bose only good w/sony? (1 Viewer)

[allan espinoza]

i was at circuit city the other day and a sales person had told me that bose speakers sound best when used with a sony receiver? is this true cause i currently own bose speakers and have them hooked up to a yamaha receiver so i was wandering if i was missing out on grater sound? i have no complaints as to how it sounds right now, just worried. any info would be great thanks

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

Allan;

I don't think you have anything to worry about. The Bose speakers will not sound any worse with a Yamaha or a Sony receiver.

 

[allan espinoza]

thanks jeff may i call you jeff? i was hoping they wouldnt sound any different

 

[jeff cr]

i have Bose 301 speakers for my mains and surrounds. i have had a kenwood 2 channel reciever for the past couple years. i just recently purchased a Sony A/V receiver for home theatre. there about the same. I think the Sony sounds a little bit better than the Kenwood becuase it has a built in equalizer. speaker drivers should sound the same no matter what brand of receiver you are using. the reciever is going to govern how the sound signal sounds not the speaker.

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

Quote:

Actually receivers can and do affect the way speakers sound. Sometimes a receiver can give speakers a warmer, richer sound, while others will exhibit greater clarity and detail. If a receiver didn't affect the signal, why would anyone bother spending so much money for the likes of the Denon 5803?
Besides, if the receiver affects the sound signal, won't that ultimately affect the sound of the speakers, which reproduce the sound signal?

 

[Jonathan K]

IMO, Bose speakers will NEVER sound good. I have heard their entire lineup, and it all sucks. My dad also has their highest end speakers, the 901's which, IMO, are worth about $30. I check circuit city and best buy catelogs, and I see no-name speakers with MUCH more intelligent designs in the $100 range than anything Bose has come up with...

Friends don't let friends buy Bose!

 

[Chu Gai]

Now now, that's not nice! If your dad ever offers to sell the 901's for $30 I would be happy to purchace them. Poor dads...none of them know anything until we become dads...what a vicious circle. To speak towards the question though, the Bose speakers will sound like Bose speakers with a sony, denon, or whatever else that is capable of driving them with sufficient power.

 

[Jonathan K]

Well, I kinda poked through the (mostly rotted) foam surround of one of them... i barely even glanced the thing, HONEST! I can't see how that would make the sound any worse.... hell, some day, just pry off the grille of one of the bigger Bose speakers in a store, than you'll know...crappy paper drivers, foam surrounds, glue dripping everywhere.... erk...

 

[Chu Gai]

Well if the foam surrounds have deteriorated that may be indicative of their age, a particularly aggresive environment that they were kept in such as high humidity and temperatures. If your dad has a proof of purchase (sometimes not even necessary) and the 901's are not past warranty, Bose will replace what is defective. I've heard stories, especially with 901 owners, where long past the warranty, Bose has repaired/replaced at no charge. Be a good son and find out the details and get them fixed for your dad. he just might buy you those techonologically advanced $100 speakers you've got your eye on! There's a lot of happy Bose owners out there in part because Bose has restored/repaired their speakers that were long past warranty when by all legal rights they were under no obligation to do so. Yes foam can be problematical but to its credit it is incredibly compliant and posesses high damping characteristics. Rubber is not as good in this regard but it doesn't rot. Always trade-offs.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that the drivers are' just' paper either. Paper has been used for many years and in some highly regarded speakers. Yes, if it is not treated, it will degrade and be hygrospic. But paper is quite light and stiff. The range of fibers that it can be made of, blended with are enormous providing designers with many interesting capabilities. One will find that paper is a remarkably high tech product for it can be treated and or coated with a variety of materials such as carbon fibers of all sorts, kevlar, various types of polymeric materials and so on.

Now you may honestly not prefer the sound of Bose speakers or may wish to see frequency response curves, or whatever. For whatever reasons, your Dad enjoys them. Now I think it'd be real real nice, that if your Dad's 901's are having the problems you indicate, that you helped your Dad out. Do some of the legwork for this man who not only thought it was a good idea to buy and hold on to his beloved Bose, but also thought it was a good idea to have you as a son who may at some points in your life have given Dad a moment to reflect upon that decision. My good man, it is the 4th. Make your Dad a burger, pour him a cold one and go see what you can do to get them fixed...If he wants to sell them for $30 I'll be pleased to take them off his hands.

 

[Jonathan K]

I know paper can be okay, but, honestly, what sort of coatings have you FOUND on 901's? I mean, the most coating that *I* can find on paper drivers is a bunch of glue that dripped everywhere... it's just not worth it...

Dad doesn't *love* bose, he uses the 901's for rears in a mutt-of-a-home-theater setup that uses some old Thiel bookshelves up front and a no-name center. The main upgrade that I said would be useful would be to a nice, inexpensive reciever that can power everything and give Dolby Pro Logic II for VHS and TV, and DD5.1 for DVD's. I personally thing that those 901's are causing a *LOT* of bass nulls, due to the direct/reflecting thing...

Dad doesn't like them either, but he apparently likes having rear sound more than he likes having clear sound...

My dad doesn't actually really *ENJOY* them. He just uses them for rears that aren't even on that much. He likes the rear surround effect, not the 901's he got cheap off of a friend. He enjoys Thiels, back from when he was an audiophile (before Mom and I came), and also cause I think Thiel is a local company...

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Rule Number 1:
You do not talk about Fight Club.

Rule Number 2:
Most employees at Circuit City or Best Buy don't know very much about what they're talking about. This is not due to any general ignorance on the part of the people who would work there- rather the fact that they don't do much to train or educate their employees about the products they sell... and employees who are educated on said topics usually find better paying jobs.

-Vince