Paradigm, Bose, Athena or Polk Audio? (1 Viewer)

[Antonio_D]

hi all,if you have to rank thoes companies,how would you place them,from best to worst.

Here's my classification:
1-Paradigm
2-Athena
3-Bose
4-Polk Audio

Now your turn to rank them.
Later

 

[Mark R. Ososkie]

I've never even heard of athena, but my choice would be

1-Paradigm
2-Polk
3-Athena
4-Bose

Paradigm/Polk can be interchangable if you like, its all preference. If you are consider purchasing one of the two, i strongly reccomend you try to get a chance to test them side by side.

 

[Bry_DD]

It'll be:
1. Bose
2. Athena
3. Polk
4. Paradigm
oh wait. my list is suppose to be from worst to best
Well, I was a happy Bose owner for a long time so what do I know...

 

[John Garcia]

Which lines from each? Makes a difference...Polk's LSi line is as different from the RTi line as the Studios are from the Monitor line.
You would actually put Bose above Polk? That is rediculous. The RTi line easily sounds better than Bose cube setups, not sure about the larger speakers, but if price vs performance comes into question, then Bose again loses.
1-Paradigm
2-Polk
3-Athena (never heard them, but they have to be better than Bose)
4-blowing my nose
5-Bose

 

[Iver]

Friends don't let friends buy Bose.

Especially the line of speakers they include with their all-in-one HT sets. It is amazing to me that, not only do they throw in those wheezy little cubes with all their HT's, but even when you move up from the $2,000 HT system to the $5,000 HT system, you get those same little cubes (with the possible difference that you might get two little cubes attached on a swivel rather than just a single wheezy little cube).

The numbered Bose line, which, AFAIK, only come in stereo pairs, might be okay when you get into the higher end.

However, you would likely get far more for your money with a company such as .... oh .... Polk.

Considering the potential income, it's surprising that Bose does not make any center-channel, surround, or subwoofers to go with their larger home-audio speakers, such as the 901 et al.

Then again, if they did make any kind of halfway decent surround-sound speaker systems, customers might start to, you know, wonder about forking over four grand and getting those wheezy little plastic cubes.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Antonio,
You are kidding right?
You ranked Bose above Polk Audio? I hope that was just a
typo...
Lets see... The LSi Series from Polk uses the Vifa Tweeter
unless I am mistaken, and I believe just the tweeter alone
cost more than all the materials Bose has invested in the
entire "cubie" speaker setup.. And well the 901's 501's etc
al. are no better.. Polk makes a quality product, even the
cheaper RTi line is far better built and IMHO better sounding
than anything Bose offers in thier lineup.
My list would go....
1aradigm
2olk
3:Athena (simply because I have never heard them)
4:KLH $30.00 Cube Speakers
5:SparcoMatic Car speakers
6ogg Digital "White Van" Speakers
Well you get the idea...
7-99: Everything else imaginable..
100:Bose

 

[Jamie Doucette]

1 Polk (hey thats what i own)
2 Paradigm
3 Athena
4 Bose
Athena Speakers are put out buy API (Audio Products International), the same company that puts out Energy and other high end speakers. I've never listened to them for myself, but i have looked at them, and they are one of the Best looking and Solidly built speakers I've seen.
www.athenaspeakers.com

 

[Mike H]

I've heard Athena's SCT series speakers, and wasn't really impressed. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was. They just seemed really compressed. Of course this was at a store, and they had just got them in. This was a couple of years ago.

They may have changed since then.

mike

 

[Dennis Reno]

I've never listened to Athenas so take this with a grain of salt:
1. Paradigm
2. Polk
x. Athena
As for Bose You are paying for a lot of marketing and very little product.

 

[Brian Kleinke]

1 Polk
2 Paradigm
3 Athena
99999 Bose

I'm SHOCKED you would put Polk below Bose....

 

[Lou Loomis]

Polk's above Paradigm? Really? I assume this would only apply to their bookshelf/towers? And not to the 6600 satellites, for example?

The 6600's are on sale (model being replaced) and are seriously digging into my Titan decision. A store-induced delay in my purchase is making me ponder the $$ to small apartment ratio in my decision making.

 

[John Garcia]

Lou, the 6600's satellites will not match the performance of the Titans, IMO.

 

[Lou Loomis]

John,

I guess I figured that would be the case. When I first started this quest, the 6600's were what I envisioned as the ideal system for me, just too pricey. Now that they've come down in price, it seems I've moved the bar up. I better commit to this purchase before the problem gets worse!

 

[Angelo.M]

Lou:

I agree that the Titans will outdo the 6600's. I'd put Paradigm, generally, at the top of the batting order among the brands you named. Polk is second, Athena a distant third and Bose an extremely distant (light-years away) fourth.

--AM

 

[Todd_Petersen]

Bose are definetly on the low end of the stick here.I sell both Polk and Bose and bose sound horrible compared to polk.
I have the Lsi Series at home and sound amazing,i havent heard paradigm yet but my guess is they sound great.

 

[Antonio_D]

i have to tell you Todd that the Monitor 5's from Paradigm just sound amazing and they give outstanding clarity.

Guys, i didn't know that you hated the "BOSE" company soo bad.Because i heard them once in an audio store and i don't remember that they sounded awful;that's why i ranked them 3.
But maybe most of the people don't like them cause of their price;you don't get what you expected for the price you paid for them.

Later

 

[Jeremy Hopkins]

The problem with listening to them in an audio store is that they are usually in an open environment. Take them home and put them in your own room and they will probably sound a lot different. Put them in a A/B comparison with the others and there will be a huge difference.

I've heard a few paradigm systems and have been impressed. The only place near me to buy a polk system has them so over priced it'll make you sick, so I can't say much about them. I've never had a chance to listen to the Athenas, but they Sub/Sat combo looks sweet.

If you look around on the forum you will see a lot of Bose hate. I personally don't agree with their design philosophies: built for as little money as possible and market hype the hell out of them. Just look around the forum for the many rants on them. For the price you pay for them, I could(even with my limited knowledge of crossovers) build a better combo for less than half the price.

In the end if they sound better to you, then buy them. Its your ears, and your the one whoes going to be listening to them.

Cheers,

Jeremy

 

[DavidBelis]

Do Bose really sound that bad compared to these other brand names, or do people just hate Bose because they're the biggest name in the business?


Like I said in another thread, I bought Bose AM10s (version 3), and I think they sound very good compared to what I'm used to.

Is it worth returning them for 2 Paradigm Titans, a CC170, 2 ADP 170s and a PDR10?

How's the quality difference, and what about the price difference?

 

[Ron_L]

BOSE SUCKS!

 

[Jeff-Watson]

I am currently using lower level r series Polks in my theater. r30 mains and r20 rears. I started with Bose.(major mistake) and the Polk speakers are vastly superior in sound and build quality. The little cubes just could not reproduce the full range of sound that I never knew I was missing. I did use a borrowed set of Paradigm Atoms for a few weeks but ended up purchasing Polk as they sound better to my ear. The Polks do not produce the lower bass as well as the Paradigms but my sub make up for that. So IMHO:

1.Polk
2.Paradigm
3.Athena
4.My Sony boombox
5.Bose