Help - Lost in Audio-space

[newbie2007]

Hi, I'm a novice who recently purchased a bose speaker system (5 single cubes, subwoofer) from Sam's Club. I've hooked it up to my Sony receiver, but I have to turn up the volume knob very high on the receiver just to get a normal sound level in the room. The receiver is a Sony rated at 100W per channel, 5 speakers - nothing fancy but used to work grewat with my floor standing Infinity speakers.

Any suggestions on what I should do? The Bose system is the Acoutimass 600.

Thanks in advance.
Mark

 

[avaserfi]

I would return the Bose system right away. Once you have done that tell us and we will send you in the direction of a much better system for the money . (Not joking at all.)

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hi, I'm a novice who recently purchased a bose speaker system (5 single cubes, subwoofer) from Sam's Club. I've hooked it up to my Sony receiver, but I have to turn up the volume knob very high on the receiver just to get a normal sound level in the room. The receiver is a Sony rated at 100W per channel, 5 speakers - nothing fancy but used to work grewat with my floor standing Infinity speakers.
Any suggestions on what I should do? The Bose system is the Acoutimass 600.Thanks in advance.
Mark

Sounds like those speakers are not meant for normal audio receivers but mated to a Bose setup.
Two choices, get the Bose component, or as avaserfi indicated, take those speakers back and set up a proper system.

 

[Alamar]

Before we start recommending things is there a particular reason that you went with the little Bose cubes? What reasons were those? What goals does your system need to meet? What are your priorities [in order]?

If you're single the odds are very good that the more knowledgeable people can give you a lot of good tips. If you're married and the speakers have to please the wife then it will be much harder for strangers to give you recommendations

 

[newbie2007]

Hi Guys - thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, returning is not an option (moved to a new city, lost receipt, etc - it's a long story). Reason I bought them was, even though I love the Infinity speakers they take up too much room and was looking for something small and discrete which can produce good sound without being visible and crowding the family room. No wife to contend with.

Appreciate any other suggestions on what I can do.

thx
Mark

 

[j_garcia]

Sounds like those speakers are not meant for normal audio receivers but mated to a Bose setup.
Two choices, get the Bose component, or as avaserfi indicated, take those speakers back and set up a proper system.

Bose does sell the cube packages without the total system and they can be used with any receiver, though all connections are via the base module because it houses the crossover for the cubes.

How big is your room? The cubes are fairly small and won't fill a larger room adequately. There may also be an issue of calibration of the system relative to your room.

 

[jimfitz]

A lot of people on this board bash the Bose speakers. I doubt many of them have even heard them. I use Bose and I love them. I came home with some large speakers and my wife had a fit. After returning two other speaker systems, I ended up with Bose. I am running a new Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver with a 7.1 speaker setup. I started with a used Bose Acoustimass 7 for the front left, right, and center. Later, I added a Bose Acoustimass 5 for the rear left and right. Recently, I added a new Bose Acoustimass 5 for the left and right surround speakers. I also have a Klipsch subwoofer. My family room is around 18X16 with a 18 foot ceiling. My system will blow you out of the room at 1/2 volume. I think it's an excellent choice.

 

[avaserfi]

A lot of people on this board bash the Bose speakers. I doubt many of them have even heard them. I use Bose and I love them. I came home with some large speakers and my wife had a fit. After returning two other speaker systems, I ended up with Bose. I am running a new Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver with a 7.1 speaker setup. I started with a used Bose Acoustimass 7 for the front left, right, and center. Later, I added a Bose Acoustimass 5 for the rear left and right. Recently, I added a new Bose Acoustimass 5 for the left and right surround speakers. I also have a Klipsch subwoofer. My family room is around 18X16 with a 18 foot ceiling. My system will blow you out of the room at 1/2 volume. I think it's an excellent choice.

While many people might parrot what they have heard or read about Bose you will also find that many of the members, especially the long standing ones, actually go out and audition a variety of speakers just to hear them, even when they aren't in the market for speakers. That being said speakers are a very personal choice and if you like Bose thats your thing, you just might not have many people agreeing with you here .

IMO Bose is like Monster Cable, their products are okay, but for the price or even less you can get far far better.

 

[j_garcia]

You will hardly find a forum where Bose are not loathed; go ahead and check. The simple fact is, you can get far better for the ridiculous prices they charge. They get the job done, but they are far from great sounding. I have heard them many times because my dad owns an AM15 package...and the crossover failed leaving him without one channel. I bought him a small Acoustic Research package and it easily bests the Bose package which was 4X the price.

 

[jimfitz]

If I listened to classical music on my system, I might agree. I only watch DVD movies with the sound system, and the Bose speakers do a great job. They are also not obtrusive in a family room environment.

 

[Alamar]

If one of the goals [esp. if it's the primary goal] is an unobtrusive speaker then Bose isn't a bad choice. [$ aside]

I have listened to Bose and while the in-store-demos make them sound great they don't sound nearly as good when I use my own source material.

The bad problem is though that I can't recommend a system that will wipe the floor with the Bose from a quality standpoint without causing exactly the decor problems that people that love Bose are trying to avoid.

As far as fixing the loudness problems on the Bose I'm not sure what can easily be done. I wouldn't imagine that the speaker wire would be of such a low quality or such a long run to cause too much signal loss or similar .....

 

[avaserfi]

If I listened to classical music on my system, I might agree. I only watch DVD movies with the sound system, and the Bose speakers do a great job. They are also not obtrusive in a family room environment.

That makes a bit of sense, but for the real HT info you should check out getting a subwoofer from SVS or something that will get you into the movies for real .

 

[jimfitz]

That makes a bit of sense, but for the real HT info you should check out getting a subwoofer from SVS or something that will get you into the movies for real .

This Klipsch is MORE than enough subwoofer for a 18X16 family room. And that's turned down really low.

 

[j_garcia]

This Klipsch is MORE than enough subwoofer for a 18X16 family room. And that's turned down really low.

That all depends on what you think "enough" is When it comes to subs, there is no such thing as too much.

 

[footman]

customer service.

You made an investment and you want it to work. Go to bose.com /customer service. Hopefully they will have an answer for you.

 

[wesley63]

You need a squid

If the Acoustimass 6 is anything like my friend's Acoustimass 16 speakers, then you need a special adapter that the Bose sales people call a "squid." It basically takes the 5.1 speaker wires from a normal A/V receiver and adapts them into one cable to input into the base module. Then you run wires from the base module to the cubes.

The Acoustimass systems are build to work with Bose A/V receivers (Lifestyle systems) that have a single cable between the receiver and the base module. As someone pointed out before, the base module contains the crossovers for all the channels.

If you have a Bose store in a mall near you, then just go in and ask what a "squid" is and they'll tell you all about it.

Good Luck,
Jim

 

[newbie2007]

{QUOTE]
How big is your room? The cubes are fairly small and won't fill a larger room adequately. There may also be an issue of calibration of the system relative to your room.[/QUOTE]

the room is not very big .. regular sized family room ...~15X15. How do I calibrate the system?

thx
mark

 

[wesley63]

More on the squid

The more I think about it...

I think that the squid actually took the 5 pairs of speaker wires and the RCA type plug for the sub-woofer and converted them into 6 RCA plugs. Do you by any chance have the pre-out 5.1 RCA plugs from your Sony plugged into the Acoustimass base module? If so, that won't work. The pre-out's are for feeding an external amplifier. You have to take the speaker wire output and input it into the Acoustimass base module, using the Bose adapter (the squid.)

If your receiver does not have pre-outs or you know all this already. Sorry. But that would certainly explain why you're not getting sound.

Jim

 

[jimfitz]

My bose systems are different that your's, but I ran L/R speaker wires out of my receiver into my Bose Acoustimass modules. Then I ran L/R speaker wires out of my Acoustimass modules to the cubes. I have a 7.1 system and have 7 double cubes. I have 3 Acoustimass modules. One module supports the 3 front cubes. One module supports the 2 side cubes, and one module supports the 2 back cubes. I have my subwoofer plugged into the receiver subwoofer jack.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Bose does sell the cube packages without the total system and they can be used with any receiver, though all connections are via the base module because it houses the crossover for the cubes.
.

With his receiver turned up almost all the way and barely hear it, something is not right. Even in stores with other background sounds they sound loud.
I thought perhaps their impedance is very high.