B&W sold to a Silicon Valley start up company

[Swerd]

B&W is sold to a Silicon Valley start up company

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-03/speaker-maker-bowers-wilkins-sells-out-to-a-tiny-silicon-valley-startup

 

[j_garcia]

Interesting. Can't say it sounds like a good thing.

 

[Swerd]

Interesting. Can't say it sounds like a good thing.

I don't know if it's good or bad. Maybe they'll eliminate the 600 and CM series speakers . And sell audiophile grade MP3 players with Kevlar earphones .

I was surprised to read that B&W has 1,100 employees. That's enormous – the speaker companies I know have 11 or fewer employees.

 

[lovinthehd]

Gotta wonder if B&W are simply Gideon Yu's favorite speaker or? I was also very surprised to see 1100 employees, and the revenue figures are also impressive http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/29/soft-spoken-b-and-w-owner-turns-up-sound-for-speaker-firm

 

[TheWarrior]

Yeah, um, I just heard the 804, 802, and 803 at a Bestbuy, using my own test cd. The standard 800 had a tweeter with a hole in it. But the 803 was the ONLY one without piercing highs that were just uncomfortable to listen to. And the 803 was still about $17k! Screw that!

The ONLY speaker that I thought had any respectable sound coming from it was the Martin Logan Motion XT60 (yes I took notes during this visit ;-) And that was a third of the price!

Since it looks like most of you in the thread so far already know, I'll just leave this here for anyone seeking high performance speakers without the cost.... www.philharmonicaudio.com

 

[Swerd]

Yeah, um, I just heard the 804, 802, and 803 at a Bestbuy, using my own test cd. The standard 800 had a tweeter with a hole in it. But the 803 was the ONLY one without piercing highs that were just uncomfortable to listen to. And the 803 was still about $17k! Screw that!

Interesting. It's been a while since I heard any of the 800s, and they were much better than the CM or 600s. It seems like their advertising buzz sounds better than any of their speakers.

Since it looks like most of you in the thread so far already know, I'll just leave this here for anyone seeking high performance speakers without the cost.... www.philharmonicaudio.com

Thanks for that.

 

[Swerd]

Gotta wonder if B&W are simply Gideon Yu's favorite speaker or? I was also very surprised to see 1100 employees, and the revenue figures are also impressive http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/29/soft-spoken-b-and-w-owner-turns-up-sound-for-speaker-firm

We should never forget there is always a finance side to the audio business

 

[bpassman]

I wonder what the VCs from Silicon valley will move to next after they cloudify speakers. The IoT (Internet of Things) already includes a lot of useless do-hickeys that are hackable. Not sure I want my high-end audio speakers to be cloudified. But hey, I just listened to the Phantom's from Devialet, just a power cord and some good sounding wireless audio streaming.

If things work out for the best, we could all stop arguing over the snake oil of cables, since everything will be wireless out of the cloud. Makes me think of Kef's de-humidification spay to make the wireless audio sound better by drying out the atoms/ions in the air between the transmitter and speakers.



Note, Kef's April Fools joke.

 

[ski2xblack]

At least it wasn't sold to Audiovoxx.

 

[KenM10759]

I wonder what the VCs from Silicon valley will move to next after they cloudify speakers. The IoT (Internet of Things) already includes a lot of useless do-hickeys that are hackable. Not sure I want my high-end audio speakers to be cloudified. But hey, I just listened to the Phantom's from Devialet, just a power cord and some good sounding wireless audio streaming.

If things work out for the best, we could all stop arguing over the snake oil of cables, since everything will be wireless out of the cloud. Makes me think of Kef's de-humidification spay to make the wireless audio sound better by drying out the atoms/ions in the air between the transmitter and speakers.



Note, Kef's April Fools joke.

May have been a joke to KEF, but I'll bet Synergistic Research is now actively engaged in development of their latest "Atmosphere" product.

 

[gene]

B&W Purchased by Silicon Valley Startup: Cheers or Tears?



It's one of the most lopsided company acquisitions in recent history. An historic hi-fi speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins with over 1000 employees was bought by a Silicon Valley startup with barely a website to its name. What's going on... is this a sign of coming hi-fidelity apocalypse? Or is the legendary British speaker manufacturer simply adapting and about to prosper in a rapidly changing economic climate?

Read the Article

 

[MR.MAGOO]

"former Facebook exec....former Apple employees...." sounds like a big fish wants to eat a little fish. I've no complaints about my B&W headphones or desktop speakers. Hope the new owner doesn't screw things up.

 

[TheWarrior]

"former Facebook exec....former Apple employees...." sounds like a big fish wants to eat a little fish. I've no complaints about my B&W headphones or desktop speakers. Hope the new owner doesn't screw things up.

Their fit n finish is beautiful, but the sound coming from all their tower speakers was down right offensive when followed by a five figure price tag!

Oh, and for Gene, we went to one dealer that sold a lot of Vandersteen. Had never heard them so I was excited. I cannot believe you can sell speakers with a single cap and coil, omit the cabinet, and claim that the inherent design requirements of first order networks are a SELLING POINT! They had a dedicated room for the $60k Model 7 tower, and matching mono block amps. More than half the wall space was covered in diffusors! Even with the flashy monocle cable upgrade, your 8T's cost less than the 7!

 

[KenM10759]

I don't think it's all that lop-sided, though may appear that of the face of it. The buyer really isn't the small company so much as it's the well-heeled owner of it just making a game of it. By merging the two completely different companies, he gets to make the small start-up disappear without calling it a failure.

 

[Stanton]

I don't think it's all that lop-sided, though may appear that of the face of it. The buyer really isn't the small company so much as it's the well-heeled owner of it just making a game of it. By merging the two completely different companies, he gets to make the small start-up disappear without calling it a failure.

I think it is lop-sided, and I also think you may have hit the nail on the head with your last sentence. These are admittedly wealthy guys buying an established speaker manufacturer with a substantial retail footprint (in every Best Buy in NA). That's not to say I think their product is worth the $$, but the company obvlously is.

 

[Swerd]

… we went to one dealer that sold a lot of Vandersteen. Had never heard them so I was excited. I cannot believe you can sell speakers with a single cap and coil, omit the cabinet, and claim that the inherent design requirements of first order networks are a SELLING POINT! They had a dedicated room for the $60k Model 7 tower, and matching mono block amps. More than half the wall space was covered in diffusors! Even with the flashy monocle cable upgrade, your 8T's cost less than the 7!

Vandersteen speakers may have crossovers with first order acoustic behavior, but they are far from simple first order electronic crossovers (single cap & coil). It takes a lot of filtering and equalization to achieve true first order slopes in speakers that are smooth and flat. I once caught a glimpse of a Vandersteen XO board, and it was far from simple.

The Vandersteen speakers I've heard in the past (models 2 and 3) sounded very good to me. But because of the wide range of overlap between drivers due to those 1st order slopes, they do have the drawback of a very narrow sweet spot. Hence the dealer's elaborate room reflection treatments.

FWIW, Vandersteen is an example of the dying breed of dealer-sold speakers. To become an authorized dealer, one must be a required distance from other authorized dealers, must not compete with discounted prices, and must order up front, at least $10,000 worth of speakers. That was more than 10 years ago. I wonder what the minimum is now.

 

[j_garcia]

The way silicon valley works is: guy has idea or rich guy is pitched an idea and starts or buys a company. They get that idea sort of working and try to sell it to back to the company they left, as the next big idea. Sometimes is results in something useful, but more often than not it does not.

In a market where high end audio is sort of on the decline, it would seem that buying a company in mid to high end audio isn't a smart move unless you have an idea.

 

[TheWarrior]

Vandersteen speakers may have crossovers with first order acoustic behavior, but they are far from simple first order electronic crossovers (single cap & coil). It takes a lot of filtering and equalization to achieve true first order slopes in speakers that are smooth and flat. I once caught a glimpse of a Vandersteen XO board, and it was far from simple.

The Vandersteen speakers I've heard in the past (models 2 and 3) sounded very good to me. But because of the wide range of overlap between drivers due to those 1st order slopes, they do have the drawback of a very narrow sweet spot. Hence the dealer's elaborate room reflection treatments.

FWIW, Vandersteen is an example of the dying breed of dealer-sold speakers. To become an authorized dealer, one must be a required distance from other authorized dealers, must not compete with discounted prices, and must order up front, at least $10,000 worth of speakers. That was more than 10 years ago. I wonder what the minimum is now.

It just kills me when you look at what the construction necessary to build the SA 8T's, for example, and they still cost LESS!

If their business model can't come in to the 21st century, and they need special rooms to make their speakers sound good, then into the history books they go!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

New owners will probably hire new engineers to make all speakers accurate w/ FR +/- 2dB.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[slipperybidness]

Vandersteen speakers may have crossovers with first order acoustic behavior, but they are far from simple first order electronic crossovers (single cap & coil). It takes a lot of filtering and equalization to achieve true first order slopes in speakers that are smooth and flat. I once caught a glimpse of a Vandersteen XO board, and it was far from simple.

The Vandersteen speakers I've heard in the past (models 2 and 3) sounded very good to me. But because of the wide range of overlap between drivers due to those 1st order slopes, they do have the drawback of a very narrow sweet spot. Hence the dealer's elaborate room reflection treatments.

FWIW, Vandersteen is an example of the dying breed of dealer-sold speakers. To become an authorized dealer, one must be a required distance from other authorized dealers, must not compete with discounted prices, and must order up front, at least $10,000 worth of speakers. That was more than 10 years ago. I wonder what the minimum is now.

Vandersteen was at RMAF 2015. I spoke to him briefly, and he was very arrogant!

Speakers did sound good, but I can't do business with someone with that type of attitude towards a potential customer, or even someone that was interested in the gear.