Always wanted a pair of B&W Nautilus from the early 90s:

j^aws wrote:

Always wanted a pair of B&W Nautilus from the early 90s:

Brochure Photo.png

Wow these look really awesome, how much were they ? 😕

Going from memory from the early 90s, I think they were in the 5 digit category, over £10,000. They seem to be going for around £50,000 these days. I'd pair one with a sound blaster for scientific purposes.

These are design speakers and probably not that good in terms of sound quality.

derSammler wrote:

These are design speakers and probably not that good in terms of sound quality.

They were amazingly good in terms of sound quality for the time. Very clever design eliminating standing waves and internal reflections. They require an active crossover and four amplification channels per speaker, a proper system for a pair of these speakers should have eight high end monoblocks like Krell, Classe or something of this kind. And they need a big room to really shine. In other words, it's for people who can easily spend upwards of €100k on their audio system.

By the way, they're still available from B&W as a special order item.

I've always favored 2.1 setups as opposed to just stereo speakers. personal preference, Cambridge SoundWorks stuff sounded pretty good for the price back then. As far as the best nobody could afford? How about hook your computer up to a real stearo system receiver and drive real speakers like 12 inch or 15s in surround so it shakes your house and the neighbors call the cops on you. Thats real sh*t.

Check out Wilson Audio - the WAMM model was launched in the early 1980's and by 1990 a set cost $88.000 according to this article:
https://www.stereophile.com/interviews/690wil/index.html
see also:
https://www.wilsonaudio.com/pdf/brochures/wil … o-full-line.pdf

Other high-end speakers of the 1980's were for example Infinity IRS and Levinson HQD - both in the upper range of $20.000-$30.000

Tannoy Westminster Royal came out in 1989, and a variant is still produced today (as Royal GR or something such).

Warlord wrote:

I've always favored 2.1 setups as opposed to just stereo speakers. personal preference, Cambridge SoundWorks stuff sounded pretty good for the price back then. As far as the best nobody could afford? How about hook your computer up to a real stearo system receiver and drive real speakers like 12 inch or 15s in surround so it shakes your house and the neighbors call the cops on you. Thats real sh*t.

That's exactly what I did in the 90's.

Panasonic radio/tape/amp with some 3-way speakers with 10" woofers.

I could literally not hear anything else even if somebody was yelling at me when I had it turned up while playing games. I had the speakers positioned maybe 3-4 feet behind me.

cyclone3d wrote:

That's exactly what I did in the 90's. […]
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Warlord wrote:

I've always favored 2.1 setups as opposed to just stereo speakers. personal preference, Cambridge SoundWorks stuff sounded pretty good for the price back then. As far as the best nobody could afford? How about hook your computer up to a real stearo system receiver and drive real speakers like 12 inch or 15s in surround so it shakes your house and the neighbors call the cops on you. Thats real sh*t.

That's exactly what I did in the 90's.

Panasonic radio/tape/amp with some 3-way speakers with 10" woofers.

I could literally not hear anything else even if somebody was yelling at me when I had it turned up while playing games. I had the speakers positioned maybe 3-4 feet behind me.

yup pretty sure that sounds 10 times better than 50,000 dollar BMW speakers. Guarantee 🤣

Klipsch KG-4

OK, for those with a modest budget, and no special hospital-grade AC outlets to plug their new stereo into:

Klipsch ProMedia were the shizzle in the later 90s.

Mid-late 90s, for the musicians and the rich kids with the MT-32s, a set of Rolands:

For most of the 90s, this was a respectable setup for someone who cared about audio -- the Cambridge Soundworks satellites:

SirNickity wrote:

OK, for those with a modest budget, and no special hospital-grade AC outlets to plug their new stereo into: […]
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OK, for those with a modest budget, and no special hospital-grade AC outlets to plug their new stereo into:

Klipsch ProMedia were the shizzle in the later 90s.

klipschpromed.jpg

Mid-late 90s, for the musicians and the rich kids with the MT-32s, a set of Rolands:

rolandspk.jpg

For most of the 90s, this was a respectable setup for someone who cared about audio -- the Cambridge Soundworks satellites:

cambsw.jpg

The soudworks are awailable in my area for around 20 USD are they worth getting ?

Violett'Blossom wrote:

The soudworks are awailable in my area for around 20 USD are they worth getting ?

Maybe not at that price, but they sound OK if you keep the volume down. The problem with cheap plastic cases is the hollow sound they give after you cross the limit. There are several 2.1 systems that sound better made from proper speaker materials and you can find them at a similar price.

Some old sound cards have a built in amp like the Media Vision PAS 16. So you will need speakers that can work with these types of sound cards.

$20 is reasonable, I would say. If I found them at that price -- in reasonably good shape, so as not to sully the place 😉 -- I would do it. I'm not intimately familiar with their sound. I had my PC connected to my stereo -- a DPL Kenwood receiver I got in .. 93? But, from the little I've heard of them (usually store demos) they sounded .. well, I mean, better than the cheap plastic tubs that shipped in multimedia kits anyway. Worth it to me just for a compromise between SQ and retro-aesthetic.