Bowers & Wilkins 805S Bookshelf Speaker Review

[MediumRare]

This site is straight pimples homey.

*** PURE GOLD ***

 

[amirm]

@amirm

What happened to Adam Audio T8V measurements announced some time ago?

It is still here waiting to be tested...

 

[Ilkless]

I haven't heard a speaker better to my ears than a pair of B&W Nautilus 801s back in the mid 2000's or so. Nothing before or since. I should have bought them.

The transitional era, with the iconic curved enclosures but still largely-smooth tonal balance. 801D onwards was a step back. Have been looking out for a used set as well, the potential dynamics and looks and decent-enough design are tempting.

 

[Jaimo]

Well, you get to calibrate your favorite review sites using it. Here is WhatHifi:

View attachment 86557

Got 5 out of 5 stars.

TWAT Hi-Fi- stupid and obnoxious

 

[CDMC]

But don't get off stating that your opinion is better than another website's opinion. I'll use my PhD-educated brain to make up my own mind, thanks.

Wow, just wow. You hopefully realize that having a PhD is irrelevant to the discussion, it is what is termed an appeal to accomplishment fallacy. I would wager that a disproportionate number of people on this site have doctorates, but they don't bring them up, as they aren't relevant (I just checked, I have one from a major university, when looking closely at it I didn't see where it said that it made me an authority at anything). Instead, why not state your hypotheses and your basis? Then we could have a factual based discussion. Otherwise, we can all just exchange insults which accomplishes nothing.

 

[weasels]

I haven't heard a speaker better to my ears than a pair of B&W Nautilus 801s back in the mid 2000's or so. Nothing before or since. I should have bought them.

View attachment 86688

Same here. Listening to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" on a pair of Nautilus 801s in 2000 is still the best sounding thing I've ever heard. I believe the dealer was running everything on Macintosh electronics too, which is sure to annoy some

 

[MediumRare]

They're a tough speaker to review by listening. I know lot of folks will go "wow" within the first song but you have to give them time and then the bubble bursts and you start noticing the recessed midrange.
What also struck me with the N802's was the fact that you could hear the tweeter playing on top, you could close your eyes and point with the hand where the sound was exactly coming from.

I have to take issue with that. I have the Nautilus 804s (roughly 2002) and the soundstage is impeccable. I've used the Harmon listening test and that is a particular strength with these speakers. My room has a very complex hipped ceiling and there's still exact, crisp placement of every element - depending on the quality of the recording, of course. If you don't have a rock-solid center image and a very precise soundstage - further, if you could locate a speaker AT ALL - it's either a limitation of the recording or a problem with the set up of your room.

 

[TomJ]

I haven't heard a speaker better to my ears than a pair of B&W Nautilus 801s back in the mid 2000's or so. Nothing before or since. I should have bought them.

Not surprised. B&W somehow lost their way with the 800S series. To this day, I don't think they've ever equalled the sound of their Nautilus 800 series.

Twenty years ago I decided to replace my KEF 105s with a new pair of N801. On someone's advice, I also listened to the N805 and to my surprise, I liked them even more (?!) for the music and sound levels I listen to in my home. I'm still enjoying them today. As a long time listener, I still agree with everything LG and JA said about them in their 1999 review. https://www.stereophile.com/standlo...reophile.com/standloudspeakers/168/index.html

 

[anmpr1]

I haven't heard a speaker better to my ears than a pair of B&W Nautilus 801s back in the mid 2000's or so. Nothing before or since.

That's the thing about loudspeakers. Many of the 'well known' brands are so polarizing among consumers/listeners. I've never heard a set of B&W, even the price no object models, that I wanted to own. That said, my choice of speakers is even more controversial.

One thing--for the 'music loving' investment banker or cardiologist, a set of top tier B&W speakers look great in a living room, flanked with McIntosh gear. I think the 'high end' cosmetic factor can't be discounted.

 

[fredoamigo]

Same here. Listening to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" on a pair of Nautilus 801s in 2000 is still the best sounding thing I've ever heard. I believe the dealer was running everything on Macintosh electronics too, which is sure to annoy some

With this album, even the worst of the pots would become unforgettable and would be transformed into SOTA .so ,.... argument not admissible my friend

to judge a loudspeaker without measures I always use the worst album I know and that I don't like with a bad sound recording and if it happens that I like it, it's then that the material is good ...

this one is my Justice of the Peace

 

[tuga]

I was fortunate to have listened to this pair of Nautilus (awful choice of colour by the way).
Bad music, too loud and with vinyl as source.
The speakers were very revealing of the shorcomings upstream.

 

[MZKM]

I was fortunate to have listened to this pair (awful choice of colour).
Bad music, too loud and with vinyl as source.
The speakers were very revealing of the shorcomings upstream.

For those that don't know, the designer left and is now with Vivid Audio, here is their current $93,000 flagship:

Here are the measurements of their $28,000 bookshelf:
0-15-30H

45-60-75H:

 

[MediumRare]

They tend to be flatter at 30° and very low harmonic distortion:

This is a great point. On my Nautilus 804 owners manual they specifically state: "Aim the speakers straight ahead, do not toe-in". This would tend to lower the hot treble while simultaneously widening the dispersion. My personal experience is also that the sweet spot in listening position is relatively small, but the reward of being in that sweet spot (amazingly precise soundstage) is very high.

Honestly, haven't we all seen a recurring gap between the "scores" we are obtaining and Amir's subjective impressions? Despite the general persuasive ability of the Harmon/Toole research, there's a heck of a lot more going on with speaker preference than our current measurement system is telling us. It's not a criticism to say that this process of evaluating and "ranking" speakers is immature.

Last, the Harmon house curve is surely an approximation and, as we've all said, every room is different. Isn't one of the most consistent pieces of advice in this forum: "Use room correction"? A tweak of a few dB in a couple places is probably a very minor issue relative to the other things that make a speaker enjoyable. Note: This is NOT a subjectivist apology; just a note on the value and interpretation of measurements.

 

[tuga]

I've listened to both the Giya G2s and the Oval B1s, they're both too ugly for me to even consider them in spite of their good performance...not that I can afford them anyway.
The new Kaya series looks a lot nicer.

 

[richard12511]

I've listened to both the Giya G2s and the Oval B1s, they're both too ugly for me to even consider them in spite of their good performance...not that I can afford them anyway.
The new Kaya series looks a lot nicer.

How would you compare the Nautilus to the Giyas you heard?

 

[tuga]

How would you compare the Nautilus to the Giyas you heard?

Hard to say, really, because the Nautilus were playing too loud and the music wasn't the most adequate for assessing performance (they played the usual suspects Stimela, Money for Nothing, etc.).
I quite liked the G2s even though they were setup too far apart. I remember that they played Mutter's Zigeunerweisen (Levine, VPO - DG) at some point and it sounded well balanced and smooth in the treble without agressive screeching string sound.

 

[anmpr1]

The speakers were very revealing of the shorcomings upstream.

Any reasonably decent loudspeaker will highlight a bad recording. You don't need something looking like a larger than nature intended snail, that costs sixty thousand dollars for that.

 

[tuga]

Any reasonably decent loudspeaker will highlight a bad recording. You don't need something looking like a larger than nature intended snail, that costs sixty thousand dollars for that.

Good recordings in this case but bad ancilliaries.

It's a high price to pay but you're not just getting better than reasonably decent performance. Personally I find them ugly but the craftsmanship is amazing. One could say that too much has been spent on the casing but at this price point consumers expect that.

Once you've dealt with on- and off-axis frequency response other aspects/shortcomings become a bit more obvious but they're more difficult and expensive to address. Are they audible and/or meaningful?

 

[infinitesymphony]

Same here. Listening to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" on a pair of Nautilus 801s in 2000 is still the best sounding thing I've ever heard. I believe the dealer was running everything on Macintosh electronics too, which is sure to annoy some

That's interesting because the only B&W showroom around when I was younger also had everything hooked up to McIntosh equipment. In contrast with my poor critical listening room experience where some kind of Hafler or Yamaha solid state power amp was powering them, I thought the McIntosh stuff was a better match. They seemed to balance each other out.

 

[MattHooper]

Oh man, I remember these speakers when they were super popular.

The sound guys I worked with and I would do the occasional lunch trip to an audio store and when they had the B&W805s in new and set up many really liked them. "Wow, super clear!" To me they were the epitome of "high fi store sound," with a screw up exactly where Amir has measured that made them sound both artificial and exciting "listen to those sharp airy highs and detail!" I couldn't stand them, but a number of guys I know snapped them up. In fact a couple even used them as monitors at work. Egads the sound whenever I entered their room!

I think it was ever since exposure to that model that I held a grudge against B&W's tweeter. As if the exaggerated highs weren't attention grabbing enough, the tweeter was top mounted in a "look at me!" fashion. And that ugly kevlar cone. Blech!

That said, given my dire first encounters, later on I actually heard some sound that I enjoyed from the later bigger, more full range models. They sounded smoother and richer, at least, which allowed the slight exaggeration in the highs to add a bit of sparkle, but in a less detached-from-the-sound manner.