B&W Matrix 802 series 2 vs series 3 vs ATC SCM40

You've heard B&W Matrix 802's? IMO, if you want "authority and slam" look elsewhere. Also, no matter what powerful SS amp(s) you use, you'll never get tight, well defined bass, at least with the S3's.

What they do well is classical orchestral music, where they have that "big British sound". Also they're old now, & drivers & x-overs can/do fail. Schlepping them for repair is not fun, nor cheap.

Just my 2 cents......

Do all series 2 have the IPOC circuit installed? I just came across a pair that doesn't have the leds on the front bottom.

I am not totally positive but I think both the Matrix 801 and 802 series 2 both had the IPOC circuitry..From what I can remember the biggest improvement ( in stock form ) in the Series 3 came from the removal of the IPOC circuit..I think they removed the IPOC in the Anniversary Edition which was in between the Series 2 and 3....
B&W also may have made a change in the bass drivers in the Series 3 802.. Check with B&W for the IPOC info to find out for sure.......You may also find out that most Matrix 801 and 802 owners thought the B&W bass alignment filter was garbage..I tried it once and removed it and found they sounded much better without the B&W filter..( my taste anyways ) ....

They 'slam' if its on the recording, and don't when its not. The series 2 has a little more 'bloom' in the upper bass, but its a classic as well.

Hmm - there's a lot of hammering in the above about the 802 S2 with feeble bass & the Bass-alignment filter being rubbish. I've had the 802 S2 for 18 yrs now & in the last 2 years, I did a lot of work related to the B&W Bass-alignment filter incl comparisons with the Krell-made one.

I've now used the same circuit topology that B&W used for their Bass-alignment filter BUT using only the finest MIL-Spec parts, incl the finest Vishay Bulk-Foil resistors and also actively buffering the filter's inputs & outputs. The power-supplies were also heavily beefed-up by a scale of 20 times and the speakers were put to test.

OMG!! what a damn transformation! Not only does it now do low bass, it does it with a class of its own while the mids & the upper bandwidth remains clean, clear & untouched.

The legendary man who passed away designing them - Late John Bowers knew himself very well what he designed indeed! In short, almost 2 decades later, these speakers have no peers - if you have the right ancillary gear for them and if the listener is a matured, sensible fella! Its not loud heart-beating speaker BUT a super smooth one spanning the freq from subwoofer terrain to the extreme upper high that their ferro-fluid counterparts in the latter series can only dream off!

Voila! The Matrix 801 & 802 - Series 2 !!