Matt Lane

Probably one of the most successful (by sales volume) speaker brands ever.

Eveything from inexpensive bookshelf speakers right on through the Nautilus design study and resulting N801 monitors, N800, N802 etc. Soooo... what's the verdict from the experts?

1. Great marketing company?

2. Great R&D company?

3. Great quality products?

4. Great sound?


...or none of the above?

I am much more into music than gear, and quite happily run a 35 year old Mac integrated - but I know that B&W (like McIntosh) elicits some of the most polarizing opinions.

Let 'em rip!

Best,

Matt

Mike in CA

Wish I could give an opinion, but I've had no experience with B&W.

Juan Lopez

IMHO, they are very nicely balanced (the high end ones at least) but, with all the new technology out there, I still struggle to find speakers that sounded as good as our old DQ10's

cobalt

B&W makes a nice product that is very pricey and power hungry. They have a good sound and nice build quality but for the money I would choose a dozen other brands over them. I think they made a great name for themselves but have done very little to make strides in the current market. Kind of like KEF which had a good name for themselves and then lost their edge by reintroducing variations of the same old speaker. Nothing wrong with them if that is what you prefer.

Dean_Fuller

YEARS ago I was a fan. I'm not sure even what models they REALLY make or sub out. So many speakers companies have had to develop low end mass product just to survive. Their higher end 800 series are still very nice and $$$$ but my taste in speakers have moved on just like my hair line.

Klipsch is in the same boat. So much of what wears their name is not made by them now. Their heritage series is nice at used market prices. Buit that may be subject for another thread.

Dean_Fuller

Be proud you own one of the all time BEST speakers ever made....in a lot of peoples minds. How a bout a pic sir!!

cobalt

I always enjoyed the DQ-10's. I had a friend who had a pair when they initially came out and another who you might call an audio archivist with over over 30 pairs of speakers and equal quantity of vintage equipment. He is torn over the DQ-10's being one of the better pairs he owns. I am not so sure I would call them the best pair of speakers ever made but a great pair of speakers none the less.

Juan Lopez

Apart from the melting crossovers and the woofer foam surround that turned to dust the frequency range they had was impressive.

Many hours were spent listening to Wakeman, ELP, Genesis and Yes on them.

cobalt

I believe those are common issues due to age. My Fried Model R signatures I had from the 70's had the foam deteriorate like that. Very impressive speaker for the time. One of the first Transmission line speakers made. Great for Rock and could fill the largest room with sound with not much power.

Great music although I tend to mix it up and listen to everything. Jazz, classical, rock, progressive, etc,etc. the only 2 types of music I will not listen to is Country and Opera. One thing that impressed me about the Winds that I have not witnessed from many speaker brands is their ability to play every type of music as though they were designed just for that type of music.

I like to use ELP's Tank as a demo song for a full range amongst others. I love the way the bass kicks in at the end and the compression wave feels as though someone pulled the floor out from underneath you.

Juan Lopez

I listen to everything (like you) except country, opera (except some rock "operas"), and other modern types which I fail to find "musical"...

Matt Lane

Interesting comments.

I come at this foremost as a music lover. Rock, blues, jazz, heck I'll admit it, some (non-"Nashville") country too. Opera? Who-style, for sure! The "gear" is frankly of distant 2nd importance to me, but a necessary, and fun piece of the puzzle.

Let me throw this out there: there's no question that the single most important contributor to the sound of your 2 channel system is the room itself. No amount of money thrown at gear is going to remedy a bad room. That said, most of us do not have dedicated listening rooms, and so make do with a system we can "live" with - like a living room vs. an acoustically treated bunker in the basement.

Sooo... I've been looking to upgrade my vintage/worn out Mac system (XR7 and Ma6100) and have started my quest looking at speakers. I plan to match source/pre and monos based on what works best.

Hence the interest in Nautilus D (800,801,802) speakers. Are they the best speakers out there? Nope. Are they overpriced? Yup. That said, they have a lot going for them:

1. They are not rare/finicky/obscure. They sell a lot of them, hence a good likelihood of having MANY years of service and parts availability.

2. They look good. Tastes vary for sure, but for something that has to live exposed in your living room, they are some of the better looking speakers out there IMHO. Like Sonus Faber, there's definitely an attention to aesthetics that sets them apart.

3. They sound good. Clear, revealing - too much so? Perhaps. But good, for sure.

So, if you were in the market for the best current porduction speakers that can be had (used) for ~$10K or less, what would be looking at? Assume preference is popular music (not classical) and a readiness to buy good powerful SS monos to drive them.

Best,

Matt

Dean_Fuller

I still say if your room can handle them the Magnepan 20.1 is hard to beat for the price...well under your 10K. Much harder to push than the B&W ..and would be hard to play as LOUD if thats your thing. The B&W will be nice too but the imaging and sound stage on the Maggie's is jaw dropping...Thats my weakness when it comes to speakers...do they disappear in the room? Can they make a fringing piano sound REAL and IN the room?...so many can't.

For that price range you are into some serious speaker territory. LOTS to choose from.


What size is your room? The dreaded square??? Small children?

Dean_Fuller

I do think the DQ-10's were so far ahead of their time. Literally thinking "outside the box" as regards typical, safe speakers design. They still can hold their own against some very pricey boxes. For that reason I think they are one of the best...you can definitely find better sounding but have your check book ready.

I am always looking for a pair at a reasonable price. Someone has a rebuilt pair in Birmingham, AL Craigslist for $750 right now.

http://bham.craigslist.org/ele/1880318998.html

fast_freddy

I had a set of 802's several years back. Lovely speakers, great fullsome sound. I "replaced" them for a very brief period of time with a set of Wilson Watt/Puppy's which weren't any better in spite of the fact they were hideously expensive. I say replaced because it was an attempt at a "puppy dog sale" and I sent the puppy back to the kennel. Now I have Dynaudio Confidence C2's (I have other Dynaudio speakers too and I'm in love with them too) driven by a Mac amp and I'm in love. The Dyn's disappear into the room the B&W's not so much.

cobalt

As I said before the ADAMs are by far the most life like speaker I have ever heard for the money. I prefer my winds over the Wilson Watt Puppy's & Comparable speakers. I find them to be quite similar in sound but far less temperamental. Better imaging and overall sound in my environment costing a fraction of them new and used.

My winds and system work together well to produce a stage that feels over 25 feet wide when the room is only 18 feet wide. My sitting area is roughly 15 feet back and I could move forward and slightly back or off axis and still retain the same imaging and sound unlike the Wilson's & B&W's which I find you need to be closer and dead center for optimal sound. The design of the cabinet is unique and there is no stereo sound the speakers melt away at even the lowest volumes. Every instrument including the difficult piano sounds as though it is in the room each in it's appropriate place. I find the speaker cables helped most with that. Bringing the drums together and placed center back vs all over the place and the other instruments spread out accordingly. Although this depends on the recording. Every subtle detail is heard. What I find as you spend tens to hundreds of thousands more is you gain a degree of separation of instruments within the sound stage that my system doesn't have but I feel that in my environment the money would be wasted without having a room far wider to accommodate them. Otherwise I can realistically say that for what I spent I couldn't have reproduced this sound and imaging for under $200,000 15 years ago.

From what I have heard the ADAMS are even more precise. The highs and especially the mids are so robust and crisp like nothing else I have heard costing under $50k+. The rap of a drum stick on the rim of the drum the vocals are unreal Something only a few top of the line speakers I have heard with far more drivers and power to run them come close to. In fact I find everything is more life like because of the driver design using less than 30 Watts of class A power for High and mid drivers. There is a responsiveness that I find is missing from most speakers that these seem to produce so effortlessly. If you don't feel as though the artist is in the room singing to only you I would be surprised. Although I have not taken the time to play with a set to see how they sound in a configuration similar to mine.