Review: B & W Loudspeakers Nautilus 805 Monitor

In regards to Flips response.I own b+w's myself but I must admit I have only every heard them properly setup once in a store.Everytime I heard them in a store I thought..There is nothing about this demonstration that would make me want to buy them.I have found this to be true for a number of speakers that have received rave reviews.I chalk it up to dealers that don't know what good sound is.So why did I buy my 801's....because I had a friend who had worked in the recording industry for years.He said the first time he heard them in the late 70's that he had been quit impressed.He doesn't impress easily,doesn't believe in wire or voodoo.So as you can see I really valued his opinion.I bought them and have always been happy with them..Do I think they are the best?NO...no speaker is but b+w do so many things very well...some speakers excel in areas .I find that b+w overall has the fewest weak points...

I too am a B&W 610i series owner and although I cannot disagree with the brightness in the upper frequencies, I must admit that coupled with a warmer sounding gear the results are breathtaking. Also, to get a hint of why reviewers are so enamored with the brand, check out the article in Sound on Sound.com where independent tests for accuracy and other criteria were conducted on 'hifi' versus 'pro' studio monitors and results confirmed B&W was the most faithful to the original mic'd recordings. So faithful, in fact, that the reviewer (and studio recording engineer) agreed that B&W's could easily replace their existing studio monitors without causing any audtioning concerns at all.

(Ttrulis)"...There is virtually no bass" (refering to 805's)

I would like to add that Ttrulis's exposse on the 805's is one of AN IMPROPER SET UP!....TYPICAL!!!!...AS USUAL.
The "no bass" is a problem with (ONE) your speaker placment, and (two) your seating position!...and the interaction bewteen the two.
This is unfair at best!
No, I'm not a big 805N fan, nore critic. But I have sold the speakers, as with many many others. You can get good bass out of em, if(like any speaker) you place them in the room properly!
I CAN'T UNDERSTATE ENOUGH HOW MANY AUDIO ENTHUSIEST STICK SPEAKERS IN THEIR ROOMS(AND CHAIRS), LEAVE THEM IN THE FIRST SPT THEY FEEL IS RIGHT, AND JUDGE ACCORDINGLY!!!!!..time and time and time and time again. It never fails to amaze me.
I've heard the same kind of coments from people about the best bass speakers around! They say "I can't get no bass!..or these speaker's bass sucks!". 97% of the time, it's USER ERROR!..or in-operable room situations. GARANTEED!

I have become a B&W N805 owner in the last month. I must have listened to twelve different brands of speakers,including floorstanders and standmounts. My room being about 14'x15' does not need a lot to fill it up. My tastes range from jazz(the real stuff,not that smooth crap)to classical and old rock. I found no setup in any audio store that gave a true account of any speaker I auditioned. But I kept coming back to the 805N. What I heard was not brightness,but very sweet and controled highs. I didn't expect much bass cause it's a freekin bookshelf speaker. But the heart of the thing,the midrange is what won me over. Miles' horn was what I heard in a small club in Detroit some years ago. Herbie Hancock's piano had real weight and sounded like a piano. Vocals were really there. Now your upstream gear does make a difference and mine is currenly Lexicon and Rotel with some other stuff thrown in. But to all of the naysayer about B&W,I guess thats why God invented more the one speaker.

I have owned N805's since 10/03 it is 6/04 as of this writing. The B&W's replaced NHT super ones that I enjoyed for 6 yrs. I too read the reviews and actually had a very positive experience with an in store demo, 805's coupled with a velodyne sub. Last Oct I finally sprung for the system (805, and an HGS 15). These were integrated into a HT setup includeing NHT's, an ATI 5 channel amp and an Outlaw 950. I was shockingly unimpressed with the B&W Velo combo. I found myself preferring the NHT superone/sub combo. Flat sound, smeary mids, lack of dynamics mini soundstage and less bottom end weight than what I was used too!! There was alot of money spent to be disappointed!. I read about the long break - in and hoped for the best. My first step was to replace my too tall Lovans with Sound anchor stands (more money). I never expected stands to make a big difference but things did improve slightly. I continued to pay the Visa bill while we cranked DVD after DVD through the system, I had abandoned 2 channel listening. This past weekend I sat down with some discs and there it was SONIC NIRVANA!! I was confident in my setup after many SPL meter calibration sessions but until this past weekend nothing worked. I don't know when they broke in but it happened. The difference was not subtle. The soundstage is now so wide I checked the surrounds to see if they were active (they were not) The sound is cohesive and dynamic from top to bottom, true full range sound. From acoustic small group to Van Halen these things do it all. I haven't stopped listening. I've taken time off work just to enjoy listening!! The sound out of the box is not represenative of the broken in sound. Hang on to your 805's and just run em as often as you can. The sound is night and day from where it started. The highs are clear and open NOT harsh, the mid/s and bass are tight and punchy, and with a sub full range. It took a long time and now I couldn't be happier. The 805's IMO are worth every penny, but you have to BREAK THEM IN, you will be rewarded with truly great performance. All 2 CH evaluation has always been done in 2 channel "analog bypass" mode.