Bowers and Wilkins Panorama impressions - Page 2

You got one great deal on that Pano! I just paid $1600 for one this week -- basically new, though was a floor model at a high-end AV place. The accessories package was never opened and the unit was in impeccable condition. I get the full B&W warranty and have no regrets as the Pano 1 has the just the features I need. My TV (Sony XBR8) does not have HDMI ARC and I don't have a BlueRay player or PS3, etc, so didn't need or want HDMI switching. I was considering a Sonos Playbar but the reviews on the Panorama sold me on it instead. I'm still considering whether to get two B&W ASW608 subwoofer to enhance the bass, as the room size may be a bit too large for the Pano's built-in SW speakers.

I've only had it up and running since yesterday so can't say that I've noticed the sound of a fan running, however my room size is about 20' by 25' and I'm positioned about 15' from the soundbar. It might be normal although hearing the fan at a third of the way up the volume scale seems a bit much. Hopefully others Pano owners will chime in and offer their insight and experiences.

Hey Lykuno,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sitting 4' maybe 5' at the most away from the soundbar. I'd imagine that makes a difference. I contacted B&W and they confirmed there was a fan in the soundbar and it would run hotter if it needed to which would some what explain why it seems to fluctuate in noise volume.

I took some dB readings with my smartphone app and sent the numbers to B&W and they are going to compare my fan noise at mute compared to their test model to let me know if I'm within spec. I'll follow up with you guys as soon as I hear back from them.

Thanks.

Hi,
I also had this fan noise issue with the Panorama 1 and send it back to B&W via my retailer. Until now the problem seems to be fixed. The noise did not occur again. As my retailer said the main curcuit board was changed.
So if you hear this annoying noise you may face the same problem. I recommend sending it back for repair.
Cheers.

Interesting that they replaced the main circuit board for something regarding the fan. Maybe it had something to do with how it read temps and told the fan to run? I'm waiting for feedback from B&W now. It will be interesting to see what they say. Even though I'm in warranty if I ship them the speaker I have to pay for shipping, they will cover return shipping. So at minimum probably cost me 50 bucks to just get it looked at.

Hey TarHeel1400 -

which BB had a Panorama remaining? I live in Chapel Hill, and have scoured the Triangle stores, as well as many other in NC and VA.

3 months later..I am so sorry. B&W looked at it, tested it, all came back ok. They said it was the fan going on and off as required. Took 8 weeks of service lead time to tell me that, I was a little annoyed.
I still hear the fan from time to time but all works well. It s a fine product.

Kp88,

I'm actually in Denver. Not in NC anymore. Got mine from a Best Buy up here.

I have a 7.1 setup with marantz sr5006 as the avr with adcom gfa-555 powering my fronts.
I am looking to update my old center channel and was hoping for a dual solution. I need a sound bar for my sony 55" nx720 tv so that i dont have to turn on my whole a/v system just to watch tv. But i also need a good new center channel speaker and my cabinet cant fit both center channel and panorama.

Is it possible to somehow hook the panorama into my 7.1 setup as the center channel speaker when i am watching movies, then only turn on panorama for tv watching?? If somehow i can integrate the panorama as my dedicated center channel speaker for 7.1 setup and use panorama for stand alone tv watching, then i have the optimal solution.

Also is the panorama good enough serve a dedicated center channel speaker. I was originally thinking of getting a b&w cm centre 2 (center channel).

Thanks

If your amp had Center channel pre-outs you could connect those directly to one of the two analog inputs on the Panorama. Since your amp only has two sub and left front and right frion pre-outs, you can't do that, unless you get a Speaker Level To Line Level adaptor and connect your center channel out to that, then connect to the panorama anaolg input.:

http://www.bossaudio.com/auto/high-lever-to-low-level-converter-b65n/

Only problem I see is that the you will most likely want to use the "stereo" mode setting on the Panorama while using it as a center speaker because the other modes add "surround" or "wide" effects that may make tge dialog sound off. When utilizing stereo mode, the Panorama doesn't utilize its center tweeter only the left and right speakers, so you may lose out on the high end and dialog heavy movies, but who knows, only one way to find out.

My panorama sounds awesome, and I am sure you will find something that works for you.

here is a thread dedicate to speaker to line level adaptors that might help you out:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1419246/speaker-level-to-line-level-adapters