B&W 683 (Advice please )

[admin_exported]

I have just bought a pair of these which I am using with my Arcam A18 . How long will these speakers take to run in ? . I gave them a bit of power the other day and the drivers made that cracking sound like they where going to blow up . I take it these kevlar drivers take a fair amount of time to burn in ?

But gutted to see these are made in china !!!

 

[Al ears]

No run in time needed for these speakers, my 685's sound the same now as they did straight out of the box.

If they are making any sort of strange noise i suggest you take them back to wherever you bought them from.

Country of manufacture is irrelevent, they still sound ruddy good!

 

[Chokobolt]

Lol, I have a totally different experience with that. I bought the B&W 685's and didn't really like the sound, so the dealer lend me home a pair which had been playing in the store for a very long time. The difference between the new speakers and the ones that had been played in the store was overwhelming. It really was like a big, thick carpet had been removed from the speakers.

I ended up getting my money back for the speakers, but that doesn't change the fact, that I think it made a massive difference.

 

[DavidNorway]

samidbs:
I have just bought a pair of these which I am using with my Arcam A18 . How long will these speakers take to run in ? . I gave them a bit of power the other day and the drivers made that cracking sound like they where going to blow up . I take it these kevlar drivers take a fair amount of time to burn in ?

But gutted to see these are made in china !!!
Yes sad they are not uk made but China make alot of really high quality gear,the 600 series would be much more exspensive if uk made.

 

[eternaloptimist]

samidbs:
I have just bought a pair of these which I am using with my Arcam A18 . How long will these speakers take to run in ? . I gave them a bit of power the other day and the drivers made that cracking sound like they where going to blow up . I take it these kevlar drivers take a fair amount of time to burn in ?

But gutted to see these are made in china !!!

I had the B&W 683s for nearly 2 years until I sold them recently. The "cracking sound" does not at all sound normal and suggests a fault in either the speakers or your amp setup. These speakers can take some serious power without blinking - they could easily go louder than I could stand when I had them bi-amped. The Arcam A18 (correct me if I'm wrong) is not a particularly powerful amp so should not stress the speakers!

Yes, they are made in China - that's how you get the technology in them for the price. If made in Europe, double the price.

I would suggest borrowing another amp and seeing if the problem is reproduced or taking them back to the dealer (if possible) to be checked.

Good luck, as these really are lovely speakers for the price.

 

[Anonymous]

eternaloptimist:

Yes, they are made in China - that's how you get the technology in them for the price. If made in Europe, double the price.Not necessarily. Rega, Canton, Chario, Triangle, Focal and many others manage to make their speakers in Europe, and they'e certainly the equal of, if not better than, the British/Chinese speakers.

B&W, Kef, MA, IAG et al manufacture offshore for another reason. It's called maximising profit.

 

[eternaloptimist]

Grottyash:eternaloptimist:

Yes, they are made in China - that's how you get the technology in them for the price. If made in Europe, double the price.Not necessarily. Rega, Canton, Chario, Triangle, Focal and many others manage to make their speakers in Europe, and they'e certainly the equal of, if not better than, the British/Chinese speakers.

B&W, Kef, MA, IAG et al manufacture offshore for another reason. It's called maximising profit.

Then it depends where you live.... here in Australia, B&W are relatively cheaper than many European speakers including most you listed - geography and hence shipping costs make a difference! Having said that, I ended up with Danish made Audiovectors....

 

[Anonymous]

eternaloptimist:Then it depends where you live.... here in Australia, B&W are relatively cheaper than many European speakers including most you listed - geography and hence shipping costs make a difference! Having said that, I ended up with Danish made Audiovectors....
Nice if that were true! Most budget "British" equipment is made in China/Malaysia/Thailand, so shipping cost to Australia would theoretically be less.

What really determines it is size of market. British products have a sizable mark-up in Finland, mostly because the market is small and people charge a lot to get stuff here.

Mark you, that doesn't explain why some popular products are so expensive here. The Dacmagic costs a cool 347?.

 

[Al ears]

Chokobolt,

I would dearly like to know how old / how much use the ones in the store had had then.

I fail to see how the amount of time playing a speaker is going to have anything to do with the sound quality and as I said in my case there has been no change at all and they have had quite a bit of usage.

Just goes to show that when you audition speakers you have to acept them or not on first hearing. You cannot expect them to improve with time.

Whatever, what the OP was describing sounds nothing at all like 'burning-in' (if that even exists). It sounds like a serious problem!

 

[ID.]

With my 685s the most drastic changes had happened after abut 15 hrs, and they were pretty much fully burnt in after 30-40 hrs. There may or may not have been some very subtle changes after that.

Most of the changes were around the nature of the sound, and the performance of the bass.midrange in particular. Cracking is not something that would be coming from a lack of burn in (whether you believe in it or not). Definitely speak to your dealer and try to work out whether the speakers are faulty or if it has something to do with your amp (clipping or other causes?)

 

[tyranniux42]

when you say you gave them a bit of power, how much are we talking?

When I auditioned new amps for my 683's I initially tried the A18 and the Nait5i, neither of which had the grunt to drive them at volume. The Arcam especially struggled with the B&W's. The A38 didn't do a bad job however, and neither did the Nait XS, which caught my ear immediatly (see sig for the outcome of that audition :-D)

I suspect that this may be a problem with the amp not having the guts to drive the speakers and clipping, rather than the speakers having a problem. This was the reason I had to move up a tier and went for the Nait XS.

And as for the China manufacturing etc, I can say with some experience that the build auality is better than the build quality of my DM602S3's.

anywhoo hope this helps.

regards

Dan