[audiojerry]

I just took in a pair of B&W Matrix 801 Series 3. For those not familiar, this was B&W's top speaker prior to the Nautilus series and was used in many recording studios as reference monitors, according to what I've read quite often. The 801 has a large cabinet with roughly 5 cubic feet of internal volume housing a 12" woofer, front ported, a separate midrange cabinet made of some kind of synthetic concrete resting on top of the woofer cabinet, and a separate tweeter housing resting on top of the midrange. The tweeter/midrange can be rotated.  Each speaker weighs just under 150 pounds.

I am in agreement that these are very well engineered speakers, and to my ears are very full range and accurate. The most impressive quality of the 801's is their ability to play with enormous output. They handle orchestral works with effortless ease. The soundstage is enormous and the bass is thunderous, yet not bloated. To be honest, until I heard these speakers, I have not had a proper frame of reference of full range, high spl sound, even when I had Dunlavy SC-IVa.

So far this sounds like a review of B&W 801's, but it's really meant to demonstrate that the Odyssey's are bringing these speakers to life. This combination further showed me the tremendous drive, control and headroom of these monoblocks. The combination is very transparent, neutral, and immensely powerful. Frankly, I am a bit stunned at what I am hearing, because these discoveries have shaken my conceptions a bit about what I thought I knew, and about what I thought I wanted from my system.

Anyone looking at these amps for HT would not be disappointed, and as far as speakers are concerned, I can't think of a better speaker as the left/right channels than the 801's. Used, they can be purchased fairly reasonably in the mid 2's depending on condition.

At this price, and combined with the Odysseys, they outperform anything else I can think of for someone who wants to achieve lifelike sound reproduction.

[klaus@odyssey]

Hehehehe,

Jerry,  come on over to the solid state quarter.  

[Tyson]

audiojerry,
check out northcreekmusic.com - they have a crossover upgrade for the 801's that was supposed to improve the sound considerably:

http://www.northcreekmusic.com/801web.html

[BlackCat]

I was most pleasantly surprised to find my new XTreme monoblocks waiting on my doorstep yesterday afternoon, overjoyed that they had arrived, surprised that UPS had left $2500 worth of amplifiers on my doorstep with no one at home.

First off, these things are HUGE.  If you're getting a pair, get a friend to come over and help you unpack them, as they are quite heavy.  I had to wrestle mine into place by myself, and it was a chore.  Once in place, hooking them up was no problem.  I will point out that the RCA jacks are SO beefy that one of my DH Labs BL-1 interconnects won't even fit over it, I had to "adjust" it a bit with some needle-nose pliers.  This wasn't a new interconnect either, it had been hooked up to several pieces of equipment previously.  

OK, now for the good part.  I powered them up and figited around for about an hour while they got a little warm.  Then the music.  OMIGOD!
What a soundstage!  Absolutely gorgeous.  Wide, deep, black backgrounds, everything the reviewers at Absolute Sound talk about that I could never hear before, it's all there.  The control over the speaker cones is magnificent and most certainly apparent.  Even my wife is enthralled with this system.

First up was Roxy Music's Avalon, one of their later recordings.  I've heard this song a thousand times, but I think I really heard for the first time with the Xtreme monos.  So many more details I can't describe them.  Andrew McKays saxaphone was right in front of me, slightly off to the right, and he was blowing it hard!

Next up (please don't laugh) Shania Twain - If You're Not In It For Love,  I use this one for system auditions because it has a very forward drum and general percussion section.  This was the first place I noticed the XTremes superb control over the woofer cones.  The drums had "punch" and a lot of it.  A real impact,  you could almost feel the air move in the room.

Then onto Jetho Tull - Thick As A Brick.  This album has some low-high transitions (volume wise) that can give a slow amp fits.  There's a part on it where it goes from "skipping through the woods playing my flute" to "smashing your face in with an electric guitar" very quickly.  The XTremes prove themselves to be very fast on this track.  Beautiful attack, beautiful decay.

Finally - Eagles - Hell Freezes Over - Hotel California.  5 guys sitting on stools playing.  The imaging the Xtremes show on this track will literally bring tears to your eyes.  Fucking gorgeous!

All of my dealings with Odyssey have been extremely pleasant, Klaus is a great guy to deal with, he's producing a first class product here with the XTremes.   Count me as one happy cat.

System:  Rega Planet 2000 CDP,  Monolithic Sound PA-1 passive / active preamp with HC-1 power supply,  B&W 604 S3 speaks (can't help it, love that B&W sound),  DH Labs BL-1 interconnects,  Nordost Red Dawn speaker cable, and Odyssey XTreme Monoblock amplifiers.

[speedcenter]

First off, these things are HUGE.  If you're getting a pair, get a friend to come over and help you unpack them, as they are quite heavy.  I had to wrestle mine into place by myself, and it was a chore.  Once in place, hooking them up was no problem.  I will point out that the RCA jacks are SO beefy that one of my DH Labs BL-1 interconnects won't even fit over it, I had to "adjust" it a bit with some needle-nose pliers.  This wasn't a new interconnect either, it had been hooked up to several pieces of equipment previously.  

Intersting - is this a particular "feature" of the RCA jacks? I have some 15 month old monos, and one of the jacks is very tight, the ohter isn't...

They are high grade, but it's rather odd that there are such high tolerances in terms of diameter.

Just wondering.

Just wait until the amps break-in - they'll really get nice then

[rosconey]

me yesterday
me today x = +
thanx santa klaus-hehehe

[bubba966]

I was most pleasantly surprised to find my new XTreme monoblocks waiting on my doorstep yesterday afternoon, overjoyed that they had arrived, surprised that UPS had left $2500 worth of amplifiers on my doorstep with no one at home.

You shouldn't be surprised at anything UPS does. Unless they actually get your package to your door in one piece when they're supposed to. Then you can go

[klaus@odyssey]

As for the RCA connectors:  Actually,  they might have some differences inside the connector/ the area for the center pin.  However,  since we test all connectors on a quick connect,  they all usually work.  Actually,  there might be more of a discepancy in the different IC cables.

Late,
Klaus

PS.  Rosconey & Black Cat,  I'm glad that you guys are happy.

[BlackCat]

In no way am I complaining about the RCA jack, just an observation,  I appreciate a good chunk of metal there.  It wa a very minor adjustment with the needle nose pliers,  took about 5 seconds.  I'm thinking about switching over to Red Dawns anyway.   For those of you who want to know what the blue lights look like, I took some time-lapse photos in the dark,  as soon as I get them developed, you too can see the cool blue glow.

The system continues to break in and sounds magnificent.  I'm listening to all my CD's again and discovering new things about every one of them.  One more thing I'll note here is that the amp the XTremes are replacing was rated at 200 watts RMS,  the monos put out a LOT more sound at lower volume settings on the preamp  The B&W speakers, while not power hungry, sure do shine with this kind of power (don't know wheter it's watts or amps) behind them.

Once again folks, if you don't have a pair, get a pair, you don't know what you're missing.