Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus - Floor Standing Speaker - Pair


  • Description
  • Specifications
  • Reviews

NAUTLIUS

Nothing looks, or sounds, quite like Nautilus™. A revolution when it launched and still an icon today. Its ethos informs everything B&w do. Nautilus comes in three standard colors: midnight blue, black, and silver. B&w also offer a special service that can match any color from a sample or color reference.

Redefining sound

The long, tapered damping tubes were a revolution, allowing the drive units to work optimally by gently absorbing stray energy.

Shaped by sound

At a glance, you can see Nautilus is no ordinary speaker, and after nearly three decades it still defines high-end audio.

Making magic

Constructing the complex shapes and precision drive units demands decades of experience and exacting attention to detail.

Crafting a classic

Nautilus speakers are hand-built to order, alongside the 800 Series Diamond™, by a dedicated specialist team in their Worthing factory.

Infinite colors

 Nautilus comes in three standard colors: silver, black and midnight blue. But, as befits such a unique speaker, B&w also offer a special service that can match any color you specify.

Setting the standard for the future

The striking spirals and tubes of Nautilus came from B&w's research into making speaker drive units behave as B&w wanted: this Nautilus Tube™ technology, for which they won a Queen's Award for Innovation, is now found in almost every speaker they make.

Thinking beyond the box

Nautilus is quite unlike a conventional box speaker: to package B&w's unique Nautilus tubes for use in the home, their designers developed the striking, and space-efficient, spiral form from which the speaker takes its name.

But why the Nautilus tube?

 We want to hear a speaker driver, not its side-effects – conventional boxes contain sound from the rear of the driver, but bring their own problems. Nautilus tapering tubes soak up wayward energy and reduce resonances to the point of insignificance.

 

Enclosure Type

4-way tube-loaded loudspeaker system

Drive Units

  • 1x 300mm (12 in) aluminium cone bass
  • 1x 100mm (4 in) aluminum/polymer sandwich cone lower midrange
  • 1x 50mm (2 in) aluminum dome upper midrange
  • 1x 25mm (1 in) aluminum dome high-frequency

Frequency Range

-6dB at 10Hz and 25kHz

Dispersion

  • Within 2dB of response on reference axis
  • Horizontal: over 60 degree arc
  • Vertical: over 10 degree arc

Crossover Frequency

220Hz, 880Hz, 3.5kHz

Power amplifier requirements

4 channels per speaker, rated 100W-300W continuous into 8 Ohms on unclipped program (each channel to have identical gain and phase)

Dimensions

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

Net Weight

  • Speaker: 44.5kg (98 lb)
  • Plinth: 42kg (92 lb)
  • Total: 86.5kg (190 lb)

Standard Finishes

  • Midnight Blue, Black, Silver.
  • Also available in premium custom colors

Series

Prestige Edition