[Steve999]

Isn't anyone going to criticize the new issue of Consumer Reports? I got it in the mail today. The Bose Wave was rated #1, and the Tivoli Audio radios were rated last. It was a review of high-end table radios.

I got the issue in the mail today, the July 2003 issue.

 

[dd3mon]

How on earth did they come to that conclusion?

Also - has anyone here ever heard a wave radio? That's a bose product that I've actually heard good things about. Still very expensive.

-dd3mon

 

[MacDEF]

Just goes to show you how worthless Consumer Reports is when it comes to audio products.

I've heard the Bose Wave. It's not a bad radio, but it's nowhere near as good as the Cambridge Soundworks radios or the Tivoli radios. And when you take into account the price, it's a horrible value. The CS and Tivoli radios cost less, sound better, and (IMO) look better.

Then there's also the fact that the last time Consumer Reports gave a Bose product a poor rating, they got sued...

 

[Ebonyks]

Acually, they say the tvoli radios sound better, but lack the features that they like of the bose radios, like an automatic tuner

 

[nebuchadnezzar]

Quote:

Then there's also the fact that the last time Consumer Reports gave a Bose product a poor rating, they got sued...

is that true?

this equates roughly to why [CD Quality] mp3 is kicking the sh!t out of SACD, DVD-A, Redbook and any other quality recording being released....Consumers are Idiots.

damn sheep...

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

i bet bose is rich enough to pay the reviewers....if people stop listen to those reports, bose wouldnt be rich anymore

 

[Rizumu]

Quote:

Originally posted by ProFingerSk8er i bet bose is rich enough to pay the reviewers....if people stop listen to those reports, bose wouldnt be rich anymore

More of a case of them censoring themselves I would think. They don't want to get sued or piss their superiors or advertisers off.

 

[KR...]

I don't read nor care about Consumer Reports, and there is a reason for that.

 

[acs236]

Quote:

Originally posted by Rizumu More of a case of them censoring themselves I would think. They don't want to get sued or piss their superiors or advertisers off.

Consumer Reports doesn't accept advertising, does it?

 

[Rizumu]

Quote:

Originally posted by acs236 Consumer Reports doesn't accept advertising, does it?

Guess not? I was more speaking about reviews in general.

 

[mkmelt]

I have one of these. It looks cool in my kitchen where I use it for morning traffic and weather reports. On first listen it seems impressive but I get a headache whever I try and listen to it for very long. There is some type of exaggeration in the midbass that I find very fatiguing. Also, I tried hooking up a PCDP to the Wave radio as an experiment. Won't try that again, it sounded even worse than the FM radio.

I recently retubed a friends 1950s Zenith AM/FM table radio. When I was finished I compared the sound of the 40+ year old Zenith with the Bose Wave radio. The Bose could play louder, but for tone and musicality the late 1950s Zenith just blew it away.

I don't mean to bash it too badly. It is a well made product and it has some helpful features, including a tiny remote control. As a kitchen radio or a radio in a small office/den it is fine. But there are better options including the Tivoli as previously mentioned. I believe that the Cambridge radio is discontinued as a new model is about to be introduced.

I did not pay cash for my Bose Wave radio, I used some Diners Club awards points that I had accumulated and the Wave radio was one of the few items I could buy with the points I had available in my account. At the $349 retail price it it seriously overpriced.

 

[usc goose]

y'all remember that los angeles times review? i really don't know why people don't like our paper. must be something to do with how they report real news or something. i use bbc.

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF (way back when) ...Neither the price ($349 for the basic model) nor the company's claims of sound quality is modest. According to Bose's Web site, the radio produces "beautiful music that may change the way you think about sound and its importance in your life." At least it doesn't describe the look of the Wave (which fits two speakers and a digital clock into a plastic housing resembling a stubby airplane wing) as beautiful, and for good reason... ...The Tivoli folks are not as promotionally reckless, saying on the Web site that their clock radio has a "warm sound, ease of use and distinguished appearance that gives the Model Three its wonderful bedside manner." But since it's going up against the extraordinary claims made by Bose and Boston Acoustics, we brought in a panel of discriminating Times experts: pop-rock critic Richard Cromelin, classical music critic Mark Swed and investigative reporter Chuck Philips, who covers the music industry. To put it mildly, they deflated the hype, especially of the Bose sound. Cromelin described it as "thin and tinny," Swed said it was "annoyingly unmusical" and Philips thought the "treble was overdriven almost to the point of distortion." The panel liked best the least expensive of the three, the Boston Acoustics Recepter, judging it the most true to life. To less educated ears (like mine and those of others who listened to the test radios) the clear sound of the Tivoli was the winner. It doesn't have much bass, and you wouldn't want it as your main audio system.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF Then there's also the fact that the last time Consumer Reports gave a Bose product a poor rating, they got sued...

Anyone have a link to an article about that? That would be a fun read.

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

i would like to see this link too, cant wait to show that to those damn "die-hard-bose-the-best" guys

 

[andrzejpw]

Quote:

Originally posted by Sol_Zhen Anyone have a link to an article about that? That would be a fun read.

search for bose and consumer report. iirc, this happened in the 80s when CU reviewed bose's 901 speakers. They came dead last then.