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History of the Nautilus loudspeaker

bowerswilkins.com

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Re: History of the Nautilus loudspeaker

#171

Post by Gauge_Irrahphe »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #170
Gauge_Irrahphe wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on comparing them with studio monitors. They sound more like good headphones or not like speakers at all. They can play string bass. The drums sound unamplified on good enough recordings. There is no doubt that their distortion is extraordinarily low, and it's not the distortion of the amplifier but the speakers. I don't know how you expect me to prove it to you.

> "I don't know how you expect me to prove it to you." By providing objective measurements, as I have written in multiple previous comments already. If you do not have measurements at hand, or the necessary gear to undertake them yourself, Amir at audiosciencereview.com has the gear, skills and experience to perform in-depth detailed speaker measurements. He accepts speakers shipped to him for review. It's not very c…

They can play the kick drum without any noticeable accompanying "dunnn" sound, which is enough to tell that their distortion must be extraordinarily low. In fact the people who said they "yes, they make sound" may dislike them for their dryness. Occams razor has nothing to do with that, as your phone screen has better image quality than the best TV screens a few decades ago. And that is my last reply, do it yourself if you care about measurements, you'd probably say I faked them anyway.

Re: History of the Nautilus loudspeaker

#172

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

analog31 wrote: post #117
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of bugs me is that there really aren't any kits and very few DIY designs that match the kind of speakers I really miss, at least not ones focused on home audio. Those speakers being the old-school big boxes with 12-15" woofers, sometimes multiple and usually 3-way designs, sometimes 4-way. Large, heavy, imposing and punchy, big speakers for big music. I know modern speaker drivers have come a long way, but…

This has always seemed interesting. Bill Fitzmaurice has made a career of developing horn-loaded systems, which are tricky to design. https://billfitzmaurice.info/David.html There's a series of PA cab designs called fEarFul, that incorporate the newer 12" and 15" woofers from Eminence. You might have to dig around to locate the actual design data, but I do know that the designs were carefully tweaked and are stoopid…

The JBELL SS15 tapped horn is another great design. Using the 55€ 15LB075-UW4 chassis, this is probably the best bang-for-buck subwoofer you can build right now. Not as easy to build as a BR though. Report with detailed measurements:

http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-238-184.html

Re: History of the Nautilus loudspeaker

#173

Post by smichel17 »

ninjaoxygen wrote: post #8
bwang29 wrote: post #4

I used to work in boutique audio retail. One of the big challenges of the business is how big and heavy good speakers are. In the old days we would need to crate the speaker to customers’ house for audition as every room has a different acoustic, and try a few different speakers with more crates with a upfront fee/credit to purchase, but it doesn’t happen nearly as often anymore. Showrooms nowadays also mostly do not…

I work in high-end AV. Perceptually, in a good space, those fantastic speakers often do not make the sound people associate with "loud", no distortion, no top end becoming hissy, just the concert-level bass to clue you in to how loud it is. People who have paid a lot for their system want that "wow" factor that immediately makes anyone think it's loud. The other issue is that different listening material definitely n…

As a very, very casual audiophile, I don't personally feel the need for new models all that much. I don't go crazy trying to fit speakers to rooms — that's going to change over time! So I'd put the speaker in whatever location sounds the best in that house, and I'm happy with that.

I like the sound of old 60's-70's acoustic suspension speakers with large (11-12") woofers. In particular, I find them to produce a much more satisfying deep bass when played at low volumes. I won't say they're "the best", since I haven't had the chance to listen to much modern high-end equipment, but certainly they're good enough for me to be happy with. Currently listening on a pair of 1970 Advents (OLA), for the curious.

I appreciate that passive speakers are nice. I prefer listening on the Polk T15's I own over the desktop speakers I have, a logitech Z323 paired with the subwoofer from a Z-2300, despite the superior bass of the latter.

Anyway, my point is that I don't personally need all that much (expensive) innovation; I'd be pretty satisfied if these companies wanted to produce product lines that already exist (or bring back older designs, which are increasingly more expensive/difficult to find, these days. I admit to ignorance here, and I get that solid wood is expensive, but I have difficulty understanding why this type of speaker can't be manufactured and sold at a couple hundred bucks a pop, vs several thousands for the models the grandparent comment mentioned.

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