transparency, actually much worse sounding than my CDM7 NT's on many types of music. Again as a B&W owner looking to upgrade I wanted to love them, they were the next level of progression in the family, and I have loved my CDM7's for the money. I then listened to them hooked to Levinson gear, better, but still not right especially considering the cost of the gear would not fit this caliber of speaker. These speakers seem to me to have an even more pronounced midbass hump than the 7NT's I have owned, and not really any more extension or accuracy than the CDM 9NT's which are $1k less. Other than a much nicer cabinet and slightly cleaner top end, you are getting little to no upgrade from the CDM NT series. To be objective I auditioned right up the food chain through the 803's to the new Signature 800's, and here is my verdict. The 804's for some reason are not executed well at their $3500 price point. Something was left out as the 803's mark a huge jump in realism, imaging, bass definition, and bass extension for $1500 more. From there the difference from the 803's to the $16k 800's was much more a diminishing return. Unfortunately it seems B&W may have squeezed the price down a bit too much on this speaker, and I must recommend either jumping to the 803's or looking at other speakers, or even buying the CDM 9NT's which sound almost identical for less money. I also listened to Dunlavy's, Wilson's, Thiel's, Martin Logan's, and some other very expensive loudspeakers less extensively before my purchase decision, which was not the 803's but instead the Monitor Audio Gold Reference 60's which I think bring more pinpoint imaging and depth, color-free midrange, and bass extension at a much lower street price than the 803's which rarely seem to be discounted. A review of them is forthcoming when I get them broken in and settled in my listening room.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM 7NT's, 9NT's, hmm...lots of other speakers to say the least.

Liquid/life like mids. Excellent soundstaging.

A bit aggressive in the highs. Need stands to properly setup the speakers. The included floor spikes are not long enough when the room has thick carpeting. Bass that gets a bit out of control when the speakers are set too close to the wall.

Bought these babies from my local high end dealer when someone traded them in for a set of Dynaudios...hence the deal I got. They came with some Sound Anchor stands that put the speaker an additional 6" off the floor. With the think padding I have in the family room under the carpeting, the stands are a must with their longer spikes. My impressions of these things are very smooth and liquid mids/vocals. The highs take a bit getting used to; they're a bit aggressive for my tastes. I don't understand the many reviews saying these speakers are lacking in bass. I had to pull the speakers about 2 feet off the wall to attenuate the bass reinforcement from the back wall in a room measuring 17'7" by 14'7". I had a set of Mirage M490s previous to these speakers. The Mirages were good and it took me a very long time to settle on something that would be worth spending money on to upgrade from what I had. One thing I found about the B&W speakers is this...they need to be fully broken in. I noticed this problem when I auditioned another pair of B&W speakers brought into the store from a trade in. They were the Nautilus 805s. The speakers were fabulous. I couldn't spring for them at the time because of financial issues. A few months later I auditioned a new pair from a local B&W dealer. The 805s there sounded absolutely dreadfull. I couldn't sit still through any of my test music. I asked the salesman if they had properly broken in the speakers. He said they had and that the speakers were about a month and a half old. Anyways, I have my 804s bi-amped. My system is as follows: Classe CDP.3 CD player VPI HW19 Jr. w/MK III platter upgrade Audioquest PT-8 tonearm w/Sumiko Blue Point Adcom GFP-555 II Preamp 2 Carver TFM 25 amps Onkyo TA2600 3 head tape deck Sony M1 Portable DAT deck I've auditioned the Revel Performa M20s, Mirage OM-5s, Sonus Faber Concertos, B&W Nautilus 805s, and Dynaudio Contour 1.3s among others. For the money I paid for these speakers and the performance, I got a great deal. To buy them at retail would be a tougher decision. There are some worthy contenders out there; the Mirage OM5s come to mind. But for the sound you get in a non obtrusive package, the B&W would have to get the nod.

Exceptionally smooth and neutral. No detectable coloration, especially on human voices that some of these other expensive speakers seemed to have. Very large sound stage. Very airy and open. Beautiful cabinets.

None to me. They **might** be a little light in the low end base, but I don't really think much. If placed reasonably, they reproduce bass well. However, if you need more bass, check out the PSB Golds. They didn't sound as natural and neutral to me, but everyone has their own preferences.

Oh, I LOVE these speakers! I dare not listen to REALLY expensive speakers for fear that I might feel compelled to drop $10-$20K, but I cannot imagine that they sound significantly better than these do. I auditioned everything that I could listen to in my area and these were my clear first choice in this price range. I chose these over the JM Labs Electra 926s, Revel F30s, Magnepan QR1.6, Totem (model #?), PSB Stratus Gold, Thiel 3.6, Klipsch (model ?), Definitive Tech (in the $2800 range), and Paradigm's top of the line model. I do regret that I couldn't audition Magneplanar's highest end speaker ($4000+) because I was quite impressed with the QR1.6 at $1800. They present an incredible sound stage, but they seemed a little colored to me. Something didn't quite sound just right to me. For a less expensive price the top of the line Paradigms are very, very nice.

Similar Products Used:

JM Labs Electra 926s, Revel F30s, Magnepan QR1.6, Totem (model #?), PSB Stratus Gold, Thiel 3.6, Klipsch (model ?), Definitive Tech (in the $2800 range), and Paradigm's top of the line model.

Everything!!!

If going by product specs and driven by a grade a product with excellent cables this pair of speakers has no weaknesses!!

This is one of the last items of gear that I have to review and the reason I have waited is I originally had the Naut 803's but I was offered $260. more than I paid for them from an individual that just had to have them. The sweet thing about how this goes down is it really made me paying $2,440. for my new 804's. I do want to say to all the negative posters on this product that you have no clue what you had or how to feed them ie: Good amp, cables, front end and setup. I run these cables in a near field setup and could not be more pleased with their performance from soundstage, clearity, timbre and yes BASS for all you naysayers of this speakers ability. If, no when I move to a larger listening room I'm positive I will keep these speakers as my mains and add a good sub to capture any bass roll-off I may have. This speaker is not intended to be driven with best buy mass market gear! It is going to take class A equipment to get the most out of them. I drive mine with a BATVK200 and it will take an amp of this calibre if you intend to get what you paid for. These are absolutely the best sounding not to mention best looking speakers I have ever owned and would pay full retail for them any day of the week except I got a much better deal! Here is a list of my gears BATVK200 BATVK3i BATVKP5 BATVKD5SE Rotel RCD991AE Music Hall MMF7 Yamaha MDX793 Richard Gray P400 (Soon to be a P600) Numerous tweaks from cabling, isolation & resonance control and when the right room comes along acoustics.

Similar Products Used:

Used: Nautilus 805's & 803's. Auditioned ProAc, Vandersteen (Third choice 2CE's), Totem (Mani II's second choice), Audio Physics Spark III's, Joseph rm22's, PSB Stratus Bronze & Gold, Paradigm Studio

seamless from top to bottom

not great on lowest octave but not much music there anyway

in response to h j from ala.. get a decent amp and a decent preamp to power this wonderful speaker,,not that tinkertoy reciever you got..

Everything

None at all

Beautifully designed and sounds great!

There are many areas that these speakers excel in. The midrange has to be the winner. Played at loud(ish) levels, the whole speaker gels and sounds alive.

Sound stage at low-levels. It can become a little damped and compressed sounding. You need a good amp to get the best out of these babies!!! You'll need to spend quite a bit of time setting them up too, to get the best out of them.

The B&W Nautilus 804 has to be one of the finest products, not only from the B&W stable, but from any loudspeaker manufacturer in recent years, when you consider the engineering content, style, quality and price. The speakers are just too cheap!! Starting with the cabinets, the veneer is finished supremely well (which is common to all N800 Series products) and the curved cabinets are a delight to look at and feel. The weight of these products bellie their size. I thouroghly recommend that you use the N804's on a slate base, ideally about 30cm wide and 40cm deep. If you can get hold of some from a local stone-mason, then you'll be really impressed with the improved bass-performance. I couldn't believe the difference when I tried this upgrade out. My slabs are 30mm thick, so they weigh quite a bit. The speakers MUST be spiked to either the floor or these slate bases. As for the sound then I'll start at the top, with the Nautilus HF unit. This is a really fantastic driver capable of really digging deep into the recording. Although it is an aluminium dome, it is in no way hard sounding - quite the opposite in fact - very smooth and easy on the ear. Even at high volume levels, the tweeters really do not become flustered. The integration of these HF's to the surroundless mid-range drivers is acoustically transparent. Some speakers can sound muddled in the x-over region but not the N804's. Of the three driver sections, the MF is probably the most outstanding, with its radical surroundless kevlar cone. It is so natural and smooth - yet detailed with awesome staging and dynamics. The LF's are great too, helped enormously I think due to the Matrix cabinet and the curved back which will almost eradicate any internal standing-waves. The bass it very fast and tight. Not the deepest around, but in my 20x13ft room, the balance and extension is perfect. I feed these speakers with Mountain Snow Atlas 2 Silver speakers cable, and are bi-wired. The amps are a pair of Aura PA200, running in Bridged/mono mode. I tried the bi-amping option, but it was no-where near as good as the mono'd amps. My pre-amp is the glorious Audio-Note M1, with heavy internal modifications, such as silver wiring, the removal of the potentiometer, Copper-Foil Paper in Oil Input & Output capacitors on the Line stage and the use of a military grade valve rather than the ECC82.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM1, Celestion 7, B&W P4, Aura PA200, Audio-Note M1, Pioneer CT-91 Reference, Mountain Snow and Ixos cables and also some home-made Silver interconnects which are stunning!!!