Save my friend from Bose! (1 Viewer)

[Richard Harvey]

I was having dinner with a friend last night, and he told me he was going out today to pick up a pair of Bose 701 speakers. He recently bought my Sony STR-DE915 DD receiver after I upgraded to a Denon 2802. He wants to pick a nice pair of mains, mostly for use with movies.

I successfully convinced him his money would be better spent on another brand. The problem is I've now drowned him with possibilities: Paradigm, Definitive, Boston, Polk, Mirage, Klipsch, etc. He wants me to go out with him to help him pick a pair, and I'd like to have a crib sheet of possible models for us to comparison test. I know the brand names, but I'm not familiar with the various models, and I'd certainly like to know what NOT to steer him towards. He wants to spend no more than $800 for the pair.

Can everyone give me their picks?

Rich

 

[Vlad D]

I'm sure you'll get a lot of plugs for Paradigm, Definitive, and Klipsch. But being a Boston owner myself, I will suggest the VR-M50's. They are $700 a pair MSRP, but you may be able to do better. They sound awesome. I've included a link for their specs. Not only do they sound great but also look very nice (rates high on the WAF). Check them out.
Vlad

 

[Dave Schofield]

IIRC a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7's will run about $650.
Link Removed

 

[Darren Davis]

Those Bostons are very very nice speakers but if you choose Klipsch then I'd say go for the RF-3 II. I've auditioned them and they're excellent sounding speakers. The MSRP on them is about $850 and I notice those Bose 701s go for close to $1000. I've heard the 601s and if the 701s are anything like them then you'll want to steer clear of them. They are downright horrible. The bass on the 601s was very muddled and the highs weren't even there. The mid-range was drowning everything out but even that didn't have any detail or clarity. And if loudness is a factor then your friend won't like these either. They were struggling to fill a room that was about 20 ft. x 15 ft. If you really want your friend to buy something else then have him bring one of his favorite CDs to a high-end audio store and listen to it on a pair of good speakers from the brands you've mentioned. Then take him to Best Buy and have him listen to the same CD on the 701s. If that doesn't change his mind I don't know what will.

 

[Brian Shannon]

Can everyone give me their picks

My advice is to go out and just listen.
Narrow down the choices after hearing them and then evaluating budget and placement requirements.
Try this link
Link Removed

 

[Richard Harvey]

Brian,

For myself I would agree (I'll spend weeks researching and auditioning equipment), but if I can't direct him to brands to consider over Bose then my anti-Bose argument becomes pretty weak since I can't really offer specific alternatives. Bose is great for the instant-gratification crowd; you just walk into a supercenter, see that Bose has their own special "dedicated" listening rooms, and get suckered in.

Rich

 

[Scott Merryfield]

If he's open to bookshelf speakers instead of towers, the B&W 602's are another option that will fit into his price range.
Make sure that he takes along his own listening material that he is familiar with for the auditions. The salesman at the place I purchased my B&W's told me a story where a woman brought in a bunch of classical music to use in speaker auditions. When he asked her how things sounded, she said she was not sure, since she never listened to classical music. She just thought it would be better for auditioning.

 

[Dave Schofield]

Brian,

I think it would have been incredibly helpful to have a list of 5 or 6 speakers in my pricerange when I first got into HT. We aren't telling him what to buy, just what to look at.

 

[BrianWoerndle]

I would get a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors and a PDR12 sub. That will keep under $800 and give a much better range than floorstanding speakers. Although anything in the Paradigm Monitor line is good.
Or, he could get a pair of Studio 20s or 40s and plan for a sub down the road. The Paradigm Reference speakers are top of the line that should never have to be replaced with better speakers.

 

[EricHaas]

Have him listen to the Studio 20's and 40's. Outside online direct and DIY, it doesn't get much better for $800. He can also listen to the Paradigm Monitor line while he is at it. Either line will put Bose to shame.

 

[Dave Schofield]

I can't help but laugh thinking about "upgrading" from Bose to the Paradigm Studio line (2lb --> 80lb, 9in^3 --> 0.77ft^3) for about the same price And that is only the physical characteristics, not to mention the sound...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Actually, Dave, I believe the Bose 701's are tower speakers, so they probably weigh a little more than 2lbs and are bigger than 9 inches around.

 

[EricHaas]

Yeah, what are you taking about Dave? Don't you know that Bose towers weigh closer to *3* lbs.

 

[Dave Schofield]

Ahh, I was thinking of their little cubes, I'll shut up now

 

[tony randall]

Speakers are all a matter of preference, so if he wants the Bose...

He should definetly get into a retailer that carries other brands and test them out. I believe tweeter has both the bose he wants and the Klipsch RF-3's mentioned earlier, as well as the Boston and Mirage.

He should also bring a few CD's from his collection, to see how the speakers will sound with HIS music. As far as the local tweeter went, the Klipsch RF-3 stood up to all the other speakers to my ears.

I went to another store, and listened to some Monitor speakers. In a class by their own, but at $3000 for the mains...

...think I might wait a while.

Good luck to you convincing your friend, based on the posts here, he can probably do better for the money.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

I'd advise a good pair of bookshelves and a sub (he'll eventually need one for good ht performance). The Sony most likely will sound bad with a good speakers anyway (they will usually point out the flaw of Sony's amplification). I'd advise, if they are still availible, Nht super series (Two towers or Ones/Zeroes monitors) or Ascend Accoustics and the Shiva Rava, HSU VTF, or SVS subs.

 

[Vlad D]

So Richard,

Any luck? Or is your friend still hooked on Bose? What speakers if any has he auditioned yet?

 

[Richard Harvey]

Well, so far, I've planted enough seed of doubt that he has decided to wait until this weekend so we can take some time and really audition a wide range of speakers. I told him if he would give me his afternoon, I would deliver a much better speaker. Thanks to the group here, I've already lined up our store hit-list in the area so I know exactly what brands and models to focus on. Of course, at some of the higher end stores, we'll certainly find some other brands to sample which is fine. I'm simply steering him away from wasting time at a supercenter.

I've also spent some time over the past two days gathering some demo discs to take with us. I've asked him to bring his own music CD's (whatever his tastes are), and I could provide the movies.

Rich

 

[Vlad D]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Good luck.

 

[DanaA]

Please let us know the outcome of this situation. If he goes ahead and buys the Bose, I'll shrug. Beware that the salesmen you meet might heavily push the Bose though. A couple of days ago, I was at a Circuit City and the potential buyer was switching between a Bose lifestyle system and a system with a Harman Kardon 520 receiver, Polk floorstanding speakers, and a Velodyne sub. The difference was profound and he kept on telling the salesman that the HK/Polk system sounded so much better. They were watching Castaway. The salesperson kept on responding that the Bose had a vastly superior technology. I had to step in, politely but firmly, and point everything from the huge price markups to the frequency dropouts. After about a half hour, I had to go. I could tell that the customer, in his heart, really wanted to go with the system that sounded better to him, but the salesman was exerting an awful lot of pressure for him to buy the Bose. I don't know how it turned out.