My B&W 801 Restoration project.

I have re
I have read this thread a couple of times. My 801's sound good but I would love to improve the sound. I have read all the crossover changes and thought if I could so some simple upgrades to mine I would do so. I am not an expert on this as some of you but I can solder. I am enclosing a pic of my crossover. Just looking what changes (if any) would you guys recommend that I do that aren't overly complicated. Thanks

JackView attachment 843661
I have read this thread a couple of times. My 801's sound good but I would love to improve the sound. I have read all the crossover changes and thought if I could so some simple upgrades to mine I would do so. I am not an expert on this as some of you but I can solder. I am enclosing a pic of my crossover. Just looking what changes (if any) would you guys recommend that I do that aren't overly complicated. Thanks

JackView attachment 843661
Lots of tweaks you can do with the 801's.
The black and white ones are mine.
Used platinum silicone (isopath gell being used in nautilus 800 & Diamond series) in my vintage speakers to isolate the tweeter and midrange from the bass cabinet.
Tweeter housing also filled with the same material = dead cell structure. Resulting in a clean high frequency.
Definitely worth doing...
Good luck.
Gtz Werner. (Belgium)
ad this thread a couple of times. My 801's sound good but I would love to improve the sound. I have read all the crossover changes and thought if I could so some simple upgrades to mine I would do so. I am not an expert on this as some of you but I can solder. I am enclosing a pic of my crossover. Just looking what changes (if any) would you guys recommend that I do that aren't overly complicated. Thanks

JackView attachment 843661
 
I can tell you not only the caps. Spec or really just change the resistors mine were all over the map some 25% out of spec and u. Evenly speaker to speaker .. getting even the parts express Dayton audio 2% resistors and metalized poly caps all close to match g really enhanced imaging and sound stage .. caps improved a lot of this .. smoother tighter better transients ... few times have I seen an upgraded crossover have as large of an impact
 
Looking at the picture of my crossover I can identify the following caps
26 ufd 70volts
20 ufd 70volts
62 ufd 70volts
2-35ufd 70volts
1000 ufd 100 volts
and 2 green caps that I will have to remove the boards to identify.
Not knowing a lot about caps what brand or brands (disregarding cost) would be the best replacement for these to make a sonic improvement.

Along with the resistors what else on the board should I change. I assume the brown objects are caps and should be replaced, what would be good?

How about the white and red objects like 7w 10 ohms, I assume these are resistors that would need changing? I looked at Dayton and found wire wound and non-inductive. Are they the same?
 
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OK; thanks.

These caps look fine to me, and the speakers sound clear and good to me (I already took the APOCs out of the circuit).

The thing that bugs me about the speakers, though, is that no matter how much power I've put into them (about 200 watts from a NAD SS amp) they don't play very loudly. I had them at full gain and I was able to converse with a friend -- he couldn't believe I had it cranked up all the way. And the output voltage on the source was plenty high enough for that amp, as I recall.

I don't know; maybe in fact it just was some amplification / gain issue, but the speakers just seem really constrained to me.

801'S 80 with 200 watts/ch Amp, in a small listen room, at the volume of 7 the protection of these speakers will always kick-in. At that high volume we still can talk to each others with these speakers, but not with some other speakers that we have.
 
Howdy here - this thread is about to become my inspiration, just picked up a pair of 801 series 80. They sound exceptional, but the top grille cloth needs to be re-worked - sooo, please help :)

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Howdy here - this thread is about to become my inspiration, just picked up a pair of 801 series 80. They sound exceptional, but the top grille cloth needs to be re-worked - sooo, please help :)

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I just picked up a Pair myself! I am working on a bit of a Touch-Up restoration. Mine need the Top Foam replaced as the original ones are so old they are crumbling and have pretty much deteriorated. Check your foam and see what condition it's in. If you need a set, I can try to have my contact add another set. He is custom CNC milling them our of a Higher Density foam that should outlast the speakers. The cost is $125ea. so for $250 you'll have 2 brand new and much better foam pieces. They look like they;re in great shape otherwise!! I am also ordering a new set of crossovers for mine. WHat amps will you be using to run yours and in what configuration?? Out of curiosity, what did you pay for them?? Curious as to what they're going for these days. Happy Listening!
 
I just picked up a Pair myself! I am working on a bit of a Touch-Up restoration. Mine need the Top Foam replaced as the original ones are so old they are crumbling and have pretty much deteriorated. Check your foam and see what condition it's in. If you need a set, I can try to have my contact add another set. He is custom CNC milling them our of a Higher Density foam that should outlast the speakers. The cost is $125ea. so for $250 you'll have 2 brand new and much better foam pieces. They look like they;re in great shape otherwise!! I am also ordering a new set of crossovers for mine. WHat amps will you be using to run yours and in what configuration?? Out of curiosity, what did you pay for them?? Curious as to what they're going for these days. Happy Listening!

The foam inserts are in pretty good shape - the grille cloth is another story, I will need to refinish that part - but the circle cutout makes me nervous

Driving mine with MC-2720 @ 270W (initially with Yamaha M-60 @ 160W)

Paid $1100 - how about you?
 
Mine belonged to relation. They were just sitting in the basement so I offered to move them out of the way! :) I am using a pair of Parasound A21’s in a Vertical Bi-Amp Configuration.
 
Alright good people ... I had them for a while now and while they sound amazing, the tinkering audiophile in me is more than curious. Going to open them up and see what all I can find ;)

My understanding is that removing the protection and fuse from the circuit “opens” the speakers up ... but how do I approach it? Is that a matter of jumping the fuse and how exactly do I remove the APOC protection ?

Thanks for any suggestions
 
Alright good people ... I had them for a while now and while they sound amazing, the tinkering audiophile in me is more than curious. Going to open them up and see what all I can find ;)

My understanding is that removing the protection and fuse from the circuit “opens” the speakers up ... but how do I approach it? Is that a matter of jumping the fuse and how exactly do I remove the APOC protection ?

Thanks for any suggestions

so the inside and crossover appears pristine, speakers are from Apr 29 1985 - the label doesn't say 801F but the mid-range definitely appears "concrete'ish"
do I mess with the protection circuitry - or leave it alone (I'm using MC2720 with PowerGuard with gain set to 'noon') - am rather curious to compare them side-by-side in mono with one APOC by-passed.

I don't see any fuses inside, how do I disable the APOC ??? the blue relay has four pins - which ones do I short circuit ?

thanks y'all

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Concrete ... I mean fibercrete ???
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... alright - I did it, relay bypassed - woofer big 1000mfd cap removed and jumpered just in one speaker ... not sure if I hear a difference. Will have to look up the Fender guitar phase test tracks from stereophile test cd.

Definitely didn't brake shit, so yay - that was fun! might recap that network next

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... more updates - casters are gone, here come custom stands $15, primer and paint going on next week
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... and brand new speaker cloth (foam was pretty intact and kept it's shape well) I was worried that cutting the hole for the fibercretes might prove challenging - not at all. Super easy and all took 20minutes per speaker, the clips are super easy to tension the fabric - no staples or glue required!
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... more updates - casters are gone, here come custom stands $15, primer and paint going on next week
View attachment 1184962

... and brand new speaker cloth (foam was pretty intact and kept it's shape well) I was worried that cutting the hole for the fibercretes might prove challenging - not at all. Super easy and all took 20minutes per speaker, the clips are super easy to tension the fabric - no staples or glue required!
View attachment 1184963
What Series are yours? There’s an issue with Series 2 crossover that Frank VanAlstine identified and communicated back to B&W that they later addressed. I’m supposed to get my custom wound crossovers next week for mine, so it’ll be interesting how they’ll sound after I swap them out. No protection circuitry and no use of the cube with the new crossovers Is necessary .
 
What Series are yours? There’s an issue with Series 2 crossover that Frank VanAlstine identified and communicated back to B&W that they later addressed. I’m supposed to get my custom wound crossovers next week for mine, so it’ll be interesting how they’ll sound after I swap them out. No protection circuitry and no use of the cube with the new crossovers Is necessary .

Mine are 1985 Series80 ... MkI if you will, the inductor issue was introduced in the later iterations I think. See the crossover picture above, all is good ... I think ;)

And what do you mean by crossover cube ?
 
I've never heard of the "variable" alignment filter. Are you sure? I own an upgraded series 2 801 with the high pass filter. And yes, it is still necessary with an upgraded cross over.
Tell us more about it.
 
BTW - here is the finished look with the stands, ended up finishing the MDF with wood putty, oil based primer and two coats of black gloss rustoleum

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I picked up a bargain pair of 801s a couple months ago. Here's the "first play" result after working on them. Very pleased with the look and sound. First impressions: warm and crisp and clear, with very articulate bass -- especially noticeable on piano.

Next I need to move them up two flights of stairs to the listening room :)

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I've replaced nearly all the crossover components, and modified for bi-amping because I have a "sweet" amp for the tops and a much punchier class-D amp suitable for the bass. Despite this pair being very early (Jan 1980), the drivers themselves seem to be in great shape and didn't need any significant work.

Here's a much longer "work log" with all the gory details: http://cabezal.com/pix/801/801-restoration-project.pdf (caution, 35MB pdf)
 
One interesting observation from working on the crossovers: I think the original B&W engineers picked "measured parts" for assembly. The MF capacitor marked on the schematics as 5.3uF is marked as a 4.7uF part. The pictures in this thread show several varieties of paralleled electrolytics to make value. So I feel amateurish when replacing without measurement. The end result sounds fine, but again, I haven't yet done in-room measurements of the frequency response.
 
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