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

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.

I was just going to post that you should check the polarity or phase of your system as Rtilbury writes. If the speakers are out of phase, the sound will be harsher than normal.

Check every component. Many preamps are out of phase.

What did you have before that wasn't harsh though was lacking in some way?I never thought that B&W was garsh or strident (the wayu I an many others foun much Thile stuff is too brite).You may need break in but if the impression is this strong it's more I thin that it's system matching (you liked them in the store you bought them)But maybe it's your gear,your room ,or simply you were wrong about fisrt impression you had at store.Ask store about problem fi you ca reurn with re-stock fee or a trade fro soemthing else you think ,again,sounds good in the store.But you get it home and more bnad sound occurs you 1)have a problem with your electronics 2)have problem with room 30 are anal (overly) about what you should be getting for your investment 3) You are simplay psychotic.Nut the dealer should be there to solve problems and make you happy so talk

Hi Chazzbo,

I bought the entire system recently, so I am just supposing that the harshness is not caused by the A80 or the CD120...do you think it is possible that the problem is in the amp? I am sure that I am not psychotic about the bad sound. I had a good system in Brazil, before I came to the US, and the sound was more open, warm, and pleasant to my ears. I had a rotel 965 CD, a Pioneer A400 amp and B&W 804 speakers.

I own several pairs of B&W speakers, and all of them required quite a bit of break in time. The 602 S3 is a nice speaker for the money. Give it some time, and I think you'll really like it.

Eben.