I owned the B&W 801 Matrix II's for years, then upgraded to the Matrix III's which are far better in the midrange. The II's had a differenct tweeter and had some type of tweeter protector unit that clouded the midrange. The Matrix III's had a new fluid cooled tweeter and new cross over that eliminated that protection circuitry. The 801's have a 12inch woofer and are very in efficient at 88dbs, so I wouldn't advise them with tubes unless you can run the big VTL's or Audio Research 600's. If you could run a solid state for the woofers and run a tube preamp, then I'd might say go for them. I had a Krell and it was a match made in heaven. My 25 cents.
How good are the B&W 801...Series 2 Speakers ????
I have been using Pro-ac 2's and 1sc's with a Velodyne ULD15 subwoofer...I would like to use some main speakers that have a little more back-bone....Can't pay much more that 2000.00 so I thought I would buy some B&W 801's. I had a pair of B&W 802's and didn't like them but I have heard good things about the 801's...I have all tube equipment, Audio Research LS-25 line stage and VT-100 power amp, also Audio Research PH-3 phono stage and Rega 25 turntable. I listen to Classical and Blues...What do you think ?????