Bowers&Wilkins ASW675 10" Sub, blown driver. Can't find anyone to repair it.


Starting to feel like I'm supporting this B&W Sub.  Two months ago the amp had to be replaced.  Now the voice coil is loose.  Sent it to two shops that said they would try but cautioned that B&W does not sell repair parts for these drivers.  At $600 for a replacement, that's a bit difficult to handle.  Does anyone out there know of someone that might be able to help?  I really like this sub, just not the maintenance.  Thanks in advance, Arkelectric.
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Showing 1 response by arkelectric

Thanks guys.  I should have been a bit more detailed in my initial post.  The driver is out of the enclosure and, as mentioned in the first post, I've shipped it to (two) speaker specialists who cautioned me ahead of time that Bowers & Wilkins does (not) sell repair parts for the drivers used in the ASW 675.  When I received the driver back from the first place I sent it to, the accompanying note which was stapled to the refund check (my original deposit less $50 for diagnosis and inspection) plainly described the problem as 'Adhesive failure, lower V/C Section to Cone'.  OK, that seems pretty logical especially considering my musical tastes.  Only remedy he offered was a replacement driver for slightly under $600.  Thought I'd give it one more try and sent it off to someone on the east coast that specializes in recones and rebuilds of very high output sound reinforcement equipment for concerts etc.  He also returned the driver.  No charge for his diagnosis which was oddly inconsistent with the first one.  He was somewhat non-commital on the voice coil issue other than saying he was unable to observe any irregularities in either v/c attachment, viewing the operation with a sweeper and 60 W RMS from 15 to 120 Hz.  What he (did) notice was the surround lifting off of the frame on outward excursions.  The adhesive appears to have lifted/separated very cleanly from the metal frame.  Don't know why he didn't quote a repair other than his organization specializes in another brand/make and his inspection was done as a favor for the person that made the phone introduction.  Two days ago, after the fundamental discrepancies between my two pro inspections kept bothering me more each time I walked through the living room where the partially disassembled subwoofer enclosure sits, I called a friend and asked for a hand getting the driver down from the top shelf of one of my media shelves.  And, within a very few minutes I understood, and saw for myself, what was causing the horrible noise from my sub.  It was the loose surround.  I'll wait to be certain that re-attaching the surround fully corrects the problem and, if so, in a short letter to the owner of the first organization I sent the sub to, I'll briefly and factually explain what happened, not in an effort to recover my wasted expense or the shipping costs involved but in hopes that whatever the problem is that allowed this to happen gets corrected before too many more customers get burned.  BTW, This company (was) on the list of B&W Servicing Dealers on the west coast.