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Shhhhhh Don't tell my wife. Looking at B&W 802Ns

OK, they're bigger than my NHTs and look a bit like Robby-the-Robot, but there sound brought a tear to my eye. One of those deals that I'll just show up with em' one day, "Honey, what ya think?" Then Katie Bar the Doors! But first, before turning my living room into the WWF, will the room support these?
My room dimensions are about 13'W X 30'L X 9'H. Speaker spacing will be about 10' apart. Some doors and windows. McIntosh MC 352 (350 W) amp and McIntosh C2200 tube pre-amp. Is it worth the body slams I'll take?
slhijb
rhljazz
1,253 posts
 
To answer your question regarding the room, it is certainly large enough and you will have more than enough power. That said, N802's tend towards brightness with SS gear so be careful of component matching. A friend has his mated to an all Linn system and that sounds good, not overly bright. The appearance is stunning, hopefully the wife will like them. Mine are the light cheery stain and frame a set of french doors that have a similar stain color and that is the focal point of the room. I use tube power.
mrlabguy
44 posts
 
show her the 802N she will feel much better with the tiny foot-print of the 802's.
krell1's avatar
krell1
250 posts
 
I don't know how my wife let me keep the 801 III Matrix so long other than they sounded great. The N802 footprint is much smaller and they look magnificent. I mentioned that to my wife prior to getting them. The apperance unquestionably will bring quality to any room, and they are a one of a kind in audio right now. The sound is scary real and she will love them as much as you do:-)
william_hsu
7 posts
 
When I bought the N801 my wife thought they looked like huge teddy-bears. I have to admit that they do kind of overwhelm our living room though...sonically and visually. Good thing my wife is very understanding about my hobby but warned that "this better be the last set of speakers you buy".
subaruguru
1,375 posts
 
Ha! My wife took a quick look at the LITERATURE, nevermind the real thing, and yelped! She barely tolerated my plopping down the 803, but they didn't cohere in my similar-sized room. And there's the rub: the Nautilus need a good 12-15' of lstening distance before the drivers sum nicely. Do you have that in your listening geometry?
I don't and fortunately found Verity Parsifal Encores that work astoundingly well. That B&W tweeter was a bit much, too.... Godd Luck.
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