Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) audio repair

The yellow Kevlar woofer is the B&W signature from 1980 to 2015. Kevlar fibre yields a stiff but flexible cone, and B&W learned to use it masterfully: the characteristic monitor-grade detailed midrange of the CDM, Nautilus and CM lines is largely the Kevlar achievement. The cones themselves age very slowly; what ages is the rubber surround that joins cone to basket. After 20–25 years the rubber loses elasticity, microcracks appear, and the driver starts to "ring" instead of producing clean sound — sometimes losing bass altogether. Refoaming fixes that completely: we cut out the old surround, clean the voice coil and the cone bond, glue in a fresh butyl-rubber surround, recentre the voice coil with shims, and reinstall the driver. Performance returns to factory specification and the new surround is good for another 25 years.

In 2015 B&W replaced Kevlar with the silvery Continuum woofer — a composite woven fibre with a damping resin that suppresses the resonance "tail" of Kevlar. Continuum is used on the 800 D3, 800 D4, 700 S2/S3 and the new 600 S3. The drivers themselves are more durable, but an impact or foreign-object strike can deform the cone and force a replacement. Original Continuum drivers are available through the distributor and we fit them as needed. The diamond tweeter (a 25 mm vapour-deposited diamond dome) is a separate category: extremely stiff and impulse-linear, but fragile — even a small impact can crack the dome. We diagnose the tweeter with a swept tone from 5 to 25 kHz and replace on confirmed failure.

Zeppelin is the most recognisable B&W name outside the hi-fi community. The original 2007 Zeppelin was a premium iPod dock with the 30-pin Apple connector and sold in the millions. Now, 17+ years later, those Zeppelins arrive with two main complaints: a dead Class D ICEpower amplifier module (no sound, or instant protection trip) and the physically obsolete 30-pin connector. The amplifier we work on — diagnose the output stage, replace shorted transistors, restore the supply. For the 30-pin we recommend a Bluetooth adapter with a 30-pin output; the connectors themselves are not worth repairing because Apple has not produced them for years. The 2015 Zeppelin (AirPlay) and the 2021 Zeppelin (Wi-Fi/Spotify Connect/Alexa) are network products with firmware and DSP, and the typical work there is the Wi-Fi/AirPlay module (network drop), the soft rubber driver grille (loses elasticity and stains hands — the standard 2010s soft-touch problem) and the amplifier module.

B&W active subwoofers — the PV1D (the legendary "football"), DB1D / DB2D / DB3D / DB4S and the ASW series (608/610) — are built around ICEpower Class D amplifiers developed jointly with Bang & Olufsen. It is an efficient, compact design but not the most repair-friendly: ICEpower modules are sealed, and replacement is usually whole-module rather than component-level. Even so, in many cases we extend the sub's life by replacing blown input fuses, refreshing supply electrolytics, or repairing the DSP-control board. The PV1D is a special case: the football-shaped aluminium cabinet with two 8" woofers in a push-push configuration places significant load on the drivers, and the Kevlar woofers may need refoaming or replacement after 15–20 years of service. 3-month warranty on the work.