Revel,salon vs B&W Nautilus

I listened both at the same place, at the same eqipment at the same time. I voted to Rewell Saloon. B&W 801 Nautilus came to me bright at the upper treble with a lots of unnecessary bass. The bass characher was boomy and lot. I found B&W not a studio monitor speaker as it was before. It may go to your music testing of rock or country

Heard the Revel Salons at a seminar at Overture in Wilmington, DE. WOW! They are absolutely fantastic. I did not hear them do ANYTHING wrong. And I was sitting somewhat off-axis too. Revel's website says they try to maximize off-axis performance of their drivers in the Revel line. I think it's working! Setup included Theta Digital DaVid, and Casablanca (they played some new DVD Audio tracks at 24/96), and the huge Classe monoblocks. I can't remember the cabling. I do remember hearing microdetails like a small triangle being played quietly at the back of the stage while a symphony plays triple forte in front. Astonishing!! Never heard the B&W Nautilus, but have not been overly impressed with the Nautilus 802 at the local dealer compared to the Revels. I'm trying to figure out how I can afford to get a set of the Revel Studios for my rig!

NOT EVEN CLOSE,THE REVEL SMOKES THEM. A BUDDY AND I LITENED TO THEM BOTH THE OTHER DAY AND THEN LAUGHED OUR BUTTS OFF WHEN WE SAW THAT STEREOPHILE HAD B&W 801'S TIED W/ THE REVEL'S AS SPEAKER OF THE YEAR? IF YOU WANT A BLOATED BASS AND YOU LISTEN TO RAPP THEN BUY THE B&W. IF YOU WANT A SPEAKER THAT SOUNDS "REAL" THEN GET THE REVEL. I ALSO LISTENED TO THE REVELS AT OVERTURE AND THEY ARE GREAT!

Both speakers are very, very good systems. Flip a coin. At this level of performance system matching is more important than any intrinsic quality of the speakers. The coin flip will probably give you a better shot at selecting the "right" speaker than anyone's advice on the internet could.

I was also recently was in the market for under $20k speakers. The Revels were my second choice and I personally didn't care for the BW. They were awesome on hard rock played really loud. Large scale classical is my primary listening music with rock second. I bought Dunlavy SC V because I thought that the Dunlavy's were more realistic and engaging but I would have been happy with the Revels. BUT Onhwy61 is right, at this price level system and room matching is crucial. How even a weel warmed up a rig sounds psychacoustically after five hours of fairly loud music is quite different than what it will sound like to you at your first five minutes of listening.