Bose blows and then it glows!

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

B&W? Now THERE is another POS . . .

Just foolin' ya . . .

Bill:

Here is a the graph of the 901 Eq.



Assuming those are 5dB jumps, that is a whole whack of eq at BOTH extremes.

Ian

The 901 eq utterly transformed the sound of my "top end" $3k dollar Onkyo system, and the eq i had was actually an older model from the late 70s or early 80s (this was in the early 90s).

I don't know anything about 901 speakers, but i can say for a fact that the EQ is worth every damn dime they charge for it.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by cairns

You can do some research and listen before you buy or just believe their hype and think you're getting good sound.

This is the simple key to good sound. Just listen. And you don't have to be a propeller-head audiophile to hear the difference. You can buy good sounding speakers under $1K but you have to use your ears. There IS more crap than good.

And that is what makes Internet speaker buying such a huge mystery to me. I have net customers who do very well selling audio gear to people who have never heard the product before laying done cash. Wtf? Do you buy cars without a drive? Marry your wife without a . . . .

Really. Wtf?

Ian

[m21sniper]

Tons of people buy cars without a test drive, and if you do it the "right way", you get married before ever sampling that product too!

LOL.

Honestly, nowadays, you can get a $100.00 computer speaker system that will blow away top end products from the late 80s-early 90s.

[Max Von]

I worked at Bose at the "Mountain" in Framingham MA in the late 70's fresh out of high school as an assembler. I was a line leader on the 901 driver production line and can only tell you that the quality control and enthusiasm for getting the best product out the door was priority one. It was a great place to work as the product at the time was state of the art. We worked as a team and everyone in that plant was proud to produce a superior product.
Dr. Bose was just starting his interest in automotive applications and held a lottery for employees so they could get a "Bose" system installed in their vehicle at no cost. Unfortunately, I was driving a 1967 VW bug convertible when I won! No chance for an install but took home a nice Bose "System" which consisted of a turntable, receiver and a pair of 301 speakers. I used to enjoy having breakfast with Dr. Bose every morning in the cafeteria along with other employees. Really nice guy. He would have huge summer events and the atmosphere was very positive.
Wish I had stayed on. I left to go to work for Prime computer down the road and they went belly up.
Woulda, Coulda, Shouda.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

Honestly, nowadays, you can get a $100.00 computer speaker system that will blow away top end products from the late 80s-early 90s.

No, you can't (and I sell a great computer speaker too - check the Apple site for the XS) but the average sound quality of all products - speakers included - has improved. Not so wildly at the high end but certainly at the beer budget level. And that's all good.

Ian

[m21sniper]

Yes, the beer budget "top end" (ie circuit city, best buy) 'high end' is what i was referring to. Not what you wierd rich dudes call top end. You know, for those of you with hearing sooooo good that Bose and Infinity aren't good enough and where you can't possibly be buying anything but **** unless you spent a thousand or more per speaker. Hehehe.....


Fortunately for me my hearing is not that 'good'(?). So Bose sound great to me.

[imcarthur]

True high end does sell to a strange breed of customers. But you are right, once you have been spoiled, it's really hard to compromise on crap I can afford (or samples I can play with long term ). I currently have a pair of our studio monitors from the Pro side as a 'desktop' speaker. I just might have to buy them. I haven't had this much fun listening to music for a long time.

Ian

[imcarthur]

About the strange breed . . . here's a recent story . . . a pair of 'our' 50K speakers was custom ordered by a young guy in Switzerland. In pink. Nice Barbie pink. They were a gift for his 18 year old girlfriend.

Ian

[cairns]

I remember when 901s came out. I went to a demonstration sponsored by Bose in Augsburg, Germany. 4 channel was the hot product at that time and they had aligned four 901s with a high quality amp and played Santana's Abraxas. VERY IMPRESSIVE.

They followed up with Rick Wakeman of Yes.

But when I listened to 901s in real world conditions I bought the JBLs. And, unfortunately, Bose went very, very far downhill since then.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

This is the simple key to good sound. Just listen. And you don't have to be a propeller-head audiophile to hear the difference. You can buy good sounding speakers under $1K but you have to use your ears. There IS more crap than good.

Ian

I am looking for some good under $1K speakers for the chalet. Can you recommend something and save me the legwork???

Would be much appreciated.

[imcarthur]

Offline, sure.

Online . . . look at Paradigm, B&W, Focal, Totem . . . that's a good mixture. Burn a CD of simply recorded (uncompressed) music that you know really well & go listen.

Ian

[cairns]

Burn a CD of simply recorded (uncompressed) music that you know really well & go listen.

EXCELLENT advice. Take your favorite CD and just listen. Try to emulate, as best you can, the placement of the speakers in your house/environment using your equipment. There are a lot of great speakers out there for less than a grand. You can even listen to speakers that cost two to three times as much, to get a bit of perspective and, perhaps, buy a used set on audiogon.com.

Life is just too short for Bose speakers.

[m21sniper]

To me life is too short to try and find fault in Bose speakers.

There are millions and millions and millions of us who are lucky enough to hear musical bliss when we hear Bose products, so we don't have to spend $1000.00 to fifty thousand!!! per speaker like the cursed among us do, just to get good sound.

To us, Bose really does sound great.

That being said i have a pair of Bose stereo speakers going un-used in my closet right now, i just didn't like the way they sounded. Got some cheapie Logitech 5 speaker surround system for under $100.00 at wally world, and afaic, it sounds great. LOL. Go figure.

PS: "Paradigm, B&W, Focal, Totem"...i have never even heard of any of these companies before. Perhaps they should take a page out of the Bose playbook. If more people had actually heard of them, they wouldn't need to get so much money per speaker to turn a profit. I'm just sayin'...

[mca]

I have the wave radio / cd player and it is wonderful.

That being said, my wifes nissan has a Bose stereo. Yet the head unit is a Clarion! Yes, it says Bose but apparently that only applies to the speakers. Total pos broke twice - can't play CDs. Also can't find a compatible iPod adapter. Go away Bose!