Buchardt E50

[Haskil]

Will this solid wood construction have wood movement cracking is the main question

If the assembled wood has good, even drying, if it is glued under pressure with good glue, if the boards are not too long and too wide, this type of assembly, which is mechanically very solid, prevents the wood from moving and crack...
Worktops made of glued planks do not move when the large one-piece planks split and deform...

 

[YSC]

wouldnt you think that they didnt thought of that during development?

Wood being natural material varying a lot, what I was concerning is that for March audio sointuva, and D&D 8C, there have been report of cracking. Not that it consist of a large number, but when luck strikes, for such not too convinent to ship high priced stuffs, it will be kind of a headache. So just wondering if that will still get affected

 

[RoA]

Just announced the E50 speakers from Buchardt Audio: "pre-order campaign will be announced, with an exclusive price of €3,950 /pair."

E50 Coming soon

Buchardt Audio - Passive & Active HiFi speakers

buchardtaudio.com

Made from solid wood with the tweeter waveguide carved into it. Purifi woofer but apparently PRs from another brand on the back?

The equivelant of a nail boot. Not likey.

 

[jean-benoit]

Wood being natural material varying a lot, what I was concerning is that for March audio sointuva, and D&D 8C, there have been report of cracking. Not that it consist of a large number, but when luck strikes, for such not too convinent to ship high priced stuffs, it will be kind of a headache. So just wondering if that will still get affected

well, then lets hope the buchardt speakers dont crack. at least, the speakers come with 10 years of warranty – thats really good i think. at least it would be enough for me to make a buying decision, if i would be interested.

 

[kharan]

Wood moves, there's no way around it.

But they are using properly dried wood (kiln dried is better, but properly air dried isn't too bad).

They are using glued together thin pieces rather wider planks, so that is more stable.

If the grain of the wood is aligned to that eveything moves together when it shrinks or expands. And you can allow for expansion/shrinking space.

Then I don't think there will be many issues in a normal domestic environment especially in temperate climates. I think my biggest worry is the faceplate and the backplate, there aren't really ways to get around the positioning of the screw holes and the sealing of the cabinet.

On another note, does anyone know who is making the passive radiators?

sidenote: total volume is 21 L, so fairly close to the A6B or the Clarity 6.2, ofc that's only external dimensions, can't say anything about real enclosed volume.

 

[Penelinfi]

On another note, does anyone know who is making the passive radiators?

SB Acoustics

 

[Ktacos]

well, then lets hope the buchardt speakers dont crack. at least, the speakers come with 10 years of warranty – thats really good i think. at least it would be enough for me to make a buying decision, if i would be interested.

10 year warranty makes me feel they are aware of the risk of the wood moving too much.

 

[Matt_Holland]

10 year warranty makes me feel they are aware of the risk of the wood moving too much.

And/or they are making a high profit margin.

 

[kemmler3D]

And/or they are making a high profit margin.

To offer a 10 year warranty, you need decent margins, but more importantly you need confidence that the product won't fail in that amount of time. For that length of warranty these speakers must be a bit overengineered. My guess is whatever manufacturing process they've used for the cabinets has been proved out on other products and is known to last at least that long without cracking. I would not sell a 10-year warranty unless I was sure of a <1% failure rate, and preferably 1/10 that. Otherwise it would be pretty crazy to guarantee them for that long.

Or possibly they plan to sell the company before then.

 

[ENG]

To offer a 10 year warranty, you need decent margins, but more importantly you need confidence that the product won't fail in that amount of time. For that length of warranty these speakers must be a bit overengineered. My guess is whatever manufacturing process they've used for the cabinets has been proved out on other products and is known to last at least that long without cracking. I would not sell a 10-year warranty unless I was sure of a <1% failure rate, and preferably 1/10 that. Otherwise it would be pretty crazy to guarantee them for that long.

Or possibly they plan to sell the company before then.

I can inform you that Mads` company is 10 years old and with a sufficient equity capital.

 

[Matt_Holland]

To offer a 10 year warranty, you need decent margins, but more importantly you need confidence that the product won't fail in that amount of time. For that length of warranty these speakers must be a bit overengineered. My guess is whatever manufacturing process they've used for the cabinets has been proved out on other products and is known to last at least that long without cracking. I would not sell a 10-year warranty unless I was sure of a <1% failure rate, and preferably 1/10 that. Otherwise it would be pretty crazy to guarantee them for that long.

Or possibly they plan to sell the company before then.

My assumption is that the cabinet is very expensive and more or less accounts for the price difference between the S400mk2 and the E50 (profit margin included). My other assumption is that the E50 cabinets are high-end furniture grade from a proven local supplier and that Mads can ride out any manufacturing issues with his profit reserves. A logical backup plan for unknown future cabinet defects is to effectively replace the E50 with a “light” version that uses a more conventional cabinet construction.

I hope the E50 is a big success and the cabinet stands up in the long term because I really admire what Mads has done with Buchardt.

 

[jean-benoit]

My assumption is that the cabinet is very expensive and more or less accounts for the price difference between the S400mk2 and the E50 (profit margin included). My other assumption is that the E50 cabinets are high-end furniture grade from a proven local supplier and that Mads can ride out any manufacturing issues with his profit reserves. A logical backup plan for unknown future cabinet defects is to effectively replace the E50 with a “light” version that uses a more conventional cabinet construction.

I hope the E50 is a big success and the cabinet stands up in the long term because I really admire what Mads has done with Buchardt.

the E50 is crafted in denmark, while the S400mk2 is produced in asia. also, the E50 is the first passive speaker from buchardt, who has a purifi woofer. there are a lot more differences between the two, so i think we rather see a S400mk3 than a light version of the E50.

would love to hear a pair sometime.

 

[restorer-john]

Wood being natural material varying a lot, what I was concerning is that for March audio sointuva, and D&D 8C, there have been report of cracking. Not that it consist of a large number, but when luck strikes, for such not too convinent to ship high priced stuffs, it will be kind of a headache. So just wondering if that will still get affected

Anyone who buys a loudspeaker made with solid timber deserves everything that happens to them. And so does any manufacturer using solid timber for loudspeaker cabinets.

 

[Sokel]

If the assembled wood has good, even drying, if it is glued under pressure with good glue, if the boards are not too long and too wide, this type of assembly, which is mechanically very solid, prevents the wood from moving and crack...
Worktops made of glued planks do not move when the large one-piece planks split and deform...

The weak spot is always the rather thin point between tweeter and mid.
All the pressures finally end-up there and it doesn't take a lot to crack.

Some more expensive speakers coincide the internal bracing with this region to reinforce it,not all of them though,specially as size diminishes and bracing becomes minimal or non existent.

 

[Matt_Holland]

the E50 is crafted in denmark, while the S400mk2 is produced in asia. also, the E50 is the first passive speaker from buchardt, who has a purifi woofer. there are a lot more differences between the two, so i think we rather see a S400mk3 than a light version of the E50.

would love to hear a pair sometime.

I thought the S400mk2 was assembled in Denmark, just the cabinets imported from Asia.

Anyway, the E50 design doesn’t rely on it using a real wood cabinet. If there are problems with the cabinet cracking then Buchardt can easily release a new version that is identical but using a more conventional cabinet, even using veneer to keep the real wood finish.

What I think is more likely is that cracking will be rare and will not happen for several years. This means that, unlike for example Fosi/Topping failures which happen regularly and often within a few months, any E50 cabinet faults will drip feed into Buchardt’s support inbox and will be dealt with quickly and professionally. It will be rare and at random time intervals so will avoid causing a poor reputation for the brand.

 

[jean-benoit]

I thought the S400mk2 was assembled in Denmark, just the cabinets imported from Asia.

Anyway, the E50 design doesn’t rely on it using a real wood cabinet. If there are problems with the cabinet cracking then Buchardt can easily release a new version that is identical but using a more conventional cabinet, even using veneer to keep the real wood finish.

What I think is more likely is that cracking will be rare and will not happen for several years. This means that, unlike for example Fosi/Topping failures which happen regularly and often within a few months, any E50 cabinet faults will drip feed into Buchardt’s support inbox and will be dealt with quickly and professionally. It will be rare and at random time intervals so will avoid causing a poor reputation for the brand.

i think there were some special models of the s400mk2, that were actually made in denmark, but the regular ones are made in indonesia.

sorry to be off-topic again.

 

[YSC]

The weak spot is always the rather thin point between tweeter and mid.
All the pressures finally end-up there and it doesn't take a lot to crack.

Some more expensive speakers coincide the internal bracing with this region to reinforce it,not all of them though,specially as size diminishes and bracing becomes minimal or non existent.

Maybe the failure rate will be small enough for warranty to make sense from the manufacturer's point of view, but as a consumer (especially a usually unlucky one like myself), getting a great speaker sent and then just to crack soon isn't a good gamble

 

[Paffi]

Despite Active vs. Passive, I would really be interested in a comparison of Anniverary 10 vs E50.

 

[wong117]

Despite Active vs. Passive, I would really be interested in a comparison of Anniverary 10 vs E50.

"they do sound different however, and the e50 is for sure a more powerful speaker that would hit harder and more physical. A10 is incredibly for low to normal listing levels, but it'd limitations are when playing loud" from Mads