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SET with B&W Nautilus

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I was pleasantly surprised this summer when I tried a SET amp with my 804's. I'd been using a Sugden Au51P (125 wpc, lots of class A bias) with a SimAudio P-5 preamp, but I fell in love with a KR18 BSI - an 18 wpc SET integrated based on the KR 300BXLS tube. My dealer assured me it would run the 804's, so I gave it a try. To my amazement it was much better than the SS combo I'd been using. It was significantly more musical and expressive, with a richer tonal palette and it even provided deeper, fuller and better-articulated bass.

That said, I think this result is definitely dependent on that particular amp - it has a lot of current drive for a SET. The 804 might not work as well with a more traditional, lower-powered SET with less current capability.

Now, my local B&W dealer is of the "lotsa wattsa" school, so there's no way he'd want to hear about this little discovery. But others here may be in a similar position of having B&Ws but loving the SET sound. My advice would by to try the combo and see. Conventional wisdom is often outflanked by unconventional experience!
Paul Chefurka


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Topic - REVIEW: B&W Nautilus 803 Speakers - LowPhreak 12:37:48 12/23/03 ( 12)