B&W Nautilus Tweeter Grills - Lose 'em


I figured out how the Nautilus tweeter assembly disassembles (accidentally), but sufficed to say, it is very easy to take the tweeter tube apart, without going into the speaker cabinet proper. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY THIS IS THE 805!!!!!! Tweeter assembly MAY be different on the floorstanders)
I was able to disassemble the tweeter tube, while looking at the grill, to see if there was any way to take the metal grill out of the picture. First, you remove the "shroud" (part grill, part tweeter assembly)(the grill to the joint with the gap, about 1" in length), simply by twisting it counter-clockwise against the main black part of the tweeter housing. WHen it turns, the shroud, tweeter, and rear silver part of the tweeter tube (toward the rear of the speaker) will all be moving as 1. About 1/4 turn, and it comes right off, leaving the tweeter/tweeter tube (1 piece) itself in the main black stationary part of the tweeter assembly, the part that makes contact at the bottom to the main speaker enclosure. Once it was off, I could see that the grill was a separate assembly, and just pops off (try rotating it first, just to see where the lip is).
READ THIS PART DO NOT SKIP< YOU MIGHT BE SORRY <
BUT once I disassembled the tweeter assembly, I could see that it wasn't even necessary to do so, in reality, I could have just taken the grill off without actually taking the WHOLE tweeter apart. Oh well, I ligned it up, 1/4 twist clockwise, and it was back on perfectly. Sound is much improved, which you will easily able to A-B', since the metal grill is "pulled" into the right place (just don't snap it back on) by the tweeter magnet. I heard much cleaner highs, less grain. It looks cool, too, not at all "altered". I havent snapped mine back on, and dont plan to do so. As always, your mileage may vary, but I did it, no problems at all, and it sounds better on my 805s. Glad to be sharing this one.
gthirteen
B&W voices their Nautilus speakers with the tweeter grills on so they do not recommended that they are removed. Also, as a previous poster said, the metal diaphram is very fragile and can easily dent if prodded. The entry-level 300 and 600 series don't have any tweeter dome protection so why would their flagship range if they were concerned with the performance aspects of it.
This is one of the best tweaking I did on N805, N805 gets more musicality, cleanness, shading, & resolution, continuousness. It's a must try. i don't need to upgrade for a while. Cheaper B&W speakers don't have this kind of grill as they already have had cheaper typical plastic grills.
I just bought a set of new grills for my 805s that the prior owner had removed and damamged. I called B&W UK, since I live in England and ordered new ones for about $50. I reccomend that if you have children to leave them on, as children could stick a finger(s) into them. Also I am afraid of banging the tweeter with vaccumm claeaner handle and damaging the delicate driver. I have noticed no diference in sound quality witht hem of then on. IMO anyway.