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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
mrchips
53 posts
 
I beg to differ Lawyerman.
B&W 800N (Nautilus speakers) are incredible speakers! They give you all the bass and dynamics that one would ever need.

The B&W Nautilus 800 Needs the right equipment. At this level there is no room to take shortcuts. A lot of clean power, and excellent electronics, cables. And you'll hear these babies sing.

I Highly recommend the B&W 800N speakers. In fact I like them more than there new 800D speakers. Both great speakers just a matter of taste. And that is another forum topic for another day.
adhoc
47 posts
 
I have had B&W Matrix 802, Nautilus 802 and 802 D.

They definitely lack of bass... among other things.

(In the past, the medium was great... it has become rude to my ears).

And I was a B&W fan .... !

I changed my Nautilus 802D for Zingali Monitor 115, with a huge 39cm bass speaker !
Another story, much better !

And all the same ! Better midrange and high, thanks to the Omniray.

I don't understand what's happening to B&W : my 1980 Matrix pair for 3000$ was better than my 12'000$ Nautilus...
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,491 posts
 
Why would you buy a $16,000 speaker without listening to them first?
musicaudio's avatar
musicaudio
31 posts
 
I agree with JPPENN, unfortunately you can't get a pair of $16,000 reference speaker's to run with Adcom amplification. I tried doing what your doing, I had a McIntosh C200, B&W 802's, a Sony SCD-1 and I tried to cut a corner by running cheap amplification powered by B&K. Although B&K makes a good amp, to get excellent results, you do need something better. My recommnedation is to scale back on the 800's and get a pair of 801's or 802's and buy a better amp. McIntosh works great with B&W's. Thanks!
kevlarge's avatar
kevlarge
1 posts
 
I have a pair of N800's and using them with a pair of krell mda500's and with good quality recordings there is ample bass.I did find that before i got the mda500's the bass was much thinner when using cheaper inferior amplification.
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