Most likely not a isolated incident in the industry.
No surprises there, sadly. Who owns Roon now? One guess.
I love the guy’s dramatic. but. conversationally awkward. timing. breaks.
Sounds like my 803D2’s are the last generation that where designed and manufactured by Bowers and Wilkins before the first sale of the company. When the D3’s came out I was mortified on how bad they sounded. D4’s sounded a lot better than D3’s but couldn’t justify the price increase and have not heard the new D5’s with again another ridiculous price increase. Keeping my D2’s until we see what PS audio has up there sleeves with active speakers
Now 81, I have seen countless systems, components, especially speakers, that I lusted. The industry changes and disappearances over the years are a little depressing; in hind sight, but offset by my enjoyment … enhanced by reading opinions and praise on this forum. I will fondly remember all, so I really not miss what I can remember.
This is a really strange video IMO. There appears to be many inaccurate statements made and distorted views presented at a rapid clip so you can’t really think about what they just said. The voice is spoken with authority asserting facts based on unnamed repair technicians etc about what is happening to audiophile products. It verges on sensationalism and repeats certain aspects of its criticisms over and over again. It is saying that Harman International is ruining the B&W speaker line by cheapening components, etc, and showing the 800 speakers repeatedly over the narrative, then later continues the video by saying they only meant the 600 and 700 series --no such problem with the 800 series because Abbey Road Studios uses the 800 series which is too great an asset to the money minders to ruin the speakers. Huh? In actuality, Harman Intl purchased B&W in late September 2025 so Samsung through their subsidiary Harman actually has not had time to “destroy” any model of B&W speaker, making the titling of this video misleading. Further, there is no indication so far that Harman is an insidious evil company that will ultimately destroy B&W – so far it seems to be the opposite. Reports are that Harman has opened up B&W to larger engineering resources, better supply chains, and tried to maintain the “acoustic identity” of the old B&W.
Besides PS Audio and handful of other smaller companies none of the older legacy companies remain independent. The examples they give of companies having good products such as Wharfedale, KEF, and ELAC are not independent --all owned by large conglomerates. The video implies that price increases are due to corporate greed and not on changing markets, and that corporate greed is creating the crisis with no mention of corporate acquisitions that may be attempting to rescue the industry from the crisis. And IMO there are significant changes coming in the market for audiophile equipment in general as younger consumers embrace the newer “good enough” technologies that are well-engineered and at lower price points being brought to market by ever-increasing number of companies such as Topping and Eversolo. This is where the growth is today. As older consumers exit the marketplace, legacy brands are seeing declining sales and struggling to stay solvent. When sales are down and costs are up and you are going bankrupt, you can try to raise your prices and reduce costs, but in the end you may need to seek someone with the financial wherewithal to bail you out. The consolidation may be regrettable but it is inevitable IMO.
Either the voiceover guy was trying to replicate an AI generated voice or it was (most likely) AI.
I got a kick out of the eerie music and the part where they say that the acquisition cost was covered by cheaper capacitors.
With the implication of so many “technicians” working on so many B&W speakers to draw such comprehensive widescale conclusions, you’d think B&W was the Chevy Vega of speakers!
For everything below the 800 series, it has become that.
I bought a pair of 606 S3s about a year ago. They are small 2-way speakers that I mounted on stands. B&W’s continuum cone and titanium tweeter. I haven’t taken them apart to inspect the inside but they look very nice --quality-- on the outside and for a $1000/pr speaker they sound great when properly placed in the room. The review I read (an independent reviewer as far as I can tell – whathifi.com) says “improved, more powerful motor assembly for the mid/bass driver, an updated crossover with higher-quality bypass capacitors, a neater speaker terminal layout and reflex port design at the back of the speaker, and a longer tube-loading system to further reduce the amount of unwanted radiation from the back of the tweeter affecting the sound. All of this is to deliver a cleaner, more open sound with minimal distortion throughout. Additionally, the internal bracing has been strengthened and the two driver units are now positioned closer together on the fascia. B&W says the intersecting design is to improve the integration between the two drivers and deliver better stereo imaging.”
They are definitely designing to meet a price point but I just don’t see the cheapening of the 600 series.
I would certainly give more credence to a man with first hand experience with the product rather than a YouTube video that’s trying to advance an agenda.
And when will eggs get cheaper?
ahh the New world they have stolen the voice of one of the reviewers from TAS - not sure of his name but his voice annoys me on some of their reviews as well - New world i can put out a video steal a voice, story doesn’t have to be accurate or I may even have an agenda and people will believe and in this case i don’t even tell you who i am …
ps last B&W speakers i had 801 Matrix 3 - ahhhh - it was love - had them for over 10 years
I have 5 B&W speakers I bought in1999 still in use in my home theater. They are safe. No Diamond anything.
Around here eggs are finally cheaper it’s everything else that cost a fortune now…
I understand what you mean. The challenges of the market and the capitol required to bring high end products to that market have required some of the larger companies to as we would say in the 90s ‘sell out’. Just curious though Do you consider Audio Research, Magnepan and VPI ‘Legacy’.
thinking about it most if not all cable companies are all still independent - Transparent, Cardas, Shunyata, ect. Wonder why, maybe cuz they don’t work….
**hides**
I reduced my egg intakes from 10 per week to 7 per week. Sad.
Ha! I don’t know much about VPI but Audio Research and Magnepan happen to be two companies that are local to where I live. And some 35-40 years ago I was rather active in the world of hi-fi and toured both of those companies several times, plus I knew a couple of their employees. My memories of Jim Winey, founder of Magnepan, are still vivid. My recall is that he worked for 3M (another local company) for several years and that is where he got his expertise for attaching fine wires to mylar sheets, magnets to perforated steel, etc, which is still two of the core technologies used in the product. I never met the founder of ARC, William Z Johnson, because back then he was living in California, not particularly healthy, and made the voyage to his business only once or twice a year. I was away from hi-fi for at least 20 years and don’t really know what is going on at those two companies anymore!
To answer your question, I did use the word “legacy” in my post, but please don’t but too strict a definition around it. Not all legacy companies have gone under or been sold to conglomerates. To keep the comments short (something I’m not good at) I used the word loosely because it kinda’ has a general understanding of meaning. If I were made to define, I’d say companies that have been around a long time and have survived although perhaps with some turmoil and difficulties along the way. Perhaps run conservatively and still basically making product the way they did 20 years ago. I believe several years ago Audio Research was on the verge of going under but was taken over by another company and has changed ownership another time or two since then. So it is not privately owned anymore but operated with a lot of independence and self-direction --basically as a separate company. Magnepan is also still privately owned and under the leadership of Jim Winey’s son, and I believe their Magneplanar product is still selling rather well.
VPI is still a Weisfeld owned and run family business. I don’t know what the years-in-business yardstick needs to be to be considered “Legacy”, but at least for me, VPI is a legacy name and business in our hobby.
Very easy to label VPI as “legacy” or “iconic”. Also PS Audio, Wilson Audio, Pass Labs, Linn, Rega, Kimber Kable and on and on. This is a healthy industry for forward thinking companies that strive for continuous improvement.