Has anyone run the older nautilus 804 on an integrated amp with good results?

[mdavis]

Am very close to pulling the trigger on a used pair of N804 and was wondering if they could be paired to a Cambridge Audio 640A v2 with good results? I've been told that the 804s could work fairly nicely on the 640A but they are rated with a sensitivity of 90db, vs the N804's sensitivity of 89db. Would this be pushing it? Sorry for posting so many naive questions these past few days!

[altanpsx]

IMO you should buy a better electronics for 804 to get what its potential. Classe Cap-2100 would be very good choice.

[madmac]

Well, I've researched both these models for you and I believe that the Cambridge 'will' power 804's ok. It will depend however on how loud you want them to play. 75 watts, although good watts is a little 'thin' for loud playing with those speakers. As stated above, you might not get the 'full' potential out of the speakers either.

My 75 watt rotel receiver powers all my 5 metal/ceramic speakers just fine and loud if I want it, but I have the receiver set for 'small' (HT) speaker configuration and I let the powered sub do the 'major' work. This frees up piles of power for the amp to not have to produce any volume below 80hz. If you are playing 2ch stereo only with no sub you should be fine on the whole. Somewhat fine being the operative word!. The best thing is to get the speakers and see for yourself how it sounds with your amp. If the amp doesn't cut the mustard then work towards getting a more powerful unit.

[Gasoil]

Am very close to pulling the trigger on a used pair of N804 and was wondering if they could be paired to a Cambridge Audio 640A v2 with good results? I've been told that the 804s could work fairly nicely on the 640A but they are rated with a sensitivity of 90db, vs the N804's sensitivity of 89db. Would this be pushing it? Sorry for posting so many naive questions these past few days!

Hi,

I've had the N804 , and it worked very well with pre/amp combi from Gamut (unfortunately very expensive) . I've also tried them with Naim and great sound, but you have to love the typical Naim Sound. Linn was fine, but didn't like the Linn sound . Perhaps try also a tube amplifier , as you can get a fine, warm sound from the N804.
Hope this helps
Gasoil

[dan87951]

Hopefully you have listened to the Nautilus 804 or N804 before buying these? For the money there is much, much better alternatives in my opinion. It's no surprise coming from me but I think the N804 is perhaps the worst 800 series speaker B&W has ever made. If you into thin, bright, and bassless sounding speakers by all means these are for you. If you can I recommend getting the 804S a HUGE improvement over the N804's! The 804S should have been the speaker B&W started with!