Why do people buy Bose? (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Little]

Yeah, but it does appear that it was typed up on a "My First Typewriter" machine.

As a Best Buy employee (no jokes please) with what I consider good taste, I've given up on trying to convert the masses. I'll put forth an honest effort, but after showing them the same song on the different set-ups and pointing out the little nuances that make a Klipsch, JBL, or Athena speaker absolutely crush any hope for their precious little paper cubes, I call it a day.

A typical interaction:

"Okay, notice how the cymbals ring out on these Quintets."
"Yeah"
"Remember how you couldn't hear that on the AM-15's."
"Yeah, but I like the Bose. That's what we are going with."

 

[Shane Martin]

And I'm sure Marketing told their ears that.. :rolleyes

 

[RaviK]

Guess I can chip in with my own analogy ... For the same reason people buy Microsoft Windows based PC as against an Apple Mac. The latter might be a superior product and more value for money... but the first has more recognition and is more user friendly. Honestly though, I fall into the first category, but only when it comes to choosing a computer

 

[Drew_W]

I'm tempted to say most people buy Windows PCs because, although they have come a long way, software development for Apple computers is still behind. For media production though, the preference seems to be towards Apple even though the same software is most likely available for PC as well. But for gaming, most games are developed for PC, and there is an awful lot more flexibility in terms of PCs as well, in terms of OEM part availability etc...

 

[EricRWem]

I'll say this yet again.

Not in all cases are Bose bad speakers...however, almost all of them are sorely overpriced for what they are.

Take for example, the AM-15 set. No way in hell I'd pay $1300 for that! Maybe $300 or so. Are they bad speakers? No. Just not $1300 speakers.

And so forth...

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Absolutely, not only are they coming out with great cars, they are rated higher than MB, BMW, Infinity, Jaguar, Saab, Audi, and Volvo in JD Power quality survey.

 

[EricRWem]

 

[Bob_M]

I was just at my daughters Jr High spring concert in their new auditorium. The sound from the amplification was just great. Chorus, background music all sounded wonderful. I quickly spotted the speakers on the wall and from where I was sitting I could easily see the BOSE label. Their commercial line of speakers seem to get the job done fine.

 

[Jimi C]

I just talked to my father who lives in phillidelphia today, last time i talked to him was about a month ago and he was looking too replace his large 1970's era jbl speakers. I talked to him today and he told me after months off looking he finally bought new mains. Bose 601's he got at a bose outlet near Las Angelas. He paid $550 and they shipped them to his home in hatfield PA for FREE. He told me that he auditioned speakers at places like CC and Best buy and his local hifi shop (where apperantly there lowest cost toweres were macintosh's? and started at 3k, way more than he wanted to spend) I couldnt beleive he bought the bose, but he did. My father has a good ear, hes played bass guitar in bands for about 35 years. He listens mostly to jazz. He liked the Bose the best and thats what he bought.

 

[Steven_Jobe]

I do have to say that Bose sound systems in automobiles do happen to sound great. I've had an infinity system, a kenwood, factory standard, sony....you name it and have mixed and matched all aftermarket high perfomance speakers and my new Bose system that came in my truck does in fact sound better than the rest. The home theater speakers really don't sound THAT bad but many people follow a trend here. A few people with their own tastes and different (as stupid as it may sound) ears test the Bose systems. They then come and post that they, in their own personal tastes, believe they sound horrible. The result is many many people researching, reading those very few people's results who have tested them, and then claim that they themselves believe Bose speakers are horrible. I admit, they are not great for their price, but for the entry level home theater consumer they really aren't as bad as everyone says. I don't especially prefer them, but I've heard much much worse even at higher prices.

 

[RobertR]

Yes, and to a subjectivist (ie someone who defines good in terms of what an individual likes), there is no basis for saying such people are wrong. The ironic thing is that some people who sneer at Bose and the people who buy them are doing essentially the same thing with some of the high end products they buy, based on marketing appeal.

 

[Jack Briggs]

For the same reason we still see threads titled along the lines, "I ran into J6P today at Best Buy" or "Dumb Best Buy Clerk Told Me to Buy the Foolscreen Version" and on and on. It feels good to affirm one's separateness from the masses from time to time.

 

[ScottCHI]

heh, that's funny.

"if you listen carefully to this song on these speakers, you'll see god!"

"that's ok. we don't want to see god. we're gettin' the BOSE!"

 

[Nathan W.]

It really is the marketing for the most part that gets people to buy Bose (Buy Our Sucky Equipment). Television and radio are powerful means of advertising and Bose uses them. I can't think of any other speaker mfgr that advertises on TV or the radio. The marketing really does work on the masses. My girlfriend who is 50 still falls for simple forms of marketing, the kind you see in the frozen food section of the grocery store - the pictures of the food on the packages. "Hey, this looks good! Let's buy some." And later, "Man, this sucks!" Next trip to the market, "Hey, this looks good!" Me, :rolleyes

B&O and Bose use movies for advertising. I've seen way more B&O systems in movies than Bose, and you'd think that would help B&O in the brand recognition department, but B&O don't use TV or radio, so Bose crushes them on brand recognition. Then again, B&O aren't as easily found and cost more than Bose.

I had heard of Bose before I got into stereos and HT, but because I understood the laws of physics, they never appealed to me in any way.

 

[Claude M]

Alan Wise is a GENIUS. You have decscribed my neighbor which owns a Bose setup PERFECTLY, WOW!

 

[Daman]

yesterday had gone to a mall and while wife was shopping to kill time and have some fun went to bose showroom adjacent to the shop.. sat through their bose theater show.. now the system wasnt that bad but i found it a bit annoying cause they were playing it louder than neccesary and ears hurt.. as usual they had those big speaker boxes on the outside and then the spotlight comes at the end of the show and the guy comes in and pushes those grills down to reveal the tiny speakers.. same goes for their reciever/dvd player.. they have it encased in a cheap plastic cover the size of 2 receivers stacked over each other.. damn even words like play/track 1 were printed on sticker.. it was so obvious that it was a dummy. anyways they werent that bad ill say but not worth the huge price tag.. the male voices sounded kindof weak at a demo later when i asked them the play a LOTR scene between saruman and wormtounge(when saruman is making those bombs and shows wormtounge the army gathered).. i watched the same scene later at home to confirm it wasnt my mind playing tricks.. and there was NO (big no)base at all in the system.. i asked the guy what are the specs of the system/rating of speakers etc and he smiles sheepishly and laughs at fellow colleague. He says they dont reveal the specs but it should take 200 watts per chanel hahahaha anyways i didnt argue and smiled to myself and the buddies i took along and came back after getting a free BOSE frisbee hehehe.. well thats something i can enjoy at least.

 

[Claude M]

my neighbor payed for that frisbee!

 

[Daman]

wow!! then he must have bought BOSE system too i guess AAA got that frisbee free

 

[Seth--L]

I’d go farther and say that there is pretension to it. People like showing off that they know better than the masses.

 

[Mike SJ]

"People like showing off that they know better than the masses"

So THAT's why people buy Bose!!!!!