HTD or Bose? (1 Viewer)

I have a friend who is building a home theater room in his new house. He wants to go with a Bose Lifestyle system but I told him that he would save money and have a better sounding system if he built his own. He likes the HTD Level Two's.

I'm just wondering what you all think. The Lifestyle or HTD set up? Also, whats a good receiver? Something that doesn't cost a ton. Trying to save him some money.

Apparently Denon is commonly recommended with these speakers; it may be a manufacturer's recommendation.

The HTD is a much better option than the BOSE. BOSE as most know is highly overated and is deffinetly not a good ''bang for your buck'' system.

Seth=L

Bose is all marketing, they have a niche in the market because they pretty much invented the sat system, almost every high end speaker manufacturer has a comparable product, many are cheaper most sound substantially better, like monitor audio or def-tech.

This is all very true. I have listened the definitive technoligies pro 60 system and it blows BOSE away for the price and sound; and the sub is smaller, gets lower, goes louder.

Seth=L

LanceG:


First, I strongly suggest you go to this website, and print out the entire thing, and hand it to your friend. It is lengthy, but it is accurate.

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

Then, explain to your friend that the problem with Bose is that they are overpriced, for the sound they create. The company is pure genius in marketing, and they are also the only major contender that refuses to publish its specs (because they know that this would lead to a public realizing that this "Emperor" has no "clothes.") They also control their displays in stores, carefully choosing an unrealistic speaker placement and a sound source that emphasizes the only frequencies that their speakers can handle (and those are very limited frequencies).

It is not an exaggeration to state that one can do better than their $1K system for perhaps $300 to $400. It is also not an exaggeration to state that one can do better than their $3K system for perhaps $800 to $900.

Here is a link to a person who wanted to sell his Bose system, but felt guilty about actually taking money for it, especially from his friends on a a forum. He offered it up for 12 pack of Sam Adams beer. And, yes, he did finally find someone willing to take it off his hands for that price.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=639878


As an acquaintance on another forum continues to remind us, "Friends Don't Let Friends Buy Bose."

Bose is always running neck and neck with a similar overpriced product, Monster Cables. Both corporations will sue those who publish anything negative about their product (Bose actually did sue Consumer Reports a few years back, do a search on the Internet and you will find all of the sad details). Both corporations spend almost all of their dollars on marketing, and play on the ignorance of those who failed to pay attention is high school physics class, and who wish to try to buy their way into the high end audio and home theater market.

Both products should be avoided, at all costs.

For receivers, cheak out Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo. For speakers, check out the PSB Alpha series, or many similar "best bang for the buck" bookshelves. They will blow away the best that Bose has to offer. At any price. If satellite speakers are a must, consider the Omnisats.


-Bruce

Thanks for the responses. I showed him this and I think he's convinced.

I personally have four HTD Level 4 bookshelves as surrounds and the Level 3 center paired with Cerwin Vega VS150s as Fronts powered by a Denon AVR3805 and I must say that it beats the crap out of any Bose system that I've ever been around. If your friend is stuck on those two choices, HTD by far. Just so you know, I did run the HTDs by themselves before sticking my old vegas in as fronts and the sound on them actually surprised me. I wasn't expecting that bookshelf speaker to sound that good.