B&W 801 questions

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

Ct0517, I enjoyed reading your Experiments. I wanted to ad from my experience as a live sound engineer and system designer (which has been my career for 20 years now) We have found that with concert sound systems, we use the same type and model amp for powering the high, mids, and lows. It used to be considered ok to use a smaller amp on the highs lets say than on the mids or lows (in a 3-way system) but when using the same amp for all bands, they all work at the same pace. ie the same voltage gain, same slew rate, same damping factor, etc..
A few years ago I tried just for fun with my Martin Logans putting a VTL tube anp on the panels and a Mac amp on the woofers, and then vise versa. It was terrible. More like a bad combination of bookshelf and subs. Again both amps were good, but they responded much different than the other. So if one were to consider Bi-Amping, especially passive ( full range amps drive the low and hi inputs on the speaker crossovers) as opposed to active with and external electronic crossover, I would try it with matched amps.

Update, My upgrade fever has now turned to my room, I am re modeling my listening room. So currently my system is packed up while the work proceeds. I will post pictures and comments when its all done (if it ever is all done)

Hi Vdosc – yes, the ears don't lie. With your professional sound engineering/design background, I look forward to your impressions of the 801f's once u get them set up and have a listen.

Up high and away from walls :^)