BoseHomeTheatreSpeakers 5.1 Channel / Want to decide on Receiver (1 Viewer)

Guys,

I am planning to buy BoseHomeTheatreSpeakers 5.1 channel and I need your help on deciding reciever.

On Bose site, they are offering Onkyo TX-SR508 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) with this speakers with additional price, but I am thinking to buy receiver by myself and thought of buying

Onkyo TX-SR608 7.2-Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)

Can anyone suggest me the right receiver for Bose speakers?
I am expecting some good suggestions on receiver names. Please reply soon as I have only 1 day left to decide on.

Thanks guys.

The Onkyo 608 is a great reciever. I can't say the same about the Bose speakers, though.

Unfortunately, one of the best features of the Onkyo recievers is the Audyssey calibration/setup utility. This utilizes a microphone and automatically adjusts the levels to each speaker to compensate for your particular room acoustics and speaker placement. The result is a very well-calibrated and uniform soundfield.

The Acoustimass speaker system, on the other hand, requires ALL the little cube speakers be connected to the Bass Module which is the only piece that is connected to the Onkyo receiver. This renders the Audyssey feature useless, as the receiver will have no idea what speakers are connected.

If you tell us how much you had budgeted for the Bose speaker system, I'm sure we can come up with a number of cheaper and better performing alternatives.

If you're determined to get the Bose speakers, then the Onkyo will (presumably) work just fine, but I stress that you won't realize the full benefit of that receiver with those speakers.

Thanks for the reply. But I didn't get the one point that "receiver will have no idea what speakers are connected".

1. For each speaker there is a wire from Bose Module to receiver, so at the end receiver will know which wire is for which speaker.
Isn't it?

2. Secondly, for Audyssey calibration, Onkyo provides microphone and other components?

3. I am spending $1100 for the Bose speaker System. Actually, I am just going by brand name, caz Bose is Bose. But still you sound like very much knowledgable in this field, so any better suggestion for best result and performance would be highly appreciated.

If you can reply promptly it will really help as I need to order it soon.

Thanks a ton for your suggestions and guidance.

Originally Posted by piyushgupta

3. I am spending $1100 for the Bose speaker System. Actually, I am just going by brand name, caz Bose is Bose.

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Bose is nowhere near as good as they say they are. It's all marketing hype. You can get much better speakers for less money.

Others can chime in with specific suggestions.

[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]But I didn't get the one point that "receiver will have no idea what speakers are connected[/COLOR]

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The Bose bass module performs equalization (similar to what a receiver would do, but not under your control), so Audyssey gets confused.

Trust us, you don't want Bose speakers. Anything else would be better.

Can you guys give me some good name for 5.1 channel speakers for the above receiver?

Also, please answer all my questions to clear my doubt to make clear decision.

Also, what i understood that i should not have bose speaker for Onkyo receiver, but on the other side, if I want to have bose speaker then which receiver I should buy, if not Onkyo???

There's really no such thing as matching speakers to a receiver. The main consideration is to get speaker that sound good to your ears. Speakers tend to have a colorization, so you want to pick ones that colorize to your satisfaction. Some speakers try very hard to not colorize the sound (neutral sounding); but even that is a choice.

The only real consideration is to make sure the receiver can handle the resistance rating of the receiver. The Onkyo is a nice receiver, but it doesn't handle 4 Ohm speakers, so stay away from those.

I happen to like Axiom speakers, which attempt to be neutral. (Some of the Axiom models are 4 Ohm.) I also have Harman/Kardon satellites that I like. Paradigm, Polk, Jamo, Klipsch, are also good choices.

The usual group of good receiver manufacturers is Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, and Harman/Kardon. There are many others of course, but they tend to be thought of as lessor or greater quality. For instance Sony has a recognized name; but while they make great TVs and DVD players, their receivers are not so well respected.

Originally Posted by piyushgupta
3. I am spending $1100 for the Bose speaker System. Actually, I am just going by brand name, caz Bose is Bose. But still you sound like very much knowledgable in this field, so any better suggestion for best result and performance would be highly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Speakers are the absolutely LAST thing you want to select based on brand name or reputation alone. The Bose name gets you in the door, then the specially tuned and calibrated Bose demo makes you think that you're hearing the greatest thing in the world. Then you get the system home, and discover that you can't replicate what you heard in the demo - largely because the demo consists of specially-authored material that is chosen because they don't challenge the Bose cubes in the areas where they are weakest.

The most important thing you can do is to listen to speakers firsthand with your own material (CDs and DVD or Blu-Rays that you're familiar with and have listened to many times before). You need to decide what sounds best to you. The best we on this forum can do is suggest brands that we have liked and that fall into your budget - but that's no guarantee that you'll like the way they sound as much or as little as we do.

If listening beforehand is impossible due to your location or other circumstances, then purchase from a retailer with a generous return policy. One great option is an Internet-direct speaker manufacturer, SVS. Their speakers are an excellent value, and their subwoofers are outstanding.

A budget of $1100 is a VERY NICE budget that gives you many options.

In addition to the brands that Al suggested, you could consider PSB (they're Canadian, like Paradigm and happen to be my speaker of choice). Go to the websites of the manufacturers and see if there are any dealers in your area where you can audition speakers.

One final suggestion. While it's critical that your front three speakers be "timbre-matched" (i.e. from the same manufacturer and same product line) with each other to ensure a uniform soundfield, the subwoofer does not have to be from the same company. In fact, the low- to mid-range subwoofers offered by many speaker companies such as Klipsch, Polk, and PSB, are often not that great. One newer company that's been getting a lot of good word of mouth is Lava. They have a 12 inch model (bigger is always better with subwoofers) that outperforms many comparable models.

Thank you all! I learnt a lot from you guys. Well, my Onkyo 608 is on its way. Now, what I will do I will order Bose Accoustimass-10 Module speaker system and will test it at home.
If its fail, I will return it and explore other option suggestion by you guys. Dont take me otherwise, but I used to have bose system before and I liked it very much, but now only thing is I want to test that 5.1 Bose speakers can sustain Onkyo or not. Otherwise I will simply return bose and explore other things.

Thanks a ton again. I will be back soon after my experience with Bose and Onkyo.

Originally Posted by piyushgupta
Thank you all! I learnt a lot from you guys. Well, my Onkyo 608 is on its way. Now, what I will do I will order Bose Accoustimass-10 Module speaker system and will test it at home.
If its fail, I will return it and explore other option suggestion by you guys. Dont take me otherwise, but I used to have bose system before and I liked it very much, but now only thing is I want to test that 5.1 Bose speakers can sustain Onkyo or not. Otherwise I will simply return bose and explore other things.

Thanks a ton again. I will be back soon after my experience with Bose and Onkyo.

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Really? What have you learned? We are not kidding. BOSE has a HORRIBLE reputation with folks that know anything about sound. Stay far away.

While I am not a Bose fan, I am not going to bash them.. Speakers are the most difficult to chose and in the end a personal choice. On speakers, I always advise that auditions are critical which makes online buying difficult although SVS has good return policies and could be a great choice. Gather your own sources, cd's, dvds, bds, etc.. and head to a a couple of good retailers. Do A/B comparisons (at the same volume level) and pick the best 2 pairs, even at different stores, and see if you can bring them home at the same time. Go by the main front pair. If you do not have any avr/recieiver etc you need to borrow one, or you will need to make your AVR purchase first. Although speakers are the most important part of the system, odds are against any AVR having problems with any speaker you eventually chose. Do the A/B speaker comparisons in your home in the room you plan to use. Your room is a different acoustic space than the store. Then make your choice. All the speaker recommendations previously mentioned are good ones (PSB, Paradigm, Klipcsh, Axiom,Polk, etc). I would also add B&W but they may not fall into your price range.

As an aside the Onkyo's, Yamaha and Denon all make fine electronics. I just recently purchase the Onkyo tx-nr1008 for 799 because my last receiver went belly up after 11 years. I am really please with it. You can do very well by spending less. Budget, then comparisons of features are the way to go. All avr's at any given price point will have trade offs. Only you can judge which features are most important for you. For avr's best prices for the most part are online. Just make sure you buy from an authorized seller for valid warranties.

Above all have fun and do not sweat it.

Piyush...

Trust me .. the people in this thread ( A I Anderson, David) are very knowledgeable... The reason is... I had long long discussions with them... you can find lots of my threads in this forum... I consider myself a serious music/ movie and inturn home theater love and I have been studying from last 2 months on way many websites about all the technical information required to buy a good home theater system. I can not listen to the speakers as I have to order online and thats why I did long long RnD discussing with these people here...
I can tell you one thing after my analysis that BOSE WAS BOSE.. NOT IS. There are lots of differend brands speakers out there that sounds way better than BOSE.. and this is something I personally experienced in various stores like Frys, American Electronics, Best Buy, Electronics Expressions etc...
Your budget is very handsome and I suggest you dont spoil it with BOSE... Bose is great.. but not as great as $1100.
You want to try other better brands like Fluance, Energy etc. Onkyo is best in receivers as per my personsal analysis...
Consider this and do some more RnD on speakers.. and I am sure you will be happy better than you will with Bose. Check out impedance (matching with receiver), weight of the speaker, sensitivity (bigger the better, requires less power to drive) and its frequency response.. and then decide.. I know I am not very expert here but this is something I learned reading various materials and discussing in this forum.
I am going to order Onkyo HT-S9300THX system.... I did consider components also earlier and with the help of these people here but a good choice was taking my budget to around $1000 and my budget is not that much.. ( i wanted 7.1 channels as my room is as big as it should be for 7.1) and then 9300THX is the one I am getting in $750 in a deal... so I am not finding any component system in this price range that has features and performance at 9300THX level.

First of all I own a set of Bose 901 speakesr from the 1970's. Bose did make a few good speaker and PA systems at that time but lost direction when they introduced the Cube based systems.

One thing for sure if you listen to the Bose Cubes at one of those fancy in store demos and were impressed I can guarantee you they will not sound as good when you get them home. The reason for that is Bose uses a specially produced AV show to demo their speakers that contains specially enhanced sound tracks to make the speakers sound better. Don't believe me take in some of your own music tracks or video material and ask the salesman to play it for you and listen to the response you get. Its pretty hard to produce a full spectrum of sound with a passive Bass Module and cheep small cubes with less than 2" drivers without some out side help. But somehow Bose gets away with duping the public.

I have no problem bashing Bose Cubes at as far as I am concerned they are nothing more than over priced White Van speakers that are sold by legitimate retail and on line sources. Believe me for $1,100 you can do much better. Read the threads you will find more complaints and problems with Bose cubes than all of the other speakers on the market combined. Take away the Bose name plate and I doubt anyone would buy them.

One other world of caution be careful if you order those Bose Cubes on line, Check the sellers return policy. While many Internet direct speaker seller like SVS have a liberal 30 day no questions asked return policy. Other on line sellers of speakers may not let you return the speakers because you do not like the way they sound in your home.

@David Willow - I learnt to ignore your sarcasm. Even I am not kidding.

Anyway guys, I have not ordered 5.1 speakers yet. But now I will explore all the options suggested by you. Thanks guys. I will post my experience soon. Thanks again!!!

Hey Piyushgupta...

Just a suggestion. If you're wanting the smallish speakers like the Bose speakers, check out options like the Paradigm Cinema series linked below.

http://www.paradigm.com/products/paradigm/ct-5-1-system

Find yourself a Pardigm dealer in your neighborhood and go.

Or check out something like this..


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Klipsch+-+HD+Theater+500+5.1-Channel+Home+Theater+Speaker+System+with+Powered+Subwoofer/9385747.p?id=1218096162766&skuId=9385747



If you're stuck on Bose speakers, you'd be far better suited going with four of these..

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Bose%26%23174%3B+-+301%26%23174%3B+Series+V+Direct/Reflecting%26%23174%3B+Speaker+System+-+Black/4746449.p?id=1051806235077&skuId=4746449

or these

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Bose%26%23174%3B+-+201%26%23174%3B+Series+V+Direct/Reflecting%26%23174%3B+Speaker+System+-+Black/4746225.p?id=1051806234629&skuId=4746225


And then getting a 5th one if you can buy one individually (not sure) for your center channel and then a separate powered sub of your choice. If you really want Bose, these are going to be far greater than the cube speakers. I don't get the cubes at all. But the 301's, while not suited to my taste, are far better speakers.



Not trying to tell you how to spend your money, but I hate to see people make mistakes or have regrets, or at least not explore the possiblities before throwing money at the Bose cubes. My father, for example, purchased the 301's and then came to my house and listened to my Paradigm bookshelf setup and immediately put his Bose on ebay (as they do have a great resell value on ebay) and bought himself a Paradigm 7.1 setup. The 301's are not great sounding speakers either (IMO), but they are far better than the cubes.

@JeremyR - Awesome!!! I really appreciate it...

No problem man. On a side note, you can't go wrong with Onkyo. I've got the Onkyo TX-SR805 and I absolutely LOVE the thing.

Good luck finding speakers man. I hope you at least do some auditioning before settling on anything. That was, without a doubt, the best advice I received here when I first started shopping around.

So what did yu end up with and how is it working out? I too had my mind set on Bose. Their small size and impressive showroom is powerful marketing.

Petermu said:

So what did yu end up with and how is it working out? I too had my mind set on Bose. Their small size and impressive showroom is powerful marketing.

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If you're going for small form factor, you're going to have much better luck and ultimately be much happier going with something like these.
http://www.paradigm.com/products/products-by-category/ct-5-1-system/paradigm/cinema-series-v-4/cinema-100-ct
Here is a review of them:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/surround-sound-speaker-systems/surround-sound-speaker-systems-reviews/paradigm-cinema-100ct-5-1-speaker-system.html
The whole 5.1 system has an msrp of $999, however most independent Paradigm dealers might sell them to you for less if you can talk them down. Add in a decent receiver (you won't need much to driev small satellites) and you'll have a much nicer setup than the Bose.
There are of course other options:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Definitive+Technology+-+ProCinema+600+5.1-Channel+Home+Theater+Speaker+System/8206201.p?id=1177718655876&skuId=8206201
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Klipsch+-+HD+Theater+600+5.1-Channel+Home+Theater+Speaker+System+with+Powered+Subwoofer/5061165.p?id=1218605827465&skuId=5061165
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Polk+Audio+-+Blackstone+5.1-Channel+Home+Theater+Speaker+System/6236508.p?id=1218721356196&skuId=6236508
All of which are going to be superior to the Bose.
If you're not afraid of factory refurbished items... here is a good deal. I actually have heard these (as well as the Paradigm's above) and was very impressed. This is a pretty good deal on this set.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/KEFKHT20053K1BLK/KEF-Kht2005.3-5.1-Speaker-Package-with-Kube1-Subwoofer-Black/1.html#!more