B&W 801 Series 3 Clones

[hugligan]

Hello everyone!
I've looked into the possibilities of cloning these for a while. I love the way they look, unfortunately they price in a little above my budget

So i've tried to find out as much as i could about these speakers, but i would like to get some help regarding driver choice and crossover.

Here:s a pic of the speaker itself:

Here's some info from the manufacturer:
Info sheet
Manual

I don't have the expectations that if i successfully cloned these that the sound would be quite as good as the original. However i would like a great sound, not necessarily like the original. But a good sound with the same looks. Therefor i would have to find similar drivers that work in similar boxes.

Their drivers have the following specs:
- 300mm (12") high-power polymer cone bass
- 126mm (5") kevlar cone mid range
- 26mm (1") metal dome tweeter.

As for the tweeter and the midrange, they don't have to be exactly like the original. Id wouldn't mind if the midrange was not yellow and the tweeter can differ a little.

Dimensions are:
Height: 1008mm
Width: 432mm
Depth: 560mm

I did some calculations to try to estimate the woofer box size and made this sketch:

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

According two this, the hight of the box is roughly 1 width + 2/3 width.
So the woofer outer dimensions should be 432*560*720mm.
The internal volume with 30mm walls is then: ~122L

Any of you with experience of this speaker or that done some restoration or repair or seen a similar build that could help me recommend drivers?

Budget is always stretchable but id like some good value.

Thanks
Mikael

 

[sreten]

Hi,

Its a difficult speaker to clone without measuring equipment
to derive the in box responses of the drivers that you use.

The x/o's are 4th order L/R acoustic and that will take
some modelling to derive the electrical filters required.

Also see Crossovers
For the Duelund variation of using 4th order L/R acoustic.

rgds, sreten.

 

[hugligan]

Maybe i was phrasing myself poorly. By cloning i meant a design thats similar. What i really would like to get some advice on is a 3-way speaker that will work with boxes like this one.

I have looked on the Tarkus build however that one only has a 10" woofer. So the sound doesn't have to be exactly like the original, more what id like is a speaker like the tarsus but with a 12" woofer and design like the 801 series 3.

I did look on this but unfortunately i can find any info what so ever on what parts he used.
801 clone

 

[sreten]

Hi,

Whatever you use you would need to measure and design it.
You won't find a 3 way design that drops into those boxes.

That "clone" appears to reuse the original head with its drivers.

The Tarkus is a very good idea IMO and a lot easier to build.

rgds, sreten.

 

[hugligan]

Maybe ill have to reconsider the Tarkus. Thanks for ur help!