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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
beemer
444 posts
 
You need to lose the Adcom. B&W like watts AND current.
Try a Levinson 336 or 432, Classe 401, Krell FPB600.

The new "D" series B&W are better, however what you have is no where near as bad as others have said here. You just need real power.

Best,

Paul :-)
s7horton
1,077 posts
 
Judy426, B&W is not used in any true reference system? Apparently Skywalker Sound doesn't count as reference since they have (5) 801's around the room. Most classical recording studios have used B&W for their reference for many, many years. Those must not count either.

Dry, lean, and without musicality is simply your opinion, and your front end. I've owned many B&W speakers, as well, as many other brands, and simply do not find that the case. Quite the opposite in fact.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,685 posts
 
Put the 800s in the rear!!

Seriously, room positioning is probably at fault.

Kal
mikesinger
572 posts
 
sounds like room position, pre-amp, amp, cables...using a sound processor really screws up the sound..

they are very, very, very revealing speakers.

how do you have them set-up ?

would suggest borrowing high current reference quality (krell, classe, levinson) amp/preamp and some decent ic/speaker cables..

get a stereophile test cd and run some test tones to confirm all drivers are working (test each speaker seperately then together - a driver might hae been replaced incorrectly).

good luck !!!!
mikesinger
572 posts
 
btw, lose the rear speakers for the time.... you can introduce them later...they might be causing cancellation...
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