B&W Matrix 802 series 2 vs series 3 vs ATC SCM40

I am not totally positive but I think both the Matrix 801 and 802 series 2 both had the IPOC circuitry..From what I can remember the biggest improvement ( in stock form ) in the Series 3 came from the removal of the IPOC circuit..I think they removed the IPOC in the Anniversary Edition which was in between the Series 2 and 3....
B&W also may have made a change in the bass drivers in the Series 3 802.. Check with B&W for the IPOC info to find out for sure.......You may also find out that most Matrix 801 and 802 owners thought the B&W bass alignment filter was garbage..I tried it once and removed it and found they sounded much better without the B&W filter..( my taste anyways ) ....

They 'slam' if its on the recording, and don't when its not. The series 2 has a little more 'bloom' in the upper bass, but its a classic as well.

Hmm - there's a lot of hammering in the above about the 802 S2 with feeble bass & the Bass-alignment filter being rubbish. I've had the 802 S2 for 18 yrs now & in the last 2 years, I did a lot of work related to the B&W Bass-alignment filter incl comparisons with the Krell-made one.

I've now used the same circuit topology that B&W used for their Bass-alignment filter BUT using only the finest MIL-Spec parts, incl the finest Vishay Bulk-Foil resistors and also actively buffering the filter's inputs & outputs. The power-supplies were also heavily beefed-up by a scale of 20 times and the speakers were put to test.

OMG!! what a damn transformation! Not only does it now do low bass, it does it with a class of its own while the mids & the upper bandwidth remains clean, clear & untouched.

The legendary man who passed away designing them - Late John Bowers knew himself very well what he designed indeed! In short, almost 2 decades later, these speakers have no peers - if you have the right ancillary gear for them and if the listener is a matured, sensible fella! Its not loud heart-beating speaker BUT a super smooth one spanning the freq from subwoofer terrain to the extreme upper high that their ferro-fluid counterparts in the latter series can only dream off!

Voila! The Matrix 801 & 802 - Series 2 !!

This is an old thread by now. Did you get the speakers of your choice. I can say I have the Matrix802s3 and very happy I rebuilt the Xovers . Bass and slam is there with a very deep and wide soundstage. use SS amp and Tube pre. very exciting sound never happier. Sounds better than 85% of the systems at AXPONA last month.

My 802 series 1 bass alignment filter went tits-up last year. I had previously replaced a handful of resistors and electrolytics but heat ultimately cooked the board. I can no longer read the op amp part numbers, and don't have a schematic.

I always loved the sound of the 802 S1's on classic prog rock and traditional/bebop jazz. Driven with a good vinyl front end and Aragon 4004MK2, plenty of slam when called upon.

I liked the bass better with the filter installed; I miss it. I am an electronics engineer and am quite willing to build my own. Any information would be very welcome. The approach taken by Arupg sounds like right up my alley. pdbrooks0@gmail.com