B&W Nautilus 800.....where's the bass?

The B&W Nautilus 800 is very disappointing. That is why B&W does even want to talk about the Nautilus series. The B&W 800D is so superior over the Nautilus 800.

A few years ago I went down to a Hi-Fi Store , and they had the B&W Nautilus 800 set up. We had over $100K in electronics , cables hooked up to them and that is what I said "where the heck is the bass" ?? Very lean and bright and lacking slam in the midbass where is needed. My Sonus Faber Extrema speakers have more bass.

The B&W Nautilus 800 (800N) was not very natural sounding.
Live performances in both analog and digital were very thinned out and at times irritating.

For $16K price tage the B&W Nautilus is ridiculous. Even the candid dealer took me on the side and said B&W really &%#@! screwed up on this speaker. I earned the respect of this B&W dealer after he was very truthful with me.

I went down recently down to the same B&W dealer and now he has the 800D setup. WOW!!!! What a difference a letter can make.

In my personal opionion and many agree with me, the B&W 800 Nautilus was a short lived DOG. Even at the preowned price of $7K-8K range they are not a good choice.

Lawyerman......I am happy to say I paid less than 6000.00. Perfect condition. I like 'em even better now!

I am glad you are Happy Baffled ! Great for you.

Maybe I was a little too hard on poor ole B&W.

I beg to differ Lawyerman.
B&W 800N (Nautilus speakers) are incredible speakers! They give you all the bass and dynamics that one would ever need.

The B&W Nautilus 800 Needs the right equipment. At this level there is no room to take shortcuts. A lot of clean power, and excellent electronics, cables. And you'll hear these babies sing.

I Highly recommend the B&W 800N speakers. In fact I like them more than there new 800D speakers. Both great speakers just a matter of taste. And that is another forum topic for another day.

I have had B&W Matrix 802, Nautilus 802 and 802 D.

They definitely lack of bass... among other things.

(In the past, the medium was great... it has become rude to my ears).

And I was a B&W fan .... !

I changed my Nautilus 802D for Zingali Monitor 115, with a huge 39cm bass speaker !
Another story, much better !

And all the same ! Better midrange and high, thanks to the Omniray.

I don't understand what's happening to B&W : my 1980 Matrix pair for 3000$ was better than my 12'000$ Nautilus...