Any input on B&W 800 series speakers repairs

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Hello,
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Being a B&W owner, I wanted a clear answer to all of this. I called the head tech, Todd, at B&W for US at 800-370-3740. I asked him how long the drivers would be available for the 801 & 802 Matrix series (the Matrix III's were produced up until the Nautilus came out). He said the drivers would be available for another 5-7 years from now.

So, if the the woofer from the 801 is the same woofer as in the ASW 800, it is available and will be for some time.

I live in England and Worthington is just up the road from me. I contacted them about repairs to any of the B&W speakers in the 800 matrix series, and they said "if your driver(s) go out, there are NO replacement drivers!" I even asked about after-market ones, maybe built in Mexico, and the resposne was: I hope not we make the only drivers for those speakers. Therefore, I reccomend anyone to take it easy on their B&W matrix speakers and subs. If anyone has experiemnted with new drivers, please let us all know how they sound. I am concerned because I have 801SII, ASW 800, 805s, DS6s, SCM8s, and FCM 8 speakers.

That's what I replied back to the distributor, that the website says 15 years.
I think what happenned is that some tech got my initial inquiry email about getting a replacement or recone kit. He either didn't know what he was talking about or misunderstood my model number or something and told me "not available any longer". When I replied back that it should be available for 15 years and explained how disapointed I was, I got the second email at the end of the day saying "My supervisor said that we would be getting one more round of these drivers" - "sorry for the mixup"
I just think he screwed up and didn't want to admit to it.

TThe reason I am considering an aftermarket replacement is that I just don't think I want to spend 520 bucks for a replacment B&W driver. I know that the signature will change with something else, but since there are a lot of good drivers out there for around 150 dollars it might be worth a try since the cabinet and amp are OK.

Options

1. Pay the 519 and be happy, keeping the sonic signature of the original design.

2. Spend 150 on something like the Titanic II from Parts Express. Will change the signature, but possibly still kick butt.

3. Buy a brand new current design.

I just don't know if spending 520 on the B&W replacement is worth it. I have heard many awesome subs out there in the 750 to 1000 dollar range, so I am considering junking it all together.

On the B&W website, it states that they keep parts for the 800 series for 15 years.
Aaabelha, you should be able to get the driver for awhile.
Won't changing the driver change the sound quality?

Richard

Yes it is the same driver used in the 801 Matrix.

Aaabelha,

Is this the same 12" driver used in the B&W801 and B&W800?

Richard

It's funny this came up.

I just contacted Equity International, the US distributor to get a replacement 12 inch cobex driver for my ASW800 sub. They emailed me back with a message that the drivers and recone kits are no longer available. I emailed them back stating how disapointed I was and thought it was unjust to not be able to get a part for a sub I bought in 1995.

I received an email later in the day. The tech told me he had talked with his supervisor and discovered that they were "getting one more round of these drivers". "They are a few weeks out".

Seemed kind of odd to me how suddenly they were getting one more round. Maybe he made an error when he originally responded that they were unavailable and simply was uncomfotable telling me so.

Either way, the driver is now available, but I think I am going to choose to decline as the price was 519 dollars. Way to high to me.

I have considered replacing the driver with a Peerless sub, a Titanic from Parts Express or something similar. It will require some cabinet modification, as the cutout for the B&W driver is squared on two sides. All of the replacement drivers I can see have round mounting edges.

By the way, when it worked, it was an incredibly musical sub. Awesome for HT, but not as extreme as some newer designs.

B&W's web site says they can supply drivers for 10 years from production. I think the 801 & 802 series 3 was in production until 1998, so that gives you at least 4 more years.

I don't know,but I know who would know.http://www.northcreekmusic.com
Link through to their B&W crossover upgrade page. They can recommend repalcement drivers.

Although B&W may not offer replacement drivers it is easy to find substitutes with similar characteristics and equal or better performance. Call it an "upgrade" instead of a "repair".

I just replaced 6.5 inch drivers on a pair of B&W 550, and the vifa driver that I selected is clearly superior to the B&W original, and inexpensive.

Make a big issue of the unavailability of B&W drivers, and you might get the boxes for a song!