2. speakers
  3. 1119850155

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

Is it a well known fact that these speakers lack bass? I just bought them used...two years old....and am very dissappointed in the low end. My CDM 9 NT rears have more bass than these. No kidding. Is this a known problem with this speaker, or could there be something wrong? Since the 9's and the 800's are playing at the same time on the same system I do not think there is any need to list the equipment, but I will just in case it matters.
Sunfire Theatre Grand 2 processor ( all speakers are set to large)
Denon 3910 CDP
Adcom 300 by 7 ( 800's are bi amped with four of the channels.....phase is correct)
speaker wire is 14 guage in a very thick outside jacket
Thanks for your help.
baffled
mikesinger
572 posts
 
sounds like room position, pre-amp, amp, cables...using a sound processor really screws up the sound..

they are very, very, very revealing speakers.

how do you have them set-up ?

would suggest borrowing high current reference quality (krell, classe, levinson) amp/preamp and some decent ic/speaker cables..

get a stereophile test cd and run some test tones to confirm all drivers are working (test each speaker seperately then together - a driver might hae been replaced incorrectly).

good luck !!!!
mikesinger
572 posts
 
btw, lose the rear speakers for the time.... you can introduce them later...they might be causing cancellation...
illenema12f40
29 posts
 
Hello. Intresting thread here. Wondering if Judy426 will please list her true reference speaker picks at say the 4-5K level then the 20K level please im just curious
programmergeek
322 posts
 
Yea they are amp picky adcom don't have the best bass power also the right cables are important it's not thickness but the cable itself. I learned they the hard way also copper is not just copper. Maybe see if you can borrow some different cables and innerconnects. They are a tuff speaker to drive. Overall B$W have skued bass and treble some, bass light some and some punchy, but in there defence once set up right they are not to bad and sound better than alot of speakers. Also make sure they have enought breething room if you have them tl close or to far frm a wall you will loose the bass image.

When you stand at the back of the room do you hear more bass?
mitchchavis
80 posts
 
I agree with all the above suggestions to look elsewhere for the fault if bass is lacking. I own the N800 Sigs and I drive them with a Levinson 336 amp. My room is fairly large and open on two sides with 16' ceilings. The bass is not lacking. I agree with Mikesinger: these are revealing speakers.

Best,
Mitch
More to discover