Bose wins again!!! (1 Viewer)

[AaronMK]

see a Bose product with THX certification? didn't think so
that's just the easiest way to prove that Bose is no where close to "high-end"

I don't see an Axiom, HTD, Ascend, Paradigm, Martin Login or a number of other brands that are High End or are considered great values either.

Say that, and the person would wrongly think that many other companies don't make a good product either.

They'd also think that many of the non-anamorphic THX Certified tranfers of widescreen movies have "The best picture" as well.

Not that it makes Bose any better, but not having THX Certification doesn't mean much.

 

[Bret Pritchett]

I don't see an Axiom, HTD, Ascend, Paradigm, Martin Login or a number of other brands that are High End or are
considered great values.

good call - but most of the people who think bose are the best also buy into the THX certification

not that THX certification doesn't mean anything though...

 

[george.Legeza]

As an auto tech,I had worked on Mazda's from 84-98, and the 93-95 RX-7's had some bose high dollar stereo option,Mazda talked it up real big before the 93's came out,it was some kind of mess of piping all over the back of the car,with 2 speakers facing each other or something like that anyway,none of us could find any real diffeence from the stereo level below it .even the Rep was like "yeah,we know"

Greg, as much as I'd like to join in with the BOSE bashing, it's hard for me to say anything really terrible about their car stereos. I've owned a Nissan Maxima with the factory BOSE system and, as far as stock sound systems go, it was great. It was quite simply the best stock system I'd ever heard and it easily blows away the factory premium system on my BMW.

That said, I bought the Maxima used and so didn't have to pay the premium for the BOSE setup. For around $500 one could buy a set of decent aftermarket component speakers and a headunit that would blow the BOSE system out of the water, so whether or not it's worth the money to a new car buyer is really up in the air.

Disclaimer: My only experience with BOSE car stereos has been in Nissan products, the Maxima and the new Altima. Both have been really exceptional as far as stock stereos go. To my ears, at least.

 

[David Cohen]

After 2 years of reading these kinds of threads, I still don't get it.

Why does anyone care what anyone else buys? The only brand that is ALWAYS criticized here is Bose. Let people buy what they want. No purchase is the wrong purchase if the customer is happy.....notice I say happy, not brainwashed.

I have been in the consumer electronics industry for over 20 years at retail, factory, and wholesale. I have never owned Bose (and likely won't)because I know what I like. Everyone has opinions, but this is ridiculous. Why start another discussion that has been beaten into the ground on this forum forever?

Are we just upset, angry, or jealous that someone doesn't take our advise? This doesn't seem like a discussion, and there is nothing to be learned in all of these posts.

 

[george_k]

I had a friend buy the new Mazda 6. Upon taking me for a spin he insisted about how great his Bose sound system is and how it has a built in subwoofer. Now I've never heard a bose system before so I told him to crank it up...he did, I heard very little boom...and he was playing trance music. I asked if he was sure this car has a subwoofer and he said yes...for the life of me I could not hear the damn bass. I checked the gain settings...+2.

I popped the trunk and looked for a powered sub...it made sense to me seeing as how honda offers a poweredsub option for the CRV we own. Anyways, I look around, couldn't see it, finally I look up and there it was screwed to top of trunk. It definately wasn't a woofer, more like a mid-bass driver.

For the same money he could have bought and infinity basslink powered sub with can be integrated with an OEM system and will produce more than enough bass.

In short,
I guess that through millions of dollars spent in R&D
Bose has developed a bass system that is so non-localized it's like its not even there...

David Cohen,
I too don't care what people buy it's just that some of these people go on and on about how great their product is and eventually it bugs me. I find people that brag are usually uninformed.

 

[Ernest Yee]

David Cohen - I think the real issue people have with them is how they gloat about all their glorious advances in music and how they charge absurd pricing on their stuff.

I think the psychology behind all of it for this forum and many like it is that it's an affront to the entire hobby and everyone that wants to get into it since it's more or less like a veil that covers what's truly behind this hobby.

 

[WayneO]

I'm with Dave on this issue. But I think these threads come about because for all the intelligence us humans supposedly have it's not passed equally to everyone and there's nothing worse for an intelligent person watch an unintelligent person make a mistake without correcting him. Whether it's our business to do so or not seems to be the question. I think it's human nature to learn and teach........but this thread does neither since we are pretty much preaching to the choir here.

I all of a sudden have the urge to demo some BOSE products to hear for myself......should be interesting.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

DEMO a BOSE?!?.
Damn, I've never heard of anyone actually doing that. Where are my Cohen and Orff CD's? I'm off to the speaker store!

 

[Chris J Hall]

I would be careful with the word "unintelligent". I know that you probably meant ignorant, but thought I would just throw that in
As they say, ignorance is bliss though. So, I say do as Dave suggests and leave them in bliss. Since I know better it kinda sucks that I have to work so much harder to get to "bliss" though.....LOL!!

 

[AaronMK]

Wayne,

Someone not being knowledgeable in the area of speakers does not make that person unintelligent. Do you know what is good and what is bad in every single hobby?

I am sure there are better and cheaper watches than a Rolex, but I don't know what they are or why they are better. Have I just admitted to being an unintelligent person?

I don't mean to offend you, but I just think that you should be a bit more open minded when making judgements about people.

 

[mofet_n]

I'm an employee at a huge computer and audio/video retail store here in quebec. I was just transferred from the computer dep. to the audio and video dep. Now, all the employees treat me as a newbie to audio and video equipment, and they think to know more than others. If you were to ask them to pick a better sounding speaker, or just overall better speaker system, they would say Bose. I had a conversation with one of my colleagues, and he told me how he has been in the audio business for 5 years, and he knows everything and blah blah blah. And I try to explain to him why Bose aren't that great and how much better (and better value) bigger speakers are (for example Polk Audio or Infinity). It just bothers me that people think they know so much, but instead know so little.
Anyways, I own Polk Audio speakers, and they might not be the greatest speakers (not even close), but they sound much better than Bose.

 

[Rory Buszka]

That's a thing that Bose marketing does (and any good marketing campaign should do): it should make the person feel smart, like they know what they're talking about when they make their decision. The trouble starts when misinformation is spreading

 

[Cary_H]

A rather timely thread......I was out to a movie just last night with a friend of mine. Afterwards, she told me the system in their living room had died. She and her husband had gone and listened to a Bose setup and pretty much decided that was it.
Now, I knew they didn't want to spend the kind of money I have in my system, but I just had to know if they'd bothered to listen to anything other than the Bose. Well no, they hadn't. I then asked her just what it was that they'd heard that convinced them it sounded so good without anything else to compare it to? Wouldn't that be like like buying a TV from a store with only that one on the floor?
Anyway, knowing her, I followed up with, "it's not the sound you care about anyway, right? It's all about wanting something small that won't stick out like a sore thumb in your living room, and your husband,...just another pooch out there hoodwinked by slick Bose marketing, isn't it?"
In the end just prior to tossing in the towel, I suggested she ought to at least drag her butt and her dumbass husband down and check out something like Totem's Dreamcatcher system. It's too is pretty small, finished beautifully, and close to the same money with a lower end receiver in. In a whole 'nother league.

Is it any wonder you always see Bose systems set up all by themselves on their own away from the demo rooms in audio dealers? I suppose this pretty much explains their latest move to open a chain of Bose only outlets.

 

[Ernest Yee]

Haha - we can have HT Forum meets at those Bose only outlets!:p)

 

[DonnyD]

I have an old story to repeat here on the board concerning Bose...........
In 1978, after building a house and settling in, my wife and I went on a quest to buy a "good" stereo system...... since we had parties for that 20's crowd in our town....... Went to Atlanta and purchased a Pioneer receiver and turntable and then it was on to the speakers....... I had a set of Zenith Allegro 3000, large speakers that came with the "wedge" combo from the same company which had pounded us for a couple of years......

Found a Hi-Fi store in Athens, Ga that would let us take speakers home for the weekend and try'em out....... and we went through several weeks of this. Even back then, the Bose machine was working and I though they'd be the cats meow...so we tried several models..501, 601 etc, I think. We'd set things up and party for a weekend and all participants would give opinions.......... It wasn't until I bit the bullet and brought home a set of JBL L100 that we decided we had something "better" than the old Zenith Allegros....... and certainly way ahead of the Bose......

Then, about 2 years ago, my brother drug me to his basement and showed me a pair of vintage Bose 901 and he though he had struck it rich when he had purchased these from another older serviceman....... I just guffawed....... but we did take them upstairs to his HT room, set them up and a-b'ed them against some small Polks and his JBL S-38......... the Bose went back to the basement and were soon someone elses.......

Bose must be high priced since they just have to be paying kickback for stores and salesmen to push them so much......

 

[Chuck Schilling]

Donny,

Not to pick a fight, but the 901's are NOT bad speakers. They are highly sensitive to placement, very inefficient and hard to drive, and require highly reflective room acoustics, but in the proper environment can produce (music only, of course) sounds that are just stunning.

The thing is, taste is highly subjective. 901's are NOT bass monsters, nor are they as transparent as, say, Martin Logans. But, properly set up, they produce a highly accurate and rich soundstage.

 

[DonnyD]

Not to pick a fight, but the 901's are NOT bad speakers

Oh, I agree...... they do require proper setup etc and I've heard a pair that were well placed and driven with a big amp and I though the soundstage was very large..... Actually, I guess one could surmise that the sound is just "different" from most other speakers......

 

[Ralph B]

some poeple just dont know guys..... I think I have a good ear for sound but dont know jack about specs...etc I understand a little but not the level alot of guys do.
I own a bose wave radio. no I didnt pay for it! it was a gift from my dad. it cant crank at all but in a 12x12 room it sounds ok and replaces my tv speakers in a sitting room. it fits perfect in the little nook in my tv stand. at low volumes its a good replacement for the tv speakers but for music... ow!
anyway... I wouldnt buy bose either. it is way over priced and if people cant see just looking at the speakers and testing them at a decnt volume level that they are junk , yes they are considered dumb to most. but, again.... some people just dont know!!!! they dont!!! maybe never will cause cant understand specs. the general public just does not know. dont try to explain it cause they still wont know. a few here and there will but most wont. this is why bose wins!
I always bought low end speakers of Pioneer, JVC, Sony...etc
well I just made my first decent speaker purchase of a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7's !!!!!!!!! I am inlove with these speakers and after demoing them could not walk out the store without them. I couldnt go home! they called my name after my jaw dropped of a demo. I have been playing them all week everyday listening to music and discovering sound I have never heard.
see.... I never heard any decent speakers. never went to a HT store where you can demo something correctly. now I feel dumb for making all the speaker purchases I made in the past. if I just went to a HT store I could have saved time, money and my ears! guys..... people just dont know. thanfully there are HT sites online to educate you. people told me to go check out Paradigm and I was like where ????? well after buying some cigars next door to this HT stor I went in and now I will have to go back.... thats the only downside! lol
I have the JBL NSP-1 set and now realize how junk they are. the speaker is ok but the cabinet is terrible and ruins any sound the speaker might put out. buying the paradigm's made me feel good but also bad about what I have and have owned. lol
now for a paradigm center, sub!!!!!!!!

 

[GrahamJW]

Over the weekend I was at a friend's Christmas party and he was bragging about his ummm Bose speakers. I have to admit they do sound okay (I am by no means an expert in sound). He had those Bose cubes, a center, and a Bose subwoofer module. If you could call it a Subwoofer; he thought it had really deep bass: I will have to invite him over and let him audition my PW2200. My wife was with me and she looked at me and said "how come our speakers are so big, we should get these little cubes for our rec-room".......ahhhhhhhhhh. Anyway, I said if you want smaller speakers we can pay a fraction of the cost and purchase some Paradigm Micros or Atoms (I like Paradigms, so those were the first small speakers to come to mind). Just at that point the Bose owner over heard me and said my wife has some Paradigm speakers in our bedroom (not sure what they were as I didn't want to go and snope in their bedroom). Anyway, he thought they were some CHEAP Canadian made speakers that were junk. Ummmmmm right.

On the plus side he showed me a pamplet for a Denon 2803 that he may purchase. There maybe hope for him yet.

 

[Lev-S]

I'de personally make an open bet with him. Say that you are so confident that his Bose speakers sound worse than your Paradigms that you will bet ANYTHING he wants against it. 5$? $500? Your car? Tell him to name ANYTHING. And, remind him how much you paid for your system. If he is suprised at your offer, then he might listen to what you are saying, read the facts on Bose and get some nice speakers before Christmas. If he doesn't, just arrange for him to come to your house, with his Bose setup (help him with it too, it only sweetens the deal) hook 'em up, put in a DVD/CD, and free his mind. He'll be happy you did. I'de be happy if somebody took the time out to explain how I got ripped off and how I can make amends.