Bose... ...Highest Quality Brand! (1 Viewer)

[Dan Hotch]

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a Bose Basher (I have never taken the time to listen to them to be honest).
In the March 4th issue of BusinessWeek on page 12 they have a small bit that was titled "The List Ol'Reliable". In it they had asked consumers to develop a list of the highest quality brands. The list was as follows:
1. Craftsman Tools
2. Waterford Crystal
3. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
4. Discovery Channel
5. WD-40 Spray Lubricant
6. Bose Stereo/Speaker Systems
7. Crayola Crayons/Markers
8. Hershey's Kisses
Just thought you guys would find that amusing.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Shows how brilliant the average consumer is..
WD-40? HAH Any time I sprayed WD-40 on anything I didn't
want to rust, it rusted more! (PB Blaster Rules)
Hersheys Kisses? These people obviously have never had good
chocolate (Sarris for example)
Craftsman Tools? 2 words... SNAP ON...
Rolls Royce? Rolls Canarly! (Suprised they didn't say Honda!)

 

[Grant B]

and let me guess,there was a big ad in the magazine for Bose.

I was talking to a friend yesterday and he mentioned hooking up his Mother in laws bose system...she asked her why she bought Bose?

She liked the color

That says it all!

 

[Chuck_C]

Highest Quality? Maybe the most brand recognizable but hardly the highest quality.
WD-40 is a nice product that will do a 100 things - lubrication not being one of them.

 

[John Sully]

Craftsman Tools? 2 words... SNAP ON...

As someone who used to make his living in the automotive repair industry, I think that Craftsman tools are very good. Snap On is better for the specialized tools needed for auto repair, but Craftsman is a better deal for the hand tools that you end up using on every job. And yes, I think they are just as high quality and are covered by the same "if it busts, we'll replace it" guarantee.

As far as some of the other brands? WD-40 is an OK penetrating oil, but not as good as Liquid Wrench IMHO. For actually lubricating anything, it sucks. And cars? How many of you would take a Rolls (the joke is Rolls Canardly... it rolls down one hill and can hardly make it up the next) out on a 1000 mile trip through the west? I sure wouldn't. And I think Bose belongs in the same category as Rolls.

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

while not really a brand, Duct tape should have gotten on that list some how!

 

[Thomas_Berg]

4. Discovery Channel

i don't understand this.

 

[GaryD]

Well, this thread went OT real quick.
Say, didn't Bose make innovations in the past? Surely Bose did some good things to establish their...erm, reputation...

 

[Brett DiMichele]

John Sully,
I can only put it like this.
Craftsman, You break it we replace it..
Snap-On, You won't break it! (But if you do we replace it)
I am not a mechanic by profession but I have been inside
and out on every part of a car, EFI or Carburated and I am
currently restoring a 68 Corvette Coupe. I have broken many
Craftsman tools, I have yet to break a Snap-On (and most of
them are my fathers from at least 3 decades ago)
My bud was also a professional mechanic and he puts it like
this. "Sure Craftsman will replace the tool if it breaks at
any time. But when you are in the middle of a job, who wants
to have to run to Sears and hope that they have the item in
stock. With Snap-On they just don't break, Period!"

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Okay, personally I've never heard a Bose speaker I didn't like. Certainly most of you on this board know more about sound than I do, so tell me what's so bad about Bose? What am I missing here?

 

[Brett DiMichele]

What don't like about Bose.... They concentrate on sending

sound everywhere but where you need it.. Non directionality

is good if it's done right (case in point would be any of

Def Tech's BiPolar Mains) but Bose unfortunatly only gets

one thing right (marketing).

Another thing is that to me they sound very flat, lacking

proper high frequency band (what do you expect from cheap

2" paper tweeters) and even the low end lacks any accuracy.

The low frequency is usualy non defined and muddy as are

the mids.

Bose speakers are cheaply constructed and if anyone would

ever take one apart and compare them to something else in

the price range they too would see this.

 

[Thomas_A]

Jeff..just do a search on this forum "bose" ..you will find infinite amount of threads discussing the pros/cons of bose. mostly cons..but there are couple pros to them.. I forgot what they were...but I'm sure they are there?

 

[joe logston]

the life style system from bose uses carion comes, and sanyo cd player thats how cheap they are, got the info from faban1 at polk autio forum

 

[joe logston]

tomas a; like your home theather system the 55 on top of the 2000 for your mains hows it sound, i use rt-7 polks on top of psw-650 polks subs with pedestals for my mains. thanks

 

[Thomas_A]

well..Joe..they definatly blow away the bose am5's I used to own (to keep this somewhat on topic)... love the combo.. want to try it with 35's..instead of 55's to bring the height down..but not loose anything.. will post in polk forum when I do..

thanx..

thomas a.

 

[Micah Cohen]

This is interesting, that this was brought up here. This list was actually from an industry marketing rag called Research Alert (or, maybe they got it from BusinessWeek... now I'm confused). Matt Polk ran into my office with this in his hand a couple weeks ago!
It's a very interesting list (it actually goes on from these top ten) in that it is purely "brands recognized as quality" by consumers. "Actual quality" sometimes doesn't enter into the equation. From a marketing POV, these companies have succeeded beyond all rational ideas. They are powerhouse marketers. I wish I could get Polk to this level of recognition, as we try to actually live up to these "quality" ideals everyday. (Sometimes, marketing change is like turning the QE2... slow and scary. But I have my hopes.)
There's an interesting chapter on Snap-On in this great marketing book, for anyone interested in how to build a brand:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...534118-8830314
MC

 

[ozric_smith]

Once upon a time.... A man made a whole lot of money

selling rocks in boxes to Americans. See my point.