The room is about 29'x29'x11'.
I am under the impression they need a lot of power.
that is one really nice sized room.
if you look at my virtual system at the 801 heading - you will see a pic of the s3 in a room that is a backwards 7 shape.
They are in the top part of the 7 which is a space about 17 - 25.
You will also see a pic of them in another room in nearfield.
Two different objectives.
So it depends on your objectives - how close u will sit - spl levels, type of music.
In my experience they need "quality" power at just above 4 ohms for the amp to be able to control the woofers and still have what it takes for the mid/highs. if the amp gets taxed out on the low end you will experience brighter/harsher sounds. I base this is on my listening.
They are not forgiving in this regard at all .
this is the reason for needing the better quality gear in front - the better gear the better they will sound.
there are no shortcuts here.
They are not plug and play audiophile speakers.
They are like trying to tame a wild horse.
If you are willing to make a commitment and work with them they will reward you.
You will also need to get them off their castors and up in the air.
My best pieces are a Mac c2300 and MC275.
for your room this will depend on how close you will be sitting to the 801's.
25 feet or 10-15 feet ?
I get excellent results with both SS and Tube.
My tube amp Music Reference RM9 set at 4 ohms.
It is conservatively rated for 100 wpc but it is imo more - I think I have read 125 wpc soomewhere but not sure - and with KT88 tubes.
If this is more of a room where you want to fill the whole space I would go with SS and as much quality wattage as possible.
Doubling down from 8 ohms to 4 ohms.
A local repair shop has them is why I am interested.
this is actually a good thing imo.
Have a look at the woofers screws - have they been pulled before?
Have the shop take the woofers out - rest them on a table with the magnets down.
they have rubber surrounds so there will be no rot like other speakers that use foam or other material.
Manually extend the cones slowly and gently - fully with both hands upwards and then push them down gently.
this should be very smooth with no scratchy sounds at all.
The wires surrounding the voice coils are covered with a clear lacquer.
If the 801's have been abused - mostly meaning under powered,
the amplifier would have been clipping and sending heat to the coils.
this warps and actually melts the lacquer covering the coil wires which is needed for smooth travel.
if you hear a scratchy noise when moving the cones the coils need to be replaced -
Easily done at a speaker coning place.
But the price needs to be factored in.
Also have a look at the spiders. how taut are they.
If they are really loose and flabby it indicates previous owners caused alot of excessive woofer movement. there will be some movement but they shouldn't feel flabby loose.
this happens alot with vinyl guys that didn't use the bass alignment filter they came with. LOL.
they were designed by John Bowers to use a BAF to be able to achieve 20 hz. with their size cabinet, and also control subsonic frequencies which cause cone excursions and intermodulation distortion.
anyway
The woofers can be re-spider-ed with same compliant spiders and brand new voice coils put in for about $150.00 each.
this $300 needs to be factored in.
Sorry for the excessive brain dump and detail - hope this helps?
Do they come with the factory bass alignment filters or stands ?
