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Steer my friend away from Bose Acoustimatics and towards a better speaker pkg. (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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A co-worker of mine approached me today asking
for advice on purchasing a complete satellite speaker
Home Theater system.

He had been looking at the Bose Acoustimass® 10
Series III Home Entertainment Speaker System.

http://bose.com/home_audio/ht_speakers/am10/

When he mentioned Bose, the first thing that popped
in my head was how much HTF members have come to
dislike Bose speakers.

I promised him that with a single post on my
forum, I could find him a better sounding satellite
system for the money.

So....without this becoming a total Bose bashing
thread, can any of you convince my friend to spend
his money more wisely on a comperable or better
system at a $1,000 or less price point?

All your responses will be greatly appreciated.
He's a good co-worker and he deserves better than
Bose!
 

Brett DiMichele

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Ron,

There are numerous other small satelite systems your
co-worker friend could go with in that price range and
be further ahead of the game. How much do asthetics play
in his choice? Can they be "slightly" larger than the
acoustimass cubes?

A few that come to mind:

Anthony Gallo Acoustics Nucleus Micro's
www.roundsound.com/

M&K MultiPlatform (MP) Series
Link Removed

Mirage Audio OmniSat
http://www.miragespeakers.com/produc...oduct/omnisat/

And of course there are the more traditional offerings like
the JBL NSP1 Series or the Acoustic Research HC-6 Series or
some of the offerings from PSB, Axiom and Energy.

I feel that the first three are the most expensive and he
may have to stretch the money a little further but those
are the best of the best (especialy the M&K's) the later
companies will probably come right into the price point he
is looking to spend but these are slightly "larger" offerings.

The question is can he go slightly larger? We're not taking
huge here.. The NSP1's or the AR HC-6's are still small by
most standards.
 

Khoa Tran

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Wow those bose do look good though....heh
i second Brett on the gallos and offer some klipsch quintets....
 

JeremyFr

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2nd vote for Energy's though I've got the 5+1's I've had mine since December and totally love them. Great system with sub for about $600.
 

Steve_Corrick

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Feb 16, 2002
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Another option Atlantic Technology T70 5.1 system.
Available from Accessories 4 Less
$799.00 + free shipping. Retail $1100.00
Go to Speakers - then to speaker systems.
Factory authorized manufacturer's closeout dealer - full factory wty + option to extend wty to 5 yrs through the mfr.

Looks like the T70's have gotten pretty good reviews. YMMV


Audio review C-Net
 

Frank Mowry

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Ron,
First print out this and have him read it.

I still have an older Polk satellite setup for sale REAL cheap that keeps the small profile but really outperforms the Bose stuff.

Ad here

Frank
 

Darren_T

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Without even putting a ton of thought into it...

I had a Bose Acoustamass System myself a few years back. I bought 2 Paradigm Atoms and they alone blew the Bose system away. 5 of these and a velodyne CT-100 would be leaps and bounds above the Bose system at well under $1000.

Darren
 

Evan M.

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Feb 26, 2002
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I had a Boston Acoustics system 9000 2. It came with a sub and retails for $999 although you can certainly find it for less. For home theater aplications it is great, it lacks in the music area though because of lacks of mids but you can't expect miracles from a 3 and half inch driver. The highs are fantastic with the lynnfield tweeter and they are all die cast aluminum enclosures and are built like tanks.
 

Kevin Co

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How about five NHT Superzeroes ($90 ea.) and a Velodyne VX-10 sub ($200) for a total of $650. You could even add the Northcreek music crossover upgrade to all 5 Superzeroes and still be under $900.
 

Jack Briggs

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Ron, the Acoustic Research HC6 system oozes class. Excellent tonal balance on both music and films, superb quality and finish (black piano lacquer, even comes with soft cloth gloves for handling the units), and an astonishing suggest retail price of $799. It streets at some vendors for only half that.

Why the HC6 isn't more popular among HTF's members puzzles me.
 
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Frank, that is a great article! A few weeks ago, I almost got stuck with Bose until I came across this board.

NOW I AM A BELIEVER! (I am now looking at Kef, B&W and Paradigm.

Chris
 

Frank Mowry

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Chris,
I found that article possibly in this forum. No credit, I'm just passing on some in depth info. My neighbor just bought a Bose setup. Unfortunately it was before I had seen that article and he never came to me for advice. Bose is such a marketing machine that it's no wonder they sell like hotcakes.

Frank
 

David Lawson

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It's a shame there are no hhgregg locations in your area, Ron. All of the ones here are blowing out their Acoustic Research stuff. I saw the HC-6 at one location for $350, and I agree with Jack...the black piano gloss finish is gorgeous.

I own the AR Performance line, though I could have gotten the Stature line for the same price if I had waited seven or eight months for the blowout pricing. :rolleyes:I know Brett will back me up when I say that all of their speaker lines will outdo the Bose.
 

Brett DiMichele

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David,

No doubt about it :)

And the HC-6 system will look fantastic whild doing it too!
I am a sucker for Piano Black Laquer.. :)

If I "had" to have something small though. And when I say
small I mean roughly the same dimensions as the bose cubes.
The M&K MP Series is it.. They are true wideband speakers
with a coaxial tweeter (unlike bose) and I am certain that
the experts at M&K made sure the satelites play low enough
to overlap the sub woofer (unlike bose).
 

DavidBelis

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I had that EXACT system for a month or two.

Bose was a very well-known name, so I assumed it was the best. I ended up purchasing the Bose Acoustimass 10 Series III system (the exact one that your friend is interested in) for $1600 Canadian. I thought it was a steal, as everywhere else I went (ie. Best Buy) the price was over $2000 Canadian.

After I finally put the system together, I realized that it's definitely not worth $1800+ (after tax).
I was getting MUCH better sound out of my Grado SR60's, which cost me about 8% of the price.

Aside from the Bose not being as sharp, smooth, and detailed, the thing I noticed mostly was the bass. The subwoofer, which for some reasons acts as the power supply for these speakers, was absolutely horrible.

Instead of adding bass into when required, the small cube speakers produced there sound, and the woofer just seemed to throw in 'booms'. It wasn't integrated very well witht he music. I don't mean that it malfunctioned at all, because it didn't. What I mean is that there was no smooth transition between the high and lows. When bass was needed, the subwoofer just added in very loud booms that weren't the least bit precise. They were just extremely 'blurry' (for lack of a better adjective). It just didn't flow well at all.

And like I said, that's all not even taking into account that in general, the speakers weren't very good in any regard (high, lows or mids). There wasn't much detail or warmth at all.

Anyways, eventually, I decided to return the package (even though I suffered a 10% restocking fee), and did some research on speakers.

I had heard great things about Paradigm, so that's what I ended up getting. For about $1300 Canadian (about $900 US) in total (after tax, wires, stands, bargaining etc...), I ended up with 4 Titans, a CC170 centre channel, and a PDR10 subwoofer.

There's absolutely no comparison. The Paradigms were hundreds of dollars cheaper, and they sounded better in every way imaginable. Better high, mids, and lows, far more detail and warmth, and most of all, the subwoofer was great. It fit in with the rest of the sounds without a flaw. It didn't make an annoying discrete booming sound by itself, rather, it flowed together with the rest of the sound, and covered the low sounds very well.

All I have to say is that I'm extremely glad that I traded in the Bose.

While many people will exaggerate how bad Bose are (no, they won't make your ears bleed or give you a headache, or anything ridiculous like that), there are still PLNETY of better speakers that you can get, at a much lower price.

Paradigm are a perfect example.

I'd highly recommend to your friend that before making any purcahses, he should listen to some Bose speakers, and compare them to the sound of Paradigms and other brand names.
 

Shane Martin

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The Gallo Nucleus's look awful good for the money but if he can do bookshelves then I'd consider something in the Mirage/Paradigm/Polk type or the NHT's and he should be experiencing some nice sound.
 

Dan Lindley

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Ron,

why not ask your friend/co-worker what is important to him? Why did he mention satellite? Does that necessarily mean small? Or does that mean (for him) that satellite means a 5.1 system with speakers in the back? Is there really a WAF here? Or are there room limitations?

From there perhaps a discussion of tradeoffs, etc. If he wants booms that shake, a sub bigger than the Bose must find some space, etc, etc.

More on the customer's needs would help things here. That said, Bose should be out of the question thanks to that link... drum roll... kaboom.

I'm sure you've already done a great service with that link, and best of luck, Dan
 

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