Gonk, I'm very familiar with the B&W Nautilus sound and think it's likely the Rotel amp / Nautilis combo that you were hearing. When I upgraded amplification to my N804 speakers going from a Rotel power amp to the Pass Labs Aleph 30 it made a world of difference. The sound became very musical and lost all sense of "harshness". I also use a tube pre-amp for two channel but have the 990 on the way and can do some critical evaluations of it with the N804's when it comes in.