I too am a happy listener with Parsifal Encores, which are essentially 2-way monitors with bass pedestals.
The key to fine imaging with ANY speaker system is mostly in sensitivity and response-matching of the driver pairs.
That simple! I was surprised to hear that the lowly but VERY carefully-matched Spendor 3/5 imaged much better than N803, and almost as well as my Encores (which have archived driver pairs matched to +/-0.25 dB! This costs money, folks!)
The B&Ws are cranked out by the hundreds with a driver sensitivity production range that's financially acceptable to B&W. If you have consecutive serial numbers then that may indicate pair-matching, but I doubt it. If not, then you simply have a pair with fairly differing tweeters. Nautilus series is voiced fairly brightly, with a recessed midrange. As tweeters are the most difficult driver to manufacture within a tight sensitivity range, it's a likely bet that you have two N803s that simply lie fairly far apart within their tweeter sensitivity ranges.
OR: your sidewalls are too asymmetric? Try swapping the L & R positions. Better? Worse? Will probably be one or the other, again indicating a difference in tweeter sensitivity.
Driver-matching is an expensive proposition. Whereas I'm not an industry insider, the companies that tightly control driver pairs include verity Audio, Snell, Revel, and probably many others at the high end. The fact that Boston Acoustics manages to tightly control its tweeter production is an efficiency marvel! Too bad their midranges sound like crap....
Also, realize that the N803 (like all Nautilus) require a long listening distance to allow the woofers to cohere with the midrange, as they're crossed at a highish 400Hz. That shouldn't affect the soundstaging as much as the tweeter variability, however. Play around with your sidewalls and speaker positions before you try amp changes....Good Luck.
The key to fine imaging with ANY speaker system is mostly in sensitivity and response-matching of the driver pairs.
That simple! I was surprised to hear that the lowly but VERY carefully-matched Spendor 3/5 imaged much better than N803, and almost as well as my Encores (which have archived driver pairs matched to +/-0.25 dB! This costs money, folks!)
The B&Ws are cranked out by the hundreds with a driver sensitivity production range that's financially acceptable to B&W. If you have consecutive serial numbers then that may indicate pair-matching, but I doubt it. If not, then you simply have a pair with fairly differing tweeters. Nautilus series is voiced fairly brightly, with a recessed midrange. As tweeters are the most difficult driver to manufacture within a tight sensitivity range, it's a likely bet that you have two N803s that simply lie fairly far apart within their tweeter sensitivity ranges.
OR: your sidewalls are too asymmetric? Try swapping the L & R positions. Better? Worse? Will probably be one or the other, again indicating a difference in tweeter sensitivity.
Driver-matching is an expensive proposition. Whereas I'm not an industry insider, the companies that tightly control driver pairs include verity Audio, Snell, Revel, and probably many others at the high end. The fact that Boston Acoustics manages to tightly control its tweeter production is an efficiency marvel! Too bad their midranges sound like crap....
Also, realize that the N803 (like all Nautilus) require a long listening distance to allow the woofers to cohere with the midrange, as they're crossed at a highish 400Hz. That shouldn't affect the soundstaging as much as the tweeter variability, however. Play around with your sidewalls and speaker positions before you try amp changes....Good Luck.