Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: B&W Nautilus 800 Speakers by Audioquest4life

Model:	Nautilus 800
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$16000
Description:	Full Range floorstanding speaker
Manufacturer URL:	B&W
Manufacturer URL:	B&W

Review by Audioquest4life ( A ) on March 08, 2006 at 05:49:08
IP Address: 84.166.252.150

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for the Nautilus 800

Where to begin? I was 13 when my audio and music quests all started. Actually I was 8 and some change listening to my step dad talk about his gigs playing back-up for way back then, Santana, he played bongos and congas on a part time basis at various West Coast clubs. Listening to him talk and showing us his 16 track, 8 track, and whatever else type of recording stuff he had fascinated me. His stereo consisted of some separates but I am not sure of make and model, I believe early McIntosh, but it sounded great to these young ears. I became a trumpet player at the high school band.
Roll forward to present day, past my first big stereo purchase at 14, in 1977, working as a painter in a church for 2 years helped earn the money for that big purchase and then another big purchase in 1982 as part of my enlistment bonus, past the next big purchase in 1986, (I introduce Carver (1.5MT) and Soundcraftsman (A5001)) to my system , again another bonus, and on and off again until present day with components drifting in and out at various times of my life. What a story indeed.
Along the way, I have learned a lot about flutter echoes, isolation, resonance, equipment mismatches, corner loading, cable choices and so and so on, and what may work me may not for anyone else. My ears are also one of my tools and therefore I use them to be the last and final basis of any mod, tweak or supposed upgrade. If it sounds good, then it must be good.
The modern day Audioquest4life system is probably considered retro in regards to tube amps and turntables.
PREAMP AND AMPS:
Octave HP500SE preamp
( http://www.octave.de/english/products/PreAmplifiers/info_hp500se.htm )
with integrated MC and Octave MRE 130 (http://www.octave.de/english/products/PowerAmplifiers/INFO-MRE130.htm ) mono tube amps with Super Black Box (really big external power supplies) fulfill the control and power department. Neotech OEM (mystery cable in USA?) pure OCC silver speaker cable with 4 strands for bi-wiring, in 1.5 meter lengths. Copulare ( www.copulare.de) amp stands with quartz sand filled bases for power supplies and mono amps and custom designed wine red platforms filled with quartz sand. .
TURNTABLE:
Transrotor Apollon turntable with 3 motors, 80mm platter, TMD (Transrotor Magnetic Drive) bearing and external quartz control power supply with variable 33/45 speed control. Clearaudio MontBlanc turntable stand with 300lbs of damping. SME V tonearm with BenzLP MC. Van Den Hul silver wiring.
CD/SACD:
Krell SACD Standard for CD and SACD audio playback.
ROOM TREATMENT:
Echobusters in all 1st reflection zones, Echobusters BassBusters in corners, RPG Skylines on ceilings, 4mm carpet over concrete slab floors.
INTERCONNECTS:
Neotech pure OCC copper 3.5 meters long
REVIEW:
B&W Nautilus 800â€™s are speakers that are designed to be both attractive and sound good. At least that is what the advertising states, however we know it is a love hate situation with many of the B&Wâ€™s for whatever reason. I would like to state first that these speakers tell me a story, and not one that is colored, overly emphasized or missing any facts. In fact it is that very reason that I decided to write about my experiences with these speakers.
I have tried to convey as much fact and be punctual so as to get to my points. We, the misses and I listened to many speakers and through lots of various equipment, both tubes and solid state. We both agreed that the music was more pleasing to us playing vinyl through tubes rather than through solid state. I am not comparing speakers but merely stating my experiences with the B&W 800â€™s so therefore I will not mention any other speakers, however, later on I might write a review of those that I did listen to. I finally ended up with the Octave equipment as it conveyed the feeling of the music to our ears. Wow, a women that likes both racing and hi-fi equipment. I had other amps under flame at Casa Audioquest4life,,,Mark Levinson 432, McIntosh MC501â€™s, Bryston 4BSSTâ€™s and a few others. The solid state amps that I tried were all great and I really have nothing bad to say about them, however the sound between solid state gear and tube gear is different, and on many speakers and other valve equipment, we just loved the sound of the tubes and it was this point that tilted us to the tube world even more. The recent review by the German magazine Audio ( www.audio.de) confirmed my beliefs in the equipment that I am using, the Octave amp and preamp are both rated as reference products and they are compared to the ML432 and 320S, both were actually rated reference, but the point is they (the reviewers) liked both and spoke about the merits of tube and solid state giving both praise and allowing the reader to determine what is better for their situation, a tie in this league is rare.
Ok, so this effects the speakers how, well the N800â€™s were at home with many forms of electronics and I was able to detect any change I made in the system upstream, for example, switching from copper to silver interconnects allowed me to hear higher in the frequency band but lacked the natural sound of the piano and trumpet I had with the pure OCC copper, I switched back to the pure copper. I made changes to the Copulare amp stands, last week, and wow, the whole system became focused, I guess my homemade marble and concrete slabs were not working as good as I hoped, suddenly the highs were articulate and bass became more punchy not as loose as I had before, voices were more accurate and focused. The system sounded natural before but it was so clear to me, these speakers are neutral at telling the story, I could hear into the music and hear breathing amongst musical changes when singers were changing pitch, granted I heard that before, however I heard it even more. This fact in and itself told me that these speakers are great at telling you how changes effect your system, changing platforms, change room tuning, or even cables, I knew that through these speakers I could rely on them to tell me the story as it was told. Not one aspect of my upgrades ever resulted in me yelling at the speakers for sounding like mud, it was the result of the tweak or upgrade that I heard through these speakers that told me if it was good or bad. I use Karin Alyson as one of my reference albums and the first track, Moanin has a drum solo with the guy actually missing the drum and hitting the stick, or it may be intentional, you can hear it and it sounds like wood hitting wood through these speakers. On Chuck Mangiones, Children of Sanchez, there is a cymbal or triangle slide solo going on towards about 60% of the first song, you can hear the triangle resonating and a clear clanging sound at each strike of the triangleâ€¦it is really a great solo. I have used that song for cable comparisons and every time these speakers allowed me to hear the differences.
As I have mentioned above I had used solid sates amps with these speakers and I thought I had a subwoofer activated on some occasions, these speakers go deep in the bass region. When I switched to tubes I lost the bottom end I had with the solid state amps, however, for me the music came through that much better.
My listening room is not ideal, hey got do make do with what you got, only 16.4 feet by 14.5 feet with 8 foot ceilings. I had some in room resonance at higher volume levels that I was able to overcome with the addition of a Nautilus ASW850 subwoofer, out of phase tuning will work miracles, not many people realize this. I not only augmented that area of the lower bass spectrum the solid state amps ruled but was able to compensate for room mode problems with the use of the Velodyne SMS-1 subwoofer controller. The perfect blending of the main speakers and subwoofer is really easy with this tool. The lack of bass and room modes were due to room and not speakers, well ok, maybe too big of speaker in a small room, but what the heck, I like these speakers and if I had to I would fit them in a closet.
Mr. Copulare (G. Brendl) came to my house when we did the Copulare amp stands and commented how the system had a lot of synergy and how everything is balanced. He stated that the sound was deep and energetic, dynamic and realistic, well I guess so, because at 0230 AM is when he decided he had to get some sleep, we had listened that long, throwing vinyl after vinyl on the turntable and enjoying music. Mr. Brendl was right about using these stands, you will hear deeper in the music with the right components, and all I can say is that is true. Detecting minor variances in equipment changes and placement are things that these speakers allow.
Another aspect of music listening that gets my attention is when I am listening to music and I get goose bumps from listening, it is the feeling of satisfaction that overcomes me, I grin and smile when that happens. You have to ask yourself if and when the last time you listened to music on your system that you were actually listening to the music and closing your eyes and get taken away to that â€œhappy placeâ€. For me the fact that I can place an album on the turntable and feel like the performance is actually taking place says a lot. If the song has lots of bass, you will feel it, if a trumpet blasts out you will feel like it is there, right in front of you. On Ray Browns Solar Energy, the bass strings sound realistically plucked and the cymbals are so energetic. On classic rock such as Fleetwood Mac, Rumors album and the song Dreams, Christie Mcvie and Stevie Nicks sound so real and the emotion of that song just shines through with the wisps of voices coming through the left and right speakers, amazing. The atmosphere of the recording venue seems to shine through as well. On the Doobie Brothers Trafalgar album, MFSL 1-263, the song The Greatest Man in the World, the voice erupts from such an empty space and the voice is so real sounding that I swear I was so startled and looking around the room for someone by that initial beginning to that song, wow.
In comparing this version to the newer diamond version, I have looked at specs and listened to both, my conclusion for now, I will stick with these. The new diamonds frequency response specs show the diamonds actually lacking some lower bass and upper frequency energy at the closer to hearing frequencies, they are actually down by 1 or 2 db at the same measured freq of the old N800â€™s.
So in closing, the B&W N800â€™s are speakers that let the music come shining through, without any perceivable coloration, at least to my ears and the guests that have listened to the system. They tell the story as it is, they allow for the most intimate human voice playback of many other speakers I have heard. If your system sounds bright, then they will play bright, if dark or whatever, they too will be dark. In fact, if you make changes to your system and are not able to detect perceptible changes, maybe the accuracy of your speakers are in question and not the components. I have had great success with both solid state and tube gear with these speakers. These speakers will eat a flea sized tube amp of say less than 50 watts, however with my 130watt mono amps into 4 ohms, I can blow out the windows, well at least if feels that way. I did use spikes on these speakers as the bass is so deep and my room so small, I had to raise them a little. I raised the listening chair accordingly. Overall, I find these speakers pleasant to the ears and eyes. But be warned, these speakers tell the truth and sometimes the truth is hard to swallow. I donâ€™t think I will ever end the musical journey that I am on, but somehow I feel I have reached another staging point for some time to come.
Audioquest4life

Product Weakness: Heavy, hard to move with spikes
Product Strengths: Neutral, able to convey the meaning of music and song, easy to clean

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Octave MRE 130
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Octave HP 500SE
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	TRANSROTOR Apollon
Speakers:	Nautilus N800
Cables/Interconnects:	Neotech
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Pop, jazz, easy listening, classic rock
Room Size (LxWxH):	13.5 x 16.5 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	Echobusters
Time Period/Length of Audition:	2 years
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	SUN and HMS
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	Heavy, hard to move with spikes
Product Strengths:	Neutral, able to convey the meaning of music and song, easy to clean