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Review: B & W Loudspeakers Nautilus 805 Monitor

Category: Speakers

My musical tastes run from classical to soft rock.
The most important aspects of sound for me are the ability
of any sound system to take me as close as possible to the musical event itself. The music must move me to feel what the composer of the song wants to convey in his or her music. The worst thing a system could do to turn me off is
to place a veil between myself and my music, so clarity is of most importance to me. I have had the B&W Nautilus 805's
in my music system for about 2 1/2 years now. The 805's replaced my Vandersteen 2ce's. The addition of the 805's to my system have brought me to a new emotional high, as now Celine Dion can raise the hairs on my back as never before.
The 805's strengths are the following: 1)clear silky smooth
highs.2)excellent rendition of vocals.3)Great soundstaging
ability and 4)surprising amount of defined low bass that they produce from such a small box. I have yet to determine any weakness from these speakers yet other than the ability
to go lower in the bass region. If money were no object I would still own these speakers as they give me great pleasure.

Associated gear
VPI HW19 Mk3 Turntable
Koetsu Rosewood Needle
SME V Tonearm
Levinson 38 Pre-Amp.
Levinson 334 Power Amp
Levinson 37 Compact disc transport

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loopinglou
joe_b
421 posts
 
I have found B&W's, expecially the current and recent models to be very revealing of any flaws upstream, which I think accounts for the diversity of opinions on them. I went thru 3 amplifiers and a cd transport before I found a combination that worked with mine, but once I got the right setup, they sound very good.
darinr
7 posts
 
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...
makhan
3 posts
 
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.
exertfluffer
270 posts
 
(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!
coach-duplicate-0
27 posts
 
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.
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