The Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus is a speaker that requires no introduction. It’s a truly iconic model, and there really is nothing else on the market that looks quite like it.
With its mollusk-like build, tapered damping tubes and exceptional sound, it’s no wonder that Bowers & Wilkins proudly announces it as “the last wish” of co-founder John Bowers. And even though the Nautilus launched all the way back in 1993, it’s still being produced to this day.
During my time at the High End Vienna show earlier this year, I got a chance to check out the B&W Nautilus for myself, and got to learn more about its weird and wonderful design. I even had the chance to speak with Bowers & Wilkins’ Product Marketing Director, Andy Kerr, about why people keep coming back to the speaker, even 33 years down the line — and you may be surprised by just how popular it still is…
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Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus: an introduction
For the uninitiated, the Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus is a floor-standing loudspeaker that boasts a striking spiral design and tapered tubes, resulting in one of the most unique looking models that money can buy. But despite its off-the-wall appearance, its design is very much rooted in utility.
Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus specs at a glance
Price: $110,000 / £100,000 (per pair) in standard colorways
Dimensions: 47.6 x 16.9 x 43.5 inches / 1210 x 430 x 1105mm
Weight: 190.7lbs / 86.5kg
Design philosophy: 4-way tube-loaded loudspeaker
Speaker drivers: 1x 300mm (12 inch) aluminum cone bass; 1x 100mm (4 inch) aluminum/polymer sandwich cone lower midrange; 1x 50mm (2 inch) aluminum dome upper midrange; 1x 25mm (1 inch) aluminum dome high-frequency
Frequency range: -6dB at 10Hz and 25kHz
Kerr explained to me that, in essence, the speaker attempts to create the impression of drive units “hanging in free air,” operating without the typical restrictions of a traditional cabinet or enclosure.
While B&W still decided to harness the “pressurization benefits of some form of an enclosure,” he said, there was an active effort to remove the audibility of the box — something that was achieved by using the tapered tubes that the Nautilus is still known for.
“Each tube increases in length relative to the size of the drive unit,” said Kerr. “So you’ve got a relatively small one for the upper tweeter, slightly longer still for the lower mid, and then this [tube for the bass section] is three meters long but kind of swirled up”.
As the driver operates, pressure dissipates into the Nautilus’ tubes — which are also padded with “an absorbent wadding material” — eliminating rearward reflections and drastically reducing distortion while capturing that sense of the driver operating in free space. “It’s one of the best loudspeakers you’d hear at disappearing.”
And while he accepts that the Nautilus may not be suited for a studio environment in the same way that the Bowers & Wilkins 801 D5 are, Kerr states, “As an experiment for reducing the audibility of a loudspeaker, it’s perfect”.
The legacy lives on
So what’s with the name?
What does Nautilus even mean? Well, it’s a cephalopod (meaning it’s related to octopuses and squid, for instance), with a spiral-shaped shell. It uses jet propulsion to traverse the ocean depths, and its name (from Greek nautilos) means ‘sailor’. The more you know, eh?
The ingenious design and sound of the Nautilus has remained, and Kerr notes that many people still purchase the speaker to this day. In fact, so many people are interested in having a Nautilus of their own that there are years’ worth of backorders.
I was told that B&W is still producing approximately 50 pairs a year for sale — pretty impressive given that each individual pair takes around 31 days to make, all meticulously done by hand.
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Audio enthusiasts can grab a pair of Nautilus speakers in the standard colorways — Black, Midnight Blue, and Silver — for a sum typically in the $110,000 or £100,000 ballpark. But there’s a slightly more expensive alternative, one that’s proved very popular with buyers: a custom option.
That’s right, for around £120,000 (US pricing was not shared), you can order the Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus with special paint, and get the speaker in just about any color imaginable. I was shown a handful of customer photos, and there were some exceptional finishes to behold, including McLaren Orange, Ferrari Red, and Minty Green variants, only adding to the unique nature of the Nautilus.
As things stand, there are three years — yes, three years — of backorders. Even though the Nautilus is a speaker like no other, the sheer volume of interest is seriously impressive all of these years later.
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harry.padoan@futurenet.com (Harry Padoan)
