A great speaker, but it doesn't even begin to compare with the Duntech Prince.I've lived with both speakers, and the Duntech will blow the B&W away in just about every area of comparison.

Is there anyone out there that has compared the B&W 801/802 Nautilus against the JmLab Mezzo Utopia?I am very interested in any opinion on this matter.
I am likely to buy one these speakers, and the price should not matter in your opinion, because I will have to pay approximately the same for either of them.
The rest of my system will probably be something like this:
ML336 + 380S + 360S + 37, or Jeff Rowland Model 6 or 8Ti + Wadia 270 + 27i all cables are Cardas Golden Cross. Any coments on the system overall, which system do you prefer?

After all of the hype and the writeups in TAS and Stereophile, my first and all subsequent auditions of the 801 were disappointing. The upper midrange was harsh and the bass boomy and flabby. A nearby pair of B&W 803s sounded better, for that matter so did a pair of B&W CDM-1SEs (an outstanding value and a superb sounding speaker at 1/10th of the price). A month later I listened to the same pair thinking that perhaps break in would sweeten the deal. Not. Same bloated bass. It would make a fair home theater speaker since bass seems to be all that matters there. Seriously, these speaker in no way justify an $11,000 price tag. For not sounding better than speakers that cost MUCH LESS, one star.

B&W Nautilus 801
Auditioned with: Krell FPB-600 amp, Krell KPS-25s CD/pre-amp

I auditioned B&W's flagship N801 model with great excitement. I could not wait to "experience" the N801 first hand. Firstly, these speakers will not win any awards for beauty, their squat Dalek-looking shape being a complete compromise to the physics of the design. The N801 was designed to provide an uncompromised sonic "experience." In a speaker in this category, looks are not even secondary. Despite their troll-like appearance, the speakers do not unduly call attention to themselves and after a minute, I took not notice of them at all. The N801's sonic skills were far more attention getting.

A fifteen inch woofer promises serious bass performance, so my first test tracks were various selections from Keiko Matsui's jazz album, "Doll." These pieces feature deep, synthesized bass in dense, musically complex arrangements. I expected to be blown away, and for the most part I was not dissappointed.

I found the performances dramatic and weighty with excellent scale and big SPLs. Furthermore, the N801's excellent resolution and timing easily mastered the dense complexities of these pieces. I was surprized by the amount of bass information that the N801s revealed. The bass sounded transparent, agile, and pitch-accurate in a way that I had never heard previously, revealing heretofore inaudible detail. I found the bass transparent, lacking over-hang or boom, and beautifully controlled. It was present only when needed, satisfying, and very, very involving. These speakers are strong with rhythm and bass accuracy, somewhat surprisingly so, given the enormous woofer and its presumed subwoofer tendencies. The bass performance sounded very un-subwoofer-like indeed. Instead of sounding thick, opaque, and overwhelming, I found the N801's bass transparent and curiously understated. It would not be inappropriate to describe the N801's bass as "polite" sounding, but the bass was also very satisfying and full of musical insight.

A disc of Bach organ favorites confirmed my first impressions, revealing excellent bass extension on low organ fundamentals. Again the bass sounded weighty and transparent, but the curious understated quality remained. I did not "experience" the physical force that I expected.

To test vocals, I chose a disc of Motown hits, and for the first time was dissappointed in the N801's performance. The pieces sounded flat, grainy, and 2-dimensional and seriously lacking in vocal "presence" (all that information about breathing etc. that gives voices a "live" sound). The pieces were in-offensive and non-sibilant sounding, but too much so. The lack of "presence" interfered with vocal intelligibility.

A disc of Schubert symphonies sounded similarly inoffensive, smooth, and weighty. I heard excellent lower midrange weight and definition. Yet, these pieces did not involve as they should have. There was a shut-in quality, due to the lack of "presence" information.

Delos' recording of Dvorak's String Serenade, op.22 sounded weighty, dramatic, and pleasant, but lacked the final degree of involvement. Moreover, the N801s were even less successful with a disc of Liszt piano works. Though not absolutely bad, these pieces lacked pitch accuracy and involvement. They failed to satisfy as they should have.

I was not completely dissappointed in the performance of the N801. Though lacking involvement due to depressed output in the "presence" band, they did sound big, weighty, and dramatic in an understated way. Of course it is possible to do way better for way less money, but I'll be generous (with and extra star) given the enormous amount of time and engineering that B&W invested in developing these speakers. The N801's bass performance sets new standards in my estimation, but B&W needs to fine tune the midrange/treble transition by boosting the "presence" output. The N801s do not currently provide the promised uncompromised sonic "experience" but remain a work in progress.

Bass Extension & Rhythm (Keiko Matsui's "Doll") *****
Dramatic. Full. Extended. Weighty with extraordinary bass definition and pitch accuracy. Transparent. Extremely agile. Present only when needed. Controlled. Involving. Satisfying.

Bass Extension (Bach Organ Recitals) *****
Agile. Weighty and dramatic. Understated. Perhaps polite. Excellent bass extension, but less physical force than expected. Trasparent & accurate.

Vocals (Motown Hits) **
2-dimensional & grainy sounding. Problems with intellingibility. Lack of "presence." Hooded, shut-in quality.

Upper Orchestral Strings (Schubert) ****
Non-fatiguing. Good string definition. Slight lack of involvement. Slightly shut-in but inoffensive sounding. Weighty. Excellent lower midrange definition.

Upper Orchestral Strings (Dvorak) ****
Pleasant sounding. Weighty & dramatic. Slightly shut-in. Subtle lack of involvement. Inoffensive.

Piano (Liszt) **
Lacking pitch accuracy. Small-scale. Not bad, but lacking involvement.

Build Quality *****

Looks **

Value **

I am puzzled by the negative reviews of the Nautilus 801's. I auditioned these speakers several months ago (driven by Krell FPB 300 and Krell 300cd) In spite of the limitations of the 300cd, the system made beautiful
music. Soundstaging, resolution, presence, palpability and musicality were superb. I thought the speakers were magical. Contrary to some of the reviews on this thread, the mids and highs were extended, grainless and sweet. Also, the bass was tight, robust and extended.

These are excellent speakers and easily rate 5 stars.

Finally managed to give these a good listening test. An incredible pair of speakers, linearity, lack of coloration, imaging and dynamics were top class. Again like the other nautilus that I have heard so far ( 805, 802 and now 801) a bit directional. Placement within a living room would require alot of work to give the bass its full potential. Special stands are a big help.
One thing which has become obvious with these speakers is to have a large, top notch power amp. Even though 150w into 8ohm will drive it, it lacked the energy that was there when the same amp drove the 802's. In that respect it looks like this guy needs to be fed. Perhaps in the vicinity of 400-600w into 8 ohms (800-1200w into 4ohm etc... ), probably monoblocks would do well here.

My friend has a pair.
I am a fan of B&W speakers - but

I find them slow, boomy and generally disappointing.
Sure they are impressive. But then I listened.

Robert

i got a chance to hear these the other day at my local B&W dealer. let me say right off that the 801's are head & shoulders above the rest of the nautilus line. all of the others sound bright & too forward. i heard these hooked up to all mark levinson gear & they were sweet. probably one of the best speakers i have heard over all. the integration of frequencies was seemless, which suprised me given the size disparity between the 6inch midrange & the 15inch bass drivers. highs were smooth & extended & there was no sense of "digital hash" you normally get when listening to cd's. mids were very clear, not laid back, but not too forward either, just right. bass was amazing, but you must be carefull. not only is placement of the speakers vital, but so is placement of your butt. sitting 2/3 of the way back in the room from the speakers made them sound loose & boomy. i moved my chair back to the 3/4 mark & everything came together. as good as these are, i do not feel they are signifigantly better from the upper bass on up than the speakers i have at home. those are of course the monitor audio silver 5's. i do have them hooked up to a cd player with a tubed output stage & a bryston b-60 & there is really not much difference in quality. of course the 801's totally kill my stuff in the bass, & everything integrates much more nicely than i probably could ever could with a sub in my system. so, these are the best overall speakers i have heard. are they worth $12,000? i guess that depends on how much disposable income you have. if you have the cash, may as well get the best. if you don't, then don't sweat it, you can get very close performance for a fraction of the price. over time in any given industry quality increases while price drops. i love capitalism. 5 stars

Uncolored, True to the source material.

None. well maybe the bass is a tad bloomy as I am still trying to find the perfect location in my room.

Well readers to start, I initianlly walked in my dealer with every intent to buy these a year ago. After listening critically for about 4 hours in their Nautilus room . I decided to go with the 802s . The reason? Affordability. It wasn't that I couldn't afford the speakers as much as I reallized how much it would cost to power and draw the full benefit from the speakers. Well, needless to say the 802s were and are great, but I've never really gotten over passing on the 801s especially after a very close friend bought a pair and powered them with Mac 1201s. The sound is by far, more spacious,more palpable, more bass than the 802s. It does outperform them in every aspect except one.
Domestic use is that area. I've owned them for a little over a month, and they certainly are STUDIO MONITOR quality, If ruthlessly revealing is what recording engineers are looking for. The speakers thoroughbred performance is affected by room inadequacies big time. Especially at high volume levels. Other than that, I'm completely satisfied with my purchase. The dynamics are absolutely scary as is the quality imaging and spacious width extending far beyond the placement of the speakers, which is good and bad since my room is only 20' by 26' of mainly drywall and pictures on those walls. I'm currently building a new home with a dedicated room which will acoustically treated.
To summarize to a potential buyer, These speakers are everything I could have expected from a speaker costing this much. If had to do it all over again, I would. Just be ready to spend a whole lot more on amplification,possible room treatment, and a very musical front end {if Digital}.

My current humble system:
Nautilus 801s
Nautilus HTM1
Nautilus 805s
Sunfire pre/pro
Wadia 850 cd player Run directly to amps via balanced out
Bryston 7bs mains
Bryston 9b surround spkrs
MIT oracle V4 spkr wire
mit interconnects various
Sony DVP9000es
Audiopower power conditioning for digital gear and TV.

This system is constantley evolving. If there is anyone out there who think they might something close to the perfect synergy between these spkrs and some other amp. Please fell free to email Thanks.

Similar Products Used:

N802s for a year. I also owned just about all of the matrix line previously over the last 6yrs.

Great control of bass and mid range

none

This bit of information is for the last reviewer Raymond. I frequently visit a high end store the displays the 801's with the Krell FBP 200. I can't believe how great these speakers sound with this amp. These beast of a speaker need power and Krell delivers IMHO>

Similar Products Used:

Snell