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B&W Speaker Score!

I have a pair of B&W 802 S2 that I like but have had the upgrade bug for a while.  A recent purchase of a pair of Thiel CS-5 fell through so I kept on looking for something interesting and a good deal.  I stumbled across a pair of B&W Nautilus 802 only a few hours away- the final purchase price is $2K.   The seller provided lots of detailed pics and they look great.  The only issues are one of the tweeters is dented (I just purchased a new one for $150) and there are no grilles, which isn't a deal breaker for me as I remove them anyways. 

I'm pretty excited to get them home and see how they sound with my Threshold S500/II and newly acquired Parasound P5.  I just wanted to share my find- the timing could not be better as it takes a bit of the sting out of tax day.

Cheers.
dastro
tooblue
1,927 posts
 
Sweet deal on the 802Ns, my favorite B&W speakers,  they should really be quite an upgrade. Enjoy your new purchase and the Sound Anchors stands really do move the performance of these speakers up a notch, just sayin.

sfall
346 posts
 
Buy the other tweeter as well. Make sure you get a matched pair.
dastro OP
42 posts
 
Got 'em home and don't like them at all.  In my opinion, at least with my room, and system, they sound sterile with highs that are extensively bright and unnatural, the bass is incredibly lean- their undeniable strengths are imaging and soundstage.  Overall they take music I know and turn it into something devoid of emotion.  In some ways I'm disappointed because overall they come highly recommended and I like the look, strange as they are, (it was also a massive undertaking to purchase and install them in my basement). 

This experiment has once again taught me that I deeply love my vintage 802 SII's!



gregkohanmim
153 posts
 
Dastro - You undoubtedly got a great deal on those speakers but I'm really perplexed as to why they are sounding so bad for you.  I'm very familiar with the 802s so based on your assessment I immediately suspected that they were being underpowered so I looked up your amp (that I'm not familiar with) and it's a beast and should be completely up to the task.  One online review literally says "The S/500 simply dominates any speaker it drives." which is exactly what the larger nautilus speakers require.

Given the combo of that amp and the 802's, your pant legs should literally be flapping in the bass at high volumes.

So I wonder what's going on?  I would think that placement would have some tangible effect but not so dramatically that it would cause the problem that you're describing.

If possible, you should try to verify that the LF crossovers are OK.  I once drove my 800s so hard and for so long that the massive resisters on the LF crossover boards literally melted down and the whole units needed to be replaced (thankfully B&W stocks and offers these to the end consumer).

Sounds to me that there must be something wrong with the 802s.

Hopefully you can investigate and solve the problem- even if you need to invest a bit more in them, you're still ahead of the game if you can get them sorted out at the price you initially paid.

Greg

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