The evolution of the Nautilus line?

[70sMac]

Now that I've stumbled into the AAF's B&W Speaker Board, and have now read the posts in a thread asking how long people have owned their B&W speakers, I'll admit to having no idea that there was [apparently] more than one advancement/iteration in the Nautilus line.

All I know is that the Mrs. and I visited a high-end audio dealer outside of New Orleans (NOLA) that had several different rooms containing various stereo systems ... but the one that "caught our ear" was the room with the B&W Nautilus loud speakers in it. That was circa 2004 and we, subsequently, purchased a pair of mint dark cherry N802s that we could ... almost afford, and had the factory boxes palletized and air-freighted to the Louis Armstrong International.

Later, we made a road trip to Jackson, MS, and purchased a pair of flawless dark cherry N805s. Luckily for us, all four survived Katrina without a hitch and they have had a special place in our hearts ever since.

Although I think that I'd be a bit reticent to "hear" how the line has advanced -- due to a lack of means necessary to buy a new pair -- I would really love to read about the evolution of these wonderful loud speakers. If anyone who's well-versed in the B&W Nautilus line would care to share their knowledge with us, we would love to read about it. Thank you for your time.

[bart]

Bill..., if you mean the original 'Nautilus' speaker B&W brought out in the 90s, its most recent development is found in the new speaker company that Laurence Dickie, creator of the Nautilus, started some 15 years ago: Vivid Audio.
Better and more refined sound and much more easy to drive than the old Nautilus, which by the way, still sells surprisingly well after a career of almost 3 decades.

If you mean the diamond series of the B&W 800 series, then we're now at series 3. I've heard series 1, 2 and 3 extensively, and the newest series is the best by quite a margin.

If you plan on hearing the 803D3 or 802D3, you owe it to yourself to demo the comparably priced Vivid Audio Kaya45 and Kaya90. They even give more insight into the music. Ymmv.

Good luck!

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by bart

Bill..., if you mean the original 'Nautilus' speaker B&W brought out in the 90s, its most recent development is found in the new speaker company that Laurence Dickie, creator of the Nautilus, started some 15 years ago: Vivid Audio.
Better and more refined sound and much more easy to drive than the old Nautilus, which by the way, still sells surprisingly well after a career of almost 3 decades.

If you mean the diamond series of the B&W 800 series, then we're now at series 3. I've heard series 1, 2 and 3 extensively, and the newest series is the best by quite a margin.

If you plan on hearing the 803D3 or 802D3, you owe it to yourself to demo the comparably priced Vivid Audio Kaya45 and Kaya90. They even give more insight into the music. Ymmv.

Good luck!

Quite humbly, Bart, I was serious when I posted that I'm reluctant to hear a pair of the latest B&W Nautilus speakers. If they're that much better than the 802s and the 805s we presently love, I really don't want to [pardon the pun] "hear it." Instead, I'm trying to determine exactly which type of B&W Nautilus line speakers we own. All four of them were manufactured circa 2004, but as the post I just added to the 'Thank You For Becoming a Subscriber!' forum thread explains, we've been well out of the high-end audio world for quite some time...and are presently trying to get our sea legs back under us.

If you're interested in the thread I just referenced, here's a link to it: https://www.audioaficionado.org/show...?t=135&page=18

[meltemi]

B&W production years:

1966 B&W electronics is founded.

1969 - 1975 DM70 Continental ("washing machine", 11 element mid-high frequency electrostatic drivers, dynamic low frequency driver) followed by DM70 improved (new electrostatic drivers).

1976 DM6 ("pregnant kangoroo", Kevlar midrange, phase alignement).

1977 DM7 (separate high frequecy enclosure on top of the low-mid frequency enclosure).

* 1st generation series 800 (pre Nautilus):

1979 -1986 original 801 (with battery powered overload protection), followed by 801F (reinforced midrange enclosure, audio powered overload circuit APOC) and 801FS (new tweeter).

1987 - 1991 Matrix 801 series 2 (fluid cooled alu tweeter).

1992 - 1997 Matrix 801 series 3 (improved fluid cooled alu tweeter, improved frequency dividing network).

1993 original Nautilus

* 2nd generation 800 series (post Nautilus):

1998 - 2004 Nautilus 800 series (800N series, alu tweeter)

2005 - 2009 800 D series (800 D1 series, Diamond tweeters for 800, 801, 802 and 803)

2010 - 2015 800 Diamond series (800 D2 series, Diamond tweeters for whole range, no more 801)

* 3rd generation 800 series (50th anniversary):

2015 - current 800 D3 series (completely new construction, 800 D3 appeared 2016 as 50th anniversary model)

Martin

[70sMac]

Martin..... Thanks very much for the B&W timeline. Going by your list, it would seem that we own the 802Ns and the 805Ns.

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by meltemi

B&W production years:
....
1993 original Nautilus

* 2nd generation 800 series (post Nautilus):

1998 - 2004 Nautilus 800 series (800N series, alu tweeter)

2005 - 2009 800 D series (800 D1 series, Diamond tweeters for 800, 801, 802 and 803)

2010 - 2015 800 Diamond series (800 D2 series, Diamond tweeters for whole range, no more 801)

* 3rd generation 800 series (50th anniversary):

2015 - current 800 D3 series (completely new construction, 800 D3 appeared 2016 as 50th anniversary model)

Martin

Martin..... Considering that we just added a new HTM3S to our B&W lineup, I wanted to ask you...Based on your chronological listing of 800-type B&W speakers, I was wondering if the internals of the 800 speakers was completely changed after 2004, which you've described (above) as the the final year of the "Nautilus 800 series (with Aluminum tweeter)?

Here I was thinking that all of 800-series B&W speakers were based on the Nautilus internal design...was I wrong?

I'm sure it seems like a silly question to those in the know, but you have to admit that even the new 800D3s -- which my wife and I had demoed for us less than a week ago -- look very similar to our older 802Ns. Yes, the cabinet no longer has a "flat" face, but the tear drop midrange is still there and the tweeter, be it "diamond" or "aluminum," look pretty similar (overall).

Is it simply a case of B&W changing the overall design of the largest part of the speaker, the cabinet, and sticking with the tried-and-true tear drop midrange and "Mister Microphone" tubular tweeters?

Your description of the "3rd generation 800 series (50th anniversary)" indicates that the 800D3 was completely redesigned in later 2015...so please clue me in on why I should no longer refer to the the B&W 800 series as "Nautilus" speakers?

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by meltemi

B&W production years:

1966 B&W electronics is founded.

1969 - 1975 DM70 Continental ("washing machine", 11 element mid-high frequency electrostatic drivers, dynamic low frequency driver) followed by DM70 improved (new electrostatic drivers).

1976 DM6 ("pregnant kangoroo", Kevlar midrange, phase alignement).

1977 DM7 (separate high frequecy enclosure on top of the low-mid frequency enclosure).

* 1st generation series 800 (pre Nautilus):

1979 -1986 original 801 (with battery powered overload protection), followed by 801F (reinforced midrange enclosure, audio powered overload circuit APOC) and 801FS (new tweeter).

1987 - 1991 Matrix 801 series 2 (fluid cooled alu tweeter).

1992 - 1997 Matrix 801 series 3 (improved fluid cooled alu tweeter, improved frequency dividing network).

1993 original Nautilus

* 2nd generation 800 series (post Nautilus):

1998 - 2004 Nautilus 800 series (800N series, alu tweeter)

2005 - 2009 800 D series (800 D1 series, Diamond tweeters for 800, 801, 802 and 803)

2010 - 2015 800 Diamond series (800 D2 series, Diamond tweeters for whole range, no more 801)

* 3rd generation 800 series (50th anniversary):

2015 - current 800 D3 series (completely new construction, 800 D3 appeared 2016 as 50th anniversary model)

Martin

Where are the Signatures (tigers eye maple) in this timeline?

[meltemi]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

Where are the Signatures (tigers eye maple) in this timeline?

Signatures are special limited edition speakers. The Signature 800 was the first model 800 and was tigers eye maple. Its design in black was taken over into the standard lineup and became the flagship model.
I did concentrate on the flagships of the standard lineup.

Martin

[70sMac]

Martin..... I think that you did a beautiful job outlining the evolution of the B&W 800 lineup. I couldn't have asked for more.

Thank you very much.

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by meltemi

Signatures are special limited edition speakers. The Signature 800 was the first model 800 and was not tigers eye maple but black. Its design was taken over into the standard lineup and became the flagship model.

I did concentrate on the flagships of the standard lineup.



Martin

I just love my tigers eye signature is all.