I recently bought a pair of 802s for my system which consists of a Krell FPB 300, KRC3 combo with a Levinson 39 CD player. I listened to a lot of speakers before deciding on these. I used the same equipment with Wilsons, Dynaudios, BW 801. I listened to Martin Logans, Aerial 10ts, Theils, and Sonus Fabers with other equipment.
To be honest, I did not like the B&Ws at first and kept looking, but I came back to them. They were detailed to the point of discomfort (tweeters to edgy) at the dealer's, but when my friend got his 801s home and they really smoothed out. That got me closer to deciding on the smaller 802s. At home, mine smoothed out a lot as well and fill the large room with sound. My Tara Labs cables were part of that smoothing, the Straightwire cables enhanced the brightness too much. I am very happy after a few weeks of having them at home. I am always open to new ideas though, so I might start looking again in a year.

Also, I found a lot of flaws with the others, the Wilson Watt Puppies had bass that went thump, not sounding like drums at all. The imaging was great, but that seems to be a function of the Levinson equipment that was driving it. I first heard them with the Krell gear, but seemed pretty flat to me. The Aerials were boomy when driven with the Levison 333 I heard them with, but the midrange and highs were beautiful and floating. The Thiels (CS6) were driven by a Classe Omega and Theta Miles player and was too smooth and laid back and never came alive even with more volume for my test CDs (classical and rock). No punch to them, no dynamics. I could not put up with the extreme sweet spot of electrostatics or the Sonus speakers. The Dynaudios were are also not very dynamic with my test CDs even when driven with the same gear I have. Smooth, but something was missing.

The 802s sound great and the imaging is super in my room. They are also able to fill it with bass wihtout boom. I moved up from Vandersteen 2ces which spec out the same as the B&Ws, but the 802s sound much more detailed and dynamic.

The speaker provides very good resolution of detail, very natural timbre, and good dynamic range. This is a "musical" speaker that sounds good on almost all material, and it is very revealing of the electronics behind it. The pair have provided musical enjoyment to an extent I have never found possible with other speakers.

The speakers are heavy, must be located properly in the room, require and a long break-in. They provide *much* better imaging and resolution with the tweeter covers removed. Although the tweeters are fragile they can be replaced quite inexpensively. The low and mid grills should also be removed for critical listening.

After a considerable break-in period (two or three months), I can find nothing to seriously criticize in these speakers. They provide a full, natural, detailed presentation, including a superb midrange. I suspect that most people unhappy with them have had problems behind them. I have auditioned several CD players on the 802's and the differences are huge. The old Nakamichi C7-II CD player was just awful, and after much auditioning several newer players (Krell, Levinson, Wadia, McIntosh, and Rotel) I settled on either the Levinson 31 or McIntosh MCD751/MCA700 combination. These two sounded almost indistinguishable from each other (the Levinson a bit sharper in definition, the MAC airier and more natural) and a little to a lot better than the others. With the 751/700 and a Mac 352 power and 41 preamp, the 802's are as musical, natural, and balanced as anything I've heard.

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ADS, Magnepan, and Dynaudio. I also use a pair of N 805's in the dining room.

My new Nautilus 802's are true audiophile loudspeakers producing wide and deep soundstages and genuinely transparent clean sound of very low colouration that can rock equally well on rock, blues and classical, or any other type of music.Build quality is examplary.

A Window on the Source, moreso than any other speaker auditioned, including the Wilson Watt/Puppies and Aerial Acoustics 10Ts. Articulate, Clear and Precise across the full audible range, including deep bass (down to 34hz).

The rest of your components, probably. The N802s will demonstrate your entire system; whatever it is presented comes out the drivers, clearly and with authority.

My purchase price was $7k, a good price from what I know.

I could not find the flaws some claim. I listened for the brightness; yes the treble is clear, and if you listen to a lot of mezzo-sopranos stuff you get what you deserve.

The lack of Bass? No, the bass is clear and strong. The N802s present bass the way it was recorded: as separate notes creating separate frequencies. The fact that it goes down only to 34hz +- 3db means that it handles 95% of the frequency spectrum accurately; the other 5% is why they invented subwoofers. The N802 is not a subwoofer. If you need 25hz, get the AA-10Ts and put up with a 10.75" woofer trying to do too much (creating upper and low, low bass).
For the 'bass is a thud' crowd, please waste your money somewhere else.

Faults: you and your significant other have to like the look, or hide them behind a sheet. My wife hasn't seen them yet, for a number of reasons, and I don't really care what she thinks of them, as I deserve speakers this good while I can still hear the difference.

Recommendation: listen, listen, listen; then pay for the sound, the quality, and... the look.

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The AA-10Ts are the closest, but they are quite different sonically. Probably better than the N802s for Home Theater, but not for multi-channel, even 5.1, audio.

Detail, Detail, Detail.

Play best with lots of power; the amps will cost you more than the speakers.

TWO CHANNEL FANS TAKE NOTE!!!
The Nautilus 802 is wonderfully well-rounded speaker. I have been listening to 802s on Krell and McIntosh for over a year. These speakers have incredible detail across the entire range. I believe midrange is where they perform best. Highs are sweet and extremely detailed. The mid-bass has great punch to it, and there is just enough overall bottom end to keep you from running for a high-end powered sub.

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Krell KRC3, Krell FPB300, McIntosh MC42, McIntosh MC352, Krell KAV300CD

Clear, authoritative, easy to Love the Music

I'm not sure there are any

A class act that delivers the music and the home theater. For the past year, I have fallen progressively in love with these, as has my wife (who would hide all of my previous electronics.

The N802 require a long break-in period: re-inventing themselves on a monthly basis: mine are now a year old, and they sound much better than when I first bought them: I thought they were great then.

Currently, I'm running B&K monoblocks (250wpc), bi-wired through XLO cables; the B&Ks are sufficiently powerful to run the N802s when I really crank the system: HT, mostly.

I have the ASW4000 B&W sub, which I highly recommend: it is huge, but so is the sound.

I strongly recommend the n802s, and wish some others would be adult and professional in their reviews. Regarding other choices, I presume the Aerial 10T is an obvious second, as is the Revel Studios. I auditioned the 10Ts extensively, and like the smoother, airy sound from the B&Ks; the Studios were beyond my price-point.

Imaging,low level details,accurate bass, incrediable midrange clarity, ability to play loud without compression

If you can call it a weakness needs high powered amplification as speaker dips down below 3 ohms in low to mid base area. Takes a long time to break in.

I have had these speakers for over a year and am continually amazed at the sound which these speakers can produce. These speakers are very sensitive to the components downstream and deserve nothing but the best electronics to drive them.

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Evaluated Revel, Thiel, Avalon Avatar

None

Only two joystick ports

This speaker is so horrible I pooed my pants.

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Ronco Orange Juice Squeezer