what does everyone think about Bose?

[gmorris]

Having only been on this forum since June, I've never seen a Bose debate waged on here.

I was just over at the Parts Express tech talk forum, and read a good thread about Bose. So I thought I'd start one up here at Polk to see what everyone here thinks. http://www.pesupport.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=150995

[HBombToo]

I have had the good fortune in reading some interesting bose threads on this forum. Please take note that bose is not capitalized in my typing and thats because I don't feal they deserve capitalization and furthermore the FTC should remove them from the capitalist system:p

In all seriousness though I have owned bose and was never impressed and the more critical I became about this hobby the more I realized that they don't publish specs nor will they provide them if you call for them(I did that) because there designs and manufactuing SUCK!

HBomb to his Rush impersonation.

:D

[gmorris]

I really don't have an opinion, good or bad, about Bose as a company. I have, however, heard the WaveRadio, various Acoustimass systems at HH Gregg, and some other Bose all-in-one speaker radio thing (looked like a wave raidio, only 5 times taller) and can say that those products really suck.

I've come to the conclusion that Bose uses a form of trickery to convince unknowing consumers into thinking the Bose sound is high end. In fact, the Bose sound is everything that is wrong with many home-theater-in-a-box systems. No bass, and an over emphasized mid & high frequency. Bose has tricked people into thinking that over emphasized mid & high frequencies are a good thing. That is why they say silly things like, "Room filling sound, pristine, clear, detailed...." and on & on.

As a company, I guess they are successful at selling crappy audio products to yuppies who think they are buying the best. Is that a devious way to do business? Perhaps. Are they making money? Sure are. Will I ever buy a Bose product? If my toilet ever ceases functioning and I need a place to drop a deuce.

[steveinaz]

I owned Bose 901 Series VI for 11 years and really liked them. I got them overseas while in the military, so they only ran me $799 for the pair including the EQ and pedastals. Would I have paid the retail of $1300 for them, no. But I have to admit that for the 11 years I owned them, I never felt the need to tweak, upgrade, fiddle-with, or otherwise nit-pick my system--what does that mean?

I can only speak of the 901 because its the only Bose product I've owned. The 901' s require a specific set-up to really appreciate, and need alot of power. If set-up properly, they can be a very forgiving speaker for the crapiest of digital sources, probably due to their high frequency being limited to about 16.5kHz. The bass is incredible. Extremely deep and distortion free, the kinda bass that resonates your body---I've yet to hear any speaker at any price rival the bass realism of the 901.

That's my take, FWIW.

Here's an interesting tid-bit: Guess who bought my 901's?
The Hershey Factory in Pennsylvania, for their breakroom. Best transaction over the web I ever had, the check was in my hand the next day--I hadn't even packed the speakers yet. Guess what else? I got $750 for the set, after 11 years of use!

[PolkThug]

*edit- in reference to the sub/satellite combos.

I think they would only be good in a VERY small room. You can't really crank them up. The power of your receiver is insignificant since the bose sats get their power from the "acousticrap" module.

Once upon a time, I was one of the countless lemmings drawn into to the little bose demo room, and was impressed. But now I'm all groads up, and I've got to hear them next to other equipment, and realize how weak they are.

Regards,
PolkThug

[PolkThug]

http://home.earthlink.net/~busenitz/bs.html

[amulford]

I can't personally bash them.

I have a couple of friends that use 901's professionally for DJ monitors. They are properly set up and given an assload of power. They do their job, and rather well IMO.

I don't like any of their HTIB setups. I have to agree with your take on them.

I personally have two of their products, 101 monitors and 251 enviromentals. Both do outside duty. I have to say that the spacial dispersion of the 251's is pretty good.

They have their good and bad points.

[steveinaz]

I've never cared for their satellite/sub combos either, and given the components used--they are rediculously expensive.

[Mike Reeter]

A few years ago my wife gave me a Bose Lifestyles 12 system "HTIB" for my birthday.Well,at the time I was elated,I think more for the fact that she would spend that much money on me...

The sound was not too bad,until I heard a GOOD H.T.setup.That's when I realized Bose was not quite up to par...

Funny thing,I was in C.C. one day checking out some Polk speakers and a kid was demoing some Bose double cubes against some smaller Polks,the small speaker pkg. for a guy who looked like he could afford any speaker set-up he wanted.

The kid was switching speaks back/forth,the Polks were kicking the Bose ass all over the place...the customer looked at me and I just said "sounds like a no-brainer to me"...Yea,you're right,I'll take the Bose!!!

I just shook me head and walked off...

[GuitarheadCA]

Here's a read on bose (non-capital) that I think is really good, enough so to link it on my webpage.

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

My dad has an acoustimas 16 system that sounds like the pits, in everyway possible. Bass is muddy, sound is hollow, FR sucks, no high treble, no dynamic range, I could go on. I tell people to avoid bose like the plauge.

Guitarhead

PS. Mike, I've had your above experience COUNTLESS times when helping customers. Amazing what marketing can do isn't it?

[Zero]

All it takes is a hint of aggressive honesty.... nay, feel pitty for all those who mention Bose within my earshot at work..

I have respect for the Bose 601 floor stander *the series before the current* and ye ole 901.

[fireshoes]

Bose fills a niche. Of course there are better sounding speakers and systems out there, but Bose is great for the people don't have a clue about electronics but want the benefits. I would have problem whatsoever in giving my parents bose 321 system so they could have a dvd player with sound that is way better than their 25" tv/vcr combo. :)

[shack]

one word:

OVERPRICED

No...make that two words:

EXTREMELY OVERPRICED.

If they were priced 1/3 of what they are now there could be an argument that they fill a niche for those that want a small, unobtrusive HT setup...with a small, unobtrusive sound.

[warviper]

polk thug did you read that article?

"Some brands names generally considered worse than, equal to, or at least not consistently superior to Bose include Polk, Technics, Klipsch, Sony, JBL, Kenwood, KLH, Pioneer, Cerwin-Vega, Advent, DCM, and dozens of others."

I got that from your link. I have owned a set of the bose cubes and im sure they sound great for being their size. Im hanging on to my ls90s though.

But I am a baised person, I love full range sound.:D

[gmorris]

warviper,

I also disagreed with that portion of the article you quoted. I would say Polk & Klipsch are without a doubt, better than Bose. Then only thing I can figure is the author was comparing Satellite/Sub systems from Bose to Sat/Sub systems from Polk & Klipsch, not full range towers or monitors.

[chenj16]

JBL and Cerwin Vega are superior than bose too

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by warviper
polk thug did you read that article?

"Some brands names generally considered worse than, equal to, or at least not consistently superior to Bose include Polk, Technics, Klipsch, Sony, JBL, Kenwood, KLH, Pioneer, Cerwin-Vega, Advent, DCM, and dozens of others."


Yeah, I didn't agree with that part either, but the rest of the info is pretty good. This guy has obviously not compared Polk's and Bose side-by-side.

BTW, last night at CC I enlightened two more customers to how much better an Onkyo/Polk setup sounds, compared to the bose setup. We always get customers that say "Is bose your best?", and I tell them no, Polk is. And every single one of them looks completely dumbfounded. I let them hear the bose demo, then I take them in the room with the Onkyo/Polk setup and let them hear, then nothing else needs to be said.

[wrxmy02]

OK I was a BOSE WHORE...
Years ago I sold audio. Bose dumps tons of $$$ into ads soo when you walked into the store to buy a speaker you got slamed with a BOSE WHORE [salesman]. Now you really din't "care" about how Bose sounded because every time you sold a Bose speaker they gave you big bucks or promo "points" good for thier speakers. Salesman don't make alot of $$, Sooo this was a VERY effective program.

This is how high the margin is on Bose speakers. I "won" the following by selling them:
A pair of 901, AM7 [2 Pr.] ,AM5, Am3, Roomates powered,and 101. About $3,000 in all. Have the 101's and sold the rest
for Polks [SDA's back then] and a big screen.

[George Grand]

Old thread but I had to add this, for Steve's sake.......

My buddy Bob Poole bought a original pair of 901's on Okinawa in 1968. He paid 400 for them. After he heard some Polk RTA11t's I had for sale awhile back, he wanted them. He asked me to sell the Polks TO him, and the 901's FOR him. I sold those things for EXACTLY what he paid for them, more than 25 years after he bought them.

Now for everyone elses sake.............

In my opinion they sucked just as bad after 25 years as the day they were made. Great advertising company, really shabby speaker building company.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

[yale006]

People don't buy bose because they are a great speakers. They don't buy them cause they are cheap either. People buy bose cause the are so small. They are probally the best sounding for there size. I however didn't want to pay alot when i could buy polk and have a much better sounding system. However after i went to college and took all my stuff out of my house and moved it into my apt, my dad decide he wanted a HT. He however didn't want bulky speakers. He wanted something that was small and discrete. Thats why he got bose. Plus my mom didn't want the polks like mine cause they didn't fit in cause of the color and how big they were. So my mom was also part of the reason for the bose.

Have to give bose props thou. They move a ton of product cause they have amazing adversing. Otherwise they would be screwed.

[shack]

They are probally the best sounding for there size. .

WRONG!

I could probably name several sub/sat systems of similar size that sound better than Bose and most would be less expensive.


A friend of mine got a "Surround Sound" system from his wife for Christmas. Unfortunately, it was a Bose. He asked me what I thought...Had he been the one that bought the system I would have told him he was an idiot and to return them as quickly as possible, but since it was his wife that made the purchase I had to use a little more tact. I basically told him that they weren't for me but that he would probably enjoy them....This is a 48 year old guy that just recently got a DVD player and has no music system. I guess anything is better than the nothing he had and the Bose will fit his "lifestyle" (he won't know any better). It's just too bad they paid too much for a crappy system. I know he will want me to come over an listen to it at some point and I will have to use the phrase "sounds nice" while gritting my teeth. Maybe after he listens to his for a while then he can come to my house and hear my modest system and maybe he will figure it out on his own. But then again...by then he may have already fallen vicitm to the Bose indoctrination and believe that he has the "best system in the world at any price".

[fgr41]

The only good thing about Bose is resale value. There are enough people out that that think they are the shiznit you can usually get a descent price for them.

I had a pair of 10 year old 301's and sold them for $175 and a pair of 201's and sold them for $125. Put that $ straight into a pair of rear speakers that DO sound good, RT600i's. Great thing about it was I found the 600's NIB for $75 each. I had enough $ to also get a pair of RTi38's when they were on closeout.