A praise for Bose

[Joe Chritz]

I don't have many other places to post this and since I believe good work should be rewarded, this seemed a fine location.

I have an older Bose lifestyle system, probably about 9 or 10 years old. A year or so ago I sent it in for repair. They fix all old systems for $100. Pretty good deal. It came back in excellent shape and working perfect.

Yesterday I called tech support because my remote (RF remote) only works closer that 24" from the unit. After trying to reset the codes it still didn't work. The tech says "We will send a new one out today, no charge." Its about a $100-$150 for a new remote.

The units may be crazy expensive but the quality and service is second to none.

If you are in the market for a surround sound, check them out you won't be disappointed.

Joe

[Al Willits]

May want to check a few audio/HT forums before you spend a lot of money on a Bose system, glad they treated you well though.

Al

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
No highs no lows - it must be Bose :D

Actually, I have a set of Bose 901's attached to my Onkyo and am very pleased with them.

[Jim O'Dell]

Hello,
No highs no lows - it must be Bose :D

Actually, I have a set of Bose 901's attached to my Onkyo and am very pleased with them.


Amazing what a small box of electronics will do for a bunch of 4" speakers, huh? :D Do they still make 901's? I used to sell them back in the 80s. I won a set of 301s that I have hooked up to LOML computer through an Alpine car stereo amp. Sounds pretty darn good, but don't get the speakers too close to the monitor!! Jim.

[Patrick Taylor]

I've got the QC2's and the wave radio, and I love the tone of all their products.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Jim,

Do they still make 901's?
I had to look to see - but yes - they do still sell the 901's, and for the same amount I paid for them 15 years ago. ($~1398.00 a pair w/equalizer).
I looked at quite a few different speakers/reciever combinations before I settled on the Onkyo and the 901's.
I really want a Marantz and a set of Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater's - but SWMBO put the nix one that due to the size of the speakers.
The 901's certainly do fill a room though, I have to say.

I've found one thing true about Boze - either people swear by them or they hate them. there doesn;t seem to be any middle ground.

[Bill Lewis]

I've found one thing true about Boze - either people swear by them or they hate them. there doesn;t seem to be any middle ground.

Well I'll profess to being the middle ground person. I have the AM16 speaker/sub setup in my family room, and they work pretty well. Sure, it isn't the "killer" home theater setup, but it does deliver decent sound as well as posessing some other advantages. Like the fact that it hides well, which was a major requirement for the wife. It is also a matched system, and is tune-able. Buying a "system" also takes alot of the guesswork out of deciding upon what to buy.

I wasn't impressed by the Bose amplifer/speaker systems they offer, but prefer to use a Yamaha amplifier/receiver instead with the AM16's.

As far as "crazy expensive", well one can easily go out and spend many times over what I spent on the Bose system on other speakers and subs. The sky is the limit when it comes to these things. What applies to tools is also pretty true with speakers, to a point. If it is really inexpensive, you're most likely getting the performance that you pay for. "Crazy cheap" can burn you just as bad.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I had a Dual CV 80 and a Dual Turntable with two Goodman 16 Ohm impedance speakers.

The turntable dies and I got a Denon. The CV80 died and I got a Yamaha. The speakers remained the best I'd ever heard.

Then one day the speaker material delaminated and well - I sent 'em to a speaker repair guy who said he knew all about Goodman speakers. He didn't. He installed polypropylene and they never sounded the same.

Meanwhile I have considered going to Heavy Custom Electronics in NY city for a new rebuild on 'em.
I want my Goodmans back.

[Al Willits]

Bose HT speakers do not sound techinally good, run a freqency test on them and they are anything but flat.
They sound good because they are designed to sound good, but not accurate, big difference.

If you are happy with Bose, go for it, speakers can be a pretty exacting science until you add the human element, different speakers will then sound different to different people.

Also speakers will sound different at higher or lower volumes, the human ear has a tendency to lose upper and lower freqs at lower volumes, that's why older/some receivers had a loudness button.

On the other hand, the Bose car stereo's seem to have much better sound than the HT ones do, but for the price, better systems can be bought...imho

Al...its whatever your happy with.

[Jim Becker]

They sound good because they are designed to sound good, but not accurate, big difference.

For the non-audiophile, this probably the most important thing. Do you like what you hear? Do you like how it sounds in your room? Bose's claim to fame is just that...the folks that buy from them like what they hear. Of course, not many folks actually audition multiple systems...my small Sony HT setup is a case of that...AMEX points for purchase overruled any kind of "technical evaluation"...but it sounds fine for what we use it for.