Nautilus 800 Vs Wilson Audio VI Vs LM Labs Utopia

Sstalwar, I have a pair of WP 7's on order. Should be here anytime now! I really liked the 800's but the Wilson's won the toss. I have had B&W's before and decided it was time for a change. The 7's just have that extra bit of magic and I like the looks and size better too.

From a lot of people who have listened to them, the VMPS 40 sounds as good as any of the three speakers you mentioned, but will throw you back only 5000 $ new. See their website www.vmpsaudio.com and search the archives here and elsewhere. They do not get reviewed in the mainstream audio press, but seem to be a real bargain. Contact Audiogon-member ljgj, who got these speakers a few months ago, and has listened to a lot of the big-name, big-money speakers, as far as I remember.

For the past three years, I too have been waiting for the used market on these speakers to hit the $10K mark. A the beginnign of my search i auditioned all three and concluded the following:

1. the 800s only sound good when they are played loudly, and as the frequencies move from drive to driver, you hear a change in elevation of the sound source. To demonstrate this clearly, listen to a drum solo with a decending tom tom pattern.

2. The Wilsons are SMALL in comparison and fit well into the living space without taking it over. They are punchy, and good for rock, although they do not disappear in the room, and their sound stage is limited to a region between the speakers.

3. The Utopias, which are large and need space to breath, needs the least amount of amplification, and sounds better than the others at low volume levels. Also, hey cast a huge soundstage, and when properly set up when listening to jazz with my eyes closed I swore I was at a live performance.

My choice is #3 if you have a large room (mine is 18X25). I am still waiting for these to break $10K, which I assume will happen when the Nova utopias come out this year.

I hate to complicate your thinking but I just recently bought the Sonus Faber Amati Homage and compared them against all of your choices, admittedly with different upstream gear. I liked the sound of the Amati's just as well as the other 3 but the Amati's are just so beautiful that the wife-acceptance factor made the decision easy.