B&w 803s. Vs nautilus 802

Maggies, Vandersteens, et all...but better yet...go to some live concerts.

Chief, I've listened to the Vandy 5As driven by Rowland Model 10s.
I've listened to the Maggie 1.6QR driven by a Musical Fidelity integrated (model # escapes me). I've also listened to the smaller Maggie - was there a 1.2 model? I've listened to many, many Martin-Logan speakers including the Statement E2 which Gayle Martin Sanders personally demo'd when he did a road-show some time back & I own ribbons myself.
I go to many concerts each year - as many as I can get away with given that there are growing children in the household that cannot accompany us parents to such concerts.......

I like the Rowlands, and the Vandersteen 5A's, but they don't work well together. Try Ayre or Audio Research...sometimes McIntosh with Audioquest Sky/Everest cables. ...however, I think you should put your money into B&W speakers....I know ....I'm the Chief

Stringreen may not like the midrange. The design is definitely a smile EQ type presentation with recessed upper mids and accentuated bass and tweeter. You can see this from Stereophile off axis frequency plots of its successor the 802D. This kind of presentation is indeed extremely popular. Not fuzzy but slightly recessed. It will alter the timbre of violin for sure. Violin tends to have more reflected sound than other instruments (as it really projects upwards) and the lower off axis response in the 802 mid range should create a noticeable imbalance in most far-field setups.

Now you done did it, all of us B&W owners are going to need to now defend the honor of the brand since someone tinkled on it.

I dont own the Nautilus line but do own the 803 Diamonds and must say they sound simply delicious. I would imagine the compaison here between the 803 & 802 Nautilus is very similar to the comparison I did between the 802 Diamond & 803 Diamonds not too long ago.

I went into the store with a "Must Have" attitude towards the 802 but after hearing the two side by side and taking my room dimensions into heavy consideration I went with the 803 instead and have no regrets. The 803 is a very capable speaker in a properly matched system and room.

Shadome keeps bringing up the one plot of the OLD 802D and I completely agree but the OP is not asking about the old 802D. I had the 802D and thought they left much to be desired BUT the 802N is not the same speaker but has it's own weaknesses but a midrange dip it does not have. The new 800 diamonds are very good speakers.
Lastly,we all hear differently and have different rooms and therefore speaker/room interfaces.If we all had the same tastes we would all have the same speakers and the same rooms ect etc. You may not like B&W but they are one of a handful of good speakers.I would also include PMC,ATC,Tannoy,JBL etc in the "good speaker club". There are others of course but those are the ones that come to mind.
There are also others which have been highly touted that I don't like one bit.However, I don't feel the need to constantly visit those threads to BASH the product.There are some on here who feel it is their duty to continually bash a good product they don't like. These people tend to think much more highly of themselves than anyone else does. It's time you got over yourself and accept the fact that many don't share your opinion.