Wow, didn't know Bose was that bad!

[ex0du5]

I went to a friend's this weekend, and we watched some of my Seinfeld Season 7 on his TV. Well he has a Bose Acoustimass (2.1) system. I think he spent around $800 on this thing.

IT SOUNDED TERRIBLE!!! I can't believe how bad it sounded. Quite honestly, my $100 Harmon Kardon computer speakers are much better. It feels like the frequency range was cut in half. There was no top end to speak of. The bass was also as muddy as could be. And voices on this system, oh man do they sound bad. And I found out why! I noticed an unnatural mudiness when people talked. Voices are coming out of the subwoofer!!! This isn't a subwoofer at all! I'm sure if you disconnected the speakers, you could hear a full conversation out of the sub.

Man, do I feel bad for him, spending $800 on a system which is beat by a 5 year old $100 Harmon Kardon setup. And the vocals make it unbearable to listen to. I would prefer just watching TV out of his TV speakers.

Anyhoo, just had to rip Bose apart a bit there.

 

[stevenkelby]

Yep, they suck alright!

Did you tell him? How did he take it?

Poor guy.

I spent a few grand on the lifestyle 12 when I was young and stupid. Now I'm
no longer young.

 

[krmathis]

How is this related to headphones?

Anyway. If he's pleased with the BOSE system so be it...

 

[F107plus5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ex0du5 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I went to a friend's this weekend, and we watched some of my Seinfeld Season 7 on his TV. Well he has a Bose Acoustimass (2.1) system. I think he spent around $800 on this thing. IT SOUNDED TERRIBLE!!! I can't believe how bad it sounded. Quite honestly, my $100 Harmon Kardon computer speakers are much better. It feels like the frequency range was cut in half. There was no top end to speak of. The bass was also as muddy as could be. And voices on this system, oh man do they sound bad. And I found out why! I noticed an unnatural mudiness when people talked. Voices are coming out of the subwoofer!!! This isn't a subwoofer at all! I'm sure if you disconnected the speakers, you could hear a full conversation out of the sub. Man, do I feel bad for him, spending $800 on a system which is beat by a 5 year old $100 Harmon Kardon setup. And the vocals make it unbearable to listen to. I would prefer just watching TV out of his TV speakers. Anyhoo, just had to rip Bose apart a bit there.

Amazing, isn't it just how many folks have the voices coming from their subs even on "better" systems than the Bose. It's not exactly an art to get the sub integrated properly, but it does take some effort. I suspect that with the Bose system it may not be possible.

That's one nice thing about phones; integration is already taken care of for us!

 

[Zorander]

A cousin of mine has some BOSE-branded speakers for his computer and is very proud of it.

I chose to maintain my good relationship with him.

 

[xinoxide]

i broke a bose subwoofer at bestbuy, got kicked out.

 

[niels]

BOSE, Buy Other Stereo Equipment.

 

[guynbluejeans]

It's okay to bash and smash and ream-out Bose if that's how you feel. But over at that other thread "Bose headphones...over priced and crappy sound?" you'll find a link at post #79 in which a headphone magazine polled some "experts" to see which they preferred. And guess what? Bose QC2 topped the list!

I dunno, I wonder if maybe some of you needed to burn-in your Bose? Like maybe then you would have liked them ... as did those people that gave their opinions to the magazine that ranked them. Just a thought.

 

[2.2gotboost]

I bought, and later returned, the Bose Triport Headphones. They sounded OK, but the overall build quality was extremely cheap looking.

 

[ex0du5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by F107plus5 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Amazing, isn't it just how many folks have the voices coming from their subs even on "better" systems than the Bose. It's not exactly an art to get the sub integrated properly, but it does take some effort. I suspect that with the Bose system it may not be possible.

I suspect that to make up for the lack of bass from the monitors, the subwoofer is actually reproducing sounds up well over 100Hz. A subwoofer should generally be cutoff at 60Hz, and therefore not reproduce any vocal aspect of the soundtrack.

....searches....After reading a review, I found out that the subwoofer's range is 64Hz-220Hz!!!! Not only that, the monitors range are only from 280Hz - 13KHz!! WOW!

44Hz missing in the low end will severely reduce the impact of several special effects in movies. 60 missing Hurtz in the 200 range.....that is unforgiveable. Plus, the monitors cutoff at 13KHz when they should go up to 20KHz. Just terrible.

 

[epaludo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by niels /img/forum/go_quote.gif BOSE, Buy Other Stereo Equipment.

Nice One ...

 

[ex0du5]

Maybe the headphones aren't as bad....but honestly, these speakers are abysmal. I am not even joking when saying $100 speakers can beat them hands down.

Oh, and don't forget:

No highs or lows, it must be a BOSE.

 

[Mike112]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ex0du5 /img/forum/go_quote.gif IT SOUNDED TERRIBLE!!! I can't believe how bad it sounded. Quite honestly, my $100 Harmon Kardon computer speakers are much better. It feels like the frequency range was cut in half. There was no top end to speak of. The bass was also as muddy as could be. And voices on this system, oh man do they sound bad. And I found out why! I noticed an unnatural mudiness when people talked. Voices are coming out of the subwoofer!!! This isn't a subwoofer at all! I'm sure if you disconnected the speakers, you could hear a full conversation out of the sub.

Are you sure it wasn't the settings he was using? I just recently got an Onkyo home theater system and unless you adjust the settings a bit, some male voices could sometimes be picked up by the sub. Is it possible that his system just needs some tweaking, like mine did?

Either way, I haven't heard too many good things about the Bose 321 system (I assume that's what it was?), but that doesn't necessarily mean that all things Bose are terrible. There are definitely more highly regarded Bose products than that one.

 

[bellsprout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guynbluejeans /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's okay to bash and smash and ream-out Bose if that's how you feel. But over at that other thread "Bose headphones...over priced and crappy sound?" you'll find a link at post #79 in which a headphone magazine polled some "experts" to see which they preferred. And guess what? Bose QC2 topped the list! I dunno, I wonder if maybe some of you needed to burn-in your Bose? Like maybe then you would have liked them ... as did those people that gave their opinions to the magazine that ranked them. Just a thought.

or maybe...

-they just suck?

-the "experts" weren't experts at audio (it bet it never mentioned who they were)

-the magazine is a mainstream publication, and in the mainstream, looks and brand name is more important than sound quality (notice out of the criteria for testing, sound quality was placed last)

-last time a mainstream publication gave bose products a fair test they got sued

a few other possibilities for u to think about

 

[xenochimera]

friends dont let friends buy BOSE.