B&W Matrix vs Nautulis


Just wanna see what the consensus is out there with reference to which series is the better speaker. I had a pair of B&W 801 Matirx...super speaker..loved it so much i figured the 801N HAD to be nirvana. Well i got a pair. Kept them for about 3 yrs and never quite felt comfortable
with them. I kept thinking how the 801 Matrix sounded. So after some soul searching i sold the 801N's and went back to the 801 Matrix. WOW ...magic...again. Does anyone out there also think the Matirx 800 series is superior to the
800 Nautulis series? The Nautulis is missing something.
They sound thin when compared to the Matrix series. Am i crazy ? does anyone agree? thx
128x128rocky

Showing 1 response by tuong9906

My first love was listening to a pair of B&W 801 FS, in late 1979, how lovely and smooth were the sound. Owned a pair of 802FS since late 1986 until last year, what a beautiful relationship! I always felt that the engineering from this little British guy w/ big ears (Mister John Bowers himself!) was about 10 years ahead of anyone else on the market, with the resulting sounds of mass produced LPs and CDs just a touch "harsh" or bright on my B&W, but well recorded classical CDs sounded wonderful. From the early '90 on out, most recording sounded great on it (better recording techniques and monitor speakers?). I became engaged and married to a new pair of N802 for almost two years now, and sure enough, this system leapfrogs the current speaker designs by another decade in signal retrieval: extreme detail, revealing even of space and depth (or lack thereof) in recording venues, lowest coloration and will mercilessly show ANY shortcomings in recorded materials. Some CDs in my collections are now borderline unlistenable, many sounded better than before, some are a bunch brighter and harsher. The most fantastic sounding ones are newer DSD mastered discs (whether redbook or SACD releases), with ultra wide soundstaging, great depths, superb dynamic range and utmost clarity and lifelike impacts COMPLETELY UNMATCHED AND UNHEARD OF from previous B&W series. Yes, it was expensive, cost nearly three times the price of my old pair (I still loved it so much I gave it to my daughter so just to keep it "in the family"). Is it worth it? An emphatic YES for this music lover!