Pay no attention to that gear behind the curtain! (Bose Demo story.) (1 Viewer)

[Rick Radford]

This is really interesting. I've never gone to a Bose demo. Makes me want to search one out now.

 

[Albert M]

I would seriously find out when the next demo is and I would call Dateline NBC

I sure hope someone does this.

 

[ken thompson]

Whats the big deal? All salespeople pick the biggest baddest source when demoing speakers. No matter where you go. No matter what speakers you are demoing. I've always had to say after a demo "OK, now lets them on this other piece since that is more like the one I have". You guys crack me up. This is sounds like another Bose bashing bandwagon. ALL ABOARD!!!

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Ken, they're not just demoing the speakers, its supposed to be the complete system. Its like test driving a car that only comes with a a 4 cylinder, but finding out the car they use for demo purposes has a V6 and better suspension. Would you stand for that?

 

[ColinM]

At least you see with your own eyes the equip and techniques used. Bose is hiding all of that, implying that the little silver popsicle is doing all of the work.

Bait and switch.

Bring your own CD in and ask Mr. Bose to play it for the crowd. See if he slips it into the Bose thing, slips behind the curtain, or makes an excuse to not play it. I would hope he tries to excuse his way out of it. I'd jump all over him and make the crowd do the wave shouting 'play the disc! play the disc!'

Fry the bastard.

 

[Kevin P]

It makes you wonder if they actually had some high-end tower speakers hidden behind a curtain where the Bose cubes were, and you weren't even listening to the Bose speakers, let alone the "receiver!" After all, those amps (Krell or not) would probably melt down those plastic Acoustiblast cubes.
Maybe you should have walked up to the guy and said "Hey, that system sounds amazing! I'll buy the whole thing, amps, rack, and all! What was the price? $3500??"
KJP

 

[John Stone]

Whats the big deal? All salespeople pick the biggest baddest source when demoing speakers.

As Keith said, they are selling the entire system, not just speakers.

Why does BOSE go to all the trouble of hiding the real audio equipment for these demos? When I went to my local audio shop to listen to a pair of Paradigms, the Marantz monoblocks and preamp used to drive them were in plain sight. That's because they have nothing to hide. BOSE apparently does.

BOSE marketing is deceptive. Calling them on it does not equate to a "Bose bashing bandwagon".

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Driving Acoustimass speakers with Krell equipment? Isn't that sort of like putting lipstick on a pig?

I would seriously find out when the next demo is and I would call Dateline NBC

Try a different news program. Dateline would want to attach explosives to the equipment to demonstrate how they blew up when turned on. (reference to tactic used to "prove" GM trucks would explode when overturned).

 

[Kevin P]

Why does BOSE go to all the trouble of hiding the real audio equipment for these demos? When I went to my local audio shop to listen to a pair of Paradigms, the Marantz monoblocks and preamp used to drive them were in plain sight...

Bose wants their demo to sound good, and it would have sounded like crap if they had used the gear they're actually foisting on the public, so they hide the actual gear that's being used.

It wouldn't have mattered as much if they were just demoing the Acoustimass speaker system, though in that case they should have the gear in clear view. But they were supposed to be demoing the Lifestyle system, and it was deceptive to be using other gear to actually produce the sound for the demo instead of the gear that you'd actually be bringing home for your $3500.

Imagine a company that makes and sells a crappy looking NTSC-only RPTV for $3500, then in public demos shows a Pioneer Elite HDTV. That's essentially what Bose is doing with these demos.

 

[EricHaas]

Yeah, that's my view of it. They didn't say that they were actually using the receiver, though I could swear the receiver in the front of the room appeared to be on and plugged in (I could be recalling wrong though). However, they did say they were demoing the "Lifestyle" system, not the Acoustimass speaker system. So yes it was implicitly misleading. Also, the slide show demo spotlighted the receiver and talked about how simple and easy to use it is. They even showed slides of a person unpacking a "conventional" receiver that looked like maybe a Denon or Onkyo with about 50+ inputs in the back for comparison.

I don't think a show like Dateline would be interested. There aren't many people outside the audio enthusiast community who will find this compelling. Most people barely know what a receiver is, let alone understanding the difference between a receiver and separates.

They weren't actually playing a DVD but a slideshow, and it obviously wasn't a DD or DTS surround track, but rather something they custom made to show off their speakers. Maybe that had something to do with why they weren't using the Lifestyle hub? Just trying to be fair.

Also, they did a separate "Home Theater" demo of the Lifestyle System with the actual hub afterwards on the sales floor. They showed the Pod Race scene from TFM. A very bad choice, since the Bose base module clearly doesn't dip much below about 35 hz I'm guessing. Then again, I doubt many of the people realized what they were missing.

 

[Kevin P]

(TPM)...A very bad choice, since the Bose base module clearly doesn't dip much below about 35 hz I'm guessing.

Try 80 hz on for size! By 40 it's probably inaudible, unless you EQ the crap out of it, but then the paper cones would probably catch fire!
Bose gets two in my book...
KJP

 

[RichardH]

Man, I wish I was near a Fry's so I could go see a demo and call them out!!!

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I was actually in a Bose store yesterday and it look like they have this demo setup in a permenent room.

(I was buying some of those noise-canceling headphones for daughter 1of3 who is on a 16 hour plane ride).

But they have a "control room" in the back with slide-show projectors peeping out of curtins so it would not be easy to get back there and see what is really creating the sound.

 

[EricHaas]

The more I think about it, the more it seems that they may not have been able to use the hub. The sound track was some form of surround sound, but probably not a DD or DTS format but rather something proprietary to Bose. If the receiver cannot decode that, I don't see that they could use the receiver. And I doubt the receiver has inputs for use with an external decoder, so they couldn't even use it as a preamp/amp. Perhaps this is what he meant by "special technical requirements." They did after all use the receiver for the DD TFM sound in the second demo on the sales floor. Of course, they still should have told everyone that the Lifestyle hub wasn't being used, rather than implying very specifically that it was.

 

[BryanZ]

Just raise your hand and loudly ask, "Excuse me, can we listen to the Pod Race scene from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in DTS or even the THX intro from it? What do you mean we can't?!?!!? Doesn't this play DTS and DPL II? It doesn't? You mean to tell me that is inferior to Kenwood's home theater in a box (model HTB-504)?"

 

[Lewis Besze]

Try 80 hz on for size! By 40 it's probably inaudible, unless you EQ the crap out of it, but then the paper cones would probably catch fire!

Tom Nuisane tested the "bass module" and I think is on his Sub list that floats around here sometimes.

It did go down just below 30 hz with ample output!

 

[Ken Seeber]

I doubt that Dateline NBC would be interested, but I'd be willing to bet your state attorney general's consumer fraud office would be.

 

[EricHaas]

"It did go down just below 30 hz with ample output!"

Interesting. There was NO low base in that pod race sequence. None whatsoever. Sounded like the entire bottom octave just wasn't there. I suppose it could have been placement/room acoustics, or maybe they turned the subwoofer down so as not to disturb customers outside the listening area. Either way, it was notably unimpressive.

 

[Bob_A]

So let me get this straight...the AM system with expensive amplification and EQ can actually sound really good?
Of course we know the FR limitations of the AM speakers.
But on a related note, has anyone heard, say, the 701's with some good quality amplification? Thanks.

 

[EricHaas]

Actually, it is worth noting about the Bose FR limitations, which are well known, that if a demonstration is designed so that it plays primarily in areas of the frequency spectrum that are within the systems strengths, it can sound pretty decent. For example, in the demo they tried to show how transparant the speakers could sound for vocals. What they played was an a cappella recording of a male vocalist singing "glory glory halleluya." It actually sounded above average, but consider that the vocalist was singing in a very limited range, with no musical accompanyment. That places the sound in an extremely narrow frequency range. I have no doubt the demo was entirely tailored that way. So yes, with great electronics, AND in pariticular portions of the frequency spectrum, Bose speakers can sound pretty good.