B&W Matrix 803 series 1

[Longaevus]

So today I got myself a pair of massive B&W floorstanders which look like they had a very, very rough life at the hands of people who did not care for good quality speakers which they are supposed to be.

Unfortunately I was not informed about the missing tweeters which seem to be kind of unobtanium these days and I have no idea what would be the price on a pair of those in case they ever got to show up, so when I got there I was utterly disapointed but after almost a full hour's drive I ended up paying the agreed price which I believe is lower then what I can get for the woofers and kevlar midranges these pack.

The question is, financially-wise, is it sounder to keep them and wait for a pair the required/missing parts or just scrap them for parts?

Required:

ZZ08532 - Tweeter
ZC08532 - Tweeter diaphragm
CC10433 - Tweeter Plinth
CC10435 - Tweeter Housing

Also, is there an alternative to these tweeters? Would it make sense to make somekind of adaptation/upgrade?

Right now this is breaking my heart, everything about them screams fine worksmanship and I would love having them as my home theater system front surrounds..

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[Mrv8q]

Looks as though the 803, 804 and 805 share the same tweeter housing. I dont know if B&W still sells them; they have an excellent website to poke around and check out.

Tweeters, housings and bezels do show up on the Bay from time to time, but they are spendy.

Not sure what I would do in your situation, and I have 802S2s...

 

[needforspeed]

I've heard these, They kick ass. If budget allows, Fix them.

 

[sheltie dave]

It will be well worth conversing with B&W to achieve a resolution vis a vis new tweeters. You didn't go whole hog to get a basket of truffles to piece them out.

 

[markshan]

Do we know that the other drivers all work? I can't imagine why someone would remove those tweeters from otherwise good speakers.

 

[nolasally]

these are cheap and sound decent and should fill the old tweeter spot well. Swans Diva TN-28

 

[OMGCat!]

From the B&W site you can get some parts for the tweeter assemblies but the housings and grilles are not available anymore. Unfortunately the tweeters themselves are about $400 each so unless you can find a set being parted out cheap you're looking at some dollars to get them back to the way they're supposed to be.

I'd look into the tweeters mentioned above and see how you like them. It's probably the only way you'll get them going that makes economic sense as rough but complete sets of the 803s seem to float around $350-$500 and clean sets hang around $1000.

I have a set of Matrix 804s and absolutely love them. I got my set for $350 due to two smushed tweeter diaphragms (very very common on these) and a missing tweeter grill but otherwise cosmetically excellent.
I spent about $200 on new diaphragms from B&W and lucked into an overpriced set of grills on eBay for $100.
They are so far my ultimate speaker and for the price that's pretty incredible. I'd like to try some higher up models of the 800 series but my listening area is too small for anything bigger to be able to breathe.
One thing about these speakers is that they will probably sound shrill and shouty with wimpy amplification. I originally drove these (for about 20 minutes) with my 125wpc Yamaha A1020 and they were not happy at all. When driven by one of my M60s (170/ch) or my PC2602 (260/ch) they shine.

 

[Longaevus]

Do we know that the other drivers all work? I can't imagine why someone would remove those tweeters from otherwise good speakers.

My best guess is that they either were victims of some kind of a very embarrassing accident or they got fried and after B&W quoted the original owner's with a tremendous amount of money they simply went with a workaround (he was using what looked like a small, cheap home theater rear surround to put out the higher frequencies but I did not even asked how he was doing it since he did not even knew how to bi-wire these speakers...)
Yeah I must confess I have not done any kind of testing yet, how can I do it? Simply plug them and listen to strange behaviors or non working drivers? That simple? I was afraid making it even worse since the tweeters are missing...

these are cheap and sound decent and should fill the old tweeter spot well. Swans Diva TN-28

Wow gotta look into it this would be perfect since they look somewhat alike and it would be a cheap way to get them going until I came across some sensibly priced originals... THANKS!

From the B&W site you can get some parts for the tweeter assemblies but the housings and grilles are not available anymore. Unfortunately the tweeters themselves are about $400 each so unless you can find a set being parted out cheap you're looking at some dollars to get them back to the way they're supposed to be.

I'd look into the tweeters mentioned above and see how you like them. It's probably the only way you'll get them going that makes economic sense as rough but complete sets of the 803s seem to float around $350-$500 and clean sets hang around $1000.

I have a set of Matrix 804s and absolutely love them. I got my set for $350 due to two smushed tweeter diaphragms (very very common on these) and a missing tweeter grill but otherwise cosmetically excellent.
I spent about $200 on new diaphragms from B&W and lucked into an overpriced set of grills on eBay for $100.
They are so far my ultimate speaker and for the price that's pretty incredible. I'd like to try some higher up models of the 800 series but my listening area is too small for anything bigger to be able to breathe.
One thing about these speakers is that they will probably sound shrill and shouty with wimpy amplification. I originally drove these (for about 20 minutes) with my 125wpc Yamaha A1020 and they were not happy at all. When driven by one of my M60s (170/ch) or my PC2602 (260/ch) they shine.

I bet they sound really good, they have huge enclosures and feel hefty, not the heaviest I've ownder but pretty massive and the venner looks just great, the scratches will be somewhat easy to disguise with some wood recover product but the tweeters are the problem really, I was completely unaware they weremissing otherwise I would have probably never taken the trip but I couldn't pass on, I had to try it!

On a side nte, how will I know an aftermarket tweeter will work well with the crossover?

 

[markshan]

My best guess is that they either were victims of some kind of a very embarrassing accident or they got fried and after B&W quoted the original owner's with a tremendous amount of money they simply went with a workaround (he was using what looked like a small, cheap home theater rear surround to put out the higher frequencies but I did not even asked how he was doing it since he did not even knew how to bi-wire these speakers...)
Yeah I must confess I have not done any kind of testing yet, how can I do it? Simply plug them and listen to strange behaviors or non working drivers? That simple? I was afraid making it even worse since the tweeters are missing...

Since the tweeter wires are cot at an open circuit, I would think you could just play them and hear the lows and mids. Just don't crank them in case the impedance is wonky. Safer yet, pull the other drivers and just play them sans xover.

 

[OMGCat!]

Since they are bi-wire able you can remove the jumpers and put signal to the lows and highs separately and see if the drivers are working properly. As said above be conservative with the power on mid/high half as the crossover might act strange with the tweeter missing but either way you'll be able to see if the driver is open or you have coil rub.
As for the crossovers on the aftermarket tweeters I'd open a thread on the speaker forum. Those guys will probably have some good advice on how to figure it all out.

As far as how the tweeters got damaged you're probably not too far off. I'd say a good 75% of the pairs I see for sale have one or both diaphragms damaged and/or broken tweeter housings.
It seems like people don't realize the tweeters come off easily and should absolutely be removed before moving them around.

 

[Longaevus]

Since the tweeter wires are cot at an open circuit, I would think you could just play them and hear the lows and mids. Just don't crank them in case the impedance is wonky. Safer yet, pull the other drivers and just play them sans xover.

Since they are bi-wire able you can remove the jumpers and put signal to the lows and highs separately and see if the drivers are working properly. As said above be conservative with the power on mid/high half as the crossover might act strange with the tweeter missing but either way you'll be able to see if the driver is open or you have coil rub.
As for the crossovers on the aftermarket tweeters I'd open a thread on the speaker forum. Those guys will probably have some good advice on how to figure it all out.

As far as how the tweeters got damaged you're probably not too far off. I'd say a good 75% of the pairs I see for sale have one or both diaphragms damaged and/or broken tweeter housings.
It seems like people don't realize the tweeters come off easily and should absolutely be removed before moving them around.

I will be very gentle when powering them but I must learn first how to diagnose a damaged woofer/midrange because physically all 4 look good apart from the one that is missing the dust cover...

I've read somewhere that these tweeters are super easy to damage due to obvious reasons but god damn these are not a cheap pair of speakers at all, let us be gentle and careful!

Right now I am a bit more hopeful on getting them back looking good. I am now looking for those wooder/midrange black circular rubber surround finishing and the woofer dust covers.

 

[OMGCat!]

I'd pull the jumpers and check the resistance between each set of posts. They uppers should match each other if the drivers are good, same with the lower pair.
As far as putting music to them you're just listening for bad noises (scrapes, clicks, stuff like that). If they sound good and ohm out they are probably just fine.

 

[Longaevus]

In the meanwhile I have noticed that the aforementioned Swans tweeter, besides the awful reviews I have read about it, is discontinued and only the second version is now purchasable, another downside is the fact that it does not include the stand that gives it a clean finish on top of the cabinet. I can get a pair of the second version for around $100 shipped. Not bad, I am just not sure if they are worth it though...

... are there some low cost alternatives that may prove good enough for which a proper stand can be improvised and all?