B&W 801 questions

CT0517,
Thank you for the response. The face of the tweeter, the metal dome, fractured and fell apart. The plastic ring holding it together also is broken. It may be best for me to contact a dealer to ask about the replacement parts and the degree of difficulty for the task.
I am interested in biwiring these speakers as I believe a tube amp would soften the sound through the mid and the highs. The solid state amps I am using control the drivers very well, but produce a harsh, overall sound that is tiring and unpleasant.
Good advice about stands and distance from the walls.

Mikward - from what I have read it is not difficult to repair the tweeter, not sure if the leads are soldered so may require that skill. Easiest/cheapest way may be to just remove the midrange/tweeter head and just bring the unit into a shop with the new tweeter parts. Maybe someone that has done it can chime in here.

B&W Service manuals can be downloaded. The pdf files go into lots of illustrated detail on how the speakers come apart
Scroll down near bottom and click on the Matrix 801 S3

I have found the 801’s to be very tunable with different cables, amps/ preamps, placement. I have been playing 15 IPS master tape dubs on them. I put on the lp and or cd after and it either sounds ok or not great. Its easy to identify which lps/cds have been engineered well based on the tape.

This thread got me curious so I did a search here at audiogon. Came across this ad. I am not connected to it in anyway – Just thought it was interesting. Check out the mods on this 801.

Studio Monitors

Cheers

A question to all 801 owners - how critical is the small distance (I dunno 15 cm) from one loudspeaker's side to the window pane with the metal radiator? Sure the window pane will be covered by nice fat curtains but still it's very close. It wasn't a serious issue with my 802Ds but they are much slimmer so I could give them at least 30 cm distance.

15 cm from a side wall is going to be a problem, You will need absorbtion pannels and Bass traps

I had them in a 15 x 24 deep room and had to control bass

Just a follow up to my last post - I did some recent experimenting with my 801s and here is what I found and the result. I am really glad I attempted this.

Experiment One

Substituted my 805 matrixs in with sub. I was able to make them disappear with a great result.
If I did not have the 801’s would be very happy with the sound. When I switched the 801’s back in -things were just more coherent/blending in better. Bass was “wholesome”. Maybe if I spent more time blending the 805’s/sub – IDK.
I also admit after all these years I am “addicted” to the prodigious bass the 801’s produce. Keeping things as is. For those that think I am a bass hound – I also truly enjoy my WP Quad 57s as well, and they are missing the bottom octave.

Experiment Two

Straight MR RM(tube amp (27 or 32 db gain) on tweeters/midrange with the Classe CA300 29.02 db. on the woofers. A 2-3 db difference either way. Some aspects were great others not. Bottomline - Phasing / Soundstage was off - my ears are sensitive to it. This did not work for me. Your tube amp IMO based on what I heard needs to be less than a 2db difference with the SS amp.

Experiment Three

Substituted my Music Reference RM9 tube amp in on its own. Using the amp’s 8 ohm connector setting and high db setting. Sound - The 801 mid and tweeter were much smoother (like my ESL’s). Like in two above. The bass was tight and short – too short compared to the Classe ca300 amp. Have read that the 801’s go down to 4ohms a lot so changed the amp connectors to the 4 ohm tap. What a difference. The tube amp giives me 9/10’s of the bass produced by the classe ca-300 but the midrange and tweeters are really smooth. Keeping it this way for the next while.

BTW

My Acoustats Model 3’s and ET LFT8 speakers are around 84 db sensitivity – a heavy load.

The 801 matrix 3’s are 87db. Much easier. So this tube amp working well with them should not be a surprise really.

The 801f’s are 85db I believe. A much heavier load again than the 801 Matrix3. So … Vdosc - let us know how it works out. I am very happy with this tube amp right now.

Antonkk - I agree with Fin1bxn you will have problems based on my experience with matrix and earlier models. If I had 801's that needed to be positioned near a wall I would not be able to keep them because of controlling the bass. Soundstage will also be affected. Also if you listen to higher spl’s - you will be repairing the walls from popped drywall screws.

Bottomline for me - my 801's are not for sale. What you put into them - they will put out.

Get them up high - really high - try 4 feet like studios used to do - and give them tons of space all around.

Cheers