NAUTILUS 802s

[DR]

I have been offered a pair of B & W NAUTILUS 802s rather cheap - list is £6000 and I have been offered a pair for just over £2000 Update Now he wants 1,600£....

Currently I am running 602 s2s in my lounge and have always wanted something from the NAUTILUS range. I love them.

I have a Cyrus 7 - 2 channel 70W AMP which will feed the 802s ok but I will of course be in the next 6 months move to Mono blocks and a Cyrus Pre-X AMP instead and feed this with a Linn or a Cyrus 8 DVD/CD combination. As measure (if I do get them) I will go and pick up a Poweramp straight away.

I currently have them fed with some 30 quid /metre QED cabling - with the usual bannana plugs on each end (can't believe how much it actually cost! but worth it). Of course they are "bi wired".

Reason why I am not happy with the 602s? Well it is a lie - I love them to bits, however they really don't 'fill' the room as well as something more powerful, has to be said I was thinking about the 705 NAUTILUS speakers and a REL Stratus sub - but these came up.

Thoughts?

[DR]

Pics:

[Howard]

At that price? You'd be mad not to...


Why so cheap though?

And yes, a bi-amp or monobloc setup would be essential to get the most out of those speakers. They will like a fair bit of power to run at their best

[DR]

Yea been reading up the power requirements.

The guy seems keen to shift them - going to go view them this week.

[Howard]

Christ... Wish I had £2,000

[DR]

It is very cheap...

[Zedmeister]

It is very cheap...

Raaa man, Nautilus 802's for 1600! Bargin of the Century, should call you David Dickinson!

[Stoo]

Nice! I'd say go for it as long as they're not "warm"

[turkster]

Very nice . Even better at that price

I thought untill you posted the pics that you were talking of The Nautilus .

[Butuz]

Get them. Get them now.

Then give your 602 s2's to me, would make nice fronts, religate the 601s2's to rear guard

Butuz

[Rave]

If you can afford them, then go for it. I remember reading a review of the largest in the Nautilus range (may have been the 802s, can't remember TBH) when they first came out a few years ago, and they turned out to be a vicious load with impedance as low as 2 Ohms at some points. They were also very insensitive.

To get a lot of volume out of them you will need some meaty amps. It might be worth your while getting a big integrated of 150-200W or so, although if the power amps can be monobloc-ed to around that power they'll probably be OK.

Rich :¬)

[Butuz]

Oh - and dont worry too much about powering them, they are actually *easier* for your amp to drive then your old DM602s2's (91dB vs 88db) which means that when you set your amp to 1/3 volume for example, the 802's will actually be playing music louder than your 602's were.

Butuz

[Rave]

91dB? Ignore my comments then. It must have been the next model up in the range.

Edit: done the research. The model I saw a review of was the 801, but the 802 seems to be a similar design replacing the single 15" woofer with twin 8"ers. The specs for both reckon:

Sensitivity 91dB spl (2.83V 1m)
Normal Impedance 8 ohms (minimum 3 ohms)

Now, I'm pretty sure that Hi-Fi Choice measured the actual sensitivity (of the 801) at close to 82dB/W, and B+W admit themselves that at some points the impedance goes as low as 3 Ohms- that makes them a far from easy load.

I would see how your current gear performs with them before spending any more on amplification, but my gut feeling is that you may need a lot more welly.

Rich :¬)

[Howard]

Like I said... Those are beefy speakers... You'll need welly

[Zak33]

very few things in life can hold the word "serious" for long. But those are "serious"

Absolute steal too. Its a bit like being offered a Porsche 911 Carrera for £7000. Even if you only had £500 you'd have to go borrow the dough to own it. Same thing here. Just get your wallet out and stop fannying around

[DR]

I am waiting to hear back - I feel like he is wasting my time at the moment