Why lots of B&W Nautilus for sale used?

Driver integration issues I addressed relate to the listening distance from the speaker (front-to-back), NOT lateral separation, as seemingly responded to in a few posts above.... I simply couldn't get the 804 (REALLY needs a sub!) or the 803 Nautilus to cohere until I stepped BACK 10-15 feet, which doesn't work in my room. Re the 802N reviews, I just received back issues of Sensible Sound, and refer you to David Moran's take on the 802N when measured at my friend Tom's house last year (#78, Dec/Jan 00). I believe part of the driver integration issue stems from the highish 400Hz croosover, requiring mounting of the woofers fairly high up, with a major dip in power response around 300 Hz. The poor vertical axis response shifts I found (with the 804 and 803) bothersome because I like a loudspeaker to sound good as I walk into the room, not just when seated. I assume that the highish upper crossover (4kHz) is difficult to work with, especially given the broad flare of the Nautilus tweeter, and that B&W chose to shelve the tweeter down to prohibit a too-hot response; thus the oft-mentioned midrange "shoutiness". I had thus similarly feared that the Verity design, which runs the 5" mid naked up to an astonishing 5.5kHz cross would have a similarly problematic transition, but it doesn't. I've NOT listened critically to the 802N...perhaps the midrange enclose is more successful than the 803/804 in several ways, but Messrs. Moran et al didn't think so. I've got to believe that the room setup (sidewall distance), and listening distance (and height!) are VERY critical for these latest B&Ws, and that that's why results vary so much, eh? Ernie

I have owned the following B&W speakers in order: 1 B&W DM640 2 B&W Matrix 802S3 3 B&W Matrix 804 4 B&W Nautilus 804 5 B&W Nautilus 805 I like the 805's and will not sell them. I enjoy them more than any of the above list. Build is far superior to the matrix series. I have always liked B&W sound but I think N series speakers are more refined than the Matirix series stuff. As for why so many for sale - just a factor of how many were sold.

Subaruguru have you read the review in Audio Review Magazine (Feb '99). They actually measured the speakers with a TEF20 and spent time using them and positioning them correctly in the room and they raved about N802. I read the Sensible Sound Review and was very skeptical. I own a TEF20 and a B&K 4007 lab microphone and found very similar results to the Audio Review in my experiments. However, if the speaker does not float your boat then don't buy it - it's that simple. Trying to correlate speakers for sale on the used market to speaker quality w/o knowing the volume of sales is ridiculous. Dan

A94510 your living in the past,the very first amp Gryphon made back in the mid 80's had a problem with getting too hot and creating cold solders due I believe to the fact that we are double the current over here.Since the arival of the Antillion back in the mid 90's there have been no problems that i am aware of,And since i was the only dealer in the U.S. from 96 to the year 2000 i think i should have heard something?..no?Check out The best system ever built threads going on next door.It is good to here that Dan is comming out with better sounds these days.I went to his room a Treasure Island at CES and told him personaly that i was looking for a ss line that would fill the gap between Gryphon and McCormack(He liked that). I told him to come on over by the store and give his amps a shot.Do you know what he brought...I will give you a hint...It sure as hell wasn't an amp....because he is no fool...he brought the only thing Gryphon didn't make..a cd player..I didn't even think of that,THAT'S PRETTY CLEVER of him,don't ya think.I must confess that many many years ago i thought Krell was it.

The Antillion Signature pictures will be posted on the web site in a couple of weeks or you can e-mail me directly.