DwK Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 B&W Nautilus Anyone know how much those things cost??? Its driving me crazy. And would 4 of those be over kill? ------------------ K6-2 450 SB Live Value ( not 5.1) Klipsch Pro Media v2 400 ( soon to be 4.1 ) 2 Fisher STV-873's on front channel 2 Fisher surrounds on rear channel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowooo Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 Too Much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindee Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 I could be way off, but 40,000 keeps coming to mind. Eric ------------------ You take Visa? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JimG Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 The B&W Nautilus was a flagship speaker designed and built several years ago. It was basically an R&D project with great results that they decided to release as a product. At a whopping 242lbs. each (including plinth), they are custom built to order and come in three finishes - blue, black and silver. A pair goes for $40,000 US and requires either 8 mono or four stereo power amplifiers - each channel with a minimum of 100 watts, but 500 watts is recommended for the woofer. (How many watts does it take to push a K-Horn to deafening levels? ) They really don't sell them anymore. You may still be able to get some new though. The technology gleaned from the project has trickled down to the other series. The Nautilus tapered tube now exists on just about every model in every series. The venerable Matrix series was redone a couple of years ago with Nautilus technology to become the Nautilus 800 Series. There are five models, plus two centers and a on-wall model for surround. The top-o-the-line (currently) is the floorstanding N-801 ($11,000/pr US), followed by the N-802 ($8,000/pr US), the N-803 ($5,000/pr US) and the N-804 ($3,500/pr US). The bookshelf model is the N-805 ($2,000/pr US - $600/pr for the matching stands). The center channels are the N-HTM-1 ($2,000/each US) and the N-HTM-2 ($1,000/each US). The on-wall is the N-SCM-1 ($2,200/pr US). Anything else you would like to know??? Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwK Posted June 1, 2001 Author Share Posted June 1, 2001 Thanks that helped alot. So... Basicaly... The Nautilu's speakers are abit better than Klipsch speakers aye? Better sound quality... but for mroe money. ------------------ K6-2 450 SB Live Value ( not 5.1) Klipsch Pro Media v2 400 ( soon to be 4.1 ) 2 Fisher STV-873's on front channel 2 Fisher surrounds on rear channel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J M O N Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 DWK, More expensive doesn't mean better. I saw from your previous post that you live in Dallas. Go check out Hillcrest on Parker and the Tollway. They carry the Nautilus 801 there and they also have the $40,000 Nautilus on display (It may not be a working model though). I have listened to the Nautilus 801, and at $11,000 I was not that impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwK Posted June 1, 2001 Author Share Posted June 1, 2001 I know that more expensive doesnt equal better.. but.... but from I have read, the Nautilus series seem to offer a great sound reproduction. Alot of people I have talked to, that know quite alot about speakers and play with them... say that B&W are great spakers and offer a better sound reproduction than most. I'm just taking what I know about speakers, what I know about the Klipsch designs, and what I know about the B&W designs... and guessing that the Nautilus Prestigue will offer a better sound than a High End Klipsch. I have personaly heard the Nautilus 802, and was quite impressed.... They were in the same room as the Martin Logans... ------------------ K6-2 450 SB Live Value ( not 5.1) Klipsch Pro Media v2 400 ( soon to be 4.1 ) 2 Fisher STV-873's on front channel 2 Fisher surrounds on rear channel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffgeorge Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Jim, I see why Klipsch is a leader. You know the competition better than the competition knows you. Stay on top of it. If my calculations are right, I could have a pair of K-Horns in every room of my home for the price of one pair of B&W Nauts. I KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO! ------------------ RF-3's : mains RC-3 : center RS-3's : surrounds KSW-12: subwoofer Receiver: Denon 2801 DVD: Panasonic DVD-A120 CD: Yamaha CDC-765 Cables: Tributaries Sat Receiver: Hughes Direct-TV DD5.1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J M O N Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 DwK, I didn't mean to imply that B&W doesn't make good speakers. They make very good speakers and the Nautilus 801's and their others are definitely quality products. In my opinion, B&W is one of the better speaker manufacturers out there. However, what I was trying to say to you is that just because B&W is more expensive than Klipsch, doesn't mean they are better. There are probably things that B&W will do better and there are other areas where Klipsch will do better. It's all a matter of personal taste. One area where I think Klipsch wins easily is value. If you have a certain amount of money to spend, you will get more speaker by buying Klipsch than you will with B&W. This is just my opinion of course. B&W speakers are made in England and Klipsch are made in the U.S., so that is one reason why Klipsch is a better value. Going back to what I said about the Nautilus 801, I think they are wonderful speakers, but if I was going to spend $11000 on speakers, there are other speakers out there that I would choose first. Again, this is my preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwK Posted June 2, 2001 Author Share Posted June 2, 2001 Yes. You are right, it is personal preference. And I relize that High cost doesnt equal a better product. ------------------ K6-2 450 SB Live Value ( not 5.1) Klipsch Pro Media v2 400 ( soon to be 4.1 ) 2 Fisher STV-873's on front channel 2 Fisher surrounds on rear channel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 DwK, There is one very, very big difference between the B&W line and most of the Klipsch line. That difference is dynamics, particularly at the, uh, louder end of the scale. I used to have B&W 801f original series, followed by 801 Matrix Monitor III (immediate predesessor to the 801 Nautilus). They were really, really good speakers. They had the ability to pull you forward out of your chair, "leaning into" the virtual soundstage they created in a way that no other speaker I've ever owned, or heard, could do. They were so good that I spent a lot of money and a lot of time trying to address the one drawback they had that drove me nuts... no matter how much power I pushed into them, they just wouldn't cross that line from "nice" to "real" when I was listening to something like Peter Gabriel's Security album, or a good recording of The William Tell Overture or music with similar dynamic requirements. I would up using (get this) TWO PAIRS (as in FOUR) Adcom GFA-555 amplifiers, each briged into mono, bi-amping each speaker with 600 watts into the bass and 600 watts into the mid/treble head. The speakers STILL couldn't get where I wanted to get, and the amps would start clipping, which really, really hardened up the sound, before they reached that magic line that crosses from sounding like a very dynamic recording to sounding like a live music experience. After a few years of banging my head against this, I sold the III's and went on a lengthy search for speakers that WOULD do what I wanted. I am now the very, very happy owner of a pair of La Scalas. Granted, they cannot do some of the things the B&W's could do, but they CAN do the one thing that is the most important to me, which is to take me out of my house and into a concert. With, like, 60 watts. Now, granted, the 801's that I owned at various times were not the 801 Nautilus, but I've heard those at several different dealers, and while they're better than the models I did own in terms of dynamics, it's not a night and day difference. And yes, the snail-like Nautili that you see pictured in various places were priced at $40,000, though I don't think B&W really intended to sell many of them... for one thing, they required four amps per side (!!!), and shipping them was just about impossible. Ray "been there, done that..." Garrison ------------------ Music is art Audio is engineering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCklipsch Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Hi Ray: May I know the size of your listening room? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwK Posted June 6, 2001 Author Share Posted June 6, 2001 I wanna own a pair of K-Horn's someday... Those are the speakers for me personaly. ------------------ K6-2 450 SB Live Value ( not 5.1) Klipsch Pro Media v2 400 ( soon to be 4.1 ) 2 Fisher STV-873's on front channel 2 Fisher surrounds on rear channel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted June 7, 2001 Share Posted June 7, 2001 YC, At the time, the listening room I was using had originally been an outdoor, screened in porch. The owner converted it to a rec room. It was about 24 X 32 feet, concrete slab floor with indoor/outdoor carpet over thin pad, three sides (two short and one long) standard 2 X 6 framing, fourth side original exterior wall of house. 7.5 ft ceiling. Have since bought my own home, current listening room very difficult acoustics - room itself is 17 X 21, but the house is a very open split-level contemporary - there's no wall between the lower level where the music room is, the dining room which is a half level higher, and the kitchen / rest of house which is on the top level. So, as far as bass is concerned, the subwoofer (REL Storm) sees about, uh, 8,000 cubic feet. More or less. ------------------ Music is art Audio is engineering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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