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B&W Nautilus Tweeter Grills - Lose 'em

I figured out how the Nautilus tweeter assembly disassembles (accidentally), but sufficed to say, it is very easy to take the tweeter tube apart, without going into the speaker cabinet proper. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY THIS IS THE 805!!!!!! Tweeter assembly MAY be different on the floorstanders)
I was able to disassemble the tweeter tube, while looking at the grill, to see if there was any way to take the metal grill out of the picture. First, you remove the "shroud" (part grill, part tweeter assembly)(the grill to the joint with the gap, about 1" in length), simply by twisting it counter-clockwise against the main black part of the tweeter housing. WHen it turns, the shroud, tweeter, and rear silver part of the tweeter tube (toward the rear of the speaker) will all be moving as 1. About 1/4 turn, and it comes right off, leaving the tweeter/tweeter tube (1 piece) itself in the main black stationary part of the tweeter assembly, the part that makes contact at the bottom to the main speaker enclosure. Once it was off, I could see that the grill was a separate assembly, and just pops off (try rotating it first, just to see where the lip is).
READ THIS PART DO NOT SKIP< YOU MIGHT BE SORRY <
BUT once I disassembled the tweeter assembly, I could see that it wasn't even necessary to do so, in reality, I could have just taken the grill off without actually taking the WHOLE tweeter apart. Oh well, I ligned it up, 1/4 twist clockwise, and it was back on perfectly. Sound is much improved, which you will easily able to A-B', since the metal grill is "pulled" into the right place (just don't snap it back on) by the tweeter magnet. I heard much cleaner highs, less grain. It looks cool, too, not at all "altered". I havent snapped mine back on, and dont plan to do so. As always, your mileage may vary, but I did it, no problems at all, and it sounds better on my 805s. Glad to be sharing this one.
gthirteen
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
Slightly off topic but I removed the unsightly metal grilles from the tweeters on my avalons and noticed similiar results. The only thing I was told by Avalon(not sure what type of tweeters are used by B&W) but that the titanium dome is less then the thickness of a human hair and to be VERY CAREFUL, not to damage the dome or it will be ruined. Cheers:-) Tim
dem
79 posts
 
Gthirteen, the Marigo Dots are a "constrained layer damping system" of small "dots" of various compositions designed for specific applications. (Marigo can give you information on specific applications or give me your fax number and I can fax you several application diagrams). I use the 3mm white dots on the base of NOS tubes and tweeter flanges. I use one 30mm dot on the back center of the 805's and two 30mm dots on my REL Stadium cabinet. I use the larger 40mm dots on the walls of my room (if you have ever struck your fist against a typical sheetrocked wall, the flexing is somewhat similar to a bass drumdead flexing, and these larger dots damp the walls and give you a resulting faster and tighter bass response.) There is a good review in Absolute Sound that is listed on the Marigo website. On the 805's, I found that the dots still makes a great improvement even with tweeter grills off, and it is very easy to experiment with this because the dots are easily removable. I place the dots directly above the black foam surrounds on the plastic (or aluminum) flange. (As a side note, I had heard that the 805 grills were designed to be easily removable because B&W was quite aware of the improvements rendered, but would not recommend it due to the easily damaged tweeter diaphram.) I get my dots through Music Direct (800-449-8333)and they will sell 1/2 sets if you do not need a large number of a particular type of dot treatment.
For an already high resolution system, I would rank the Marigo Dots as a "must-have". Each time I have demo'd them with friends, they have immediately ordered dots for their systems. I really have trouble believing these little dots can improve the sound, but they do! Fortunately they are not expensive. Good Luck!
blackie
221 posts
 
B&W voices their Nautilus speakers with the tweeter grills on so they do not recommended that they are removed. Also, as a previous poster said, the metal diaphram is very fragile and can easily dent if prodded. The entry-level 300 and 600 series don't have any tweeter dome protection so why would their flagship range if they were concerned with the performance aspects of it.
poorguy
90 posts
 
This is one of the best tweaking I did on N805, N805 gets more musicality, cleanness, shading, & resolution, continuousness. It's a must try. i don't need to upgrade for a while. Cheaper B&W speakers don't have this kind of grill as they already have had cheaper typical plastic grills.
mark7767
57 posts
 
I just bought a set of new grills for my 805s that the prior owner had removed and damamged. I called B&W UK, since I live in England and ordered new ones for about $50. I reccomend that if you have children to leave them on, as children could stick a finger(s) into them. Also I am afraid of banging the tweeter with vaccumm claeaner handle and damaging the delicate driver. I have noticed no diference in sound quality witht hem of then on. IMO anyway.
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