I have an early pair circa 3xx of 8C speakers, which are showing signs of what appears to be hairline cracks appearing along the top curved radius edges of both speakers. The speakers are 4+ years old, they are meticulously cared for and have never been knocked or mishandled.
I would be genuinely interested in peoples thoughts on this? Or even anyone with decent wood working skills who could advise?
Yes I have already seen the notice on site, have you noticed this with your 8c’? I have had other makes of speakers over many years and I never noticed hairline cracks?
I don’t have any, I just was interested, looked up their specs, and found this 
I have seen wood veneer on speaker edges develop hairlines like this and eventually slightly split open in humid climate though. They were Audio Physik Yaras in Shanghai.
All speakers I ever owned were paint coated and never had such a thing, one pair I had for 20 years. They were MDF though, not solid wood which is known to change - not sure how wise a choice it is for cabinets.
That’s what I thought too - wood veneer developing similar hairline cracks, but never come across it on solid wood before??
“Under the influence of changes in temperature and humidity, the wood will expand and contract. Hairline cracks are normal with solid wood, and thus to be expected.”
Sounds like they have had some experience with this issue before and are preemptively addressing thru this article. Is your home humidity controlled and air conditioned with central heating? If not you probably have some pretty large swings in humidity levels. It’s a shame that you’re seeing this at 4 years old, I’d contact the manufacturer and keep a record of your report. Maybe they can move your electronics into new cabinets if it’s a big issue down the line?
Normal household environment with air conditioning- no high humidity swings. Yes I think the disclaimer is because with earlier models they experienced splitting with their cabinets. I have gone back to D&D and their response was to paraphrase what they have on the website, they could replace the cabinets, but at my cost for shipping/calibration etc….
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From the above mentioned article looks like solid wood.
I do not know about furniture but I did work (painting) on wood. Usually (like in old icons) they have a layer of thin fabric that holds the primer and the paint. If you put primer directly on wood and paint on that cracks are going to appear (well they appear anyhow but we are talking about the speed in which they appear). Veneer while cheeper then wood also it is less prone to cracks (also the underlayer of glue allows movement of the veneer sheet on the surface).
There is no way of fighting this but just preventing by keep away quick changes of temperature and humidity.
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