2. misc-audio
  3. 174534-102527

Buyer Dispute

I would like to have some opinions of a remedy for this issue:

I purchased a pair of B&W 804D3 loudspeakers through Audiogon in August 2021. They were shipped in original containers by freight. The boxes arrived damaged with some holes in the boxes, but no damage to the speakers accept for one very small spot, which could be repaired with a drop of stain. However, neither tweeter was functioning. A multimeter revealed an open circuit across both voice coils. The seller said that they worked before shipping but offered to send me replacement tweeters under the previous owner' warranty which I agreed to. However, and here is the rub; Because of supply chain issues, Bowers and Wilkins did not, and still does not have the tweeters in stock. I have been waiting 6 months for the seller to provide the replacements from B&W, but they continue to be out of stock. In short, I paid nearly $7,000 in August 2021 for speakers that I still cannot listen to.

Any opinion on a path to resolution?

 

kirbymydog
kirbymydog OP
36 posts
 

The new tweeters arrived yesterday, and I will be evaluating the loudspeakers over the next few days. The seller informed me that there is no need to send the original tweeters back. This gave me the opportunity to perform a limited amount of forensics on the tweeters, so I removed the dome/voice coil assembly (three screws) and inspected the voice coil. It appears that the transitional connection between the lead wire, and the VC winding wire had broken loose from voice coil proper. This was causing the discontinuity through the VC. It is very probable then, that the tweeter failures were due to physical shock as the seller was insisting. This means that the tweeters were very likely working prior to shipment which sheds a different light on many of the posts in this discussion.

Because of this information, I will have both loudspeakers checked over for any further shipping damage, now that they appear to be fully functional.

So, this appears to be resolved, however, I still had to wait 6 months before using these loudspeakers. Next time, I will immediately insist on returning the item for a full refund, rather than accept damaged or otherwise non-working goods

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,982 posts
 

Glad to hear that it finally worked out for you Kirby.

sns
3,208 posts
 

The idea that shipping caused those tweeters failure is slim to none. I doubt B&W would design a tweeter subject to this sort of failure from shipping, they'd have s whole lot of damaged tweeters to replace if this the case. And the chances of both tweeters suffering same failure.....

 

Anyway, hope new tweeters work out for you, you deserve a medal  for patience.

jetter
3,033 posts
 

@kirbymydog Hi, I have been following your thread with interest.  Are there any updates you can share?  

Thanks

4krowme's avatar
4krowme
542 posts
 

    I wouldn't have believed it myself, but a customer sent back a non-working unit that was working when it left. In my case, even though the product was decently packed, there was a jarring so hard in shipping that it snapped both power leads off the circuit board mounted transformer! The transformer itself was loose from the jarring, and four of the power caps were leaning all the same direction.

   The voice coil wire to a speaker, especially a tweeter, are far more light weight. In fact, hair fine. The speakers would have to be slammed to the ground face first, but yes, it can be done. 

    I was unwilling to accept this being a possibility until I saw what happened to my much smaller, lighter unit. 

More to discover