Bose Acoustimass Stories

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?

[Otto]

I walked by a Bose outlet store the other day, but didn't go in. I usually just shy away because I think I might "get into it" with the salesperson. Not that I would be mean or anything, just that I might be a little funny. I wonder if the salespeople really believe that the Bose stuff is good, or are they just selling to make a living.

[alexadams77]

I bought in 1998:

Mains: Bose 701
Center: Bose VCS10
Rear: Bose 301

I bought then at The Brick up here in Canada. The sales guy swore up and down that these were the best speakers out there. The cool thing that he told me to do was stand in front of one speaker and see if I could hear the other one. I did this test and sure enough I could hear the other speaker. He told me they'd fill the room up with sound and nothing out there could beat them. He also said that Bose Technology was far more superior to any speaker company out there. I didn't know a thing about HT or speakers, so I bought them on the spot.

Not too many of my friends were into HT when I purchased mine, but a lot of them followed suit after that. I'd say in about 6 months time, 10 of my friends went out and bought their own HT systems. We decided to test out all of our systems and would do movie night at each persons house to see. My Bose system ended up at finishing 3rd and this was due to the two below me having small and pathetic bookshelf speakers. My friends spent as much, if not less then me, and the Bose system crumbled hard!

I was happy about my purchase and it filled my needs. I sat back and watched as my friends would compete for the better system. They've spend thousands of dollars on upgrades and this and that. I spent a few weeks on these forums and ended up with this as my system::

Mains: Axiom m60's (m80 upgrade this week)
Center: Bose VCS-10 (VP150 upgrade for Christmas)
Rears: Bose 701 (QS8 upgrade for Christmas)
Sub: PC13-Ultra

Needless-to-say, I will never take advice from a salesman again. They will do anything to sell you speakers!

I actually bought my first set of Bose speakers in 88 and I was stationed in Okinawa. They were the series. I thought they were great at the time, I was a 19 year old Marine at the time and we would throw party's and i would remember seeing flames coming out of the ports. The insides of those speakers would glow, crazy.

Then I bought the accustimass system which consisted of 2 satellite speakers and a bass module, at the time I loved it and thought it was awesome...what did I know? My friends couldn't believe all that sound, er..uh..noise came from those little speakers. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson for 15 years later I bought the 601's, VCS10, and the 161 surround speakers. I never listened to 2 channel music and if I did I had to bump the treble way up and add bass and when I added my sub the speakers never meshed, the sound was always bloated.

So, I began the long search via the internet and I have been members of many forums, but I mainly never post, I read and learn from using the search functions. About 4-5 years ago I almost ordered speakers from Axiom and an SVS sub when I was in Italy, but due to having to move and a new addition to the family that plan was delayed. Well, low and behold this year I decided to do something than just read forums and wish. I ordered two sets of Onix Rockets 450's, a Bigfoot and when thats all put in a set up I will be adding either a PBU or PCU "cant decide on box or tube".

Well, so far I received a set of 450's about a month or so ago and when they came in I placed them next to my Bose and ran them using the "B" speakers on my Denon. The very first thing I noticed was that I could hear the individual strings on the guitars and the stereo separation was great! Voices where distinct and clear and the bass even though not deep was very tight and quick compared to my Bose. I listened to those 450's for about 6-7 days in 2 channel bliss, then one day I broke out the rat shack and dialed in my sub and "WOW" they actually worked to together!

Not bashing Bose for I have spent a lot of money on them and they have been and parts of them are currently in my house right now, but the saying: no highs and no lows, always bothered me until now. Its true, I'm running my speakers flat...no added bass or treble and to me they sound killer. Not promoting Rockets either for I'm very sure the Axiom 60's that I was originally going to get would have proven themselves as well.

Once the rest of my order gets here my surrounds and center channel will be going out in the garage along with my 601's. I'm thinking about giving them to my brother-in-law for there is no way I could ever sell them to someone and feel honest about it.

[Mike P.]

Tufelhundin wrote:

....at the time and we would throw party's and i would remember seeing flames coming out of the ports. The insides of those speakers would glow, crazy.

This is a joke, right?

[Captain Crunch]

Mike P. wrote:

This is a joke, right?

I pray your kidding too..............
Lord man I'm surprised you didn't burn down the house........

[Blaser]

The Acoustimass system used to impress me when I was a teenager. But once really put to the test when I decided to built a HT few years ago....

[Sonnie]

I never will forget when I was about 16 years of age... my dream was to have some 901's. All of us guys in the neighborhood use to talk about it.

[Bob_99]

My son has Bose and he really enjoys them especially because of their size. I even offered him my system for free if and when I upgrade but he wanted no part of it. It has always been a question on my mind as to what percentage of the cost is for name and what percentage is for material/quality of the product. I wonder if other companies who build a name for themselves increase that ratio as they get more popular.

Bob

[tonyvdb]

Tufelhundin wrote:

i would remember seeing flames coming out of the ports. The insides of those speakers would glow, crazy.

I really wonder if thats possible I know that some speaker manufacturers use "Glow fuses" that will glow like a lightbulb when the speaker is being over driven to absorb the extra power to prevent damage. Comminity uses this in most of there speaker gear and works very well.