Bass Filter

[Freddie40]

When I got my Matrix 802s they came with a Bass alignment filter. Do they still come with some speakers. Are there advantages/disadvantages to using the filter?

Thanks,

Dave

[Joawen]

Depending on your room acoustics it will sound better with or without the filters, try it out what suits you better.

[RNKC]

The filter made a gigantic difference to Dad's Matrix 801s. Bass was extended down significantly and sonically it was a much tighter sound on the low freqs. It was well worth the $$$ I spent getting it for him on Audiogon.

[emig5m]

Remember the 80's? I was wondering last night why speakers on average no longer come with dials for setting tweeter/mid levels like they did on so many in the past.

[Freddie40]

I am wondering why only the Matrix series came with a Bass filter? Or am I wrong and that more recent speakers came with the filter.

Dave

[Freddie40]

I did order a bass filter from B&W. I will let everyone know what the results are.

My dealer says that I shouldn't need one because my amps are very nice (Bryston) vs the quality of the filter. We'll see.

Dave

[RNKC]

My dealer says that I shouldn't need one because my amps are very nice (Bryston) vs the quality of the filter.

That's an interesting comment. Anyhow, like I said the filter made a big difference on Dad's system. His amp is a Proceed HPA2 which is no slouch of an amp. Nonetheless, the difference with filter vs without was still significant.

As for why only the Matrix system had the filter, remember that after Matrix came Nautilus (and now Diamond). I would assume that the filter was simply built in to Nautilus.

I did email B&W once to inquire if there was a filter available for Nautilus. They replied with a very technical answer that I didn't understand, but the basic gist was that Nautilus is so good that you don't need a filter.

[Joawen]

Freddie40, are you saying you actually could order an original BAF from B&W?

[Freddie40]

I got a BAF from B&W ($90) a week ago. It is not the original, but instead you select dipswitches based the speaker model (Matrix 800 series). I have also ordered a brand new Tweeter from B&W this year and have had 1 woofer reconed. To top it off I finally spiked the speakers after 2 years. This definitely helped tighted the bass.

So, I put the filter between the Bryston Preamp and Bryston power amp and I am very happy with the results. My dealer said that I should avoid it because it wasn't as good of quality as the Brystons, but I did not notice any distortion or fuzziness added to the music and yes, the bass was better.

The question is why this they discontinue shipping the filter after the Matrix series. Here are my thoughts.

1) I can't believe that they built it into the speakers because it requires power.
2) The quality of electronics has become much better in the last 20 years, i.e. pre and power amps, cd players and crossovers. Maybe because of this the filter isn't needed as much as these components pass the lower bass to the speakers much better.
3) Maybe B&W found that people were blowing too many woofers and they stopped shipping them to lower warranty cost.
4) Maybe B&W found that if they didn't ship the filters people would add a subwoofer to their system, i.e. more sales.

I haven't listened to any B&W speakers since I bought mine 20 years ago so I cannot say how mine compare to the models made today. All I can say is that I am very happy with my 802s I do wonder what current model would compare to my Matrix 802s.

Dave