[jopi]

mbriant, good post.

Me also thinks, that we've got too much Bose witch hunting going on.

I've got an older Acoustimass system in my living room and it works great. Here are the reasons:

First of all my living room is an accoustical nightmare. High vaulted ceilings with three different height levels that reach all the way up to the second story. The living room extends on one back side to the main hallway with staircase to the second story and the other part of the back side leads to the family room with low ceiling. Very difficult to get good imaging and soundstage in this setup I would think.

Second, she, who has to be obeyed, uses non-audiophile criterias to select speaker systems. Most importantly the cubes are tiny, the subwoofer is hidden behind the sofa and they come in white matching the wall.

Third, I've mounted each of the two satellite cubes about nine feet high in the corners and have one cube blarring right into the room and the other one angled against the wall for sound reflection. There's almost no soundstage and imaging is poor, but tonality is not disturbingly bad and it's good for background CD and radio listening. What they advertise is true, the whole living room is filled with sound that is still pretty good down in the family room. If you have visitors over, there's no fighting for the sweet spot, 'cause there ain't none, but you get nice background music floating everywhere you sit or go.

Fourth, I've paid $350 for an older version floor model.

 

[andrzejpw]

Quote:

Second, she, who has to be obeyed, uses non-audiophile criterias to select speaker systems. Most importantly the cubes are tiny, the subwoofer is hidden behind the sofa and they come in white matching the wall.

lol, can she not be appeased by shiny metallic objects?

seriously, bose can be accepted, if you get it for a CHEAP price. But paying over $1000 for a system? No way.

 

[dhwilkin]

Why does Bose suck? While all the other reasons stated here are good and true, here's the number one reason... BECAUSE THEY CAN!

 

[grinch]

i think this one is neater; it curses more!

http://www.joel.net/EBONICS/translator.asp

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I am no big fan of Bose products, either. But I dislike many of those "audiophile" brands of speakers that are physically sized way too big for their function (or what they actually contain), either. Some of those "audiophile" speakers may contain 6-to-8-inch "woofers", but their cabinets are sized much larger than even the biggest 15-inch woofer-based systems. What good is good sound when a single set of so-called "good-sounding" speakers take up half of the largest room in a house? That's poor design with expensive parts!

And I definitely agree also that Bose speakers are mediocre design with crappy parts.

 

[jopi]

Quote:

Originally posted by andrzejpw seriously, bose can be accepted, if you get it for a CHEAP price. But paying over $1000 for a system? No way.

A friend of mine just installed that 1-2-3 system with virtual surround sound for $1000. He called me up to have me over and look and listen to it, because he thinks it sucks (and even his wife admits it sounds horrible, although she thinks along the same lines as my wife).
I haven't seen it yet, but probably will on the weekend.

But I agree, Bose is certainly not for audiophiles and spending a thousand bucks should get you a very good music system, not just convenience.

 

[andrzejpw]

ugh. I can only imagine. ..

Have you guys ever been to bestbuy? Yes, yes, I was there, just looking through their speakers. . . the salesman just kept on trying to herd us to bose. . . we were just there to pick the KLH 911Bs up for $10!

 

[mattbr]

Quote:

from ars You can do worse then Bose at the same price range, but that does take some research, or a failed DIY experiment.

god i love ars....

 

[andrzejpw]

Quote:

Originally posted by mattbr god i love ars....

lol, as do I. The thing is, this place took me away from it! I have close to 4000 posts on ars. Now, I come here!

 

[HD-5000]

Audio Review

Search for any Bose product, and be amazed at the carnage.

 

[TaffyGuy]

I'd say bose are probably the best speakers at best buy

they're probably the worst speakers at the good guys

and real audio stores would never stock any of the brands held at either of those,

so really, isnt it a battle of the classes?

"heeeeeelo and welcome to best buy, uhhk yuk"

i'm going for having my name on the first 5 posts in every section.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by mbriant I respect the knowledgeable opinions of several people in this thread who have actual experience with the products they are praising or crapping on, but it bothers me to think that a bunch of people will read other people's opinions, then pass those opinions on as their own to others, without having actually properly auditioned the product themselves.....even if what everyone is saying is probably true.

mbriant, some of us have listened to a lot of Bose speakers; it's just that posting the URL to the FAQs is easier than typing out a long response that says the same thing

Quote:

Originally posted by TaffyGuy I'd say bose are probably the best speakers at best buy

I dunno... I'll take a Cambridge Soundworks sub/sat system over a Bose sub/sat system any day... and use the extra $500 I saved on a bunch of CDs

 

[pdc]

When I said I didn't like the bose speaker it was my personal taste and not what I want out of a speaker. I like what I call an East Coast sound. For me the speaker must be an accurate reproduction of the sound. I like a clear, clean sound. I found the 901s to be too mushy and unfocused in their sound. It produced a sound but not I wanted out of a speaker.

My tastes are toward classical. Maybe that is why I like my Ety4s so much.

Several people like Bose, but I am not one of them.

 

[john_jcb]

No Highs, No Lows, must be Bose

 

[TaffyGuy]

oh jeeeeezus, if there's one speaker make I hate more than bose (actually i havn't but a lot of effort into hating bose) it would be bose jr. (cambraige soundworks)

Everyone and their mother has their POS 2.1 system in their dorm room at school, and when people are upgrading what came with their pc (and most likely looking at bose jr.) i BEG them to look elsewhere, notably at powered monitors of makes such as yamaha or alesis.

for $2-300 you can get fantastic sounding, highly directional, flat response out of those guys, and you don't even need an amp. Of course bose is the opposite of highly directional, but since cambraige soundworks biggest selling point are those damn computer speakers... well you get the point.

Sure people dis' products all the time cuz its trendy to, but people buy bose becuase they seem really good for $200, then somehow end up with a dozon satalites and 4 woofers for $2000 and could have gotten a real stereo.

When i decided to invest in a stereo last summer I went straight to the audiophile stores, becuase I'd much rather have the low end of that than the high end of the crap market. Of course they took me for a little more than i expected, but my Thiel CS1.5's <- Marantz SR7200 for $1700 beats the pants off of acoustimas whatever with 6 sat's and blah blah blah.

Go for a classier, more elegant style if you are interested in real sound. flashy sucks. but you know these things already. but for that one guy who doesnt, there it is.