HELP - B&W Naut. 805's good music speakers?

The B&W Nautilus 805's got a good review in HiFi+ magazine (a British high end audio mag), which said it is a very good speaker for most kinds of music (although not the best for rock). If you particularly need a monitor-style speaker of modest size, then the B&W 805 is certainly worth considering.

However, since you ask if there are other speakers in the $1600-1800 range that are better choices, I have to respond that for this budget I would strongly suggest the Vandersteen 2CE Signature (which was recently chosen by TAS as a "Best Buy" among speakers costing less than $2500). And if you are willing to buy used speakers, you can get the Vandersteen 3A's for around $1800, which is a full-range speaker that offers substantially better performance than the B&W 805. The Vandersteen speakers also work very well with McCormack amps.

I own a pair of N801's (in storage in the USA) and N805's (in use in Paris). I have enjoyed the N805's ever since I purchased them nearly two years ago, when I moved to France for a 3 year assignment. Because of their size they are not perfect for all types of music. Forget high level rock, dynamic brass, deep bass etc. For general listening, especially female vocal they are superb. Very detailed and revealing. If you want to find out just how good they can sound, try a demonstration using the Norah Jones CD. I went to the Frankfurt High End show last week. I can honestly say there were no speakers demonstrated at this show (including one $100k rig) that sounded better than the N805's on this CD. I have experimented with 3 power amplifiers over the last two years; QUAD 606 MKII, Pioneer Elite M91 and a Krell KSA-250. The Krell was nothing short of a revelation, my wife and children were able to notice an immediate improvement in resolution with the Krell/N805 combination.

In conclusion, if your tastes lean towards female vocal and late night listening at moderate volume, you will not be disappointed. Forgot to mention; IMHO the red stained cherry wood finish on black B&W stands look superb and elicit many positive comments about esthetics and sound quality.

I stuck with them for almost 3 years. Damn fine speakers.
I had them, at one point, in a system using a CJ PV 11, and a McCOrmack DNA.5 amp. Great imaging, Great all around, really.A truly refined speaker.
I would absolutely recommend this speaker, even though I found somethign that lights my fire a bit more. That particular speaker, the JM Reynaud Trente, is a very similar (looking, at least) design. ALso highly recommended- a more emotional speaker, with spooky presence, and a HUGE sound, compared to the slightly smaller stage of the 805.

GOod Luck.