BOSE reviews in Sound & Vision (1 Viewer)

[Adam.Heckman]

Has anyone else noticed that since the BOSE corp started advertising in Sound & Vision the mag's also got products to review and given them GLOWING reviews.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not naive enough to think that there aren't good reviews in exchange for advertising dollars in magazines of all kinds, but I didn't expect it from Sound & Vision/BOSE. How will they keep their credibility when they say that good sound for a good price is a BOSE hallmark? They even put the Lifestyle 38 in their 'Reviewers Choice Awards' which are dedicated to "tech break throughs, leaps forward in performance, or a bold design statement".

Guess I'm just venting my frustration and wondering if anyone else has seen this and feels the same way.

 

[Ryan Tsang]

Ahh....it's nothing. SV, Perfect Vision, Home Theater, Stereophile, all the rags give glowing reviews for everything. I hate it when they score everything 93% and the best only beats out the worse by 3 points in a field of six.

Truth is....there are no outright bad products; they're just different. Just like a Lexus is different than a BMW within the same class, Def Tech is diff from B&W which is diff from Paradigm. Reviews would be much more useful to consumers if they highlighted those differences rather than rank them or worse, spit out those stupid "better than products three times its price" cliches.

Who cares what they write. Use them for staying up to date and for their pretty pictures. I learn a lot more from HTFers and even more when listening for myself.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Adam, Bose has always advertised in Sound & Vision, as well as its predecessor, Stereo Review. And, Ryan, the magazines do not always offer positive reviews.

 

[RobertR]

These kind of reviews in S&V reaffirm why I canceled my subscription, and do not consider myself part of their demographic.

 

[NicholasL]

First off, magazines have time and time again stated that because they cannot review every product that hits the market, they pre-screen so that what they DO review has a better chance of resulting in positive marks. Afterall, it's more fun to read about how much better one product is than another solid product, rather than to turn pages of repeated company bashing. Granted, one or two bad reviews are necessary to put things in perspective.

Second, I think of all the hifi mags I've read in the past, the only ones I respect are Absolute Sound and Stereophile. I think almost all other publications review cheapo gear that isn't catered towards our more exclusive niche, give almost everything rave reviews (especially Home Theater Mag), and to add insult to injury, their writers SUCK. No creativity in their pieces whatsoever. They all use the same 10 buzzwords in every single review, in the same order, in the same context. Pathetic.

 

[Ryan Tsang]

To be honest, if I was the editor of one those AV mags I'd churn out the same thing. Just like if I was a popular radio station, I'd play Britney and Aguilera all day. It's business and the mass market is my target audience. You're right...reading about how good something is encourages people to buy.

The OP was frustrated by these cliched, cookie cutter reviews. I lost my innocence a long time ago.

 

[Yee-Ming]

I've noticed that What HiFi (a Brit mag) now reviews Bose products as well, but they are rarely glowing. What HiFi simply rates the products out of 5 stars, and I've seen Bose products get a measly 2 or 3. And the summarized comments in the buying guide often do reflect sentiments like "all right, but you could do better for the price".

And What HiFi doesn't hesitate to slam products that it feels aren't up to scratch. As an example, the Pioneer 434 got 5 stars and maybe best 42" plasma of the year, but the successor 435 got only 3 stars and was slammed. And while Mission speakers are usually well received, IIRC the m5s only got 2 stars...

 

[Michael Warner]

Just as an aside, the current issue of Popular Science has a long story on Amar Bose. We might not care for his over-priced AV gear but there's no denying his skills as an inventor and marketeer.

 

[VinhT]

Isn't it possible that perhaps Bose has improved the quality of its products?

 

[NicholasL]

Not in this lifetime.

 

[Jan H]

Sound and Vision is a fun mag and I subscribe to it because it's relatively cheap (something like a buck a month), and they have decent reviews of CD's, DVD's, and multichannel recordings. It is what it is, a 'gadget' rag. You learn about A/V gadgets for your car, your kids, your bathroom, your pets, etc. It's basically 'Sharper Image' type stuff, hence Bose fits right in.

What it is NOT is a mag for audiophiles or hard-core HT enthusiasts. For that I refer to Absolute Sound, Perfect Vision, SGHT, HT Mag, and Stereophile. Yup, as you can imagine, my girlfriend is always complaining about 'magazine clutter.'

 

[StephenHa]

I at least look at each of the big magazines if I see a trend of reviews then it peaks my interest

 

[NicholasL]

Jan, I agree with your list of "hardcore" mags, except HT Mag. That thing is a joke.

 

[Jan H]

Yeah, it's definitely the least valuable of the five others, but again it's cheap and has lots of pretty pictures of equipment I can't afford.

 

[Tony-B]

I have a feeling that S&V wants Bose's advertising money, so they kiss ass and give them good reviews.

 

[Foster]

In all likely hood it is a business decision that brought Bose advertising to S&V. However rest assured, the Gurus over on S&V's forum know better than to rubber stamp something just because the magazine does.

 

[Joey Skinner]

I heard Paul Harvey on the radio say the new Bose Wave Radio plays a third octave lower than anything else. Imagine my disappoinment in learning this right after finishing the installation of a 4 15" infinite baffle subwoofer system in my attic!

 

[Grant B]

I read the last one which I thought was very strange. They really didn't say anything good about the Unit...things like sounded ok, better than most MP3 players?!?!

But then at the end of the article ignored the earlier stuff and gave it a glowing recommendation.
AND THE SUCKER COST $3k!

You can buy a pretty decent system for $3k. I spent $69 for a system for my room and sounds like it would compete nicely with the Bose

 

[PaulT]

You also have to consider that the Review was not really a Review at all (no specs.....hmmmm, because Bose doesn't publish them nor allow them to be tested and published).

It was a 'User Report' and not a 'Test Report'.

Hey S&V - Let Nousaine have a go at the system and see what the numbers look like.

 

[KevinWEL]

I get S & V and did read that review. I tend to agree with Grant that at $3K there HAS GOT to be something better out there and at probably half the cost.