Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: B&W Nautilus Speakers by Nicolas J.

Model:	Nautilus
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	40.000 US$
Description:	4-way B&W statement speaker
Manufacturer URL:	B&W
Model Picture:	View

Review by Nicolas J. ( A ) on November 06, 2002 at 17:30:18
IP Address: 62.147.184.124

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B&W Technical Specifications : Nautilus

Height: 1210mm (47.6in)
Width: 430mm (16.9in)
Depth: 1105mm (43.5in)

Net Weight 110kg / 243lb (loudspeaker: 60kg base: 50kg)
Freq. Response 25Hz - 20kHz ± 0.5dB on reference axis
Freq. Range -6dB at 10Hz and 25kHz
Power Handling 100W - 500W into 8 ohms one amplifier channel is required for each drive unit. Electronic crossover supplied with speaker.
Drive Units Unit 1: High Frequency: 2 domed units of anodised aluminium of similar construction, 50mm and 25mm in diameter, handle the 880Hz-3.5kHz and 3.5kHz-25kHz ranges respectively. All drive units are completely mounted on silicone rubber O-rings to decouple the from the cabinet
Unit 2: Mid-range/high frequency: From 220Hz to 880 Hz, a 100mm flat-fronted unit is employed to prevent the gentle cavity resonance found in conventional cone units at around 2kHz interfering with the output from the upper/midrange unit. A rare earth magnet assembly with hollow pole is used to minimise the obstruction to the rear radiation from the diaphragm.
Unit 3: Bass: A 9.5kg (21lbs) magnet with a 100mm (4in) voice coil acts as the massive motor of the 300mm (12in) bass unit (10Hz-220Hz). This, when used in the exponential line enclosure, results in a high-pass behaviour so over-damped that the traditional second-order characteristic is replaced by two distinct first-order slopes and no stored energy. A 250 micron one-piece aluminium cone ensures coherent motion to beyond 1.5kHz.

Finish Midnight Blue, Black, Silver
Amplifier Description: One channel per drive unit 100 - 500 W into 8 ohms supplied with electronic crossover

Review :
I've had the chance to listen to them at a recent show in Paris.

The Nautilus speakers visually are IMHO the most stunning speakers ever made. They are a work of art. And as unique works of art, their price tag is high. Around 40 grand for a pair. In fact, when compared to some other world-class products, they are petty cheap in regard with what they can deliver. However, the demanding quality of its ancillaries (in particular the amplification) IS expensive. The price tag can be j.stified by the fact that there is no manufacturing line for the Nautilus snails. They are made at unity, once the demand has reached a certain number, B&W builds a bunch of pairs, a bit like rare Ferraris I guess. The drivers are made out of aluminium, which I believe is unique in the entire B&W catalog.

These quadriamplified speakers are not very big actually, they are not huge monsters like J. Lab Grande Utopia or Wilson Grand Slamm. About 1m20 tall. The bass driver is only 30cm in diameter.

The Nautilus are power suckers. At the show, they were powered by several Classe monoblocs : for each channel, 400W for the bass + 400W lower medium + 200 W uper medium + 200W tweeter !! That's 1200W/channel of clean power. And don't feed them with garbage, if you don't want them to throw up at you. When I say that, I really mean that their transparency and near-perfect linearity is totally unforgiving to the electronics. I can only think of a few amplifiers able to get the best of them, like the Classé Omega, or Chord SPM6000 or SPM12000 or maybe the very best Mark Levinson amplifier, but that's about it. At the show, unfortunately, the Classé that were used were not the Omega but the model just below, and although they were still impressive, they were slightly overly bright, which is not the case with the Omega.

As everyone who has heard them at the show, I was totally blown away by what came out of these speakers. In fact so much so, that after hearing them, I could hear all the defects that flawed every other speakers, among which some high-end ones.

In fact, these cost-no-object speakers were not supposed to be sold. They were designed by the engineers at B&W to be their own reference, against which all their newer models (the Nautilus series in particular) could be compared. Their goal was to make something as close to a theoretical air-moving piston as possible. They succeeded in having no vibration modes at all up to 19 kHz. Each driver is loaded by a theoretically ideal tapered open tube designed to slow down the air behind the drivers. The tube of the bass driver is several meters long, hence the snail design. Here the need created the form. And of course, the drivers are perfectly in phase and their frequency response is almost ideally linear (their active crossover is measured to within 0.5 dB).

Let's make something clear now : the N800 Signature speakers are exceptional speakers. But as good as they are, from what I've heard, the Nautilus are INCOMPARABLY better than N800 Signature (and this holds, even if B&W, for obvious marketing reasons, says the opposite). They are not only world-class speakers, they are true reference speakers, in the premier sense of the term.

At the show, the presentation last only 30 mn but it was nothing short of extraordinary. The demo CD featured a choir of youngsters singing "La mer" from C. Trenet. I've never heard something so close to reality as here. Truely unbelievable. The stage was amazingly large and the voices totally detached from each other. In fact, it was almost too realistic as in a real situation, one could'nt hear a choir in such details. But it was the only time I've heard a choir reproduced in its real size, that is 15m large, 3m high.

After that, there was a rock group, reproduced at realistic sound level. Again, almost undiscernable from reality. The instruments were well-shaped and well-placed in space. The drums were totally reproduced with all their dynamics and the vibrations of the skin under the sticks, the cymbals were so detailed and realistic that I couldn't differentiate them from real ones. The Nautilus handled the tremendous power without ever showing any sign of compression or strain. I guess they could have been driven much louder than anyone could bear, even in a very large room (in this one, there were about 60 persons), without showing any strain.

And apart from one or two, every music of the demo, recorded with two microphons only, sounded as close to true fidelity as I've ever heard. My only regret is there was no orchestra, which is a pity with such a system.

If ever you have a chance to hear these speakers in good conditions, don't miss it. I can't say that these are the best speakers in the world, but I must say I can hardly think of anything better. They are that extraordinary.

ps : After having written this review, I came accross Stereophile's "100 Hot products" of the last 40 years (Nov. 2002 issue). Here is what John Atkinson says :
"B&W Nautilus, Infinity IRS, Wilson Audio WAMM : (...) All three were made in minuscule numbers, and all three are the finest-sounding true full-range loudspeakers I have heard."
This pretty sums it up all.

Product Weakness: Needs HUGE power, of the highest quality, ( 4 stereo or 8 mono amps) and the best electronic equipment.
Product Strengths: Life-like dynamics, near-perfect linearity, largest soundstage and most accurate imaging I've heard so far.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	4 Classé audio CAM-350
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Classé
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Classé
Speakers:	Nautilus
Cables/Interconnects:	?
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Demo, all kinds except symphonic
Room Size (LxWxH):	45 ft approx. x 40 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	Hotel conference room
Time Period/Length of Audition:	30 mn
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	?
Type of Audition/Review:	Dealer Demo

Product Weakness:	Needs HUGE power, of the highest quality, ( 4 stereo or 8 mono amps) and the best electronic equipment.
Product Strengths:	Life-like dynamics, near-perfect linearity, largest soundstage and most accurate imaging I've heard so far.