Nautilus 802's or 803D's

[dan87951]

I have the B&W Nautilus 803's currently and was thinking of getting the Nautilus 802's or 803D's. I remember the Nautilus 802's sounding phenomenal but it has been a year since I heard them in the dealer and when I went there today obviously they don't carry the Nautilus line anymore but did have the 803D's there and I fell in love with them. Has anyone done a direct comparison between the Nautilus 802's and 803D's? Looking for fuller sound with deeper bass and an enhanced soundstage over my current setup. I currently have Nautilus 803's and Rotel RB-1080.

[caleb]

If your amp will power the 802's then it's a no brainer.( not familiar with Rotel kit)

Be warned though - the 802's do love power.

[Eliav]

I have the B&W Nautilus 803's currently and was thinking of getting the Nautilus 802's or 803D's. I remember the Nautilus 802's sounding phenomenal but it has been a year since I heard them in the dealer and when I went there today obviously they don't carry the Nautilus line anymore but did have the 803D's there and I fell in love with them. Has anyone done a direct comparison between the Nautilus 802's and 803D's? Looking for fuller sound with deeper bass and an enhanced soundstage over my current setup. I currently have Nautilus 803's and Rotel RB-1080.

HI
before spending much more money on speakers - treat your room acoustics !
1.make sure your speakers are at a right distance from side and rear walls, and from one another.make sure it is slightly toed in.
2. please read previous threads about room acoustics treatment, it is easy to make and install bass and higher frequency traps for as little as ~ 400$. you will be amazed with the results ( tighter bass, better imaging).
3. not happy after all ? get the 802 ! ( and probably a new power amp.)
Cheers
Eliav

[Matt M.]

I have the B&W Nautilus 803's currently and was thinking of getting the Nautilus 802's or 803D's. I remember the Nautilus 802's sounding phenomenal but it has been a year since I heard them in the dealer and when I went there today obviously they don't carry the Nautilus line anymore but did have the 803D's there and I fell in love with them. Has anyone done a direct comparison between the Nautilus 802's and 803D's? Looking for fuller sound with deeper bass and an enhanced soundstage over my current setup. I currently have Nautilus 803's and Rotel RB-1080.

I did !
The 802N is a bit more "opened" (the soundstage is "enhanced", they give
a better impression of "pushing walls away"), but the 803D is more neutral,
more airy, more dynamic.
Medium and (obviously), trebbles are quite better.
803D's tone (like all the 80XD range) is really outstanding. For instance female voices are really wonderful...and far beyond what we had with both 803N and 802N.

Moreover, the 803D is less demanding , in term of amplification
and room !

I too owned a pair of 803N. After my comparison, my conclusion was that
the 802N is a 803N "enhanced" (they are very similar, and the
802N is a bit better, on all aspects). Whereas the 803D is quite different
from 803N and 803D, and is, on the whole, better than both of them, IMO.

So, I bought them.

However, the 802N can also be interesting because it can be found at very
attractive prices...

[RNKC]

I listened to the 803D but ended up getting N802.

In general I agree with Matt M's comments above. The 803D, particularly on the treble is a better speaker. Those diamond tweeters really do work! And the 803D isn't as fussy as the N802 in terms of room setup, amplifier etc.

Having said that, I found that for me the N802 was a more natural sound. And since I had a good amp (Mark Levinson 432) I wasn't concerned about not being able to drive the N802. Obviously N802 is a bigger speaker and the sound is correspondingly "bigger" as well.

A last point I'd like to add though - when you get into the 800 series, be it Nautilus or Diamond and particularly when you get into 803 or better, I find that all else being equal (room treatment, amplifier etc) the speakers tend to become less important and the recording quality becomes the limiting factor. These B&W speakers are so perfect, that what you don't hear simply hasn't been recorded in the first place. So as much as we all chase the perfect sound by tweaking our systems with new speakers, new amps, new interconnects, new room treatments, new transports, new D/A converters ... in the end it's only as good as the recording. And increasingly it seems that the recording itself is the bottleneck in the system.

[Race Car Driver]

Ive found that out myself with the 802s.
Some of my favorite discs are so..... bleh... now that ive listened to them on the 802s
And some other discs are an absolute TREAT to listen too... even the not so liked "style of music/bands" just sound that much better and I can listen the that cd no problem.

Im in the process of getting ready to treat my room with some acoustic foam, and then on to more power... When I crank the volume, I can tell the 200 watts from my old aragon 4004 just doesnt cut it!