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
My guess is your amp. 300 adcom watts may not be enought B&W suck power! You could try bi amping one speaker off your amp or the other just run the bass like sugested above. Also make sure all your innerconnects are tight.

One thing to remember is 2 10" woofers may not make as much bass as 2 8" woofers. Nore should it, it should have the same bass, whatever the original recording has. Also if you are not biwireing do you have the posts jumpered?
IMO, a speaker of this sophistication should be carefully positioned using an SPL meter and 1/3 octave tones.
Do this before jumping to the conclusion that your $20,000 loudspeaker is not reproducing bass as accurately as a $3000 speaker.
"Accurate" may mean less, not more bass.

In my experience, bass "slam" is often more substantial from systems that sound somewhat less full-bodied in the low end.
ie: less apparent bass will often sound tighter and more realistic.
Speakers that suffer from doubling effects will have a strong bass response, but will lack low frequency definition.

It's not surprising that the 9NT with it's tiny, wildly flopping woofers tends to sound "bassier" than the more controlled woofers in the 800N. (I own the 9NT and have them rolled-off at 50hz, and paired with a good sub.)
I'm fairly certain that the 800N does not double significantly, and probably has very transparent and highly accurate low frequency reproduction. To my ears, the 9NT does not have particularly clean bass, although it's pretty good for a smallish $2600 speaker.

Powered subwoofers actually make a great deal of sense when paired with well-endowed systems like yours. Rolling off those big 10" drivers below 50hz will only tend make them sound cleaner at high SPLs.
It'll also mitigate whatever low frequency anemia, real or imagined(LOL), that your Adcom amplifier may be imposing. (IMO, Adcom makes excellent amplifiers)
Please let me know if you find a solution to your problem. I am currently biamping Nautilus 800s with VK6200 amps and I am also very dissappointed with the low end.
Avent91....I just purchased two Classe 700 WPC mono blocks. Hopefully this can rule out amplification as the potential problem. The amps will be here in about two weeks or so. I also have new cables and I/C on the way.I will post the results here. I am not familiar with your amps. How powerful are they?