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Heard the B&W N804d3s ...

I've owned the original iteration of the N804s since I bought them new in '01. After 15 years, I thought perhaps it was time to upgrade to a newer model. So, I auditioned the new N804d3s at a local retailer. They sounded great, and are an improvement over the originals in the areas of bass slam and airiness. However, that step up to my ears is equivalent to about 10-15%. Not sure that that sort of improvement justifies the price ($9K for the d3s vs. $3,500 for the original N804s), although "upgradeitis" tempts me to pull the plug. Is it just me, or does the law of diminishing returns apply in this case? Your thoughts on this or the qualitiative differences between the old and new Nautilus lines would be most appreciated.

rlb61
bo1972's avatar
bo1972
2,789 posts
 
The Rhythmik L12 is a subwoofer with a driver made of paper. Paper is an outdated material these days. Beside this paper has it’s own kind of sound. It is not the most natural soud.

You should have spend more money on a subwoofer if I were you. I would buy a subwoofer with a ceramic/aluminium coating.


rlb61 OP
784 posts
 
Given that the B&Ws have aluminum tweeters, I wanted to compensate for that by a different type of material. Hopefully, it will be fine.
spankedmonkey's avatar
spankedmonkey
18 posts
 
Would like to hear your results after adding the subwoofer.
rlb61 OP
784 posts
 
Will do. It should arrive early next week.
mb1audio
151 posts
 
" Given that the B&Ws have aluminum tweeters, I wanted to compensate for that by a different type of material. Hopefully, it will be fine."

It doesn't really work like that. Unless you somehow over power your main speakers with bass, you should hear little to no change in the highs. If you have an issue with your tweeters, deal with that directly.  
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