Bose?Real or a worldwide conspiracy?

[lestatar]

@Medion: Excellent point!

To whit: the rather hotly contested recent HyFyMan thread on that hf site...

[TheEAR]

B0$e fanatics are just like religious and Mac fanatics. They live oblivious to problems and believe in utopias. Like commies who thought a utopia could work or the opposite,the ultra capitalistic regime can work. Both are utopias and doomed to FAIL.Too much to the left or right and you run into extremes.

All right we were talking about B0$e right, yeah good for the yuppie who lives in a small world devoid of higher quality gear.

[lestatar]

“Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains” - Democritus

But then again...

“A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation.” - Donald Trump

;-)

[The DarkSide]

I tried the Bose around ear headphones:

I then tried (in the same store) the Sennheiser HD202:

I then bought the Sennheiser HD202's based on the the markedly better SQ -
and the HD202's are one of their lowest tier products. That says a lot about Bose,.......

[jjrosaria]

Bose imo is not bad.. They actually sound half decent.. The question is though why buy it? For their asking price, you could get a way better brand for half the price

[BattleBrat]

The only bose item I ever bought new was the triports, I'm no fan of them, I wrote a review for them on Head-Fi, some of you know what my username there is. As I said, if you can get Bose CHEAP try them out, particularly the 201's or 301's I think I paid $50 for a pair of 301's series IV if memory serves, try goodwill or thrift stores.

The best speakers I've ever gotten for cheap were my first Hi-Fi speakers, my Micron 632 bookshelf speakers. I got them for 20$ on ebay because my sister needed some cheap speakers for her "art room" near the garage (she lives with my mom, I live on my own) So I saw them, bought them, and when they arrived, the box weighed 25+ pounds, I paid $12 shipping, so that was surprising. I hooked them up to a receiver I had laying around, and was blown away by the detail, they had no bass (I mean NOTHING under 100hz)So I had to buy a sub. I grilled the guy I bought them from and it turns out he paid $500 for them in 1980, so they were hi-end, after that I got my hands on the Talons, and never looked back.

[Big Sky]

The reason for Bose's success is the Neutered Husband! Aging Husband's had their He-Man rigs since the days of College but now he as settled in and bought a home in the burb's. The wife spent too much time in Home Interior Rags and put the foot down. The ascetically unpleasing look for the He-Man rig and thus the He-Man Rig had to go unless he has a Man Cave which he still had to buy a Acousitmass system for the Main Living Room or Entertainment Room. The neutered man has sacrificed sound to keep the wife happy and the Bose Acoustimass is the compromise.

When I was young I saw the Ads in the Rags and believed the hype and even heard a 901 set up it wasn't bad but, then again I didn't know anything about audio either. I remember when Bose came out with their Acousitmass system. It was all the rage. I went to a Audio store and listened to sub/sat systems and settling for a M&K set up for 1/3 less and better sound. After comparing Bose with everything else the Bose came up flat! I have some old Cambridge Soundworks Computer Speakers which I bought for $250 first gen and a collaborative Creative/Cambridge Computer Speakers for $40 that sound better than a Bose System in any environment!

I do love Bose though cause I make soo much money of idiots that can't set them up in their homes and lofts.

While Bose does make a good speaker it is not a great speaker, they are overrated and overpriced. If I owned a business like a bar the 301's make a good fit. The 301's are have great range tonally in such a small speaker and are good for music but lousy for serious home listening.

I like the Wave Radio concept but Cambridge Soundworks and Boston Acoustics make better ones. I have a BA Micro CD Radio it sounds great and it is my alarm clock. I wished I had another one for the office.

I work from time to time as a consultant to Audio Stores when they set up 5 to 6 figure rigs to simple Home Theater set ups when they have a room that is difficult to tune. I am the second opinion. Which I do for discounts on gear and some beer. I don't know or can hear numbers(Specs) but I can hear sound and I do the math on the balance between frequencies and space vs. environment/room. I have done room tunings for Bose Systems as well....I shake my head every time I have done it. You can't tell someone that they just bought a turd after laying down hard earned cash for it now, can you?

In short I agree with other post that most other than Neutered Man, people buy Bose like they buy iXxx's because they are simpletons that like being simple (go along to get along)-(trendy) whatever. I sorry but sometimes you have to keep the ole' lady happy and live the lie.

[sYlt]

You Tube

You Tube

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by Big Sky

The reason for Bose's success is the Neutered Husband! Aging Husband's had their He-Man rigs since the days of College but now he as settled in and bought a home in the burb's. The wife spent too much time in Home Interior Rags and put the foot down. The ascetically unpleasing look for the He-Man rig and thus the He-Man Rig had to go unless he has a Man Cave which he still had to buy a Acousitmass system for the Main Living Room or Entertainment Room. The neutered man has sacrificed sound to keep the wife happy and the Bose Acoustimass is the compromise.

rofl, quoted for truth.

[Davis137]

I think that the performance of ANY electronics device is subjective. The same as music, art, food, drink, etc. My Stance on Bose...They sound very flat or dull. Yes, they can sound nice, and sound clean, but as everyone on here has already mentioned, they aren't absolutely blown away by the sound quality, and the price wanted for their kit seems unjustified. My Grand Parents replaced an old JVC mini system in their sunroom with one of the Bose Wave radios (which I don't think sounds any better than the 1990 JVC unit, which is now the stereo in my livingroom...it's that awesome), and they also replaced a complete Harman Kardon HT setup with the Bose 2.1 Cinema system (They did this for simplicity sake only). That sounds alright, but I find the ads funny for the Wave radio, as they make it out to be the latest technology, when it isn't. Some brands, like JVC for example, had Labrynth speakers, a predacessor to waveguide speakers, as far back as 1989. Other manufacturers had something similar with woofers and subwoofers for some PA style equipment.

I have a Harman Kardon Champange 2.1 speaker kit connected to my laptop/computer, and I have yet to find a Bose setup that will beat it in sound quality. The HK setup is still highly regarded, almost 10 years after they first introduced them. They also sounded amazing when connected directly to my Sandisk Sansa Fuze, and I am expecting the same, if not better results with my Fuze+

I never have, and never will own a Bose product, only because they don't suit my listening tastes, and they are quite expensive. I'm on my 2nd configuration of Klipsch Refference Speakers and a Marantz 7.1 THX cert HT receiver, and I've not demo'ed a single Bose system that can beat it, whether in SQ, efficiency, or sheer dynamics.

L8tz