Bose Acoustimass Stories

**JCD** · **11-20-07, 03:38 PM**

Not to get to much into it, but I do believe Bose is evil. All things considered, I've heard that given the parts they use, the size constraints, etc, they maximize the sonic ability of the little cubes.. but, for the price they're charging, it's criminal.

Here is a good site that details more than I can.. Anti-Bose website.

JCD

**nova** · **11-20-07, 04:57 PM**

I agree with you Jacen,... the new Bose is, well,....(if ya can't say something nice,...)

The Bose I have experience with are the 501 Series II (on the right), and the 601 Series III (on the left). These really were decent speakers for a somewhat reasonable price. IIRC I paid $699 pr. for my 601's. These are of course the light walnut speakers w/ two 8" woofers and four 3" tweeters, good, deep bass and so so highs. Not a bad party speaker if you had some power to drive them.

Not saying they were a great speaker, just that they were on par with what you could get from other manufactures for about the same price.

**yourgrandma** · **11-20-07, 08:20 PM**

That website was a great read. It was nice to finally see a responce graph of those things, Ive always questioned the design choices in them, but to have them all compiled in one place was pretty interesting.

Funny though that he didn't mention the bass module's output power. I always liked to laugh at the stupid acrylic display bass modules at stores they had filled with packaging peanuts. "Wow, look at all that power!"

**Soundoctor** · **12-02-07, 08:10 PM**

OK, I'd better vent about this... way back in the late 60's there were a number of poeple in the Boston area (and I bet plenty of other places as well) who took the famous Sweet 16 article and decided to build their own versions. In fact as far back as the late 40's McGee Radio in Kansas city did the same thing. (see here ).

After the 901's came out I knew a number of people who attempted to improve on both the drivers used, and, separately, the correction box, so it sounded "better". Since these people are my friends I won't mention their names... However I did hear various 901 systems in various rooms that even with their lack of bass sounded QUITE interesting. Then again it might have been the chemicals...

A few years later, while working at a recording studio in Boston, I had occasion to visit the (rather impressive) Bose facility. They did (and apparently got away with) the phenomena of inventing an address and then making the post office go along with their fantasty: there are no "mountains" in Framingham. But I digress.

So there I was, actually quite impressed with all the engineering facilities, labs, handsome offices, oscilloscopes that I lusted after, impeccable lunchroom, etc etc and I called over the fellow who was interviewing me, (perhaps you can tell that I really did not want to work there...) and I said to him in a very subdued voice, "Bob...you don't actually LIKE this stuff do you?" Needless to say they did not hire me...

Of course if it pleases you , and you enjoy it... hey, knock yerself out...

**April** · **12-03-07, 06:30 AM**

Quote:

kioko12 wrote:

I know the Bose brand is somewhat of a taboo in most hi-fi audio forums, but I still find it quite interesting to discuss. I'm sure many of you have wandered into a Bose store before. You know the usual setup...each product on it's little shelf, perhaps a LCD screen above it.

I took a friend of mine to a Bose store in Washington this past summer and we had an opportunity to sit through one of their "theater shows" featuring the top-of-the line "Acoustimass" system. Clearly, this is designed for people who probably don't know that much about speakers/sound engineering (hence the target market for Bose) and people who care about design. Having just come from a high-end private retailer (where I demoed a few Martin Logans and other much less expensive brands), I was really struck by the difference in sound quality between the Bose and the other brands. The Bose bass response was pathetic. My $300 multimedia speakers sounded deeper and had more authoritative deep bass than this system. The mid/highs sounded...ok, but were a far cry form the sound of the Logans, or even the lower-end B&W and Polk speakers.

My friend, who I had been arguing with for a long time about the quality of his Bose system, finally turned to me and agreed that he had been ripped off. Here's a guy who wanted good sound, yet was too lazy to comparison testing with other brands outside mass-merchant stores. He was even more surprised when he learned that for less money than his Bose system, he could have purchased a much better system ala carte. Long story short, a coworker of his was planning on buying a Bose system for his family room, but after having talked it over, is now looking into getting Definitives.

Either way, you've got to give the Bose people credit. Obviously they're doing something right if they're still pulling in decent sales numbers. Women love Bose. College kids, who think they're impressing their friends, love Bose. I think I'll stick with my multimedia speakers and upgrade when the time is right

Anyone else ever had similar experience at the Bose store?

Does anyone remember when Bose first appeared on the market? I do, I was there and eventhough the salesmen were jumping up an down about how great they were, my reaction was

then and still

now.

**April** · **12-03-07, 07:12 AM**

And to make matters worse, my little brother heard how bad these Bose things were to, which was back in the 70's, but as the saying goes "If you remember the 70's, you weren't there" Anyway years later he actually bought a Bose system, pushed by his wife. I told him they were

then and still

now.

**wbassett** · **12-03-07, 09:01 AM**

Quote:

nova wrote:

I agree with you Jacen,... the new Bose is, well,....(if ya can't say something nice,...)

The Bose I have experience with are the 501 Series II (on the right), and the 601 Series III (on the left). These really were decent speakers for a somewhat reasonable price. IIRC I paid $699 pr. for my 601's. These are of course the light walnut speakers w/ two 8" woofers and four 3" tweeters, good, deep bass and so so highs. Not a bad party speaker if you had some power to drive them.

Not saying they were a great speaker, just that they were on par with what you could get from other manufactures for about the same price.

I also have a set of the 501 Series II I picked up back in the 80's for a song. The surrounds were shot on a couple of the speakers and after replacing all the midrange/tweeter speakers (to make sure they all matched as far as tonal quality) the 501s are still in service.

I agree there are better speakers out there, but the older 501s really aren't that bad... especially when you get them for a steal!

Compared to the Accustimass speaker systems, there is a huge difference in sound. For those that like the Accustimass systems I don't want to slam them, I'm just saying when compared to speakers that have real woofers there is no competition. To be honest, I don't like the little speaker concept no matter what brand it is, not just Bose. I think they are fine for a dorm room or bedroom but for a main system they aren't my cup of tea.

I will admit that by most member's standards here and on other forums my speaker setup is far from the best, but they have served their purpose well and will probably be passed down to my son once he gets his first real apartment or house. I will eventually replace them but I am also not in a major rush. I still have an old work horse JVC 5.1 receiver that performs flawlessly. That will be upgraded soon and that's most likely when I will go with new speakers.

As far as a Bose 'story', I used to know a Bose sales rep. He was definitely sold on them through and through, but why not? He got promo speakers given to him and had everything from 601's in his living room to an Accustimass system in his bedroom, and a Bose radio in the den. What's not to like when it's a perk?

Anyway, he was always talking about the auditioning process they are trained (or used to be) to demo. He'd have a person pick out a set of Bose and then two other brands and tell them to close their eyes and pick between two sets. From there they would do the winner of that round and the last set. During the test he had a dialog that he went through but it wasn't obnoxious or anything and he didn't talk over all of the demo. Invariably most people ended up with the Bose as their selection.

For the fun of it, a group of us were out one day and had him go through an 'audition' at a different store, and you guessed it, to his amazement he didn't end up picking the Bose!

Now this guy really believed in them and to him it wasn't just a scam. I always wondered though if his 'demo' wasn't a bit like a magician having a person 'pick a card' knowing in advance exactly what card they were going to pick because they manipulated them into it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he was being dishonest, but the power of suggestion can often sway the unsuspecting and when he himself chose different speakers (no dialog commentary during the demo) he did step back and do some rethinking. In the end though he still said Bose were the best, but that was his bread and butter too, so I think that had some bearing on things.

**Sonnie** · **12-20-07, 01:28 AM**

The family went shopping last night and we visited the Best Buy store. What a treat... the wife was liking everything she saw. I'll have to take her back more often. Anyway... we came across a demo of an LCD and speakers with a Michael Jackson DVD playing. She was exclaiming how good the sound was... I even thought to myself... not bad at all. She started pointing to the tiny speakers... probably 3-4" cubes and I noticed a small sub below on the floor. Of all things... Bose! While obviously not audiophile quality... I have to admit... I was somewhat impressed none the less (and it wasn't with MJ).

**MatrixDweller** · **12-20-07, 09:07 AM**

Wikipedia states that Bose had revenues of over 1.8 Billion in 2005 and are just behind Sony in home audio. Bose also has Military contracts as well as contracts with NASA.

They do put a lot into R&D, but I think a lot of that is making the speaker systems look nice first, then sound nice second.

IMO Bose is better then most HTIB put out by Sony, but then again you're paying a bit more for them. The biggest chunk of the market aren't audiophiles, don't research outside of what they see on TV or in the store, and don't want to spend over $2000 (most even lower than that) on a home theater system. Bose's marketing is geared to that market segment and that's why they are #2 in the world for home audio. Most Sony speakers are less than stellar as well.

**warpdrive** · **12-20-07, 09:37 AM**

I have to admit that whenever I wander into a Bose store, I'm impressed by the slickness of the store, and the wow factor of the demos. They really have a convincing argument that they are the best. Their wares look good and upscale, and you can't argue with the size and form factor of their gear. And their rigged demos are impressive in the sense they give a bigger than life sound.

Most of it still sounds bad. I'm not a Bose hater by default, and I even tried some of their headphones because I really wanted to like them, but they just sounded wrong. In general, the sound was just muddy.

As far as the Acoustimass stuff, well, it's exactly what you expect, a tizzy micro satellite with the mids sucked out and boomy bass box. I guess for the size it sounds ok but the price sure isn't.

**yourgrandma** · **12-20-07, 12:18 PM**

My biggesst quarell with Bose is the price to performance factor. They just dont sound like you would expect a setup of that price to sound. That and their proclaimation that they are the BEST. I would think more people wpuld see through that, but they make more money in a minute than I do in a year, so they must be good at something...

**Bob_99** · **12-20-07, 12:30 PM**

Quote:

My biggesst quarell with Bose is the price to performance factor.

I have always been interested in what brands of speakers that people believe are a good price to performance ratio and it may be a question to be asked in another thread. I have oftened wondered when a company begins to take advantage of it's name and starts to add a little more to the cost for no added benefit. IMHO I think Bose is pretty much at the top of the heap at this point.

Bob

**warpdrive** · **12-20-07, 04:05 PM**

Quote:

yourgrandma wrote:

My biggesst quarell with Bose is the price to performance factor. They just dont sound like you would expect a setup of that price to sound. That and their proclaimation that they are the BEST. I would think more people wpuld see through that, but they make more money in a minute than I do in a year, so they must be good at something...

Some of their stuff is not good sounding period, at any price, when compared to a proper reference. If they charged 1/5 of the price, then their products might make some sense to buy.

**yourgrandma** · **12-20-07, 07:05 PM**

Very true, I just don't want to come across the way everyone always tells me I do.

**thxgoon** · **12-20-07, 07:42 PM**

Their products are undeniably simple to setup and use. Most people just want a home theater that they 'think' sounds good, that doesn't intrude too much on their living space and won't require an education to operate. In that regard, Bose is top of the heap. They can charge ridiculous money for it because they are essentially the only ones, and with name recognition and lots o' marketing... of course they are making money!

Their motto is 'better sound through research'. I've always wondered what kind of 'research' they conduct because their sound is ok but their sales are phenomenal.

**wbassett** · **12-20-07, 09:12 PM**

Quote:

thxgoon wrote:

Their motto is 'better sound through research'. I've always wondered what kind of 'research' they conduct because their sound is ok but their sales are phenomenal.

At one time their research and development really was top notch and they were a leader in the game, but over the years they went for aesthetics over performance, and hype over value and the rest is history. Yes they can do okay with their new speakers, but it is more packaging and marketing than performance. But I will say may other companies are also trying to do the same with small sized speakers. Bose is a market leader, but that doesn't always mean it's the best.

To some the size of their speakers do make a difference, but to those that like deep bass and accurate sound reproduction, Bose can't even compete with their own older speaker systems. They look good, sound okay, but are a bit over priced in my opinion. If they dropped the price 50% they would make up their profits in more sales to the masses... but Bose is more about image than mass marketing, even though it really does seem like they mass market.

**yourgrandma** · **12-26-07, 03:09 AM**

I must admit, their automotive systems really do sound pretty good, at least compared with other OEM systems. But once again, they charge obsurd amounts of money. Ive seen option sheets where a Bose system is $2000. For that price, one could build a far superior system with top notch installation.

**thxgoon** · **12-27-07, 01:56 AM**

Quote:

DS-21 wrote:

I do have to say that some of their automotive sound system engineering is novel and interesting, though they let their concepts down with truly awful parts.

Agreed, their auto speaker systems are awesome! I had a Maxima with Bose and boy was I happy! I think they are one of the few companies who actually take the time to taylor the sound system to the car itself, hence ****** paper woofers = really good sound. At least IMHO.

**PhotoByMark** · **01-16-08, 11:07 AM**

So I am not the only one. LOL.

Actually, I have owned 501s and still have little bookshelf 4.2s. Right now, using the 4.2s as the main speakers. Not optimal but all I got at the moment.

So you are saying that once I get my Axiom m60s, I will be able to hear a difference between my 4.2s and the m60s.

I am on this forum because I almost bought the cubes awhile back. But...decided I better look around and see what else compares. Well indeed sounds like just about everything compares. Glad I came to my senses and found this place to help with my education of audio (And video).

**OvalNut** · **01-16-08, 11:30 AM**

The simplicity of my Bose story is what makes it so ridiculous:

A very good friend of mine is a smart guy. He is a doctor with money. He comes to my house and marvels in oh my gosh mode at how real and moving my HT sounds.

He bought a Bose acoustimass system because "Bose is the best".

Tim

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