Very good detail -- better than KEF, Aerial Acoustics, etc...

Price is definitely high ! Not half as good as even more expensive Nautilus 802''s.

4/02 - Have 2 systems, bought the Nautilus 803 for use with Mcintosh MC352; bought Nautilus 802 for use with Threshold ClassA/AB -- can honestly say that if you have the money, the 802''s are light years ahead of the 803''s -- much better base, better soundstage, better detail. Strangely, 803''s were tougher to break in than the 802''s. As for the 803''s vs 804''s, don''t waste your money on the 804''s -- save up for the 803''s.

Similar Products Used:

Mcintosh, Threshold, Krell, Aerial Acoustics, Kef, Infinity, etc...

Sounds good Looks good High WAF (this is almost priceless)

Using the provided jumpers on the WBT safety terminals is difficult (are these terminals a new feature ?) This is irrelevant if you bi-wire as B&W recommend(my bi-wire cables are on order)

I''m a happy customer. I bought these unheard/unseen based on my brother-in-law''s commitment to B&W speakers (he''s been a professional musician as well as in military intelligence in his varied life). But I did hear the 802s compared to the CDM series as well as Dynaudio Contours, and Revels. I knew I wanted the 802s. But here we switch to the real world. The WAF - Wife Acceptance Factor. There was no way the 802s would be allowed in the house, but given the choice the Dynaudios would have made it. So I went with the 803s (and HTM2 rather than HTM1 for the same reason). She was immediately happy when she saw them. Even better she can tell that there''s been a vast improvement over the old Celestion monitors. And they''re not even broken in yet. As an aside I was comfortable buying speakers from an established manufacturer because I''m confident that anything in the price range I was looking at would ''sound good''. I believe audiophiles end up arguing violently on nuances between awesome products. Very silly. Enjoy the music/movies. System Sony DVD, CD, VCR (not sure of models) Bryston SP1 Processor Pass Labs X5 Power Amp MIT Z-Center power distribution Audioquest/Audiotruth cables Velodyne Sub

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio Contour 3.0 and 3.3 Revel F30 series B&W CDM7 and CDM9 B&W Matrix 802 Celestion monitors

Bass Soundstage Clarity

None

I orginally bought the N805''s but found them a little laid back, (maybe not broken in yet). I heard it takes at least 6 months to break in. Anyway I was looking for a front two replacement speakers. My choices boiles down to ProAc 2.5, Dynaudio and B&W. Having auditioned the ProAc Response 1.5 and 1SC, I found them to more forwarded, richer sounded and clearer than the N805''s, however I still settled for the 805''s due to the price difference. When looking for a new set of front speakers, I was biased towards the ProAc 2.5 since of my experience with the lower end models. I auditioned the ProAc 2.5''s first, the sound was crisp and clear but rather too bright, but I was pretty impressed. Then I auditioned the N803''s (expecting them to be flat and dull sounding like the 805''s). What a surprise, they were clear, good bass and excellent soundstage. The ProAc''s seem to lack the bass and had too much sharpness. I would throughly recommend it.

Similar Products Used:

N805, Dynaudio (finishing was poor), KRELL, Bryston

Incretible mid range, solid bass and airy high range. I love the rich and full sound fiels and the level of details it is able to display.

Maybe it is my room, I feel the listenging sweet spot small. The $5000 sticker price is too high for N803. I think the price should be in $3000 to $4000 range.

N803 can sound heavy, dark and muddy when I mated it with certain type of cables and amps. I am extremely happy with the speakers after I replaced all the interconnect cables with silver cables and use an amp with clear and colorless sound with high head room. I would not call myself an audiophile who has experiences with various gears, but I do not believe 803 require a huge amp to get good sound. It appears to me a good quality amp with high head room can play 803 very well in a regular size room. I currently use a Pass Labs X150 and it''s plenty enough.

Beautiful build quality.

Weird and unnatural sound. Much too expensive.

These loudspeakers sound cold and unmusical. If you buy speakers from the new Nautilus range, you buy them because of their image, and not because of the sound quality. You will keep dreaming of an upgrade of your electronics, that will make you enjoy your record collection. But the only real cure will come from selling your speakers again, not from buying colored and dark sounding electronics. If you listen before you buy, you will actually be able to find some speakers that will show you just how marvellous most of your CDs sound.

Go for speakers with soft dome tweeters and better sounding cabinets. I believe the tweeters are mostly to blame, as they ruin the treble and midrange on most kinds of music.

And by the way, the speakers I borrowed for a month were not brand new, but speakers the dealer had used for months in his shop, at home and at two shows (he said he loved them).

Similar Products Used:

Dunlavy, Dali, ProAc & Sonus Faber.

Coherence, decent imaging

transparency

This kind of speaker shows me how much this whole hi-fi thing has gotten out of whack. At $5k, you should expect the world from a speakers. Sure there will be trade offs even at these levels...

Anyway, these are decent speakers although I would never pay $5k for them. Maybe B&W is just too well known and has to pay too much for advertisement in the glossies but sheeh, $5k.

The treble is fairly extended and blends into the midrange in a natural way. Images are solid and the bass is is taut but not flabby or especially deep. I would suspect they go deep enough for most people. Overall, a fairly well integrated speaker which sounded very neutral.

What is lacking in the speaker is ultimate treble extension and transparency. It is difficult or impossible to hear the hall echo clearly on the Diana Krall Love Scene Track 11. Everytime she ends a line you should be able to clearly hear the hall. The finger snaps don't sound real and the stand up bass, while taut, lacks detail and finesse. Try this: listen to the snaps on this track and then turn of the CD. Snap your fingers... I bet only a vague resemblance is heard. It lacks the speed to deliniate the snap correctly. Same for the stand up bass. Where is the finger pluck and then the subsequenct string vibration and excitation of the bass body. The sound got blended and detail and harmonic nuance lost.

I am willing to bet the very few posters have ever heard a super tweaked and musical hi fi system. I tell you, the hi fi shops I find haven't a clue to what good hi fi sounds like. Go find a system like a Meadowlark Shearwater Hot Rod driven by a Art Audio Diavolo SET amp, with JPS cable all around with Keith Herron Pre and Metronome DAC(hey, let's go cheaper and say Bel Canto DAC1). I guarantee you your jaw hits the floor.

Associated Equipment
Krell KAV 300i
Krell CD Player
MIT Cables

Similar Products Used:

Silverline Sontatina/Sonata, Meadowlark Shearwater Hot Rods, Soliloquy 5.3, Spica Angelus, PSB Stratus Goldi, SF Garnd Piano etc etc

Finish; build quality; sonic purity

Can be "too" revealing

I feel like I now own the speakers I can live with until my 6 year old graduates college. My wife and I listened to these and the other speakers listed (Paradigm, then KEF, then B&W) and we both heard the undeniable differences. I didn't listen to dozens of speakers, I don't know the name of the speaker wires (though the speakers are bi-wired) and I can't describe the sound with references to fine wine, but I honestly feel like the music is before me, touchable. I can really "see" the soundstage. I can focus and listen to each instrument separately. These speakers present great depth and spatiality. And, I can hear real bass. [Electronics are all McIntosh--350 wpc amp, preamp and CD/DVD player. The bass was very good at first, but it became terrific after I added the Mac CD player. Clearly, strong components are needed to benefit from all these speakers have to offer.] Generally, the clarity of the sound is just what I was looking for (proof of clarity: my across the street neighbor heard me cranking an opera one night and he was impressed by how good it sounded!). The build quality is fantastic. The wood veneers are beautiful. They are lovely furniture. Rap your knuckles on these speakers and it feels like you're hitting cinder blocks. They do require significant break-in, during which it is neat to hear the sound soften up a bit. And slight differences in room placement do matter, but I believe they are fairly flexible in placement. The weakness I listed is because my equipment highlights the weakest link in the system and led me to get the new CD player when I hoped I was done buying equipment. Also, while many old CDs and LPs sound great and new, you'll be bummed when you start paying attention to poor production values which are so glaringly revealed on these speakers (especially how "over-bright" many CDs and DVDs are). 4 star rating for value because I suspect at 1/2 the price you could probably get speakers 85% as good.

Similar Products Used:

KEF Reference 3; Paradigm Reference 80

I use my N803 together with the HTM1 center and the N805 as rears.

If you are looking for a fantastic sounding and looking speaker for under 6000$ this one is it !

There is only one other speaker i would change my 803's for, the Nautilus 802!

Nuf said, buy them and enjoy them ! You won't regret your choise ! Promise.

Open highs, detailed mids and tight bass. Can play very loud without strain.

None.

Hi,

To the reviewer below. In my opinion the European magazines are right about the Nautilus speakers.
I have owned the Audio Physic Virgo II for more than a year and i now own the B&W Nautilus 803 for several months. In my opinion the 803 is better than the Virgo in every area.
The highs are more open, the mids are more detailed and the bass goes deeper and is much tighter. I find the bass of the Virgo a bit on the soft, slow side.
Furhtermore, the 803 can play much louder than the Virgo without sounding compressed. This is a big advantage in hometheater.
Concerning technical skills in speaker building. Have you seen that almost all speakers in the Audio Physic range are completely different designs. There is no consistency in the design of the Audio Physic speaker line.

Kind regards,
Erwin

Similar Products Used:

B&W Nautilus 804, B&W Nautilus 805, Audio Physic Virgo II, B&W Matrix 802/III, Dunlavy SC-IV, Dunlavy Aletha.

outstanding loud speaker

none

this is one heck of a sound producer ,yes it is lacking way down the deep bass but how much music contains that lowest octave anyway..the sound is superb ,extremely musical,with tight base, sweet highs great on vocals, you can definitely listen to these all day long .
associated eqpt Preamp audio research ls25
Amp audio research vt100 mkII
CD audio research cd2
Inter. audioquest anacondas (xlr)
Spkr cble audioquest volcano (dble biwire)
also tried a few solid state current dumpers classe 301,
levinson 334,krell 250,all very good amps,but the vt100 held its own bass wise and presented a much better overall sound .

Similar Products Used:

theil 3.6 2.3 aerial 8,hales 5