Heh. Well I see Bose's marketing is still serving them well. I really can't believe how the public at large still hasn't caught on to what a rip off brand Bose is.
If you take away nothing else from coming to this forum, just please don't buy Bose. The only good thing about Bose is that they get people to consider spending $1000 or more on their audio. Getting people into that mindset is useful because you can get pretty darn good sound quality for that sort of price range! You just can't get it from Bose
It's an awful lot like the Beats headphones. They aren't good sounding headphones. They're all style and marketing over substance. But at least they've gotten people to consider spending $300 or more on headphones
So, for around $1000:
Easily the best sounding speakers for that sort of price range are the 2nd Generation (all models numbers end in a '2'
)
Andrew Jones Pioneer speakers.
I'd recommend a 5 speaker package of the:
SP-FS52 Towers for the Front Left & Right
SP-C22 Center
SP-BS22-LR Bookshelf pair for the Surround speakers.
You can buy them directly from Pioneer, or from Amazon, B&H Photo, Part-express, Tiger Direct, or Best Buy. Those are the authorized dealers. And you're looking at around $450 for the 5 speakers.
The one component out of the Pioneer speaker lineup that I would NOT recommend is the SW-8 or SW-8MK2 subwoofer. While it's not terrible, you can get a substantially better subwoofer with your budget. The SW-8 is quite limited in terms of both output and extension. And frankly, the Pioneer speakers are so good for their price that they deserve a better subwoofer to go with them!
Now, the thing about these Pioneer speakers is that they are physically quite large! There's a nice
review here with photos and a video to give you an idea of their size and looks.
Given that you were drawn to the Bose Acoustimass system, I have to guess that you might be in the market for speakers that are physically much smaller and with the potential to maybe mount them on the wall.
If that is your goal, then I would point you straight to the
Energy Take Classic 5 Pack . These are 5 very compact, affordable, great sounding speakers that easily compete with the Bose speakers in terms of size and looks, but actually make good sound instead of the awful rubbish that comes out of the Bose cubes!
There is also a Take Classic 5.1 package that comes with a pretty decent little 8 inch subwoofer. The included subwoofer in that package mates quite well with the small Take Classic speakers. But, once again, I feel that the Energy Take Classic speakers are good enough that they deserve an even better subwoofer. And you budget allows for one! So I recommend going for just the 5 pack of speakers, and then adding a better subwoofer
Crutchfield has the 5 Pack for an insanely inexpensive $199 right now! So if you want the small form factor, you should jump on that deal!
Now, the Energy Take Classic speakers, being so small, do not play very low on their own. They need a subwoofer that can play nice and accurate up to around 120-150Hz so that you can get a nice, smooth cross-over between the speakers and the subwoofer. With the MUCH larger Pioneer speakers, you can use a lower 80Hz or even 60Hz cross-over. But the Energy Take Classic speakers need more help.
The SVSound subwoofer recommendation is a very good one. If you want to keep the size as small as possible, then the
SVS SB1000 would be a great choice that will absolutely demonlish the stupid "bass module" that you'd get with the Bose system. That Bose "bass module" isn't even a subwoofer! It's just a 6.5" woofer - something you'd find driving the midrange of many bookshelf speakers! So there is absolutely no contest here. The SVS SB1000 or the slightly larger, ported PB1000 that can play a bit lower and louder than the smaller, sealed SB1000 - those are both REAL subwoofers that can actually produce impressive bass that will make it FEEL like you are at the movie theatre! The Bose system cannot even come close to delivering that experience.
So yes, the SVS subwoofers cost $500. That might seem like a lot. But that price includes shipping. And it's absolutely worth the money! Especially if you want the very small Energy Take Classic speakers for their looks and size. At only $200 for the 5 speakers, you can easily afford the $500 subwoofer with your budget. And the SVS subs do a great job of playing accurate and clean well up to 200Hz or higher, so they are the ideal match for the Energy speakers, which honestly need a fair bit of help below 150Hz or so.
If you decide that you want the much larger Pioneer speakers - and let me be clear, they ARE better speakers overall than the very small Energy Take Classic speakers. That's what the extra size and price gets you! If you decide on the Pioneer speakers, and you want to keep the price down, then the
HSU STF-2 is a really great match for those. The STF-2 is a pretty decent size. It's a little bit smaller than the SVS PB1000, but definitely bigger than the sealed SVS SB1000. For about $375 after shipping, it is, IMO, the best value for a really good subwoofer
To power it all, I'd recommend a Denon Receiver. Probably the AVR-1913, which has some nice upgrades to its amplifiers this year, with higher output transistors that can deliver more and cleaner power than years past. Denon made a very weird decision to remove the AM Radio tuner from all of their AV Receivers this year. So if you really want AM Radio, you should look to last year's AVR-1912, or the AVR-1712 if you don't care about any network or internet streaming features or Apple AirPlay. But other than the odd removal of the AM Radio tuner, the AVR-1913 is the way to go, IMO.
You can get it from
accessories4less.com for $350 , which should fit perfectly within your budget!
So there ya go. Believe me, either of these systems is a gigantic leap up in quality over the Bose system. The subwoofer especially, any of the three I mentioned, are just in a completely different league than the stupid "bass module" you would have gotten from Bose.
Hope that helps!
