B&W Quality?

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • dan87951
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2005
    • 379

    B&W Quality?

    Well today I wanted to impress my wife by showing her how amazing the CM1's sound when running as mains. I hooked them up and noticed something didn't sound right.. almost like a tweeter wasn't working. After some troubleshooting I realized the left tweeter wasn't working. I took the speakers apart and swapped tweeters with the other good working speaker and it still didn't work. hmmmm.. so I busted open the ohm meter and started doing continuity tests from the rear jumpers to the tweeter wiring and was getting nothing. So I popped out the crossover and this is what I found (see picture). Both the positive terminal wiring for the low and high was falling off the connectors. The tweeter wire was completely off while the bass driver was just barely touching. Talk about a quality control issue on a set of 1k speakers. Unbelievable! I think this will be my final set of new B&W speakers that are made in China. I even had trouble with my CM9's(both mid bass drivers quit working), 683's (dead bass driver) and now this with the CM1's. I gotta be honest I have had cars that were more reliable..

    I have had lots and lots of B&W speakers over the years, CDM, older 600 series, Nautilus 8xx, and even had a pair of the 300 series, not once did I ever have an issue with any of them. If memory serves me right all of these speakers were still made in England at the time. unfortunately times are changing and everything is about making it as cheap as possible and squeezing out that extra profit. I honestly believe the made in china speakers are inferior in terms of build quality compared to there older counterparts. Bummer..
    Attached Files
    dan87951
    audio guru
  • stuofsci02
    Super Senior Member
    • Nov 2009
    • 1241

    #2
    Originally posted by dan87951
    Well today I wanted to impress my wife by showing her how amazing the CM1's sound when running as mains. I hooked them up and noticed something didn't sound right.. almost like a tweeter wasn't working. After some troubleshooting I realized the left tweeter wasn't working. I took the speakers apart and swapped tweeters with the other good working speaker and it still didn't work. hmmmm.. so I busted open the ohm meter and started doing continuity tests from the rear jumpers to the tweeter wiring and was getting nothing. So I popped out the crossover and this is what I found (see picture). Both the positive terminal wiring for the low and high was falling off the connectors. The tweeter wire was completely off while the bass driver was just barely touching. Talk about a quality control issue on a set of 1k speakers. Unbelievable! I think this will be my final set of new B&W speakers that are made in China. I even had trouble with my CM9's(both mid bass drivers quit working), 683's (dead bass driver) and now this with the CM1's. I gotta be honest I have had cars that were more reliable..

    I have had lots and lots of B&W speakers over the years, CDM, older 600 series, Nautilus 8xx, and even had a pair of the 300 series, not once did I ever have an issue with any of them. If memory serves me right all of these speakers were still made in England at the time. unfortunately times are changing and everything is about making it as cheap as possible and squeezing out that extra profit. I honestly believe the made in china speakers are inferior in terms of build quality compared to there older counterparts. Bummer..
    That sucks... But it is a connector and not a solder joint.. Is it possible it has been wiggling off during shipping?

    And for me it would not be a good decision to show my wife how great a relatively inexpensive bookshelf is after I just bought expensive floorstanders.. It would open a huge can of worms...
    Main System:
    B&W 801D
    Emotiva USP-1 Pre-Amp
    Chord SPM-650 Stereo Amp
    Oppo BDP-105
    Squeezebox Touch


    Second System:
    B&W CM7
    Emotiva UMC-1
    Emotiva UPA-2
    Oppo BDP-83SE
    Grant Fidelity DAC-09

    Comment

    • beden1
      Super Senior Member
      • Oct 2006
      • 1676

      #3
      I make sure that anything I feed my dog does not come from China as I don't want her poisoned from their total disregard for quality control. Why would I have lesser standards when shopping for speakers to feed my brain?

      It's bad enough that most other electronic components are made in China!

      Comment

      • audioqueso
        Super Senior Member
        • Nov 2004
        • 1930

        #4
        Yeah, that does suck.
        But even if you shake the speaker for an hour straight, unless the connector is the wrong size, it's not really going to get lose.

        Honestly, this is something you should contact B&W directly about. Telling your dealer isn't going to make a difference unless he takes initiative. Made in China does not automatically mean it's crap. It's very intensive the amount of planning and instructions involved for having things made in China. If you don't let B&W know that this was not done correctly, they may never know and not be able to make corrections.
        B&W 804S/Velodyne SPL-1000R/Anthem MRX720

        Comment

        • emig5m
          Senior Member
          • Aug 2008
          • 646

          #5
          Originally posted by dan87951
          Both the positive terminal wiring for the low and high was falling off the connectors. The tweeter wire was completely off while the bass driver was just barely touching. Talk about a quality control issue on a set of 1k speakers. Unbelievable! I think this will be my final set of new B&W speakers that are made in China. I even had trouble with my CM9's(both mid bass drivers quit working), 683's (dead bass driver) and now this with the CM1's. I gotta be honest I have had cars that were more reliable..
          Ouch. That sure does seem to be an extraordinary amount of consecutive problems and I can't blame you if this is your final B&W purchase. I have personally owned the following B&Ws made in China: The 684, 683, 685, and HTM61 and didn't have a problem with any of them.

          Comment

          • dan87951
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2005
            • 379

            #6
            No doubt I'm bummed. I'm not saying all things coming out of China are bad. I'm just saying something obviously isn't working at the B&W factory over there! It's a shame that company who use to pride itself in quality and longevity is putting out products like this.

            I totally agree no matter how much you shake that speaker that connector shouldn't come loose like that. I probably got a Friday or a Monday built speaker?

            As for being worried about the wife comment, I'm not at all.. this is my thing and she knows I enjoy this hobby so is 100% supportive.
            dan87951
            audio guru

            Comment

            • kobestonecold
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2007
              • 149

              #7
              Is the new 805 diamond made in china too? :M

              Comment

              • Skyblue
                Senior Member
                • Jun 2009
                • 504

                #8
                Originally posted by kobestonecold
                Is the new 805 diamond made in china too? :M
                No, the 800 series is produced in the UK.
                B&W 800 Diamond, B&W805S, B&W DB1, Classe SSP 800, DIY Icepower ASX2 600W monos, Ayre QB9, JPlay.

                Comment

                Working...
                😀
                😂
                🥰
                😘
                🤢
                😎
                😞
                😡
                👍
                👎
                Searching...Please wait.
                An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

                Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

                Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
                There are no results that meet this criteria.
                Search Result for "|||"