Nautilus 801

[wpines]

Does anyone have experience or knowledge of the N801?

[f1 fan]

Brad,

I owned the N802's for about 5 years until the Diamond series were introduced. The N801 is a big speaker and to me sounded best when mated with big amps such as yours. I always thought B&W mated well with McIntosh to provide a clean sound. When used in my system both good and bad recordings would be reveling which can be a good or bad thing. Sometimes the highs were fatiguing but over all a nice listening experience with well recorded jazz or classical material. I always enjoyed listening to jazz quartets, chamber orchestra's and acoustic rock on N802's. They liked to be played loud or that's how I preferred them. If there is somewhere you can listen to them then I highly suggest doing so.



Dave

[crytklmass]

There's a pair for sale on audiogon. For whatever reason they were not a hot seller. People either purchased the 800d or 802d. I would like to hear an 801d. It has the same 15" driver my ASW855 subwoofer has. Wonder what the bass sounds like? I would assume more drivers in the other 800 series would sound better. The only difference is the diamond tweeter. N801.....I assume is the same without the diamond tweeter. sorry not much help.

[TommyC]

I've seen the 801D several times. It looks unattractive with the huge 15" bass driver. Its foot print is much larger than the 800D and 802D as well. I think it will need a big room to sound its best.

[Uberbrown]

I have read that the 801s require more control over the room's acoustics than the 802's or 800. That is why a lot of studios have had them.

[darkstar]

Wpines,

What happended to your Revel studio2's?

[wpines]

Originally Posted by darkstar

Wpines,

What happended to your Revel studio2's?

I sold the Studio 2's on my journey to Salon 2's.
I loved those Studio's.
When I demoed them at my home for the Canadian buyer, we were listening to the track "Gaia" from the James Taylor Hourglass SACD and we BOTH got goosebumps. Seriously, seriously good speakers.
When the right priced pair of Salon 2's come along, I'll be bringing them home with my fingers crossed, hoping that they're an upgrade from the Studio 2's.
Stay tuned.

[wpines]

Sold my Revels and pit stopped at some B&W 801's from a seller on Audiogon, probably the very same post referenced by Crytklmass.
I've heard many models of B&W but never the N801. I've always wondered about these 15" woofered wonders and figured what the hell, I need something for a speaker until I get my Salon 2's.

The seller was Marty in Chicago and I bought them from him the first day of his post, right before Thanksgiving. By the second day he had 4 people offering to pick them up the day after Thanksgiving. I used Freighters and Craters of Chicago.
For $700 they;
- sent two men to Marty's house to pick up the two 240 pound speakers and the original boxes and packing
-they took them back to their shop and they
-stretch wrapped the speakers
-boxed them up in their original boxes and styrofoam cocoons
-put the two boxes on a wooden pallet
-put multiple layers of styrofoam board between and all around the two boxes
-built another very thick cardboard box around all of this and fastened it to the wooden pallet
-shipped it common carrier with no stacking orders
I got them into my home and set up yesterday.
First impression is that they really bloom in the 50-500 watt range. Short of subs there's nothing like the bass from a 15 inch woofer.

[KahunaCanuck]

Very cool, looking forward to hearing more about them!

[jdandy]

Brad.......15 inch bass reflex woofers can move some air, and get the job done. That has been my experience with big JBL's and Altec's in days gone by. The 801's look great. Congratulations