How does B&W Nautilus compare to the best of today?

[caesar]

Anyone have any insight? How does it compare to the Vivid Giya?

[JackD201]

I don't know anyone who's ever heard the "Super Snail" before. I'm curious too.

[DaveyF]

I heard the Nautilus years ago at a S'phile show and thought it was sublime. Easily the best sound at that show, and for me, many shows since then. I'm not sure how it would stack up against the Giya, as I haven't heard each with the same system or room, plus I heard the Nautilus years ago. BUT, I didn't get the same favorable impression when I heard the Giya's.

[caesar]

I heard the Nautilus years ago at a S'phile show and thought it was sublime. Easily the best sound at that show, and for me, many shows since then. I'm not sure how it would stack up against the Giya, as I haven't heard each with the same system or room, plus I heard the Nautilus years ago. BUT, I didn't get the same favorable impression when I heard the Giya's.

Did you hear the Giya with tubes? I bet it would sound amazing with your CAT gear, which is how it was displayed at the Munich show.

[flez007]

Good question caesar, I owned some early-models B&W and always liked them - I posted somewhere else in this same space a recent discussion with the Abbey Road chief mastering engineer where a pair of 801N are used as main monitors, they should have a pretty good reason.

[DaveyF]

Did you hear the Giya with tubes? I bet it would sound amazing with your CAT gear, which is how it was displayed at the Munich show.

Hi Caesar, if I remember, I heard the Giya's with ss gear, not sure but I think it was Luxman. Sound was good but not up to my recollection of the Nautilus.
The CAT gear would be great to hear with the Giya's. I suspect it would be a better match than the Luxman

[rockitman]

One of the coolest looking speakers ever...requires 8 monaural amps too...one for each driver. Not sure they can compete with today's SOTA speakers.

[JackD201]

The Nautilus remains B&W's flagship loudspeaker and thus can be custom ordered.

[Keith_W]

I have heard two pairs of these. One pair belongs to a friend, and the other pair I heard in a hifi shop down the road. It was instructive because it showed what a poorly set up pair of these speakers could sound like. One system was very close to the best sound I have ever heard - shockingly transparent, dynamic, and really "integrated" - you can not hear the crossover points at all, nor is it apparent that you are listening to a multi-driver system. The downside is that the midrange was slightly thin, and the top end had that metallic quality (though not as objectionable as some other metal dome tweeters). The other downside - the whole speaker is surprisingly low, so you need a rather short listening chair (or listening stool) to get the ears at tweeter level.