B&W 801 matrix mk2, room size and price

[senormonsieur]

Having a pair of 801's has been a dream for me ever since I was a kid. Now that I'm done with my studies and have a steady income I guess it's time to take the plunge!

Or not....? Because my current room is rather small... about 4 m by 5 m (12' by 15')... Would it be possible to get at least decent sound from these in such a small room by using an equalizer and suitable amp? I know it will never sound perfect in a room that size but will I be able to stand them until I move to a bigger place where they'll have more room to breath? Unfortunately it is not possible to try them in my room before I buy them...

I am able to buy them for $2100 for a pair in very good condition with the tweeters recently replaced. Is this a reasonable price?

Thanks for any help!

[Hyfi]

With a good amp, you can get away with your room size for now. Always good to plan for the future. They are 87db, not great on efficiency, but 8ohm so a little easier to drive than a Dynaudio.

Here is a Stereophile review with lots of good info.

http://www.stereophile.com/historical/506/

[senormonsieur]

Thanks, that's good to hear. Is a price of $2100 for the pair reasonable?

[spydey550]

The 801's at $2100 is a good value. Room size is a limitation but as you said you will be moving up. I purchased mine in 1999 and have tried infinite combinations of speakers, coupled with varied equipment and I still return to the tried and true recipe I am currently running with the 801's. Just remember that they are hungry beasts for power. I find a dual mono setup best with alot of headroom( reserve power) to truly appreciate the ability these speakers have. By the way, as mentioned on another post it was stated they were 8 ohms. They are actually 6 ohms. Buy them... you cannot go wrong. They have been highly touted for a reason. They are simply the best, especially for the price.

[harley .guy07]

I first heard a set of them when I was in a shop around 80 miles from my house that I would go to every once in a while because the people that worked there acually knew what they were talking about and could talk to me at my level. I don't know model numbers but it was a McIntosh preamp and two Huge monoblock amps running them(I believe they were around 500 watts a piece).They did sound really good but they were also in a huge room. you could probably play with room placement and room conditioning to make them at least sound pretty good for now then when you move you could really let them rip. One good thing about the smaller room though is that you could probably temporarilly get away with running them with less power due to the smaller room. So for now at least power wise it would help. I have just never heard these speakers in a small room.

[manlystanley]

I've seen the 801 matrix's on sale as well. For example the below link:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....-W/Sound-Ancho

I've also have read how they really are power hungry beasts. So, just a couple of follow on questions:

- Do they really need mono-blocks or would something like a: Emotiva XPA-2 do them justice?

- My listening room is 25 x 20 feet so, I think that would be big enough for them, correct?

- Do you need to bi-amp these guys. Like do I need to get 4 mono-blocks?

- Finally, my speaker wire runs are about 30 feet (12 gauge high quality speaker wire). SI that going to cause a problem?


Thanks,
Stan

[harley .guy07]

Stanley I think your room size is fine. When I heard these speaekes they were being driven my McIntosh Monoblock amps with 500 watts per amp and they seemed to do very well with this speaker. Some people with tell you to biamp and this could be done mostly if you were planing on using two stereo power amps. If monoblocks like the Emotiva for instance were the plan they are powerful enough to put on each speaker and enjoy. If good priced amplification is a target I have seen Adcom 565 monoblocks on ebay sold in pairs for around 500 bucks and thats about the best deal you are going to find for monoblock power. I believe that the Adcom monoblock put out around the same amount of power as the McIntosh mono's but I might be off by a little bit. The big Emotiva Monoblock is about the only choice in new amps that would be at anything around the 2000 and under mark. Other than that you are going to have to spend a loud to get your speakers to perform at their best.

[manlystanley]

Stanley I think your room size is fine. When I heard these speaekes they were being driven my McIntosh Monoblock amps with 500 watts per amp and they seemed to do very well with this speaker. Some people with tell you to biamp and this could be done mostly if you were planing on using two stereo power amps. If monoblocks like the Emotiva for instance were the plan they are powerful enough to put on each speaker and enjoy. If good priced amplification is a target I have seen Adcom 565 monoblocks on ebay sold in pairs for around 500 bucks and thats about the best deal you are going to find for monoblock power. I believe that the Adcom monoblock put out around the same amount of power as the McIntosh mono's but I might be off by a little bit. The big Emotiva Monoblock is about the only choice in new amps that would be at anything around the 2000 and under mark. Other than that you are going to have to spend a loud to get your speakers to perform at their best.

Great advice, thanks!

[haodzuno]

Thank you for good info

[blackraven]

You should be able to get pretty good sound from them with the xpa-2 at 250wpc at 8ohms but 500watt Mc monoblocks would be sublime! How about 2 XPA-2's driving them?

[manlystanley]

You should be able to get pretty good sound from them with the xpa-2 at 250wpc at 8ohms but 500watt Mc monoblocks would be sublime! How about 2 XPA-2's driving them?

Hello Raven,
I'm just to poor. The XPA-2's are $800 and then two of them biamped would be $1,600. Uggggg. I've got five kids, one out of college, two in college and another younger two as well. Then the XPA-1's are $900 on sale each: $1800 for the pair. Now, put that in perspective. I've got a $35 used HK amp now......

Great suggestion, but out of my league.


Best Regards,
Stan

[blackraven]

Take a look at the outlaw audio mono blocks at 200wpc and about $350 each.

http://outlawaudio.com/products/2200.html

A lot of people on the outlaw forum use them and really like them. I know people use them to drive magnepans. If your HK has a premp out, your set.

Or you could buy 2 UPA2 for $299 each at 125wpc or the XPA-3 at 200wpc for $599. One UPA2 driving each channel should do just fine.

[manlystanley]

Take a look at the outlaw audio mono blocks at 200wpc and about $350 each.

http://outlawaudio.com/products/2200.html

A lot of people on the outlaw forum use them and really like them. I know people use them to drive magnepans. If your HK has a premp out, your set.

Or you could buy 2 UPA2 for $299 each at 125wpc or the XPA-3 at 200wpc for $599. One UPA2 driving each channel should do just fine.

Now your talking!! I'll start saving my nickels and dimes....

[JoeE SP9]

Take a look at the outlaw audio mono blocks at 200wpc and about $350 each.

http://outlawaudio.com/products/2200.html

A lot of people on the outlaw forum use them and really like them. I know people use them to drive magnepans. If your HK has a premp out, your set.

Or you could buy 2 UPA2 for $299 each at 125wpc or the XPA-3 at 200wpc for $599. One UPA2 driving each channel should do just fine.

The $599 Emotive XPA-3 is a three channel amplifier, 200 WPC @ 8 Ohms, 300 WPC @ 4 Ohms. The $799 XPA-2 is a two channel amplifier, 250 WPC @ 8 Ohms, 500 WPC @ 4 Ohms. From what I can surmise the XPA-3 may be the bargain in their power amps although the 3's power supply isn't as strong as the 2's. ie: It doesn't double its output when the load is halved. However, it does have 3 channels with 200 Watts each. The third channel could be used for future upgrades such as a center channel speaker or an unpowered sub.

[squidboyw]

I'm just a fat little white boy so take this for what you will.

I have been running the larger older brother of the 801, the 808 speakers, for 22 years. I have spent a fair amount of time in front of a set of 801 speakers too. With your room size, it is going to be a near field listening experience, which is OK and no big deal. I wouldn't sweat the amp issue at this time either. You should be able to find an older Krell KSA-80B for under $1500. I have owned and use that amp, and it mates with the 801s just fine. When you do get a larger home, and if you aren't satisfied with the Krell any longer, you can still sell it for good money. Put a good power cord on the amp and you should have many hours of fine listening.

The only down side I see would be that your cheeks are probably going to hurt from smiling after you get this setup.

[yeonjune65]

I have owned the 801s for more than 10 years with top grade of entry level pre- and power-amplifiers. I am now considering to upgrade my amplifiers with high end level ones such as Krell and Mark Levinson (used one though, total sum of pre- and power-amps should be less than $5,000). However, I don't have much experience and knowledge for them.
Please give me good idea and advice.