The Boston Experience

[admin]

How often does a company claim to "reinvent" itself? And how many times is it actually true? Boston Acoustics is making a lot of changes - dropping most of their speaker lines, dropping many of their accessory products, and even dropping the "Acoustics" from their name. Reinvention? Absolutely. The new face of Boston was unveiling to us and reported directly to you.

Discuss "The Boston Experience" here. Read the article.

 

[sholling]

I'm saddened. I've always enjoyed my Boston Acoustics speakers. Based on the article and the fact that most retail outlets have dropped them I get the impression that they are doing a survival mode pullback. Retrenching and going more Circuit City/Best Buyish. I guess that's where the money is. Well I guess I'll be watching the sales for a deal on pair of CR67 or VRX satellites for my rears..

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Here is something even sadder: The B&W website now lists "ipod speakers" on an equal footing with hi fi and home theatre.

 

[3db]

Figures

Here is something even sadder: The B&W website now lists "ipod speakers" on an equal footing with hi fi and home theatre.

Everything is going the dreaded way of MP3 and CD sales have dropped and probably will be only available on a order basis. Itunes as far as I know only sells songs at 192Mb instead of 320Mb. I don't know about the other resellers. Vinyl will outlive the CD format. Thank god I invested into a quality turntable just recently.

 

[gene]

This is all I have to say:

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/the-dumbing-down-of-audio

 

[ZoFo]

Who ever thought that the "Winner" of the SACD vs. DVD-Audio War.......

Would be frigging iPod & MP3!

 

[Adam]

Alright, I'll say it. I think that iPods are wonderful devices. I remember lugging around a portable CD player and a CD holder when I'd travel, and my holder only held about 15 CDs. Before that, it was portable tape players. Now, people can hold more music on a smaller device that has a longer battery life.

BTW, I am NOT saying that I like compressed audio. My only real reason for not buying more songs from iTunes is the compression. I buy some from time to time because it provides instant gratification and, honestly, the songs sound fine on my computer speakers. Also, when using headphones, most people don't need the original uncompressed version of the music because they can't tell the difference. I shy away from it because I can tell a difference when I play the songs on my main stereo system.

When the technology was released, storage capacities and internet transfer rates forced compression for it to be commercially viable. However, that's changing. With iPod storage capacities these days, one can fit a lot of uncompressed audio onto them. I think that the technology is great. We all can choose how we want to use it.

 

[3db]

Not exactly

Would be frigging iPod & MP3!

Although MP3s are here to stay, I really think that the serious audio lover will go back to vinyl. I just picked up a new Turntable from Pro-ject and I'm amazed at the sound and the nuances that have been brought out. I'm on path of rediscovering my vinyl colleaction again. Its amazing. Shortly afer buying my TT, I went looking for local shops who dealt mainly with vinyl and I'm surprised that I counted over 10 in a city with a pop of about 750000. The other thing that suprised me is that any CD I've purchased over the last 6 months is also available on vinyl. Its the CD format that is starting its slow agonizing demize. I may be wrong but in this point in time, I see way more titles in vinyl then DVDA and SACD put together. Maybe if the two DVD camps could have agreed on 1 format, then it may have emerged as CD's replacement for the serious audio lover.

 

[3db]

thankyou Gene for that informative article

This is all I have to say:

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/the-dumbing-down-of-audio

It was a good read.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Although MP3s are here to stay, I really think that the serious audio lover will go back to vinyl. I just picked up a new Turntable from Pro-ject and I'm amazed at the sound and the nuances that have been brought out. I'm on path of rediscovering my vinyl colleaction again. Its amazing. Shortly afer buying my TT, I went looking for local shops who dealt mainly with vinyl and I'm surprised that I counted over 10 in a city with a pop of about 750000. The other thing that suprised me is that any CD I've purchased over the last 6 months is also available on vinyl. Its the CD format that is starting its slow agonizing demize. I may be wrong but in this point in time, I see way more titles in vinyl then DVDA and SACD put together. Maybe if the two DVD camps could have agreed on 1 format, then it may have emerged as CD's replacement for the serious audio lover.

The only reason for the resurgence of vinyl is the "loudness wars" which are leading to poor mastering of CDs. The vinyl version of a given title is sometimes mastered differently, and intended to appeal to an audiophile audience. This is the only way that vinyl can sound better, since CDs (when properly mastered) are capable of very substantially better sound quality.

 

[3db]

Loudness is not the only reason..

The only reason for the resurgence of vinyl is the "loudness wars" which are leading to poor mastering of CDs. The vinyl version of a given title is sometimes mastered differently, and intended to appeal to an audiophile audience. This is the only way that vinyl can sound better, since CDs (when properly mastered) are capable of very substantially better sound quality.

The CD format is dying because of MP3 availability and the selling of Mp3 thru legit web/download distributions. Also, vinyl library exceeds both DVDA, SACD, as well as MP3 libraries and it rivals the CD in the number of titles available. Vinyl will come back for those who love audio and take it seriously. I'm not here to argue about which format is better.

 

[rnatalli]

This is all I have to say:

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/the-dumbing-down-of-audio

Don't the Acura TL's come with Bose systems? They're the best you know... Muwhaha. I saw another victim two days ago at CC; sad because Bostons and Denon receivers were sitting right there for far less $$. The way I see it, we're all guilty somewhere. Some of us buy overpriced cars, others buy overpriced sound systems, others buy terrible milk. It's impossible for everyone to know everything.

Here's an interesting study that was done in the UK that sums up the herd mentality in general:
--------------------------------------
Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder,
leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each
time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed
with ice cold water, which makes them miserable. Soon enough, whenever
a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not
wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the
eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.

One of the original monkeys is then pulled out, and a new monkey is put
in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of
the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately
begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why.

However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder. A second original
monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb
the ladder, but all the other monkeys beat the crap out of him. This
includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he's not on the
receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the
other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new monkey.

One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced.
Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been
sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of
them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without
having any idea why.
--------------------------------------

Sound familiar?

 

[Adam]

The monkey story eludes me. Was the point that the monkeys should have let someone climb the ladder, or that they were correct to follow the lead of their predecessors and not let them climb the ladder?

So, people here attack Bose. Is it because they don't like it, or because they were told they shouldn't like it?

 

[rnatalli]

There are a lot of points to that story; I just like that story In general, people will do whatever the herd does whether it makes sense or not. History has shown this over and over so this is no secret. In the case of Bose, people buy cube speakers from Bose without auditioning anything else convinced they're buying the best speakers on the planet. People here attacking Bose are the minority and not the herd and generally are people who have heard various other speaker brands. But like I said, we're all guilty of this herd mentality on some level and everyone has different priorities.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

When I attack Bose, it is because I have heard their speakers utterly blown away by competitor's speakers costing less than half as much.

 

[avaserfi]

The only reason for the resurgence of vinyl is the "loudness wars" which are leading to poor mastering of CDs. The vinyl version of a given title is sometimes mastered differently, and intended to appeal to an audiophile audience. This is the only way that vinyl can sound better, since CDs (when properly mastered) are capable of very substantially better sound quality.

The main reason for vinyl often sounding better than CDs is due to the loudness war, but not mainly because vinyl is mastered for a different crowd. There are certain limitations to vinyl that don't allow the master editor to ruin it with the loudness wars as they can with CDs due to the more physical nature of the way vinyl is read. If a record has too much compression as found with many CDs the needle can actually pop out of place or break. This forces master editors of vinyl to be far more careful.

In the end CDs are a better physical medium simply because they offer a far larger dynamic range and don't degrade overtime because of use. The problem is there are so few editors taking advantage of that because of these damned loudness wars.

 

[Adam]

When I attack Bose, it is because I have heard their speakers utterly blown away by competitor's speakers costing less than half as much.

Ahh, see...but you are like one of the original monkeys that got sprayed. I was just making a remark that the herd mentality goes both ways when it comes to liking or disliking Bose.

For the record, I was also hosed down with my own personal Bose experience. Didn't like them. Then again, there are plenty of "good" brands that I don't like, either.

 

[sholling]

Don't the Acura TL's come with Bose systems?

Actually when Bose first became a factory option I believe it was as the Delco/GM/Bose option found in higher end GM cars. If memory serves it was a huge step up from any previous factory sound system - at least in domestic cars, and really started the trend toward quality factory sound.

 

[3db]

CDs whether better than vinyl or not are still going the way of the dodo

The main reason for vinyl often sounding better than CDs is due to the loudness war, but not mainly because vinyl is mastered for a different crowd. There are certain limitations to vinyl that don't allow the master editor to ruin it with the loudness wars as they can with CDs due to the more physical nature of the way vinyl is read. If a record has too much compression as found with many CDs the needle can actually pop out of place or break. This forces master editors of vinyl to be far more careful.

In the end CDs are a better physical medium simply because they offer a far larger dynamic range and don't degrade overtime because of use. The problem is there are so few editors taking advantage of that because of these damned loudness wars.

I walked into HMV in its biggest location where I live and I'm astonished at how much less selection there is when compared to 5 years ago. This location had another room just dedicated to classical music alone but now everything is in one room which is smaller that what it was and is competing for shelf space with DVDs. I truly think MP3s *shakes my head in utter disgust* is whats killing CDs. The masses truly don't care for fidelity anymore. They have forsaken fidelity for convience.

 

[rnatalli]

Actually when Bose first became a factory option I believe it was as the Delco/GM/Bose option found in higher end GM cars. If memory serves it was a huge step up from any previous factory sound system - at least in domestic cars, and really started the trend toward quality factory sound.

A Nissan I had in the past came with a Bose system, but I replaced the speakers with Bostons But you're right, some of those older, factory stereos were pretty awful. It seems they've come a long way. I have a 2007 Lincoln and its sound system isn't the worst I've heard.