solid as a rock construction,sweet sound.

big

Iam an installer,and I get to listen to thousands of different setups and speakers,and Ican honestly say that this speaker is well worth the money!Iam using 804s in the front and rear with the htm1 and the sound is simply amazing.Because the 804s and the htm1 utilize the same drivers,its like having 5-804s.Some people still prefer bookshelf size speakers for rears,but Im here to tell you there aint nuthin like the sound of a full range surround speaker.tip,try this system with the energy 18'sub. ..ck it sounds grrrrrreat.

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htm2,

Presence, range, build quality, appearance.

Weight, price.

I need to chime in my perspective and not necessarily repeat what others have stated - this thing is great.

One issue which is made apparent after a short time with this speaker is how underemphasized is the center channel on most other speaker designs, including the pre-Nautilus B&W unit I owned. By virture of being a full-sized, full range speaker the center channel takes on a completely new role in our home theatre. In dark cherry it is also visually stunning, a fine piece of furniture.

There is nothing subtle about the HTM1, neither in appearance nor impact.

We lived with a CC6 for over one year in a smaller room/home and were quite happy with it. Once into a larger space the CC6 become lost and frankly silly. How can such small drivers fill a larger space? In point of fact, they cannot and this lead me to revisit the speakers being manufactured to determine my best options.

We already use Nautilus 804s in the front, and recently added SCM1s for the surrounds and thus were curious if a five Nautilus system would prevail? We honestly did not necessarily believe this would be the case, but were quite happy to discover how seamlessly these units blend into a basic 5:1 system.

Dialog is localized and well dispersed, dynamics are vivid by virtue of having reasonably robust bass response; certainly an order of magnitude better than the CC6 in this regard. Imaging and sense of space are consistantly outstanding due, no doubt, to the Nautilus tweeter design.

The sound field of these units is stunning. Cymbals seem to wrap the air around the speaker instead of presenting a flat plane. I attribute this sensation to the well engineered placement of the tweeter to impart correct time delay. In fact, I am convinced, for my tastes, that the lack of correct phase and time coherence to be the single most glaring deficiency of *most* other speakers. Unless some tricky delays are electrically injected there is simply no way a flat plane of drivers can impart the full image given the physics of sound. Mind you, I am not a scientist but I damn well can perceive great imaging versus limited or weak imaging. The HTM1 imparts great imaging!

Fortunately, we have a large rear projection unit with a substantial and flat top surface. Thus, the HTM1 had a reasonbly solid base to sit upon. Placing this unit is problematic but constructing a shelf around a monitor is a viable alternative to crushing it as the HTM1 weighs 46 pounds/21kg. Similarly, B&W sells a cool floor base which can tilt the speaker. This would be a good option for a wall mounted plasma or projection screen.

The HTM1 is bi-wired and I strongly recommend this option, if you do no other tweeks, ever, please do bi-wire and let your drivers breath.

B&W Nautilus 804s
B&W HTM1
B&W SCM1
B&K 7260 Series II power amp
B&K Reference 30 preamp
Pioneer DV 37 DVD/CD
ExpressVu 6000 HTDV DSS receiver
RCA DCT100 DirectTV HDTV DSS receiver
Pioneer Elite 510 HD rear-projection TV
PS Audio P300 Power Plant
Monster Z series bi-wire speaker cable
Better Cables RGB cables
Better Cables Component video cables
Better Cables Premium Audio Interconnects

Insane electricity costs compliments of the idiots and thieves who legislate and run the State of California.

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CC6

Coherent tonal balance from mid-bass up.

Needs to have lower bass extension and a little
"beamy" if listened straight on axis.

Using a Mac MSD4 surround audio only processor, I
am driving the HTM1 with the Classe CAM350 mono
amp. Interconnects are Cardas Cross and Bi-wired
Golden Crosses to the HTM1. Have also used Krell 250a
(bi-amped) and a previous generation
Krell MDA500 monoblock. The Classe offered the best
tonal balance, articulation of voices and air.

Except for the slight weaknesses outlined above,
the HTM1 seems to provide a very balanced overall
sound to the center fill. The Perfect Vision,
Issue 31 has a full blown review of the Nautilus
HT system, 802s L/R, HTM1 CC, 803s Rears and a brief
of the ASW4000 sub.

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Hales Transcendence Cinema, Thiel MCS1, Revel Voice,
Aerial CC3

Excellent Build Quality, Precise Quick sound propogation; it can't get much better than this

Size and Cost

The HTM1 does it all, with a certain WOW factor regarding design. It handles the highs and mids the way that B&W is famous for; and for a center channel (it being the N804 in a different package) has a fabulous bass.

The Size is a concern: at 12" high and 39"(+-) wide, you need a lot of room to closely locate this with your screen. Also, it is so attractive, you may find yourself looking more at it, than the TV (the wives may find it distracting).

Cost is another issue: my cost was about $1,500. That's ok by me, as the rest of my system is N802s and the ASW4000 Sub (the HTM1 continues the flawless build quality and precise sound); but this is not the kind of 'value' that most would look for.

My electronics are B&k AVR 202 (center channel at 105 watts is fine for the HTM1); the N802 are handled dynamically by B&K 4420 monoblocks (250wpc into 8ohms); and the AVR 202 provides both speaker-level and LFE information to the ASW4000 sub. XLO ER12 (double bi-wire) provide outstanding resolution: my listening level db has decreased by 10, yet the resolution is crisp: the customer support is the best I've seen.

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Aerial Acoustics CC-3

Perfect voice reproduction & seamless integration with mains

None yet.

Well, this is one of those items you don't have to close your eyes and listen real hard to realize the improvement.I purchased the N802s 6 months ago, and never really antcipated this purchase because me CC6 sounded OK and I listen to music primarily. But I got the urge after hearing the new sony 9000es dvd player on display in a room full of Nautilis and I thought, man that player sounds good. The real Bad boys in the system were the B&Ws. Well my salesman advised me to take the HTM1 home and just listen to the difference in my home, and thats all she wrote. I'm done as I don't see how you could possibly come close to anything be
tter without spending a whole lot more.

Current System:
Sunfire Pre/pro proccessor
Aragon Palladium Class A monos on mains
Marantz MA700s (5)
Sony DVP7700
Adcom 750 hdcd cd player
B&W Nautilus 802s
B&W Nautilus HTM1
B&W 601s 2pair for surround & sides
Velodyne FSR15 (3)
Sony 1000 Svhs vcr
API powerwedge line conditioner
MIT 750 Biwire
Audioquest ruby interconnects

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Are you kidding?