Bose audition at Fry's (1 Viewer)

[JeffTodd]

I hate to keep flogging a dead horse by bringing up Bose in yet another thread, but I was at Fry's today and they have the 10 minute demo in the "Bose Theater". I decided I would give it a shot just to see what they sounded like. Now, I am a novice in the HT arena so I didn't really have anything to use as a reference. But those 5 damn small cubes didn't sound bad.

Now I understand that the statement "Bose are bad" isn't quite accurate, rather Bose overcharges for what they offer. After hearing this sub-par HT system I am excited at the potential of better options that I have yet to check out!

So during this coming Saturday's HT Forum meet I am looking forward to experiencing something that I can use as a true reference to what is good.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

You mean those auditions where they don't actually use BOSE equipment:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...t=bose+curtain
-Vince

 

[Phil Iturralde]

You mean those auditions where they don't actually use BOSE equipment:

Phil

 

[Chuck C]

muahahahaha!

 

[Loring]

Don't be fooled by the BOSE™ behind the curtain...
Well I did the demo a couple years ago when a local Fry's opened (Anaheim) and I kept asking questions about amps and such and they asked me to leave the demo because I was being asking questions that did not relate to the Bose system. That is when I knew Bose was out of the question for me and plus I could not afford it at the time.
I love my JBL S series speakers and when I get an SVS to go along with them I don't think much will make me as happy. Or at least for what I paid for the system.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

BOSE® Better Sound Through Marketing!

 

[Juan_R]

Just so you know Bose does not use there silver receiver in those demos, they use a different receiver and different amps to run there speakers.

 

[Dave Schofield]

So why don't they say that outright?

 

[Juan_R]

So why don't they say that outright?

My guess is that if they use there own receiver then it wont sound as good at those high levels. I also think that they do it to make there speakers sound better, better equipment the better the speakers will sound. I dont know if you have a Fry's where you live but if you do go and try to see whats behind the curting, he wont let you back there because he does not want you to see the equipment they are using.

 

[John Royster]

And that my friends is called fraud. Isn't it illegal?

 

[ozric_smith]

Their did use the speakers. How about dog and pony or smoke and mirrors.

 

[Jim A. Banville]

As mentioned in another of the tired Bose threads. I too sat down in the Bose "Theater" to kill time. I too was impressed by the sound of the SPEAKERS. I could care less what other components they were using. Of course, the very high end of the audio range was MIA, but otherwise it did sound "good". I can see why non-audiophiles would buy it.

And regarding the other post where a single person very briefly saw a stack of unknown components that may or may have not been hooked up to the Bose speakers...well, let's just say I'd hate to be the prosecutor in a case against Bose with so little FACTS.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Jim,

Are you a Bose owner? You sure side with Bose every time

there is a Bose thread.

I have seen and heard what they have to offer and thank god

I am not a braindead J6P!

 

[EricHaas]

LOL, I was the one who saw that "stack." Uh, the Bose guy told me outright that they didn't use the receiver and that they used the components in the rack instead. I call that a confession, which last time I checked would carry considerable weight in a court of law.

 

[JeffTodd]

Man, I may go back to Fry's tomorrow and sit on another demo, this time armed with info.

And I also need to arm myself with more knowledge, just tonight I was talking to an aquaintance and the subject of speakers came up. He said that he could not live without his Bose.....and he asked me to show him another system where you could turn the volume all the way up and the sounds still be good. Being a HT newbie, I did not have an answer for him. But all in good time.

And another friend of mine couldn't say enough about the Bose 3-2-1 system with the virtual surround sound (or whatever it is that that system advertises). I listened to it and was not overly impressed. Just a two speaker system. Shit, I think my Aiwa system kicks its ass.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Jeff if I crank my system all the way up, My Receiver flat
out runs out of power and goes into thermal protection mode
long before there is ever a hint of distorsion from my main
tower's (and that's with 100 watts per channel x 6 channels)
I need atleast 300 watts per channel for just my mains and
they still will not distort.. Distorsion is usualy caused
by underpowering the speakers which causes the amp to clip.
There are thousands of brands of speakers that will not distort
at full volumes and Bose is NOT one of them.
From every Bose speaker I have ever heard (even the "legendary
LOL! 901's) they distort easily even with Moderate (100-200
watts per channel)
Infact one of my friends used to own original 701's and we
sent the cones flying at a party... I guess they just couldn't
take the power that his rack system was pushing and the volume
levels we had them at. (not that they sounded any better at
low volume)
And I have also owned 4 Corvettes which all have Bose Integrated
Amplified Speaker Systems and they all suck too.. Infact my
2000 Corvette has 8" MidBass Bose Drivers in the doors with
Seperate Tweeters (suprising for Bose, Usualy they just stick
a Wizzer Cone on..) and the only other place you will find
these 8" MidBass drivers is on a Lear Jet (something else
Bose Brags about) and they still blow..
Just the facts.. Everyone's opinion of sound is unique and
in my opinion Bose is on par with Aiwa!

 

[JeffTodd]

Brett,

Thanks for the info! I cannot wait till I can afford to scrap together a decent system, which will take some time but when it gets done then I will love to show my friends what a quality system sounds like. With such names as Denon, Paradigm, SVS and countless others that I have read about since being apart of this forum, my system should surpass any `ol array of 2" paper cones.

 

[Jim A. Banville]

LOL, I was the one who saw that "stack." Uh, the Bose guy told me outright that they didn't use the receiver and that they used the components in the rack instead. I call that a confession, which last time I checked would carry considerable weight in a court of law.

I did miss that last part of your post. Sorry. But no, the "confession" would not "carry considerable weght" in court. Completely unsubstantiated. There is simply no proof that it ever occured.

 

[Steve Stogel]

>>>>Just the facts.. Everyone's opinion of sound is unique and in my opinion Bose is on par with Aiwa!

 

[shankar]

I tend to agree with Jim. I used to have a set of 301's and I have now graduated to AR s40s. For 5.5 years they were OK in my old HT and for the kind of music I listen to. I'm neither an audiophile nor someone who pushes my speakers to the limit.

Let's just talk speakers. How does it matter what amp they used to drive the speakers to sound good? If the speaker sounds good it does. When they demo HDTV's at Best buy do you go and check what HDTV STB's they used? Does it matter whether it is a Tosh or a Samsung STB?

Bose speakers are overpiced and overhyped but they are not "crap". One thing I fail to understand is here in USA, where consumer protection laws and product liability lawsuits are rampant, how Bose can survive in the market if they are telling "True Lies"? How come nobody has sued Bose over their products and "inaccurate" claims?

After I setup my HT with all AR speakers, my 9 year old was able to judge that the Bose setup (AM10 module) she heard in Best Buy was "flat" with no bass compared to our setup at home.

BTW, Brett, Just because you don't like a product and somebody else does, it does not mean they are either "braindead" or "J6Ps". This characterization is too harsh. Then Tosh TV owners can call MITS owners the same thing and vice versa. People buy what appeals to them.

People trash the Terk 50. It is an overpriced product. I got it at $30 and it is the only indoor antenna that has worked for me in my basement to pull in DTV signals. I would not have bought it at $130 list but at $30 it simply outperformed all other indoor antennae I tried. So why should I not use it or be called "braindead" just because of it by people who prefer channelmasters or winegards?