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"Bose" question (1 Viewer)

Bill Briedis

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How big is the Bose home theater hype versus how much it can deliver? When speaker size is an issue, will the bose still not deliver a quality surround sound? From what I read here in the forum it sounds like the members think that this system is a waste of money. I want a rich sound from my HD TV and not at an ear spliting volume. Most speakers turned up sound pretty good but not so at lower volumes. Any help on this? Bill
 

ChrisWiggles

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Well, as you will quickly see by running a search on Bose on any audio forum, you'll get a very good idea what people think about bose in general.

There are MANY far superior, and far cheaper alternatives even if size is a concern.

I think the ratio of hype/performance or price/performance with regards to bose approaches infinity. Or maybe it's undefined, since the performance part is closer to 0 than anything...
 

Scott L

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Spend your money on a system of B&W 600 series instead. Axioms if your budget is tighter. Both cost less and are 5x better than the Bose cubes.
 

ChrisWiggles

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I'd look to paradigm performance series to be totally blown away, and if size is an issue, the cinema series. Or in line w/ the B&W 600 series, the paradigm monitor series as well. Find a good hifi dealer, get out of the chain stores.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Bose is a marketing company, not a quality speaker company. If you are interesting in a sub/satellite system because of space concerns, there are numerous manufacturers that make much better sounding products for less money -- Energy, Paradigm, Klipsch all come to mind. There are many more, though.

If you are looking for the best sound at a Bose price point, then larger speaker systems from B&W, Paradigm, etc. will all blow any Bose speaker out of the water.

Here's a good overview of the Bose Acoustimas speakers:
http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html
 

Bill Briedis

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:)
thanks to everyone who replied. Those were pretty much my thoughts about Bose but I wanted them reaffirmed. Bill
 

Grant B

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You have got to be kidding! Saying that is a Bass Module is like saying McDonalds is a fine 5 star eating establishment!
Great write up on Bose!
 

Joe Tilley

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Forgive me for saying it, but I have seen some el-cheepo Jensen & other no name or generic brands that were built better & or sounded better than Bose. There are so many better products out there for far less money than Bose. For the money go with something as mentioned above. And even my.02 Polk & infinity have some pretty nice small packages from 400 to around 1200 that will walk all over anything similar from Bose. don't let some over hyped name suck you in, Bose sucks they are way way over priced & there products are just plan cheep thrown together trash, look elsewhere.
 

Danny Beck

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It seems like some people on these boards have a death wish for Bose. It's the exact same way with Monster cables. They both make quality products. Why can't some people just admit that. Yes, they may be a little overpriced but they still make quality stuff.


I don't own any Bose stuff and I only own one piece of Monster cable. I bought a component video 3 Monster cable and it is of the highest build quality you'll find in cables. Yet, you'll still find people on this board telling you that Monster cables are complete crap.


I don't get it. Why are some people so hostile towards those two companies?


Danny
 

Aaron_*P

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Compare a $200 monstor cable to a $60 blue jeans cable and you'll see why. Also if size is a consideration look into Definitive ProCinema 80 system. Have them and love them. Rather small sattelite speakers, the center and sub although a bit bigger are both pretty small as well. However there weight is huge :) and they sound much bigger then they are too.
 

Jack Briggs

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Danny, there has been hostility toward Bose from those in the audiophile community ever since the 901 debuted in 1968. Even Stereo Review's Julian Hirsch, who was loathe to pan any product tested in his labs, couldn't resist calling that first 901 "Direct/Reflecting" thing a "music instrument and not a music reproducer."

Then, when a company develops its marketing savvy to the point of positioning itself among the nonaudiophile public as "the best there is" and becomes so damn good at it, no wonder there's a degree of hostility. By convincing the nonhobbyist public that it's the "best," Bose sort of lowers the overall standard of excellence. It's the company's hold on that demographic which is frustrating (the same crowd, it seems, that has resisted film-to-DVD transfers in their theatrical aspect ratios and all other sundry antipurist "evils").
 

John S

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Danny, while I see people post on here that Monster Cable is over priced, I have yet to see a post that says it is crap.

Now Bose on the other hand, what do you base your "qulaity product" assertion of it on?
 

Keith Mickunas

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That's really a laugh. It's well known that the bose crap isn't any good.

Monster on the other hand may be decent, but not for the prices they charge. I've got a Monster S-Video cable and a couple of RCA cables that no longer work. I know on the RCA cable it's the connection on one end, but I can't figure out what's wrong with the S-Video cable. I've yet to have a cheaper AR cable give me any trouble. Still, for the most part Monster has some quality, but there are a lot of alternatives that are at least as good and cost significantly less.

As for the bose, the same cannot be said. Most cheaper stuff is better. The cheapest HTiBs that you find at Best Buy might be worse, but they're 1/10th the cost. Bose claims to be something they're not, and uses their marketing power to convince the average consumer that they're sound is better than speakers that accurately reproduce sound. It's false advertising. Then the components are of low quality yet they charge a lot of money for it. There's nothing good about bose.
 

Joe Tilley

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Danny, take apart any Bose speaker & you'll see just how good there so called quality is.

Cheep speakers
Cheep materials
Half ass build quality with an overinflated price tag

Thats what Bose gets you...
 

Jack Briggs

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It just hit me: We're talking about Bose in A/V Sources. Now this thread is in its proper location.
 

Jesse Sharrow

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Keith Mickunas - Did you know that monster has lifetime gaurentee on all there cables? You dont need the box either, just bring it back to where you bought it and they will give u a new one.

I work at soundtrack and we are supposedly getting a new dedicated Bose room. Ill have to look at how we do it.
 

Paul Rosen

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Feb 3, 2004
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Here is a post I recentlty left in another thread ont this issue:

This is my first post on these forums and I am a very much a newbie in this area. However, I can think of nothing better to comment on than the Bose mystique. Like a lot of people, back when I was a little younger -- and a little less knowledgeable -- I was one of those who went out and spent what little money I had in college on a Bose Acoustimass system. I didn't even bother to listen or try out anything else, because, like a lot of people, I was brainwashed into thinking that they were the best mass market speakers out there. "They must be, look at the price . . . and the advertising!!"

Even a few months ago, when my financial and living situation allowed me to do some serious upgrading, I was all set to go out and get a new Bose AM-16; again, without listening and trying out various speakers. Then, by chance, I started reading forums such as this and S&V's. The overwhelming . . . no, universal . . . opinion on Bose was negative. More importantly, unlike Bose, they backed up what they said by providing the simple advice to just go out and listen to a lot of speakers to test them out. So I took there advice and thought this was a great idea: I test drive cars and other items, why not speakers.

So for a month, thats exactly what I did. I went everywhere and tested out everything I could get my ears on. And you know what? Everything bad that people said about Bose was abosolutely, 100% true. They could not hold a candle to any other speaker system that I tested. And most of those systems were comparable or cheaper in price than the Bose AM-16.

The Bose "bass" was aweful and the clarity of the high and midrange was consistently lacking. The worst part, given that I use my system almost exclusivley to watch movies, was that the center channel could not come close to producing an acceptable range and volume of sound. Granted, most movies are poorly written, but I would at least like to hear what the actors are saying.

Oddly enough, the Bose systems I listened to in the "Bose-designed" listening rooms was remarkably better than the systems I auditioned in "conventional" areas.

So, in closing, I can honestly say that as an average listener and somewhat-educated consumer (now), Bose produces inferior speakers that are extremely overpriced. They are nowhere near as accurate and powerful as the base line speakes I listened to by Paradigm, B&W, DefTech, Klipsch, Athena & JBL (I ended up with the B&W 600 series if anyone is wondering).

So, say what you want, and defend Bose as much as you want (for whatever reason), but for me the proof is in the listening. It's just a shame that more people don't go to the lengths to audition speakers as they do to try out other consumer items. But I guess thats why Bose makes so much money.
 

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