RESEARCH AND YE SHALL FIND

The B & W loudspeaker company has always been research oriented, and they established one of the world's most advanced loud speaker research laboratories at their Worthing and Steyning headquarters, in England. In 1979, after pioneering laser interferometry for motional and vibration analysis (plus advanced concepts in computer-assisted design), B & W introduced the Model 801 monitor loudspeaker.

The Model 801 was very well received, and it quickly gained widespread use as a reference monitor by most major record companies.

Several years later, as a result of further research, the 801's original wooden housing for the midrange/tweeter drivers was replaced with Fibrecrete, a fiberglass-rein forced concrete that was extremely rigid and free of resonances. This version of the Model 801 became virtually the standard monitor for all classical music recording.

The Fibrecrete head assembly was a prime example of B & W's preoccupation with the degrading effects of resonance coloration in loudspeakers. No other company has so diligently pursued the demons of resonance, nor devoted so much research to its suppression and elimination.

Years of research into anti-resonant loudspeaker en closure construction peaked 'n 1986, when B & W introduced its Matrix System enclosure technology. (I described this in the September 1986 issue, and, after a visit to the B & W research laboratories, elaborated on it in the June 1987 issue.) Essentially, the Matrix construction uses a honeycomb structure made of lightweight--but extremely rigid--material, which is bonded to the interior panels of the enclosure.

The interlocking vertical and horizontal elements of the Matrix honeycomb result in an enclosure of near monolithic rigidity.

At the 1986 SCES, B & W introduced the Matrix 1, Matrix 2, and Matrix 3.

These three loudspeakers were the first to employ this new enclosure construction. And then in 1987, with appropriate fanfare, B & W debuted the Model 801 Matrix Series 2 loudspeaker. This was not just an update of the original 801 design with the Matrix en closure, but a reworking and refinement that also incorporated new technology. Gearing up for production of the new loudspeaker was quite an undertaking--and quite time-consuming.

After considerable pressure from professional users of the 801 Matrix, B & W is now in full production of the unit.

The company is beginning to fill the dealer pipeline, and reviews of the 801 Matrix are starting to appear in various publications. I have been living with a pair of these speakers for some months now, and it would be putting it mildly to say that I am impressed with their performance.

The 801 Matrix is 39 3/4 inches high (about 4 inches taller than its predecessor), 17 inches wide, and 22 inches deep. Except for a vent port directly underneath the bass driver (some wags have dubbed it the "keyhole monitor"), the speaker looks almost identical to the original 801. The bass enclosure still has a volume of slightly more than 100 liters, but the acoustical foam that fills the internal honeycomb provides an acoustically larger volume. The Matrix is bonded to high-density particleboard panels that are over 1 inch thick. Doppler and speckle laser interferometry measurements of this bass enclosure reveal virtually no panel re-radiation. The 12-inch bass driver, the result of computer-aided design, is entirely new. The cone is a specially formulated homo copolymer, which provides good piston action without nodal breakup. The design of the speaker baskets are based on B & W's laser velocimetry and accelerometer studies. The design calls for a 13-pound magnet providing 13,000 gauss. As with all B & W drivers, these bass drivers are manufactured "in house." In spite of CAD and other highly sophisticated measuring equipment, B & W engineers were unable to design a midrange driver superior to the 126-mm, Kevlar-diaphragm driver of the original 801. However, the 801 Matrix tweeter is an entirely new design. It has a 26-mm metal dome, the curvature of which was derived by finite element analysis. (A large number of short, curved finite elements of the dome were studied for various performance parameters, and the cumulative data was used to design this dome.) The new tweeter uses a large nickel-cobalt magnet, and its high-frequency response is stated as being-6 dB at 40 kHz. The crossover networks, also the result of CAD, are fourth-order Bessel, with crossover points at 380 Hz and 3 kHz. The cross over is designed to permit bi-wiring, thus reducing intermodulation arising from common ground paths between mid- and low-frequency filter sections.

Bi-amplification is possible, but it is advisable to use identical amplifiers for the bass and midrange/tweeter inputs.

Most high-quality power amplifiers do not have level controls, so using dissimilar amplifiers for bass and mid/high would be problematic, even if they had the same power output. All drivers are protected by Audio Powered Overload Circuitry (APOC), and an external bass-alignment filter is provided. With the vented system, this gives a sixth-order Butterworth alignment that affords a low-frequency response of only-3 dB at 19 Hz! The sensitivity of the speaker is listed as 87 dB for 1 watt at 1 meter (some 3 dB more efficient than the original 801), and it has an impedance of 8 ohms. At 95 dB SPL, third-harmonic distortion is rated at 0.5% from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

With the external bass-alignment filter utilized, frequency response is specified as 20 Hz to 20 kHz, ±2 dB. The speaker is rated for power handling of up to 600 watts, but this is academic with APOC protection. Obviously, the 801 Matrix is a high-tech speaker on the cutting edge of the art. It boasts some very impressive specifications.

But the question, as always, is: How does it sound? In its reproduction of recorded music, how accurate is it, how close does it come to simulating the live listening experience? There are several items to consider in auditioning the B & W 801 Matrix loudspeaker. First, always keep in mind that this is a monitor speaker. As such, the record companies which use it are principally concerned with its ac curacy. For example, Decca Records, in London, has more than 30 801s which they use to monitor while editing, mixing, cutting, transferring tape, mastering CDs, and a host of other things--all of which demand repeatable accuracy of reproduction. The same holds true for Decca's classical recording sessions. The engineers want musical verity, not a "glamorized" sonic presentation full of euphonic colorations. The message for audiophiles or music lovers is the same-the 801 Matrix Series 2 is a highly accurate loudspeaker that will clearly reveal the good points of all the equipment and recorded source material, but it will likewise ruthlessly expose their short comings as well.

I can state emphatically that all associated audio components must be of the highest possible quality if one wants optimum performance from these $5,000 per pair loudspeakers.

The 801 Matrix is absolutely intolerant of sonic artifacts. For example, a moving-coil phono cartridge with an exaggerated high-frequency response will surely assault the ears! It would be difficult to appreciate the well defined, extended, non-resonant bass response and the tremendous dynamic capabilities of this speaker with a low-power, low-current drive amplifier. Since distribution and marketing for the loud speaker is fairly broad, it can be found in dealer shops that hardly qualify as "high end." In some cases, dealers will team the 801 Matrix with a receiver, preamplifier, or power amplifier of limited performance to offer a more "salable," less pricey package. But the 801 Matrix is unlikely to impress a truly discriminating listener under these circumstances.

My evaluation of the 801 Matrix was rigorous. I listened to a great many technically and musically demanding CDs and LPs. I auditioned the speaker with both tube and solid-state amplification. I also used the Sony CDP 705ESD and Denon DCD-3300 CD players, and a Sony DTC-1000ES R DAT recorder. The digital coaxial out put of these units was fed into an advanced digital processor, an American product which is the brainchild of scientists and engineers at Medea, Ltd.

This processor, which will be demonstrated at the upcoming SCES in Chicago, is the breakthrough device that will finally make digital audio not merely acceptable to the "digiphobes" and vinyl aficionados, but actually their preferred medium for recorded music.

It is an 18-bit linear system that permits sampling of CDs at 2,822,400 times per second and of R-DAT at 3,072,000 times per second. In other words, 44.1k and 48.0k, respectively, at 64 times oversampling! At these super fast sampling rates, there is no analog filter. "Brick-wall" filtering is gone, so there are no measurable high-frequency spuriae. The increased resolution, transient response, ambience recovery and presentation, enhanced bass response, and dynamic range are some thing you simply have to experience to believe. (One example: A violent, high level gunshot on a Compact Disc very obviously distorts the conventional 16 bit, 4 x oversampling of the Sony and Denon CD players. With the Medea's 64 x oversampling, the gunshot is clean, sharp, and free of distortion.) The Medea processor will not be in expensive, but it will be a landmark product.

The Medea outputs unbalanced or balanced lines to the high-level input of a preamplifier. For my tube setup, I used conrad-johnson's Premier 3 preamp and Premier 5 monoblock amplifiers rated for 200 watts/channel.

The solid-state electronics I used was Mark Levinson's Cello system (de scribed in the March 1988 issue), which includes the Audio Suite preamp, the Audio Palette, and Performance monoblock amps.

I bi-wired the 801 Matrix speakers (with Path cables) from a second set of output terminals on the Cello amplifiers. Bi-wiring necessitates the laborious removal of the crossover network cover on the bottom of the speakers and then removing a tiny pair of jumper wires from the bass and mid/hi sections of the network. Without the external bass alignment filter, the speakers reproduce bass frequencies fairly flat down to 28 to 30 Hz. Bass drums, tympani, contrabasses, and organ pedals are well reproduced but lack weight and impact. The bass alignment filter can be installed between preamp and power amp, or in a tape loop. I feel that the use of this filter is somewhat source-dependent and therefore recommend that it be in stalled in the tape loop. If you are going to play organ music, Gustav Mahler, or anything containing heavy bass drum passages, you can very easily bring the filter into action with a flip of the tape monitor switch. Otherwise, the filter isn't really necessary for a great deal of music.

The 801 speakers were set up about 8 feet, on axis, in my new listening room. This room was acoustically treated by Dr. Peter D'Antonio with Abffusors and Diffusors that use his Reflection Phase Grating techniques. I think I can safely say that I auditioned the 801 Matrix speakers with electronics of outstandingly high quality in an acoustically controlled environment.

My first impression of the 801 Matrix speakers was that none of the desirable characteristics which established the reputation of the original 801 have been in any way changed or compromised. Quite the contrary, imaging and the presentation of depth-both strong points of the original model-have been considerably enhanced. Be cause of the solidity and anti-resonant properties of the Matrix enclosure, the new speaker has even more specificity of imaging.

One of the most admired qualities of the 801 was its nearly three-dimensional sound field. In the new 801, there is virtually no panel re-radiation. There fore, the direct sound reaches your ears without the time-smearing effects of panel radiation. The result is incomparable stereo imaging. The 801 Matrix has an almost palpable, broadly panoramic sound field. A symphony orchestra is presented in layered depth, and with quite precise localization of instruments. On well-balanced recordings, the speakers seem to disappear. And in an RPG room, you have the uncanny effect of being in a per forming hall, of sharing the acoustic space with the orchestra. The illusion of reality is further heightened by the ultra-clean, highly defined, and wonderfully articulate sound--a consequence of the lack of resonant coloration. The pizzicato of contrabass is notably clean, harmonically correct, and free of any overhang. Bring the bass filter into play, and you can easily ascertain the frequency to which the drum is tuned. You can feel its weight and impact, unsullied by boomy coloration. The new tweeter provides lightning-fast transient attack. Piano notes are never smeared, and all manner of bells, chimes, and cymbals are sharply delineated. With a suspended cymbal, heavily struck with a wooden stick, you can hear the metallic click of the stick just before it explodes in a shower of shimmering harmonics.

Needless to say, there is a distinct advantage in listening to one's own recordings. I played several of the recordings I had made for Everest: Aar on Copland conducting "Billy the Kid" and Leopold Stokowski conducting Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. What a pleasure it was to hear all of the instruments properly localized, and to hear the distinctive acoustic signatures of the halls in which I recorded them.

What a pleasure to be able to listen to the clear delineation of dense, complex, orchestral textures. The 801 Matrix did full justice to the thunder of the 32-foot pedals on my Virgil Fox organ recordings.

The spectral balance of the 801 Matrix is quite smooth, from top to bottom.

A great recording with which to demonstrate this balance is the Nimbus CD of Mahler's song cycle, "Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn)." Recorded in 1966 by engineer Allen Stagg, it features the great mezzo, Janet Baker, and baritone Geraint Jones; Wyn Morris conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The re cording is analog, of course, and was highly praised in 1966 for its sonic real-ism and natural perspective. Listening to it on the 801 Matrix is a revelation.

You engulfed in a huge sound field. The opening section of the first song, "Revelge," has a huge bass drum tuned to about 32 Hz. On these new speakers, you can feel the wave front rolling toward you, but it is not at all boomy, which you might expect from many loudspeakers. The voices of both the soprano and baritone are rock-solid, centered as a phantom image between the speakers. In the three-dimensional sound field of these speakers, these voices seem very real-their voices are at exactly the right height, as if they were standing right in front of you.

For demonstrating the accuracy of the B & W 801 Matrix and its ability to resolve very complex, harmonically rich musical textures, another fine re cording is the Villa-Lobos "Bachiana Brasileira No. 1" (Delos DCD-3041). A veritable forest of 24 instruments, it features The Yale Cellos of Aldo Parisot. Here we have a rich, resonant sound along with superb ensemble playing, yet the timbres of individual sound field. The opening section of the first song, "Revelge," has a huge bass drum tuned to about 32 Hz. On these new speakers, you can feel the wave front rolling toward you, but it is not at all boomy, which you might expect from many loudspeakers. The voices of both the soprano and baritone are rock-solid, centered as a phantom image between the speakers. In the three-dimensional sound field of these speakers, these voices seem very real-their voices are at exactly the right height, as if they were standing right in front of you.

For demonstrating the accuracy of the B & W 801 Matrix and its ability to resolve very complex, harmonically rich musical textures, another fine re cording is the Villa-Lobos "Bachiana Brasileira No. 1" (Delos DCD-3041). A veritable forest of 24 instruments, it features The Yale Cellos of Aldo Parisot. Here we have a rich, resonant sound along with superb ensemble playing, yet the timbres of individual cellos are easily discerned. The size o the recording space is clearly defined and the placement of the performers in that space-laterally and in depth-is equally easy to perceive. The third movement of the Lutoslawski "Concerto for Orchestra" (Delos DCD-3070 opens with a barely perceptible pizzicato string bass. The ability of the 801 Matrix Series 2 to reveal low-level de tail is shown in the timbre and tonality of this plucked bass. Conversely, the dynamic expression of the loudspeaker is dramatically conveyed by the visceral "whump" of the 48-inch concert bass drum that is heard at the beginning of Lutoslawski's moving work.

A very good idea when auditioning these speakers in a dealer's showroom is to take some London/Decca CDs with you. The majority of the classical music on these discs was recorded with the speakers used as monitors Telarc also uses the 801 to monitor many of their overseas recordings. A good example is their wonderfully atmospheric recording of the Vaughan Williams "London Symphony No. 2," with André Previn conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (CD-80138).

Note how well the 801 Matrix loudspeaker handles the very wide dynamic is range and heavy bass transients of this work.

In general, these speakers are capable of handling the dynamic range of any CD you might encounter. I have deliberately played them at grossly larger-than-life levels without activating the APOC protection system. The 801 Matrix will play any kind of music in its proper scale and proportion. It is unfailingly accurate when teamed with the best associated equipment. It will also give you musical truth; it will not falsify, degrade, or glamorize musical values. All things considered, the 801 Matrix has to rate as an exemplar of uncompromised and honest speaker design--a most fitting memoriam for B & W's founder, that great and gentle man, John Bowers.

(adapted from Audio magazine, Jun. 1988; Bert Whyte)

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