B&w 803s. Vs nautilus 802


Hi I was wondering what was people's opinions on which of these is the better speaker. If you had a pair of 803s would you trade them for a pair nautilus 802. Give reasons why you think one is better than the other. Can you even compare the 803s to the 802n ?
joehernandez509
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.
Budt,

B&W are tremendously successful. The majority of their designs have a recessed mid range or a smile EQ presentation due to the narrowing (beaming) of the upper mid range. This is caused by having a crossover at 4 KHz on a 6 inch mid range driver. It is simple physics. B&W are not the only one, in fact, the vast majority of speakers do this. Why? Because people prefer this presentation and it sells well. Given a stereo with bass and treble controls, most people tend to boost treble and bass much more than any other settings (with the exception of flat). A speaker that is already boosted in the bass and treble is likely to win in comparisons on the Hi-Fi store floor. Like food with more salt and spice - a small taste demands more attention - even if it may be overpowering when sitting down to a full meal. There is only a very small minority who do not appreciate this more spicy presentation and who would prefer to have a more balanced presentation - all I am saying is that Stringreen may be one of those very few. That B&W is so extremely successful speaks for itself - they make great sounding speakers. B&W is an admirably long-lived successful company in a niche that is littered with has one-hit wonders.

So although you may not like a little criticism of B&W, you see we actually agree for the most part. Great company. Great speakers.
Well put, Budt. I agree with you. There are certain people out there and you know who you are, that just can't get it thru their thick heads that there ARE people that like B&W speakers. I don't claim they are the best but do offer good value for the money. Just read the many favorable reviews. All of these reviewers can't all be wrong. Certain people in this thread seem to be compelled to constantly bash B&W or try to steer the person who started the thread away from these speakers. Why? Just because you don't like them don't think for a minute that all others will feel the same way. As the other gentleman said, get over yourselves and your shallow opinions.
I just bet most audiophiles do not have their listening areas treated properly and so frequency response would be all over the place anyways.I think this is the reason people search for and talk about system SYNERGY, toe their speakers in/out etc . The other totally misleading thing audiophiles tak about is "dispersion " . This a a TOTALLY meaningless characteristic for 99% of serious audiophiles.Why? cause we all do our serious listening by ourselves and therefore sit in the sweet spot.So between treatment and positioning etc we can get good sound as long as the speakers are reasonable well designed and have good drivers. The better the design and drivers the easier it is to accomplish( usually).