The Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus is and always has been a uniquecombination of unbridled ambition and revolutionary design – the result oftruly original ‘outside the box’ thinking that perfectly encapsulates the Bowers & Wilkins brand philosophy.
To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of this iconic loudspeaker, Bowers &Wilkins has produced a unique pair in a dramatic Abalone Pearl finish.Pearl is, of course, the perfect color for a 30th Anniversary – and it’s all-the-more appropriate since it’s also the color of the internal shell of themarine mollusk that inspired the Nautilus name.
That Nautilus is still the most visually arresting speaker available, evensome 30 years after its introduction, is testimony to the remarkable, ground-breaking vision of both company founder John Bowers, who initiated theNautilus project shortly before he passed away, and the lead engineer whowould eventually deliver on that legacy, Laurence Dickie.
The idea behind Nautilus was simple, but immensely challenging: ‘makea loudspeaker that doesn’t sound like a loudspeaker’. Armed with anexceptionally wide brief, no time constraints and few limitations related topracticality or cost, the Nautilus emerged almost as a concept car madereality, a radical five-year project to explore how many of the negativeeffects of the loudspeaker enclosure could be eliminated by innovative design.
The result was a revolution in loudspeaker engineering that introducedthe concept of the exponentially tapered tube to loudspeaker design. TheNautilus tube would go on to win a Queen’s Award for Innovation and was just one of many breakthroughs developed for the Nautilus project that would subsequently influence all of the company’s future product design.Alongside the equally remarkable Bowers & Wilkins 801, the choice of music industry professionals the world over,
30 years later, Nautilus is still built the same way. Ironically for acompany that has taken the manufacturing of audiophile speakers to newindustry standards of automated precision, building a pair Nautilus is apainstaking hand-built process. Simply building one speaker enclosuretakes over a week – and that’s before any notions of sanding, painting orpolishing each cabinet are involved. Small wonder that demand forNautilus has consistently outstripped supply throughout its 30-year existence, with the waiting list for a new model currently standing at two years.
Nothing in audio looks or sounds like Nautilus, which remains an icon ofradical thinking and revolutionary design to this day. The Abalone Pearlfinish of the 30th Anniversary pair is a stunning celebration of one of the most legendary loudspeakers ever created.
Commenting on the 30th Anniversary, Dave Sheen, Brand President of Bowers & Wilkins said:
“While Bowers & Wilkins is committed to advancing the future of high-performance audio across all of our product portfolio, Nautilus remains ofthe highest importance to all of us. It readily communicates everythingthat is exceptional about Bowers & Wilkins and our no-holds-barredapproach to creating the world’s best-sounding, most beautifully designed audio products.”
Nautilus is available in three standard colors: Midnight Blue Metallic, Silver and Black. Bowers & Wilkins also offers a custom-finish servicethat will match the product’s color to any reference the customer chooses at an extra cost.
