Topic: Bowers & Wilkins sold to small silicon valley startup

[Gutbucket]

Bowers & Wilkins has been bought by Eva Automation, run by Gideon Yu, a former Facebook Inc. chief financial officer, ex-venture capitalist, and current co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers-

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

[voltronic]

Wow.  One of the most respected and long-standing audio companies sells out to a start-up that no one even knows what they do.  This doesn't sound like it will end well...

[thunderbolt]

I agree.  B&W has always been a cost-no-object company.  Their R&D, flagship speakers, and their trickle-down descendants are what make the company great.  All I can assume is that they'll look for a way to cut costs.

[rocksuitcase]

Wow.  One of the most respected and long-standing audio companies sells out to a start-up that no one even knows what they do.  This doesn't sound like it will end well...

After reading the article, and knowing a bit about having one's patents bought out, it will either be so bad for the speaker company and its' employees OR so good that some type of new integration for high end sound reproduction comes out of it. (the betting person in me goes with bad)

[jlykos]

I don't know. B&W has been on the trajectory of becoming a "lifestyle" company for some time now. This will probably accelerate that transition. I would not be surprised at all if the speakers will be another piece in a trend toward software-based integrated home systems, where you can control the temperature, security system, audio system, and refrigerator from your cell phone. The "smart home" just received a pair of ears and a voice.

I had a pair of CDM 1SE speakers for almost 20 years and thought that they were fantastic. I recently auditioned some 805 Diamond speakers and thought that they were the worst things that I had ever heard in my life. Others seem to like them a lot. Who knows what will happen with the quality. Look at the demographics. Stereophile did a recent poll and found that their subscriber base has an average age 12 years higher than it did 20 years ago. Older people are purchasing the flagship Nautilus and 80x series. The younger generations are into headphones, soundbars, and Bluetooth systems. Perhaps B&W saw the writing on the wall and wanted to cash in on their brand equity while it still had some value and before their customer base didn't die off first.

[rocksuitcase]

That all makes some sense to my marketing mind jlykos. As I said, the buy out will either be good, for reasons like you mention, or bad for basic economic issues such as reducing employees etc. I'm hoping you are right and I am wrong here. 

[Gutbucket]

I think that's as astute assessment.

I currently use 20 year old B&W speakers and an have been quite pleased with them.  These were all bought second hand about 8 years ago, and are from the latter end of the "performance valued highest, appearance more of an afterthought" era, just prior to the Nautilus redesign which marked and increased emphasis on appearance.  To me that's a sweet spot value-wise and I use them for both 2-channel and multicahnnel music playback.  With numerous speakers placed around the room, good cost/performance is important.

I have two pair of 802 Matrix S3 from the mid-90's, and use three of those across the front.  The 'extra one from the second pair' is used as the center back speaker for occasional 6-channel playback. I'd love to find a third pair locally at a good price in order to have 6 matching speakers all the way around, especially for really dialing in the system and room for mastering my surround recordings correctly, but for now the surround L and R channels are mult'ed on each side to a pair of Klipsh bookshelves to the sides and a pair of B&W surround speakers a bit further back, and that does the job sufficiently.

I should stock up on a few extra 802MS3 drivers before they become scarce.

[acidjack]

I feel like I've listened to those "fashion" headphones depicted in the article, and they sounded horrible. Certainly, the design gives me little confidence.

Have never owned their speakers but am aware of the reputation...

Truly high-end audio stuff is at an ebb right now, especially in the middle-market. For most people, even fairly wealthy people, a single Sonos Play:5 is "great" (let alone a stereo pair, which I'd personally call "vaguely decent"). Headphones are the growth area -- I bet Audeze is selling a decent amount of those lightning-connector iPhone headphones -- and as noted, soundbars and other stuff are another growth area. (I'm admittedly curious about this contraption: http://phantom.devialet.com/phantom/en/v3/?gclid=CjwKEAjw3qu5BRC-0uCw8O6Y5zcSJAA_WtdLnGqbeaFPwFVDgAhC6JX3Kyo4KO4g4wesjjNu09vfgRoCU0_w_wcB)

Even in the vinyl market, what's marketed as a "really good" system to the younger demo is mostly technology-driven rather than quality-driven (to wit: http://pitchfork.com/features/article/9871-how-to-buy-the-best-turntable-and-stereo-system-for-your-record-collection/)

[voltronic]

Devialet products look to be serious high end gear.  Check out the other things they make.  Everything I've read about the Phantom makes we want a pair of them in every room; they are way beyond Sonos level (and priced accordingly).

[nickgregory]

Devialet products look to be serious high end gear.  Check out the other things they make.  Everything I've read about the Phantom makes we want a pair of them in every room; they are way beyond Sonos level (and priced accordingly).

I have heard the devialet speakers at a local audio shop nd they do sound pretty incredible given their size.  But for that price point, I will stick with the 5 sonos speakers I have throughout the house for casual/party listening, and revert to my 2 channel playback when I really want to be enveloped n the music....