B&w 803s. Vs nautilus 802

09-13-11: Stringreen
802 is a better speaker, however, it offers weak bass with little extension, fuzzy mids, and overpriced.

well, Stringreen, your comments are hillarious & quite out-of-line. There is definitely something wrong with your hearing &/or your amps that were driving the N802. The bass is *not* weak & is *not* devoid of extension, the mids are *not* fuzzy at all.

09-13-11: Budt
Whoever claims the 802N is fussy in the mids needs their hearing checked ....

I agree! (I believe that Budt meant "fuzzy").
I'm not a B&W fan but would like to give the devil his due. The B&Ws have many other issues which Stringreen could have named given that he lived with the N802s for 6 months but did not (meaning that he's clueless about this speaker).

After 4 months, the right tweeter needed replacement which B&W paid for...but which I did (very easy).,,but uncalled for with an expensive product.

Now, I'm quite sure that the Ayre amps you had were not up to the job. Ayre are good amps no doubt but that does not mean that they worked for the N802. Many people (like you) completely underestimate just how hard it is to drive the N802s. Again, all these comments from my personal experience with my friend's N802.

09-14-11: Goatwuss
Stringbean never had the N802 setup right.

That's right - he *never* did!

One important thing Stringreen: not trying to make you like B&W - that will never be my intention, just to be clear with you - but I'm sure that you do not like them for all the wrong reasons. That is my principal objection.

Bombay...I'm a professional violinist...there is nothing wrong with my hearing and I know what music supposed to sound like. ..just for the halibut, listen to the Maggies, Vandersteens, et all...but better yet...go to some live concerts.

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.