Best of both worlds, Vandersteen and B&W


In my mid 30's, living in New Orleans at the time, I purchased my first pair of high fidelity loudspeakers, B&W matrix 802's. I have had a long term love-hate relationship with these speakers. I love thier dynamics and solid base but have always been bothered by a tilt toward the higher frequencys and an upper midrange glare I was unable to banish with ancillary equipment. After much deliberation I recently purchased a pair of Vandersteen 3A signatures. As promised these speakers are smooth and warm, without a hint of midrange glare. With jazz or classical music they sound beautiful and I initially thought I had solved my speaker problem. That is until I queued up rock and roll. The highs and mids still sounded wonderful, but the bass was hugely disappointing. Flaccid, aneimic, distant, without any drive or authority. My wife, who could not care less about high end audio, commented, "they sound a little flat", and "they don't have the same power".

I live in Maine where there is little opportunity to audition equipment. My question is are there any speakers that have both the smooth treble and midrange of Vandersteen and the excellent bass of B&W?

Ag insider logo xs@2xbewoods1962

Showing 1 response by ct0517

Tls49

B&W Matrix 802 Series 3

Frequency Response - 42Hz – 20kHz ± 3dB
Sensitivity - 90dB spl(2.83V 1m)
Impedance - 8 ohms nominal (minimum 3.4 ohms)

Vandersteen 3A Signature

Frequency Response - 26Hz – 30kHz +/- 3dB
Sensitivity - 87 dB, 1 meter/2.83 volt input
Impedance - 6 ohms nominal 4 ohms minimum


Tls49
if you go to the actual owners manual you will see the 802 speaker specs with the BAF.

frequency range 22k -25k ± 6db
frequency response 27k - 20k ± 2db

All matrix series 2 and 3 models were designed by John Bowers to be used with the BAF for fuller range.

Tls49

Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion, but any time there is an issue with the bass, subwoofer recommendations seem to be plentiful regardless of the scenario.

Subwoofers are certainly all the rage these days. :^)
One can go ahead and EQ with a subwoofer, sure.... or in this case with this 802 speaker, you can just EQ them with the BAF, as they were designed this way to be more full range...... for those needing / wanting it. The BAF also keeps the impedance more linear making them more amp friendly.

bewoods1962 - did you use them with the BAF ?

Cheers