Build quality, finish, good high frequency response, relatively efficient, excellent power handling capabilities.

Very heavy, aesthetics may not appeal to some, bass and midrange performance not up to par for a speaker in this price range.

I realize that many people will disagree with my rating of these speakers and it is NOT my intention to bash B&W or any manufacturer for that matter. I had been searching for an upgrade to my current speakers and after reading the numerous positive reviews on this site I believed that the Nautilus 802's would be ideal. Well after auditioning these speakers in three different high end shops all using high end equipment and interconnects I was disappointed. The bass response was poor and the midrange was at best "grainy". Soundstage, imaging and transparency were fair. I expected to hear a speaker that performed well in most if not all sonic categories but this was not the case.

Clearly we all hear things somewhat differently but I would suggest that before spending $8,000 on these speakers a person must take the time to audition other brands in this price range to make a fair comparison.

Current System:

McIntosh MC 352 Power Amp
McIntosh C 42 Preamp
Electrocompaniet EMC 1 CD Player with 24/192 Upgrade
Von Schweikert VR-5 (HSE) Speakers
Kimber Silverstreak Interconnects
Analysis Plus Oval 9 Speaker Cable.

Similar Products Used:

Thiel, Energy, Dynaudio, Totem, Dunlavy, Von Schweikert

I own red cherry 804Ns not 802s, but I wish I did. My only reason for posting here is I wish my 804s had the top appearance of the 802s and 801s. I am continually amazed at the people who review the upper Nautilus line and mention as a possible negative their unconventional appearance. The seemless rear curvature of the cabinet...the gorgeous protruding enclosure of the midrange and the special tweeter enclosure...B&W is the most beautiful speaker in the world irregardless of sound. B&Ws are truly of the finest furniture quality.
To those who post any negative comments about their appearance, then go buy your standard square/rectangular high end box shaped speakers...there are tons of them. I not only listen to my speakers, but I also have to look at them everyday and the more I look, the prouder that I am. And by the way, all of the guests at my house have positively commented on their looks...unsolicited !

BEAUTIFUL LOOKS WIFE ACCEPTANCE

COST

UP DATE REVIEW. DR. JACK OF THE SOUND FACTOR ENCINO SENT DWIGHT ONE OF HIS ASSOCIATES TO MY HOME AFTER STORE HOURS. HE REPLACED ONE MIDRANGE AND FULLY CHECKED EACH SPEAKER. I STILL THINK THE OTHER MID RANGE HAS LOWER OUTPUT. HOEVER NOW I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THE SPEAKERS NOW THAT THEY WORK.
MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE 801 S FOR I LISTEN MOSTLY TO ROCK AND DVD CONCERTS.

Similar Products Used:

BW N804,

HIGH COST , HIGH RESALE

WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR ONE OF THE MIDRANGE DRIVERS STOPPED WORKING. THE DEALER SAID HE WOULD ORDER THE PARTS. I CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THEY EMAILED ME TO SEE MY DEALER ONLY.
DONT BUY B AND W PRODUCTS THEY DONT KNOW YOU EVEN AFTER YOU SPEND 18,000. IN ONE YEAR FOR THEIR SPEAKERS.

SOUNDED GREAT UNTIL THEY BREAK. TRUELY AN AUDIOPHILE PRODUCT . SPEND A LOT OF MONEY FOR A PRODUCT THE MANUFACTOR DOES NOT SUPPORT.
YOU SHOULD READ THE EMAIL I GOT FROM THE FACTORY. PASS THE BUCK CALL THE DEALER.

Similar Products Used:

BUY AMERICAN.BUY REVEL ETC. LOCAL MANUFACTORS HAVE BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE

Great looks, very detailed

Have had N802 for around 6 months in the following system Meridian 588 CD player as digital source
Tact Millennium M1 Mk11 (pure digital amp)
N 802 with Nordost Red Dawn speaker cables

And I was quite satisfied with the system,with the exceptio that that quite a proportion of my CDs didnt sound as good as they should have done and I put that down to poor recording.

Then I treated my system to a Tact Room Correction Preamp
and suddenly things started to make sense, as soon as you switch from bypass to correction, replay is typically utterly transformed. And so to my point, the chances are that the room that you are listening in can be influencing the sound of your speakers to a radical degree meaning that without room correction you will probably never hear your speakers or recorded material sound as intended.
See Stereophile 2001 RCS room correction preamp review which is also posted on Tactaudio.com website

And now that I have had the opportunity to hear the speakers at their best I am even more impressed with them.

Very Musical and detailed

They need quality equipmentto drive them.......if you can call that a weakness.

Of all the speakers I have owned these are by far the most revealing of the musical content. Yes, on some recordings they do expose the flaws, but these are usually poor quality "greatest hits" cd's or just poorly engineed recordings that don't sound great on any system....just worse on mine. This is because of the speakers capability to recreate detail.
For the money the PSB's give more "bang for the buck" but the B&W N-802's are more "bucks" and a lot more "bang". These speakers are at a different plateau and in fact with the right electronics are capable of shaming the venerable B&W 801 matrix series.
These speakers are as fast and detailed as any electrostatic speaker I have heared or owned.The advantage is they have abundant bass and they disperse so much better.(I find most electrostatics to be one man headphones) More than one person in the room can enjoy the full sound stage.
I recently borrowed a Bryston 14B ST power amp to drive my N 802"s and can tell you that this is a Quantum leap in sonic performance.If anyone tells you these speakers are "weak" or "rolled off" in the bottom end, then they haven't heard them driven with the big Bryston. I have had the opportunity to try many high end esoteric amps(Krell,Conrad Johnson,Audio Research....etc) and nothing drives these speakers better.This match is acoustic euphoria!!!
I would highly recommend the speakers as long as you can purchase the quality electronics capable of doing them justice.

Similar Products Used:

PSB Stratus Goldi, Magneplanar MGIII,B&W 801 MatrixII,Acoustat Model 3's

Very Musical and detailed

They need quality equipmentto drive them.......if you can call that a weakness.

Of all the speakers I have owned these are by far the most revealing of the musical content. Yes, on some recordings they do expose the flaws, but these are usually poor quality "greatest hits" cd's or just poorly engineed recordings that don't sound great on any system....just worse on mine. This is because of the speakers capability to recreate detail.
For the money the PSB's give more "bang for the buck" but the B&W N-802's are more "bucks" and a lot more "bang". These speakers are at a different plateau and in fact with the right electronics are capable of shaming the venerable B&W 801 matrix series.
These speakers are as fast and detailed as any electrostatic speaker I have heared or owned.The advantage is they have abundant bass and they disperse so much better.(I find most electrostatics to be one man headphones) More than one person in the room can enjoy the full sound stage.
I recently borrowed a Bryston 14B ST power amp to drive my N 802"s and can tell you that this is a Quantum leap in sonic performance.If anyone tells you these speakers are "weak" or "rolled off" in the bottom end, then they haven't heard them driven with the big Bryston. I have had the opportunity to try many high end esoteric amps(Krell,Conrad Johnson,Audio Research....etc) and nothing drives these speakers better.This match is acoustic euphoria!!!
I would highly recommend the speakers as long as you can purchase the quality electronics capable of doing them justice.

Similar Products Used:

PSB Stratus Goldi, Magneplanar MGIII,B&W 801 MatrixII,Acoustat Model 3's

Clarity, precise audio reproduction

Apparent long break-in period

I've had these speakers for about 1 month. I listened to them at a dealer where the display pair have been used extensively for about 2 years. The sound difference between the demo units and the new speakers is remarkable.

First, if you are going to demo these speakers, ask the dealer how long they have been used. If the answer is under 6 months, then ask that the speakers be turned on and played "hard," while you go out and have lunch, a coffee, movie ... you get the idea.

When my pair are first turned on, they have no bass. I mean weak, hardly noticable bass. The mid-range honks, and the tweeter tries to sizzle your ears. After about 2 hours of "on time," (I put a CD on repeat and go do something else), the speakers settle down, the drivers seem to integrate, and the bass response is whatever is recorded on the CD or DVD.

Last weekend, I decided to really work them out and put a CD on at fairly high volume for the entire afternoon while I went to the workshop to build an audio rack. That evening, I put on the new re-mastered version of "The Terminator," and I can say that I was NOT left wanting for bass, bass attack (slam), clarity or overall sound imaging.

The longer they work, the better they sound. Everyday the sound gets better, and the bass develops sooner. Putting them up on the spikes also improved the overall speaker response. They also like to be separated by at least 12-feet to develop the best imaging capability.

I had them about 9-feet apart, and when I moved them out further (12-feet apart), the change in sound stage was much better and really noticable. Greater depth, better instrument and vocal localization.

Would I buy them again... I'll get back to you on that one. I like the way they look, once they get working they are phenomenal - and they have a wide & tall sound stage. I'm hoping that after 6-8 months of playing they will be broken in and I won't have to "warm them up" prior to listening.

Compared to the WATT Puppies...better value. WATT Puppy sound stage is incredibly small...but, Puppies have a faster bass attack which I am hoping the Nautilus develop after they break-in.

Similar Products Used:

Wilson WATT Puppy 6.0

Crisp, clean sound all the way from the highest treble to the lowest bass.

High frequencies were initially a bit strident on certain recordings. Placing the speakers on spikes solved the problem.

These are wonderful speakers that have opened up a whole new world of musical enjoyment for me. The sound quality is rich, clean and effortless. Those who claim that the 802Ns require mega-power amps are just plain wrong. My Krell KAV 300i, with a "mere" 150 watts per channel drives them just fine, thank you. And I can't believe that some reviewers feel that these speakers are lacking in bass response. In my system, the bass is very full and well-defined. Perhaps a subwoofer might be desirable for home theater, where one wants to feel a car crash or a bomb explode, but for musical purposes, it would be largely superfluous. I like the styling of the 802's as well. Even my wife thinks that they look cool. We have nicknamed them the "Darth Vader" speakers.

Similar Products Used:

B&W Matrix 802s

The sound...........

Long Break in period. Acceptance of appearance.

This is a speaker that some people will never get to appreciate due to it's unconventional appearance. It's not to say that these are unordinary , far from it as they still resemble a conventional box design. But then again my wife thinks they were the failure of someones science project. Well here we go....................
If you ever get the chance pull one of the woofers out and start looking inside this conventional / unconventional box. There is more engineering in this speaker than in any other brand I have seen. I know as I live with this stuff daily. But enough of that what about the sound. Listen to this speaker after you have listened to about 4 or 5 others in its price range and you will notice the lack of cabinet resonances, crossover problems, shortfalls in the drivers and coloration that is just not there. At this point you can appreciate the way that the speaker portrais the recording so truthfully. Yes they are demanding on associated equipment but if you want good sonics then you have to have good equipment.
Out of the box they are edgy and beemy and seem to take forever to break in but when they do you will definetly be impressed with what comes out.

Similar Products Used:

You name it, I have compared them. Theil, Tannoy, Logans, Mirage, McIntosh, Dunlavey, well you get the picture. Amps used are Krell FPB600, McIntosh MC602, MC1201, Accuphase and Cello Perf II.