Awful sound from B&W's: Break In needed?

i go with 1st impressions,if i hate a peice of gear as soon as i get it its outta here,i had the same experience with b&w speakers,i dont think your sound will change enough if your unhappy right from the start.

Thanks Bojack, Gretsch6120 and Tvad. I'll give them a chance to surprise me...If the sound continues to be harsh after 1o days, I'll do an upgrade to audience 52 or something else. In the $1000-1200 range, which loudspeaker do you think really stands out?

Yes, give them time. If B&W is still using Kevlar drivers, it is pretty stiff out of the box. They also use a rubber material for the surrounds instead of foam, which needs to loosen up.

I own 5 pairs of B&W speakers (out of many more pairs). None of them sound bright and harsh...

B&W speakers also tend to be pretty neutral. So while some say change the speakers again and don't mess with the system (maybe); you could be spending the rest of your life looking for the right speakers to fit what may be a harsh sounding system to start with. What prompted the change in the first place?

It could even be many things in combination, including the sources, cables, even crappy electric power. Your favorite CD for demos may even be poorly recorded, and the old speakers masked it.

I agree with Sugarbrie. I have had 3 sets of B&W speakers and none sounded bright or harsh.

A friend brought over his Signature 805's one time and I liked them so much I sold my speakers and purchased a set. For the first 4 days they weren't even close to his and if I would not have heard his first I would of thought I made a mistake. I let them play 24 hours a day and if nobody was home, I'd play them loud.

Do make sure they are wired correctly; I had this problem with a pair of tannoys. Very harsh treble and brittle sound that made them sound like crap. The midrange was very strange and basically I hated the speaker. Found out my amp was sending out a reversed polarity signal.... Reversed all the speaker wires and wow, my speakers were alive for the first time.

I don't have the amp anymore, but it was a NAD.