B&W 805 matched with Tag Gear

[skuzi]

Hi,

I 've been searching for years now to find a matching pair of speakers with my Tag Gear. I 've tried Totem, Mission Elegante, Klipsch, Dynaudio Contour 1.3, M & K 850, Tag Caliopes, Monitor Audio GS 10, PMC OB1 which were all no good match to my ears. Sometimes too bright, sometimes too laid back, sometimes....
Untill I hooked up yesterday a pair of B&W Nautilus 805, a brand which I didn 't like so much before
They are 5 years old and in mint condition. As I noticed most of you fellow Tag owners are also pairing with B&W. Now I have 2 questions:
1) Will my 700:7R Amp (7x100 W RMS) be sufficiënt to drive these speakers
as they should ?
2) What would be a reasonable price to pay for them ?

Thanks for your answers !
And... Sorry Louis, if you are still out there, but I had to sell off the Caliopes cause I really didn 't like them...

 

[alexs2]

TAG and B&W used to be paired very often,until B&W began using Classe.

They generally go well together,but you may find that early versions of the 805 test the 100x5 and 100x7 pretty hard.

Edit...just had a closer look at what you've writen above....at 5 yrs old,the 805's would be relatively early,and whilst they will sound very similar to newer non-signature versions,they do present a rather more difficult load than newer ones,as the crossover has been revised since.

The early versions(mine included) had quite a significan dip in impedance in the bass area,and made the 100x5 struggle a bit at high levels....if possible,you would need to try them before buying,although sonically they do match well.

 

[VTavares]

I have two 60P driving a pair of 805s, and I never felt any lack of power.

I never heard the 700:7R, so I can't say if it will be fine with B&W, but in terms of power I think you will not have problem.

 

[skuzi]

Thanks for your comments guys. I auditioned them at fair volume, not superloud but... Wat surprised me most was that the seller had a 2 channel setup with a Pathos Logos amplifier (4000 €) and a Unison upsampling Cd Player (2000 €) which performed very equaly to my Tag setup, amazing how small the differences were. If the 60P performs well than I shouldn't have anything to worry about. Alexis as you already own a pair of B&W 805, what would be a fair price to pay for them, given that they are in perfect shape ?

 

[VTavares]

According with alexs2, the old 805 (non-signature), are rather more difficult load than the new ones (I didn’t know). So takes attention to this aspect.

 

[alexs2]

Thanks for your comments guys. I auditioned them at fair volume, not superloud but... Wat surprised me most was that the seller had a 2 channel setup with a Pathos Logos amplifier (4000 &#8364 and a Unison upsampling Cd Player (2000 &#8364 which performed very equaly to my Tag setup, amazing how small the differences were. If the 60P performs well than I shouldn't have anything to worry about. Alexis as you already own a pair of B&W 805, what would be a fair price to pay for them, given that they are in perfect shape ?

Price is always a difficult matter,as what the seller wants and buyer wishes to pay are often very different.

Bear in mind the speakers are 5 yrs old and originally cost around £1800 with stands(assuming these are offered with the original B&W stands) then you would expect to pay about £800-1k now.....this is a bit of a guess,and factors in a lot for condition and stands.

On the other point,this was in relation to my own finding when trying a pair of 805's in a shop before bringing them home to test there.....the shop ran them from a TAG 100x5 which plainly was compressed at high levels,although very nice at low-mid levels,whereas the admittedly unfair comparison at home consisted of a pair of Krells.

If you are happy with your audition,then I would go with that,as opposed to what I wanted from the audition,and I would also say that the 100x5 is a very nice smooth sounding amp.

 

[Inotrope]

I've been delighted with my 805S, but am driving them with both 250x2R (woofer) and 100x5R! Probably a bit of overkill, but I plan on keeping the amps, but upgrading the speakers if I get a house upgrade!

 

[skuzi]

Hi Guys,

I decided to buy the N805 (last friday) and found also a matching Nautilus HTM2 which I fetched last saturday. I have to say that these speakers are the best match to my Tag setup which I was able to test so far. However, the first very high impressions I had when listening at the sellers place and second time when I hooked them up at my place and listened for the first time friday evening faded away a bit. The mid and low is still very nice, but I find the highs somewhat too bright to my ears. Is this better whit the 805S or should this become better with a more performant power amp ?
The HTM2 is integrating amazingly well in the home theater setup, I changed distance and db settings in the menu using a sound pressure meter and was very surpised by the result. Can 't wait to watch another movie tonight ! If you would recommend to go down the amp road, should I try and look for some Bryston amp or what would you recommend (knowing that the Tag 250 amps are very difficult to find these days)

 

[alexs2]

Some people do find the Nautilus tweeter a bit on the promninent side at first,but I think that it remains a very clear and neutral one by any standards.

You also have to remember that by comparison with your previous speakers,they will almost certainly sound different.

Careful positioning and use of soft furnishings can remove a lot of HF problems if this remains an issue,as I dont remember the TAG amps as being overbright,although there is little doubt in my mind that a move to Bryston,Krell or Classe for instance would be a substantial move up in all terms.

 

[skuzi]

You are very right Alexis !
I moved the right speaker a bit so that the distance became bigger between the 2 speakers and the highs became less bright.
I also remarked an improvement with the curtains closed. You are also right with the sound difference comared to my previous Mission speakers. The Nautilus tweeter is a very revealing one, in comparison to my Missions, so I need to get used to it. Anyway, in all I finally have a big improvement compared to the old situation, and if I get the right asking price for my Missions, the money I had to pay extra for the B&W speakers is a joke

 

[alexs2]

You are very right Alexis !
:

Appreciated....BTW,it's Alex....not Alexis...just so you know,unless I've had a sex-change I dont know about!

 

[skuzi]

Wooops sorry about that one Alex, My wife's name is Alexandra, so Alexis probably is no gender at all
Anyway, to continue on the subject, the B&W's will probaly be a temporary solution for me, as I went to a local small manufacturer here in Belgium and had a listen to the loudspeakers he makes. I think I will start saving some money to buy a pair of those, He sells them for 3000,- Euro and they can easily match e.g. a pair of Willson Audio Sophia or B&W 802D but at a fraction of the cost. Heard them on his system though, next week I will bring my Tag setup to his place and have another listen. The current available colour is Maple only but he told me he can apply any kind of wood veneer If I wish so.

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

When I worked in retail for a nautilus dealer before I started Convergent. I sold lots of TAG and Nautilus. I think that your equipment and the 805's should sound lovely. I've no idea on vale of them s/h these days though, sorry.

 

[davee]

I really wanted to like the 805's paired with my TAG but just found them too harsh. The dealer even let me take them home and try them to be sure, but even with my credit card burning a hole in my pocket I couldnt commit to liking them enough. Put it down to my increasing years, personal taste whatever.
Then I found the sonus fabers and the magic was there. Wonderful match.
So, its often not what youre looking for but when you get it you know about it.

 

[Miron]

it is nothing else but personal taste.
with video it is different, if you know where to watch you can see obvious differences and differ between good and not so good. with audio it is taste. for an example sonus fabers are not know as absolutely flat speakers while b&ws are, still your cleasr preference were sfs.

unfortunately people discuss too much about the taste

 

[simes_pep]

I use my N805s with a Sim Audio Moon amp, from Canada. The i5, it also has a HT bypass input, which I feed with a AV32R 5.1
The N805s need a firm hand with plenty of power, in terms of current and damping factor, to retain control of the drives over the frequency response.

From this regard the Bryston or Classe would be also good choices.

Simon.