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Stephen Houdek

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I have a hunting bud who's looking very closely at the Bose' CineMate system.

Please help me come up with a resonable alternative that will prevent him from spending money on Blowse.

He doesn't want to spend over $500 and doesn't want to buy a receiver. (Don't ask me why)
 

JeremyErwin

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But of course we want to know why...

Let's take a look at the bose system.

It's $500.
It has two speakers, plus a "bass module" (featuring an awesomely powerful 5.25 inch woofer.)
It has a remote control. (with many buttons, most of which are intended to replace functions on an existing remote)
It has one pair of RCA inputs. (if you need more, buy a better TV...)

Ah. Now I see. Bose is sick and tired of people complaining that the fake surround is unconvincing and that its bass module doesn't have a hope of reproducing low frequency effects. No SPDIF for you, Boso!

Ask your friend if the reason he wants this system is because he hates surround sound, and really has no desire to feel the might of Grond pounding down the gates of minas tirith (Return of the King), nor the creaking of Surprise (Master and Commender), nor the chaos of the battle of Normandie (Saving Private Ryan). It might help if you had a decent home theater to drive home those points.
 

Stephen Houdek

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Oh, I have a decent HT....JBL S312's up front with an S-center...S36's in the rear and an SVS PB12+ for the low stuff, powered by an Onkyo 797.

Trouble is I can't get him to take the time out of his busy day to come listen to it. Not top of the line by any stretch but beats the living S@#$ out of any theatre in town.

He's under the false impression that unless you have a perfect room, its a complete waste of time to do HT. Neither he or the guy who was pushing him to buy the Bose crap believe I have a better setup than any theatre in town. Of course neither of them have ever watched a movie in my home either.

"Oh you "think" you have a great system, but you didn't purposely build your room, so it really sucks."

To which I respond BUNK!
 

AlanZ

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Stephen, if he won't even take a little bit of time to visit your place, I would just allow him to go on his blind assumptions, over pay for the Bose gear, and let him learn things the hard way. Just my $.02. You're a good friend for trying to help him out, but he seems like he might be the 'know it all' type who just needs to touch the hot burner himself instead of listening to sage advice beforehand :)
 

JeremyErwin

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I thought it was the other way around. Stereo is capable of great things, a multi-speaker setup is less dependent on the room. At least for movies. A SACD/DVD-A setup is somewhat more complicated-- but then, that's getting out of bose's bailiwick.

Come to think of it, aren't bose's designs sensitive to placement?

Right, now, your buddy has heard a name. What he needs to hear is a system--preferably in an environment that is acoustically isolated from the KaChunga- KaChunga of the car audio section. In fact, that's probably where people get their silly ideas about not needing bass in the first place...
 

Chad F.

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Yea don't let him waste the money on that Bose system. Maybe a HTIB is his best bet for under $500, one that comes with a reciever of course. Before I joined this forum, and had any friends that know anything about Bose, I too bought the Accoustimass 10 series system. I think it sounds good, until I hear a proper HT with towers up front and a 15in. sub. Hell bookshelf size speakers make a big difference in the overall feel of your HT. He will never care about that it sounds like, almost as bad as my friend that paid $400 for a tiny CD player/tuner with 2 small bookshelf speakers, it was JVC but not even close to worth the price. I say if he won't listen let him buy it and think it rocks, then get him over to your place and wipe the grin right off his face with some real speakers. I can be happy with my Bose for now, but an SVS system is in my near future, thanks to many on this forum.
 

DavidSGT

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Oh well, Stephen, since he won't even try to sample the other side other than Bose, what can I say but let him do what he wants, after all you have done your best...

And we know better, hehehe

Go the SVS way...

Regards.
DavidSGT
 

Shane Harg

Second Unit
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Feb 14, 2006
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You can bring a horse to water...

I've had many people, including siblings and friends, who I have advised on ths subject of home theater. Some of them heard my system, some did not. The ones who heard my system were more likely to listen to my advice, but not always. My siblings were the least likely to listen to what I had to say. But there is one constant, however: the ones who listen with an open mind are always satisfied. The ones who don't, always regret something about buying that $5000 plasma mated to a Wal-Mart HTiB. ALWAYS!

Your friend will buy his Bose, and he will brag on his "great sounding" system until he hears yours. The funny thing is, he will resist going over to hear your system even more after he has his own, in order to protect his bragging rights.
 

Stephen Houdek

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Well, he is now officially turned and he didn't have to hear my system to get there.

Baraging him with Bose' threads and information turned him. He's now set to go with some BA inwall speakers and an Onkyo or Denon receiver.
 

JeremyErwin

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I assume this choice was made after listening to several brands. Awesome speakers they may be (not having heard them myself), but the proof of the pudding is in the eating--tastes vary.
 

Jay J

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I have been considering a Bose Cinemate system, but reading this thread is making me think twice.

I've only heard the Cinemate (and other systems) in the store and not in a real life, home environment, so while they sounded great at Fry's and Best Buy, the stores I saw them at didn't have a true 5.1 or 7.1 setup to compare head to head against.

Let me preface this by saying that I've never owned a decent home theater system, and am currently just using the speakers on my TV for audio, so anything will be an improvement over what I have today.

I also don't have a den that is wired for rear speakers, which is why I was looking at this Bose 2.1 system.

I'm not opposed to a 5.1 system, and quite frankly would really like to go with that type system, but I'd need a system with wireless rear speakers.

Unfortunatly what I'm finding is that just about everything in my budget for a 5.1 system with wireless rear speakers comes with a 5 disk DVD unit (which I don't need) that is overly large (my shelves are only 15" deep) and doesn't have enough optical/digital inputs to support my equipment.

I currently have a budget of around $500 and can get the Bose Cinemate system for $450 new with a coupon from BestBuy.

I've looked into some HTIB 5.1 systems, that are priced in the $350-$750 range, but they usually only have 1 optical in, and most don't have HDMI out.

I've got an XBOX 360 with 5.1 Optical output, a Samsung 46" DLP HDTV with Optical out and HDMI in, a DVD Recorder with standard L/R RCA audio out, and a Cable box with Optical and Digital (coaxal) output.

So If I'm going to go with a 5.1 system, it really sounds like I need to get a "real" AV Receiver, which will darn near blow my budget, and then when I have more $$$ saved up, try to find some speakers for it, that have wireless rear/surround.

Any suggestions/advice would be very welcomed!
The best 5.1 HTIB I found is the Sony DAV-FX900W but it's a bit out of my current price range at around $750 at Amazon.com


Thanks again for the help/advice!
 

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