What sets B&W apart? Lively sound, very open tweeter/high freq’s,pinpoint imaging, well integrated drivers, low box colorations. They just sound natural and “right”. Front port so don’t worry about walls boosting bass unless you put them in a corner. Nice curves!

Brightness is realistic but some may not like. “Mellow” sound loses some detail vs, say Thiel. First get an amp of decent quality -Musical Fidelity A300 int. or don’t complain about sound quality! Speaker requires 120 wpc 8 ohm / 200 wpc 4ohm MINIMUM! If you do you won’t get the bass / dynamics / and slam these speakers are capable of. Second -N804 does not do DEEP bass but to 40 Hz bass is the best you can. Also, I do not play scratchy records on the 804’s but they pull an amazing amount of detail out of Napster-burned discs and actually sound pretty good.

I want to thank Lyric HiFi and Sound by Singer in NYC. These were the only dealers who put speakers first and don’t push expensive CDP’s expensive speaker wire or I/C’s which make little to no sound difference. - Gershman Acoustics Avante Guard overbearing boomy bass / sound changed dramatically as I walked around room. I would not recomment to anyone. - Meadowlark Shearwater H/R – the ultimate rock n’ roll speaker? Harsh highs with Krell, big but flabby bass even with Krell SS amp. Listen for ½ hour because can be fatiguing. Plays loud. - Audio Physic Step III – opposite of Shearwater. Very detailed, won’t play real loud, limited dynamics, unreal huge soundstage requires you sit in the “Sweet Spot. Very competent. - Monitor Audio 8/9 is shut in on top/ tonality changes with volume / boxy and unatural / good quality bass / more forward and “edgy”. - CM4 – much more open than Monitor Audio / bass can be boomy / more of a H/T speaker as it is not natural like CDM7. - Snell .5 – comparable to CM4 but deeper bass /plays louder / open highs due to push/pull tweeter. - CDM –7 / excellent speaker / open on highs / very natural / just sounds “right” / excellent soundstaging / dynamic music jumps out of the box. butt-kickers. - Epos M-15 excellent but sounds small (size and lack of bass) and limited dynamics. - Triangle Celius- excellent but limited dynamics vs N804, super fast but unrealistically so? requires tubes (I preferred SET with it.) - Vienna Acoustics Mozart- fine little speaker, won’t play real loud, please don’t waste your $$ when B&W CDM7 is so much better in every way and costs less. - Sonus Grand Piano- just did not sound right, not for $3,000+. - Paradigm Ref 100 – excellent speaker. Think Chrysler hemi / Ford V8. Lack detail, liveliness and slam of B&W (but good bass - DynAudio Contour 3.0- highly competent like an army sniper, somewhat unemotional sound due to 1st order crossover? Highs less bright than B&W. My 2nd choice. - ProAc 2.5- tweeter is messed up. Excellent bass- wish B&W had it, warmer than B&W but really boxy/closed in on top end vs. N804. - Thiel 1.5/2.3- harsh on highs –an instrument of pain on J5 ‘s “Dancin machine”, you must audition for ½ hour and play hot music –you’ve been warned. My system: Marantz CDR-500/ Adcom GFP-750/ Musical Fidelity A3cr/ N804/ Home Depot speaker wire (not bi-wired)/ Canare $20 I/C''s.

Similar Products Used:

See above. You should also listen to Platinum Audio Solos, Brentworth, ProAc Future .5, and Triangle as worthy competitors.

Very sharp, clear sound. Powerful when used with heavy metal or hip hop - beautiful and subtle when used for classical, jazz, folk. Absolutely amazing for movies in a home theater. Gun shots in a film will have your neighbors stopping by your house - wondering if you are OK. The music imaging is sublime.

The only weakness is the goofy plastic plugs they use for protection - on the banana plugs on the back of the speaker. Very hard to remove them (use a knife).

These speakers are worth every dime - even if you pay full retail at $3,500. I was going to get a pair of Klipsch RF-7''s. I''m so glad I made a visit to our local Audio Emporium and was sold on paying $1,200 more on the Nautilus 804''s. The quality of the contruction of the speakers is simply above everything else I''ve seen (besides the really high end speakers like the 801''s). These speakers do cost a lot of money, but with their 5-year warranty and rock solid design - they could easily give you 20 years of music pleasure. The drivers are made out of Kevlar - that should give you an idea of how strong they are. The speaker case is real wood that is 1 inch thick. More than 50 lbs each - it''s a challenge just to get them out of the box. I was also concerned about whether pairing these with a Sunfire Signature True Subwoofer would be a good combination. It is an excellent match. The 804''s produce crystal clear highs and the Sunfire sub I have complements it perfectly. They even have enough bass to go without a sub, but really shine when combined with one. If you do go with these speakers, make sure you also pay extra and get good cabling. I''m using Kimber cables and Hero interconnects. For the amplifier, I have a Sunfire Cinema Grand and my preamp/processor is the Sunfire Theater Grand. It is one hell of a setup. I can''t recommend the 804''s enough. Splurge and get a pair of these - you won''t regret it. The 803''s are not $1,500 better than these, in my opinion. If you happen to have $11,000 to spend on speakers - then definitely go with the 801''s. Otherwise, the 804''s are the way to go.

Similar Products Used:

Bose, Klipsch, Paradigm, JBL, Polk, AvantGarde, Snell, Infinity

super clear...extended refined bass...true sound reproduction in all freqencies...excellent crafsmenship.

none so far in 2 years

Since I bought these speakers I have yet to hear anything else so clean and defining.I have used polk and paradigm which were very good as well but the B&Ws just made those other speakers cry.Sometimes it is hard to tell where the sound is comming from...excellent imaging and soundstage.

Similar Products Used:

paradigm...polk audio...bose

What sets B&W apart? Lively sound, very open tweeter/high freq’s,pinpoint imaging, well integrated drivers, low box colorations. They just sound natural and “right”. Front port so don’t worry about walls boosting bass unless you put them in a corner. Nice curves!

Brightness is realistic but some may not like. “Mellow” sound loses some detail vs, say Thiel. First get an amp of decent quality Classe CAP 151 or Musical Fidelity A300 int. or don’t complain about sound quality! I would not go below 120 wpc for N804. If you do you won’t get the bass / dynamics / and slam these speakers are capable of. Second complaints-N804 does not do DEEP bass but to 40 Hz bass is the best you can. Also, I do not play scratchy records on the 804’s but they pull an amazing amount of detail out of Napster-burned discs and actually sound pretty good.

I want to thank Lyric HiFi and Sound by Singer in NYC. These were the only dealers who put speakers first and don’t push expensive CDP’s expensive speaker wire or I/C’s which make little to no sound difference. ? Gershman Acoustics Avante Guard overbearing boomy bass / sound changed dramatically as I walked around room. I would not recomment to anyone. ? Meadowlark Shearwater H/R – the ultimate rock n’ roll speaker? Harsh highs with Krell, big but flabby bass even with Krell SS amp. Listen for ½ hour because can be fatiguing. Plays loud. ? Audio Physic Step III – opposite of Shearwater. Very detailed, won’t play real loud, limited dynamics, unreal huge soundstage requires you sit in the “Sweet Spot. Very competent. ? Monitor Audio 8/9 is shut in on top/ tonality changes with volume / boxy and unatural / good quality bass / more forward and “edgy”. ? CM4 – much more open than Monitor Audio / bass can be boomy / more of a H/T speaker as it is not natural like CDM7. ? Snell .5 – comparable to CM4 but deeper bass /plays louder / open highs due to push/pull tweeter. ? CDM –7 / excellent speaker / open on highs / very natural / just sounds “right” / excellent soundstaging / dynamic music jumps out of the box. butt-kickers. ? Epos M-15 excellent but sounds small (size and lack of bass) and limited dynamics. ? Triangle Celius- excellent but limited dynamics vs N804, super fast but unrealistically so? requires tubes (I preferred SET with it. ? Vienna Acoustics Mozart- fine little speaker, won’t play real loud, please don’t waste your $$ when B&W CDM7 is so much better in every way and costs less. ? Sonus Grand Piano- just did not sound right, not for $3,000+. ? Paradigm Ref 100 – excellent speaker. Think Chrysler hemi / Ford V8. Lack detail, liveliness and slam of B&W (but good bass ? DynAudio Contour 3.0- highly competent like an army sniper, somewhat unemotional sound due to 1st order crossover? Highs less bright than B&W. My 2nd choice. ? ProAc 2.5- tweeter is messed up. Excellent bass- wish B&W had it, warmer than B&W but really boxy/closed in on top end vs. N804. ? Thiel 1.5/2.3- harsh on highs –an instrument of pain on J5 ‘s “Dancin machine”, you must audition for ½ hour and play hot music –you’ve been warned. My system: Marantz CDR-500/ Adcom GFP-750/ Musical Fidelity A3cr/ N804/ Home Depot speaker wire (not bi-wired)/ Canare $20 I/C''s.

Similar Products Used:

I auditioned everything I could find. More than room for above.

I've recently finished auditioning the Nautilus 805's, 803's, and the 804's in my home. I began with the N805's, and I've reviewed those elsewhere on this 'site. They were not really what I was looking for as it turned out, so I moved up to the floor-stander's.

Without going into excessive detail, I would just say that the N804's were an improvement over the N805's in some important areas except the upper highs, (same tweeter of course, but crossed over at 4 kHz instead of 3 kHz.) To wit:

I liked the tighter, more extended and accurate bass response of the N804 over the N805. And as far as I'm concerned, the lower treble/upper midrange was better evenly balanced with the rest of the presentation through the N804's as well, (must have been that FST® midrange driver working its magic!). Then of course, the higher power handling of N804 is certainly desireable.

I really enjoyed the smallest floor-standing Nautilus design, and came very close to a final purchase. And even though the low-end response was a big improvement over the baby Nautilus, I found myself wanting to plop a sub-woofer into the system: the N804 is just a bit too lean in the bass range for me (but not by much), at least in my room with my equipment. But the lows that ARE there are dynamic, uncompressed, tight and clean. Push those little 6 1/2" woofers with some high power, and be not afraid!

Maybe if the N804's were more boundary-reinforced than where I had to place them (28" from the rear wall; about 4 1/2' feet from the sides), they'd exhibit stronger bass output. But that may come at the expense of the excellent soundstaging/imaging qualities of these beauties.

The N804's are a great value overall. Do give them a listen if you're searching in this price range.

My (evolving) system:


•Mesa Engineering 'Baron' power amp, with stock Mesa 5881 power tubes and NOS French Mazda chrome-plate 12AX7 input tubes.
•Audible Illusions Modulus 3 (not 3A) pre-amp with NOS Ediswan's (phono) and Tungsram's (line).
•VPI HW-19 Mk III 'table with PLC.
•Well-Tempered Classic 'arm with upgrades.
•Sumiko Blue Point Special & Van den Hul Frog pick-ups.
•Theta DS Pro Basic II D/A converter.
•Rotel RCD-865BX CD player (as transport only).
•Sony TC-K679ES cassette deck.
•Mitsubishi HS-U770 S-VHS VCR.
•Adcom ACE-515 line conditioner.
•Various cables from Audioquest, Audio Research, HAVE/Canare, MIT, Monster, etc.
•Assorted tweaks and widgets...

Sound & Appearance

Lacks truly deep bass

This is my exit review for the N804, as I have trade up to the N803. My original review of the N804 appears below, and is dated 9/18/99.

In my 1 year (minus 1 day) of owning the 804's I have been 100% delighted with them. The only reason I'm letting them go is because my local dealer offers 100% trade up credit within 1 year, and I now have a larger listening area that will benefit from the 803's. That little bit of extra bass will also be welcome......really it's the only thing lacking in the 804.....but unless you are doing a lot of synth/rap/major orchestral works, the 804 bass is fine.

Since my original review I changed my amp from the Classe CA150 to a Bryston 4BST. It made all the difference in the world. Technically it is more amp than the 804's require, but the reality is in the listening. These speakers like power, and Bryston is one of the more affordable ways to get it. This works. And, as a guy who also owns an 8 wpc SET, that is the realization I wanted to share with you in this exit review.

After they are broken in I'll post a review of the 803's. In red, of course.

Similar Products Used:

There are no similar products I've owned

Excellent looks, mid and high

Staging, and bass

I am using the N804 for home theater setup replacing my aging Klipsch. In the store where I bought it, it was compared vs. 604 S2 and Contour 1.3 II. The 604 has the power and the slamm but the sound is harsh, especially if I match it with my centre HTM2. The Contour 1.3 is excellent for music and have great details. If you are looking for audio only, you should give the Contour a serious listen. At the end I chose N804 because it has the excellent looks and great mid and high. N804 really sings when it comes to human voice. Jacintha's voice in Moon River was very warm and detail, also Livingston Taylor in Ink.

At home for HT setup I paired it with Marantz SR 18, it definetely beats my Klispch. I really got the clarity and transparancy that is parallel to its price.

Having said that, this speaker is losing against my EPOS and Proac for stereo imaging. I paired them with my CAL 10 and Adcom GFP750/5802 for audio listening. Both Proac & Epos provide more 3 dimension sound vs. the 804. I also notice the 804 likes to be drived in higher volume.


Overall, it's great for HT setup, especially if you add a good sub. 4 stars for the sound and 5 for looks

Similar Products Used:

Epos ES 30, Proac Tablette, Klipsch KSF 10.5, Contour 1.3 II, B&W 604 S2

Aesthetics, design and the tightest bass you will find

MUST be bi-wired

I find these speakers to be phenomenal. The imaging, breadth and depth of the soundstage are beautiful. The midrange clarity, the precision of the Nautilus tweeter and the perfection of the mid bass are all unparalled in a speaker for this price. I find that I like coupling them with my Paradigm Sub and not asking them to play full range, but I found that after bi-wiring them [please, if you're willing to spend $3K on the speakers, spend the money on quality bi-wired cable] the bass is more than satisfactory for audio, it only lacks in HT which is the minority of my listening. I often listen to them playing full range without the sub when I have a good quality CD in Stereo. I will admit that I had some reserations when leaving the store about $3K for a pair - as I was also purchasing N805's and an AVR 5800 at the same time - but it was the best money I spent in the entire system. They grow more musical every day.

Similar Products Used:

Previous speakers were top of the line Infinitys, which quite frankly, is no comparision.

Very clear, articulate speakers. Great bass extension for a relatively small speaker. Very versatile. Great sound and great looks to boot.

Slight dip in upper-bass/low midrange can cause certain bass guitars/upright basses to become somewhat muted in the mix. Great for two-channel audio, but unimpressive as two-channel home theater speakers, if you care about that sort of thing.

I've spent the last six months auditioning speakers, and I ended up buying the 804s. The 804s sounded very similar to the more expensive 803s, but the slightly better bass of the 803s wasn't significant enough to justify the extra $1,500 and larger footprint. (I'm a big fan of acid jazz and funk, so bass response was not an minor consideration.) I believe that the 804s are one of--if not the--best speakers available for under $4k.

A few caveats: First, the 804s sound disappointing straight out of the box--rather harsh and uninspired. Let them break in and they really warm up. Second, these speakers are somewhat chameleon-like. They can sound drastically different when paired with different combinations of gear. It soon became clear to me that the speakers were accurately (and consistently) reflecting the differences in the equipment upstream in the signal chain. Pair them with the right components and they will shine.

These are good-looking speakers. I bought mine in the red-stained cherrywood color, which I find the most appealing color for the Nautilus series speakers. Although not a consideration for me personally, I suspect the spousal acceptance factor would be rather high for these critters.

One side note on Audiophilia in general: Being a musician I'm very familiar with live sound, but I'm new to high-end audio equipment that doesn't have inputs for my Telecaster. I started my quest for audio nirvana by reading a bunch of magazines that gushed over the "better than Diana Krall curiously appearing in your living room for no adequately explained reason" sound quality of certain components. Well, after listening to some pretty high-end systems at my local dealers ($30K and up--not that I would spend that much on audio gear), I have to say that it ain't all that. I was getting nowhere fast until I adjusted my expectations to the "live vocals as heard through the club PA system from the front row" level of sound quality. Your mileage may vary.

Anyway, you should give these speakers a listen if you've budgeted somewhere in the zip code of the $3,500 range for speakers.

Cheers,

-W

Tremendous depth of sound, build quality, looks.

Demands high quality electronics.

I've been looking at these speakers for a couple of years now, after having owned the B&W CDM7 SEs for two years in my home theater. My dream was to have a high-end two-channel only system, and found myself constantly wandering into B&W dealers' showrooms where I would proceed to head for those special "Nautilus rooms,'' those darkened rooms where you find the huge 801s powered by top-of-the-line Krell monoblocks. I knew I could never afford the 801s, let alone the 804s. But when an opportunity arose to purchase these speakers from a dealer new for $2,700 total (they list for 3,500 and B&W dealers rarely give significant discounts) I couldn't turn it down. So in came a set of the 804s in beautiful red cherry. I use a Nakamichi AV-10 for my home theater, but a receiver, even a high quality receiver, is not the ideal power source for the 804s. These speakers demand high quality power for peak performance. So I mated them with a Classe CAP-101 integrated amp. The combination is astounding. Holly Cole now visits my living room with her trio. Diana Krall stops by with her piano. Erykah Badu Live is exactly that _ live. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon? Well, just try to imagine. I'm amazed at the depth of the music , the detail and the substantial soundstage. Piano is over there, drums are over there and vocals right smack in the middle. The rest of my system includes a California Audio Labs Icon Mk II and DH Labs Q-10 biwire speaker cables. Biwire really is the only way to go with the Nautilus 804s. These are fine speakers and really are more sensible than the 803s, which in my opinion aren't worth the $1,500 more in list price than the 804s. Maybe some day I'll move up to the 802s (yeah, right). In the meantime, I have a fantastic two-channel setup that is giving me and my wife hours of listening pleasure (they look great in our living room, a real plus for the wife acceptance factor). Despite my praise here, I would really think twice about pruchasing these speakers at list. Are there better speakers out there for the money? Probably. But these speakers should be on anyone's must-listen list when auditioning speakers. My value rating reflects the price I paid, not the list price.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, B&W CDM7 SEs