801's again

  Some things you own more than once in your lifetime, Dahlquist DQ-10s (three times), Dynaco Stereo 70 (more times than I can remember), Klipsch Heresys (at least three times), Minimoog synthesizers, Sonab speakers, the list goes on. A pair of B&W 801 Matrix series IIIs popped up on Dregslist when I least expected to see them. "Nah", I said. "Been there done that". Then I continued to read the ad. These were still sealed in their boxes in climate controlled storage up until 2011. Mind you, these are probably around 20 years old! A nice young guy named Zanny (like Manny but with a Z) had them, and as you could imagine his ad had attracted a lot of interest.People from Canada, PA, etc. It seems his father had gotten them years ago from Soundworks  and never used them. Zanny popped them open in 2011, listened to them for a while,decided that they were too big for his place and put them back in their boxes. Basically about as close to new old stock as these could get. Just when you start to think the stuff is starting to dry up in Rochester.

The last pair of these I had was about 10 years ago, now I had moved into a bigger house and was curious to try them again. My last ones I traded to Bob Hamme of Stereo Shop fame for a truckload of tube amps, Infinity Modulus speakers, other miscellaneous speakers and I forget what else. My friend Johnny G. still has a pair of these that he has had for years. He is a musician, and has not been tempted to replace them. They were/are widely used in recording studios throughout Europe, some of the most prestigious classical record labels used them.

 Zanny thought it best to keep the sale local, actually delivered them to me, and I could see why! In their boxes they were like washing machines, and the two of them just barely shoehorned into a Jeep Grand Cherokee! They are in the exact condition that he described. Beautiful walnut, boxes intact, not a mark on them. He helped me bring them into my garage and I hoofed them into my family room myself. Pretty sure I popped a tire on my hand truck in the process.

  Enjoying them as I did years ago, now they have more room to breath. Using the Mac 275 is somewhat out of the question, these are power hungry beasts, and tubes with 13" woofers are generally not a good combination. I dragged my Forte 200w solid state amp out of the closet, and it is serving for now, I will probably try biamping these in the near future.Paul Klipsch would have referred to these as "space heaters".

 I will keep them this time, it is getting hard to find products of this caliber in this kind of condition. Plus they are too big and heavy to ship or steal. If someone broke into my house they would leave them, look at them and say "Nah!".