B&W Matrix 801 Series II

Tls49 - my apologies - when you post running to long in your own post ...you should heed your own advice. my bad.
Excuse my excitement - you see I just bought this real nice 9.9 merc 4 stroke motor at bass pro shops at 1/3 off (if this winter ever ends) and have "outboard" on the brain. Yes output. thank u.

but word technicalities aside... this hobby has no real reference standards....so...imo

the main transformers I referenced in discussion really are... "out board", rather than ....."inboard" for the boaters among us....another hobby.....

fwiw I also picked up a nice little portable "dipole" fish finder. it shoots beams down and sideways...not to be confused with dipole speakers....which haven't yet entered the discussion here. But wait someone did mention Maggies earlier....my bad again... cheers

Ct0517, as I was reading, I could sense you were on a roll, and I was giving you a thumbs up for saying to use identical wire when bi-wiring, and I don't even like bi-wiring. Then at the OTL part, I stopped, thinking, "what did he say? That sounds like Outboard Power Supply." Boats never crossed my mind. Sorry, but I had to correct that. Glad you understand.

And, Cheers to You!

Boats never crossed my mind.

Hi Tls49 - here is what gave me
"Outboard" on my mind

What better place to share a great boat motor deal than on an audio speaker forum ?
I bought one yesterday and the audio repercussions for my dealer are I won't be pouncing on that DAC I have been eyeing.
Wemfan - sorry for my off topic post.

Wemfan-
Glad the purchase has worked out for you.
Price you paid was good. Until you decide to get the Sound Anchor Stands (the 801S2 differs from the 801S3), I would suggest dialing in the position of the speakers first, perhaps waiting until you get an amp that matches up well.

When you have dialed in the position, I would suggest that you try the speakers with the spikes ( there are holes in the bottom of the cabinet. The stainless steel spikes came with the speakers when I bought mine new). If you didn't get them, they are available on ebay occasionally. This way , you can tell if there is any difference in sound, although the Sound Anchor stands are the way to go.

Regarding the NC crossover upgrade, I would probably wait a while. IMHO, they make a difference, but again, it is a shade difference, not a primary color difference. Remember that you do have to cut the connection to the original crossovers to connect to the NC's, plus you are eliminating the tweeter protection circuit. I left the originals in the bottom of the cabinet, and the wires to the NC's crossovers are coming out from the bottom of the speakers. This way, the original XOver can be re-connected if there ever is a need.

In the years I have had these speakers, the APOC protection circuit has only cut in 2 times, both times w/ the standard CD issue of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, on the cut with the alarm clocks (I was probably listening at about 85-90 dbs). On that CD issue, at least, there was clear distortion in the audio. At this time, I was using a Yamaha M-80 power amp, which was supposedly Class A/AB. This is the interesting part. The specs for the amp were 250W into 8 ohms, 330W into 4 ohms. Bought the amp new, and the amp got fried within 4 years. Then I upgraded to the Krell-KAV150, which ONLY put out 150W. The Krell ( remember that this is Krell's budget line, way inferior to the FPB high end line at the time) CLEARLY blew away the Yamaha in terms of delicacy, warmth, slam, and a sense of unrestrained power.
As an aside, while researching a replacement amp for the Yamaha, I inserted an old SAE Mark XXXIB amp into the chain, which is only rated at 50Wpc. Surprisingly, aside from a little bit of harshness, and a reduction in the the sense of front to back depth of filed,the SAE held its own.

Cheers

Ct0517, congrats on your great deal for the other hobby.

Wemfan, congrats on your great deal for the 801's. As I stated previously, some years ago I had 802's S3. At this time, I was working at a B&W dealer, and we always had 801 S3 on display. The premium amp brand was Threshold/Forte that matched extremely well with the B&W. The "E" series Threshold were the last ones designed by Nelson Pass, and are the most desirable. They rarely come up for sale, and sell quickly unless priced too high. The Forte was a less expensive line by Threshold but still had the same sound character. I have no affiliation with this seller, but IMHO this amp would sound extremely well on your 801's, with the power of the Parasound, but character more like the MC275.

Forte Model 3

The amp has also been serviced about 2 years ago by Jon Soderberg, who worked with Nelson Pass at Threshold. The amp can definitely hold it's own with amps costing much more.

As far as more expensive, a lot of people seem to like McIntosh SS or Pass Labs with B&W.