March Audio Sointuva AWG Bookshelf Speaker Review by ERIN's Audio Corner

[Keith_W]

Here is a reply from March.

Hi Keith

Can you just post a clarification on our warranties.

Yes warranties are finite and there has to be a cut off. Speakers have always been 5 years. Amps were 3 years, but after a revision of the product range some years ago, we raised this to 5 years. During warranty we pay for and arrange (DHL pickup) all shipping. This is more than most manufacturers do.

After warranty expiration we do ask that the customer pays for return shipping. Any repairs are also warranted. We also pay for the shipping to return the product to the customer after repair.

I don't really see the relevance of someone's grandfather clock to our products.

Thanks

Alan

I want to make clear that I am posting these replies on his behalf out of courtesy. I am NOT a March Audio representative. This message clarifies his company position, which I thought was fair - which is why I posted it verbatim. Alan reads ASR, but he has no ability to reply. If you have issues, please raise them with Alan directly. I have no intention to facilitate a debate between March and ASR members.

 

[AudioJester]

The post from March makes it sound like He pays for return postage. You should know March Audio stops any free shipping once the warranty period is ended (with no leeway). The company also changes the warranty period so you have to watch out. For instance, when my P452 amp failed March wanted me to pay shipping back to Australia and repairs even though the current warranty period offered is 5 years on the amps. He says it was only a 3 year warranty on my unit. So buyer beware. If you are out of warranty even 60 days, it's on your dime, even if longer warranty is in effect for new purchases. Don't expect grace. Cracks happen with wood. It's a matter of nature. Don't be surprised if it's outside warranty. And don't be surprised if it cracks again after being fixed. That's what happened on my grandfather clock base. Wood and humidity interact.

View attachment 367055

This is the risk of bying products from another country - shipping can be expensive.

I dont understand why you are complaining if you had a problem outside the waranty period?
You bought your amp knowing it had a 3 yr warranty right?

Send a pm to @Keith_W, he should be able to help you

 

[Sokel]

The post from March makes it sound like He pays for return postage. You should know March Audio stops any free shipping once the warranty period is ended (with no leeway). The company also changes the warranty period so you have to watch out. For instance, when my P452 amp failed March wanted me to pay shipping back to Australia and repairs even though the current warranty period offered is 5 years on the amps. He says it was only a 3 year warranty on my unit. So buyer beware. If you are out of warranty even 60 days, it's on your dime, even if longer warranty is in effect for new purchases. Don't expect grace. Cracks happen with wood. It's a matter of nature. Don't be surprised if it's outside warranty. And don't be surprised if it cracks again after being fixed. That's what happened on my grandfather clock base. Wood and humidity interact.

View attachment 367055

P452 is Purifi based,isn't it?
What happened,it's rare to see Purifis fail.

 

[amper42]

Hi Keith

Can you just post a clarification on our warranties.

Yes warranties are finite and there has to be a cut off. Speakers have always been 5 years. Amps were 3 years, but after a revision of the product range some years ago, we raised this to 5 years. During warranty we pay for and arrange (DHL pickup) all shipping. This is more than most manufacturers do.

After warranty expiration we do ask that the customer pays for return shipping. Any repairs are also warranted. We also pay for the shipping to return the product to the customer after repair.

I don't really see the relevance of someone's grandfather clock to our products.

Thanks

Alan

This post is also misleading.
When you contact March for warranty service within the 5 years they don't tell you it will be xx dollars to fix. No explanation of the process is described or possible cost and expected turnaround time. March offers as little info as possible and perhaps you go away? Better to find a repair source locally who actually wants to help. New product can obviously be purchased other places at much better prices. You pay a premium at March Audio. Can't say it was worth it. I won't be back.

 

[Matias]

Wouldn't it be better if we move this conversation about cracks and warranty to March Audio forums, where Alan can answer directly?

March Audio Forum

March Audio Forum

forum.marchaudio.com

 

[AudioJester]

This post is also misleading.
When you contact March for warranty service within the 5 years they don't tell you it will be xx dollars to fix. No explanation of the process is described or possible cost and expected turnaround time. March offers as little info as possible and perhaps you go away? Better to find a repair source locally who actually wants to help. New product can obviously be purchased other places at much better prices. You pay a premium at March Audio. Can't say it was worth it. I won't be back.

I think you are being misleading. You never had a 5yr warranty.
Any company, any product, you pay for shipping/repairs outside warranty period.

Surely we all understand this?

 

[Keith_W]

This post is also misleading.
When you contact March for warranty service within the 5 years they don't tell you it will be xx dollars to fix. No explanation of the process is described or possible cost and expected turnaround time. March offers as little info as possible and perhaps you go away? Better to find a repair source locally who actually wants to help. New product can obviously be purchased other places at much better prices. You pay a premium at March Audio. Can't say it was worth it. I won't be back.

This time I am speaking in my own capacity

Don't be ridiculous, how on earth is he supposed to offer you a quote or an estimate of turnaround time if he has not determined what is at fault? The problem may be anything from a bad solder joint (repair cost: 10 cents of solder + time) to a failed module or burnt PCB in which case repairs will cost more and might involve ordering parts if he doesn't have them in stock.

I don't know the situation in the USA, but here in Australia, repairers will tell you up front that there is a minimum fee of $x dollars just to look at it which you are liable for even if the product is deemed unrepairable. They will usually call you if they find that costly repairs are required. Many years ago, my Sony laptop suddenly died and it cost me $200 to find out that the product could not be repaired. I asked the tech whether it would be reasonable to boycott Sony products in the future? His reply was - "I don't think so, it's a motherboard failure and very few manufacturers keep stock of old motherboards. You will have the same problem with any computer, not just a Sony laptop".

 

[restorer-john]

The post from March makes it sound like He pays for return postage. You should know March Audio stops any free shipping once the warranty period is ended (with no leeway). The company also changes the warranty period so you have to watch out. For instance, when my P452 amp failed March wanted me to pay shipping back to Australia and repairs even though the current warranty period offered is 5 years on the amps. He says it was only a 3 year warranty on my unit. So buyer beware. If you are out of warranty even 60 days, it's on your dime, even if longer warranty is in effect for new purchases. Don't expect grace. Cracks happen with wood. It's a matter of nature. Don't be surprised if it's outside warranty. And don't be surprised if it cracks again after being fixed. That's what happened on my grandfather clock base. Wood and humidity interact.

View attachment 367055

For Australian customers, none of what you wrote applies. He cannot wriggle out of Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and the protections put in place specifically for some of the things you mentioned. We legislated and brought our Sale of Goods act, the Trade Practices Act and general consumer rights in all separate states into the very powerful National ACL January 1st 2011. It ended a lot of the shirking of responsibilities and buck passing which had disadvantaged consumers for decades.

The cracks in the cabinet are a major failure and a consumer in this country is entitled to a refund or (at the customer's choice, not the seller) a repair/replacement- regardless of any warranty period. The speakers are very expensive and the implied warranty would easily cover speakers purchased in 2022. All costs associated with returning a faulty product and or shipping to and from repair are the seller's responsibility when a major failure is involved.

I'm sure he'll do the right thing by his customer, after all, he was warned over and over about the potential for cracks in solid timber speaker cabinets. It's all in black and white here on ASR. And loudspeakers pretty much all come with a 5 year warranty- that is the expected period and has been for decades.

 

[restorer-john]

Any company, any product, you pay for shipping/repairs outside warranty period.

Actually not. Many companies will pay for the return freight after out-of-warranty repair.

All companies are required to pay return freight for the duration of a warranty. It's a bit of a grey area for sending the item back however, but where the fault is clearly a manufacturing issue, most companies eat freight both ways. And so they should.

I don't think anybody would expect a genuine out of warranty repair to get free freight both directions.

March's position as articulated in the message above seems to be fair and reasonable.

 

[8bits]

It's nice to see my speakers here.

If it helps, I'm writing my first reply after signing up.

I ordered these speakers on 5/8/22 from March Audio. Here are the notes I requested when I placed the order.

"RAL 5011, steel blue matte painted front panel finish with Wandoo wood enclosure like D&D C8 enclosure.(the waveguide can be black)"

These speakers are beautiful to look at and have great measurement data, but I had a some of issues with the opened binding posts and HOD(High-Order Distortion) when I first received them.
Since then, the speaker has been used primarily behind a soundscreen, with the exception of once a year when it was allowed to come out of the soundscreen to oil the wooden enclosure.

I recently took it out for oiling and discovered that the wooden enclosure was cracking, so I stopped using these speakers.
I will be contacting the manufacturer to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Photo 1. Cracked speakers
Photo 2. My soundscreen environment
Photo 3. Sointuva after oiling last winter

My Sointuvas (bought in 07/22) also developed cracks, but way less dramatic as yours and they are in the front of it, originating (or ending, I suppose) at the woofer and tweeter screws. I contacted Alan today in regards to this, hopefully it gets sorted without too many hassles for both parties.

I wont post any pics of mine to not fuel more drama since I only contacted Alan today about it. I'll wait to see how the process of getting it fixed goes, and will update this thread about it.

 

[restorer-john]

I wont post any pics of mine to not fuel more drama since I only contacted Alan today about it. I'll wait to see how the process of getting it fixed goes, and will update this thread about it.

I think that's fair. Give him a reasonable opportunity to rectify the issue.

 

[restorer-john]

since I only contacted Alan today about it. I'll wait to see how the process of getting it fixed goes, and will update this thread about it.

7 weeks have passed. No update from either @Hoje or @8bits . Not a good sign.

 

[YSC]

7 weeks have passed. No update from either @Hoje or @8bits . Not a good sign.

Sadly yes... either it's not resolved or maybe some sort of NDA related compensation happened

 

[8bits]

Just an update on my issue:
The TL;DR version is that I sent back my speakers to March and they are on their way back to me.

The more nuanced response is that the whole process was not smooth. Not horrible, but not great as well.
The positive is that overall Alan was always straight to the point, accommodating to my requests and owning up to the issue(s) at hand.
The negative is that email communication is spotty at best, sometimes he responds within an hour, which is super fast, and sometimes it can take more than a week (with further emails requesting a response). Scheduling shipping the speakers back was kinda messy, but it worked in the end.

All that said, I am still very happy with my speakers and the company. I do not expect everything to be perfect, even more so working with such a small business.

Here's Alan's pic of my speakers after refurbishment:

 

[Waddles]

I had a similar experience. Alan is great, but I do kind of wish there was some kind of dashboard or something, even if it was just an announcement on the March Audio forum that just said order nos. x through y of speakers are experiencing delays for whatever reason.

I love the speakers though, no regrets there, these things are awesome.

 

[Penelinfi]

I had a similar experience. Alan is great, but I do kind of wish there was some kind of dashboard or something, even if it was just an announcement on the March Audio forum that just said order nos. x through y of speakers are experiencing delays for whatever reason.

I love the speakers though, no regrets there, these things are awesome.

I knew that was you on Reddit lol

 

[YSC]

Just an update on my issue:
The TL;DR version is that I sent back my speakers to March and they are on their way back to me.

The more nuanced response is that the whole process was not smooth. Not horrible, but not great as well.
The positive is that overall Alan was always straight to the point, accommodating to my requests and owning up to the issue(s) at hand.
The negative is that email communication is spotty at best, sometimes he responds within an hour, which is super fast, and sometimes it can take more than a week (with further emails requesting a response). Scheduling shipping the speakers back was kinda messy, but it worked in the end.

All that said, I am still very happy with my speakers and the company. I do not expect everything to be perfect, even more so working with such a small business.

Here's Alan's pic of my speakers after refurbishment:

Nice one, but may I ask your's looks like with MDF front panel? I didn't expect MDF ones also cracks

 

[Ktacos]

Just an update on my issue:
The TL;DR version is that I sent back my speakers to March and they are on their way back to me.

The more nuanced response is that the whole process was not smooth. Not horrible, but not great as well.
The positive is that overall Alan was always straight to the point, accommodating to my requests and owning up to the issue(s) at hand.
The negative is that email communication is spotty at best, sometimes he responds within an hour, which is super fast, and sometimes it can take more than a week (with further emails requesting a response). Scheduling shipping the speakers back was kinda messy, but it worked in the end.

All that said, I am still very happy with my speakers and the company. I do not expect everything to be perfect, even more so working with such a small business.

Here's Alan's pic of my speakers after refurbishment:

Can you detail at all where the cracks were, if they were on the baffle, was MDF the original baffle material? I too would be surprised if the MDF cracked in anyway.

Still think it's silly they thought they could beat nature here.

 

[speedygonzalez]

Cracking is an issue with anything made out of wood, which is why I am leaning towards aluminum cabinets. Dutch & Dutch speakers crack too, and is prevalent if there is solid wood more than if they were ply. Really a pity since they look and measure great.

 

[8bits]

Can you detail at all where the cracks were, if they were on the baffle, was MDF the original baffle material? I too would be surprised if the MDF cracked in anyway.

Still think it's silly they thought they could beat nature here.

Yes, I did not want to share pics before sending them to Alan, to give him a chance to go through it first and not add noise to the conversation by posting online, but now that it is solved I guess it's not that bad to share it. Here's a pic of one of the speakers, both had the same issue.