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I recently aquired a pair of B&W 801 Matrix Series 2 speakers. My previous system (which I still have) had a pair of B&W Nautilus 805 speakers. I prefer the mid and top end of the 805s, and the bass of the 801s (even with the stock crossovers). The 801s have 4 terminals to bi-wire(as do the 805s). Will I damage anything by bi-wiring the bass of the 801s with the 805s? The amps are Mark Levinson 20.5 monoblocks. I may have to put a damper plug in the port of the 805s, Will I need a low pass filter in line with the 805s to roll off the bottom end?
Any Thoughts on this?
Dave
Follow Ups:
I have done this on occaision but with variable results. One thing you can try is to buy a couple of high value ferrite core inductors. These you run in series withe the 801s, and they work as a first order, low pass filter (6db/octave). 25.5 mH (MilliHenris) will start the crossover slope at 50hz if the load is 8ohms. If the load is 4 ohms than the figure halves to 12.7mH.
Best of luck and most of all have fun!!!
Sell the 801s and buy yourself one (or two if you can swing it) REL Strata III subs to mate with you N805s. I owned this combo for 5+ years and though it was killer. If your B&Ws are natural cherry, the cherry REL Strata III looks like they were made to go with the N805s. Sound like it, too.
I agree with the other poster. The Matrix 801s didn't exactly have stellar bass. Any decent pair of subs will outdo it and you can use the 801s elsewhere or resell them for enough to buy the subs. B&W monitors often have a nicer midrange sound to them because they don't have that 350Hz crossover with an unsuitably large, undamped woofer. This is the case with most Euro speakers I've heard, that the 2-ways sound better in the mids than the 3-ways.
This all seems very complicated. Why not just keep the 805's and add a quality sub?
Huh! I meant a High pass filter to roll off the bottom of the low end of the 805s (using both drivers, not just the tweeter).
esentially the 805s would replace the head units of the 801s
I don't know where the Low pass filter is at on the 801 woofer
Dave,
You might just play with it. I think you are going to end up with the 805 fullrange and have the 12" woofer of the 801 playing also.
The system should not work very well, the impedance once the woofer comes in will be 2 - 3 ohms, and much louder than designed for. But the results may end up to be pleasing. There should be too much output for the frequency range on bottom until the 805 rolls off.
Both speakers are very well engineered to operate as intended. Mixing them together will be a shot in the dark.
The 805N most likely is just better in the highs/mids. They had to make advances in the drivers/crossovers/cabinets during the 15 years between the two models. But with a good high power amp, the 801 S2 is a very good full range speaker.
One suggestion is to look at modifying the crossover of the 801's. There is a fairly simple mod that Frank Van Alstine wrote up. It should be available online. Also, you could swap the 805's for a pair of the Northcreek external crossovers. I have never heard them, it is reported that they improve all areas of the 801 S2.
George
Well, the 805 is not fullrange nearly enough, that's why I got the 801s ( they came as a complete system, speakers, amps, preamp, turntable, phono stage, cd, dac, cables). The 805s sound great otherwise. I had them sitting side by side and a "light came on" I figured that there would be too much overlap, that's why I thought of a high pass filter on the 805s.
I did look into the NorthCreek Crossovers, but thay (may) have only one set and its over $2k.
I was not able to find any schematics for the 801 crossover mods.
Dave
The only problems I can think of are crossver points, impedance, and efficiency. The 805 is a two way, the crossover is high frequency. THE 801 is a three way. The low pass filter is at a low frequency. Combining the two like that will filter out the mids.
George
I think the crossover (between the 801 woofer and the 8050 point is going to be the biggest problem. I'm intending for the 2-way 805 to replace the upper two units of the 3-way 801. There shouldn't be any gap in the midrange, unless the 801 low pass filter is way below the bottom of the 805 output. I think it is more likely that there will be an overlap between the lower range of the 805 (which has no high pass filter to drop off the bottom end) and the 801 woofer.
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