I heard the 801d yesterday with my electronics. The tweeter tamed bright recordings compared to my nautilus 801's. They were not run in yet but I could hear some overall differences. He had a 200w chord amp connected when I arrived, so I listened for awhile and then we biamped them with my 2 300w/ch amps and the difference was huge in a positive direction but I could still hear that they needed more power, at least for the woofer...I'm getting 4 600w mono amps for my 801's. I asked B&W about power demands for 801d and they said they are more demanding then nautilus 801... His room was longer and higher then mine but I could hear the room reflections(extra mid and teble phasy energy) and boomy bass where confusing the soundstage focus and this is the main problem with getting the most out of my nautilus 801's. I was actually considering purchasing 801d but my conclusion is that I would not appreciate the difference unless I have mega power, perfect control of the room reflections(echo and comb filtering)with diffusers and absorbers along with bass traps(panel traps and helmholtz resonators)for really good control of standing waves. My room is midway to completion for these issues and I can hear the focus improving and the posiblity for my "dream sound" is in sight. The 801d will not illiminate the need for this type of room!
I'm very confused why the "extreme" compexity of whole set up to get 801's to sound the way they should was not mentioned more by B&W, reviewers and owners?
I'm sure the 800 isn't as difficult in the bass but are owners having similiar problems from mids and highs?...
