Bose Acousticmass 10 Series IV Subwoofer

[Lee Schwartz]

I have a Bose acousticmass 10 Series 5 speaker and subwoofer setup and a Denon AVR2100W receiver. The Geek Squad installed the speaker system to my Denon receiver. They did NOT plug the 5 Bose speakers into the Acousticmass subwoofer. They plugged each speaker into the Denon receiver. 1) Can you tell me if that is a problem, will the sound be substandard (it is working)? Next question they plugged the acousticmass sub using the included 20ft ribbon cable into the pre-out subwoofer in my Denon AVR2100W receiver. In Bose's manual they insist this connection must only be made to a port that is labeled as LFE, otherwise you must connect the ribbon pairs instead of the single connection. In my Denon manual the subwoofer Pre-out that the Bose sub is plugged is NOT labeleled as LFE. Is that a problem?

 

[fuzz092888]

Everything sounds like it is connected correctly. The sub out on a receiver is not and has not been labeled LFE for some time now.

I think the biggest problem you'll run into is that those bose modules probably need to be crossed fairly high, and that "bass module" won't play very low. Two 5.25" drivers does not a subwoofer make.

Have you tried the system out yet?

 

[Lee Schwartz]

yes it has been working seemingly ok. So you are saying the requirement that BOse has stated that the speakers go only into the sub is not required? The sound works but I am not sure it is working as best it could be. Meaning would I be missing something in sound quality if the speakers bypass the Bose subwoofer?

 

[fuzz092888]

yes it has been working seemingly ok. So you are saying the requirement that BOse has stated that the speakers go only into the sub is not required? The sound works but I am not sure it is working as best it could be. Meaning would I be missing something in sound quality if the speakers bypass the Bose subwoofer?

I see now. Can you post a picture of what exactly the geek squad did. I just looked up your bose system and I'm not sure how they managed to connect he speakers directly to the receiver.

By connecting the speakers to the Bose subwoofer I'm guessing there is some proprietary crossover or sound mixing going on.

In either case, whether Geek squad messed something up, or if you've got what you've got, my own personal opinion is that you're never going to get great sound from that system. Perhaps not even good sound depending on your own preferences, but that's just me.

A picture of what Geek squad did exactly would go a long way in determining whether it's them or the speakers. Do you have the original wires that came with the system to hook everything up to the "subwoofer"? You may want to try that and see if it changes anything.

 

[lovinthehd]

Odd arrangement it appears from the manual. They seem to be saying they want you to use the ribbon connector, which connects to both the speaker terminals of the avr and the sub pre-out. Is there a crossover applied in the bass module that may prevent damage to the sats perhaps? If worried just hook them up the way Bose advises, since you have the connector (but may need to adjust your wiring after the Bose box). Bose is not a normal speaker component set, they do things the Bose way. Seriously you can do so much better than Bose....

 

[tyhjaarpa]

yes it has been working seemingly ok. So you are saying the requirement that BOse has stated that the speakers go only into the sub is not required? The sound works but I am not sure it is working as best it could be. Meaning would I be missing something in sound quality if the speakers bypass the Bose subwoofer?

As you have got Bose speakers like that unfortunately it will never work best it could. For such budget you could of got much better setups.

 

[shadyJ]

Yeah, the Bose setup is very problematic. Any speaker which has this statement in its manual:"WARNING: Do not connect the speakers to a receiver. This can result in damage to your system and possible electric shock" has some problems. The speakers are not hooked up correctly. You have to wonder about their electrical resistance. That sounds very dodgy.

 

[Auditor55]

I have a Bose acousticmass 10 Series 5 speaker and subwoofer setup and a Denon AVR2100W receiver. The Geek Squad installed the speaker system to my Denon receiver. They did NOT plug the 5 Bose speakers into the Acousticmass subwoofer. They plugged each speaker into the Denon receiver. 1) Can you tell me if that is a problem, will the sound be substandard (it is working)? Next question they plugged the acousticmass sub using the included 20ft ribbon cable into the pre-out subwoofer in my Denon AVR2100W receiver. In Bose's manual they insist this connection must only be made to a port that is labeled as LFE, otherwise you must connect the ribbon pairs instead of the single connection. In my Denon manual the subwoofer Pre-out that the Bose sub is plugged is NOT labeleled as LFE. Is that a problem?

Just use the ribbon connection.

 

[markw]

Here's a copy of your manual:

http://worldwide.bose.com/productsupport/assets/pdf/guides/acoustimass/am10_series5/am_6v_10v_og.pdf

As for the sub out/LFE, they are the same thing. No problem there.

You don't HAVE to use the receiver's LFE output. In such case, you would instruct the system to not use the sub out and all lows will be sent as part of the front right/left speaker outputs, which would be handled by the Bose unit.

However, Your receiver's speaker outputs should be connected to the Bose "subwoofer" because it filters out the lows from those tiny satellite speakers. Then, the speakers should be connected to the subwoofer. As it now stands, they MAY blow if you push it too hard.

They did not connect it correctly. Your satellite speakers could be blown by direct connection to the receiver. They must pass through the bose "subwoofer".

 

[Lee Schwartz]

Hi all, Thank u all for your replies. I have attached pics as best I could to show the back of the receiver where the bose speakers are connected, Then the back of the woofer with the ribbon cables only connected to the Pre-out. You can see that Bose sub does not have speakers plugged into it. And then last pic shows the other end of the ribbon cable with the wires not connected. These wires on the ribbon should be connected to the receiver per the manual to support the speakers. It turns out I have had this system setup this way for over a year and I always thought the quality was less then desirable. But then month ago on Superbowl day to be exact, my subwoofer started to cut out intermittently. I started looking at the connections to see if stuff was plugged in properly. That is when I referred to the manual and saw that documented in the Bose manual NOT to connect bose speakers directly to the receivor. So now I am not sure my sub is not shot - possibly due to the Geeks not setting it up properly. I am ready to go back to BestBuy and tell them they need to replace the sub AND plug this all in properly. I paid them $250 for installation. Thoughts? Do u think my sub could have been compromised by this misinstallation??

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Hi all, Thank u all for your replies. I have attached pics as best I could to show the back of the receiver where the bose speakers are connected, Then the back of the woofer with the ribbon cables only connected to the Pre-out. You can see that Bose sub does not have speakers pulled into it. And then last pic shows the other end of the ribbon cable with the wires not connected. These wires on the ribbon should be connected to the receiver per the manual to support the speakers. It turns out I have had this system setup this way for over a year and I always thought the quality was less then desirable. But then month ago on Superbowl day to be exact, my subwoofer started to cut out intermittently. I started looking at the connections to see if stuff was plugged in properly. That is when I referred to the manual and saw that documented in the Bose manual that not to connect directly to the receivor. So now I am not sure my sub is not shot - possibly due to the Geeks not setting it up properly. I am ready to go back to BestBuy and tell them they need to replace the sub AND plug this all in properly. I paid them $250 for installation. Thoughts? Do u think my sub could have been compromised by this misinstallation??

I don't think that sub has problems due to connections but actual quality of the unit and it has died. I'm sorry to say but they have ripped you off with the installation cost as well. You could of done it yourself in couple of hours. You can try to get that under varranty as I believe they should have some kind of varranty system. You say they don't sound right, you are correct, the whole system is quite bad and it will never sound good no matter how you connect them.

What I myself would do in your situation is get that sub repaired/changed under varranty if possible and sell that bose system asap and build yourself a decent setup instead. You will thank yourself later by doing that.

 

[markw]

It turns out I have had this system setup this way for over a year and I always thought the quality was less then desirable. But then month ago on Superbowl day to be exact, my subwoofer started to cut out intermittently. I started looking at the connections to see if stuff was plugged in properly.

... I am ready to go back to BestBuy and tell them they need to replace the sub AND plug this all in properly. I paid them $250 for installation. Thoughts? Do u think my sub could have been compromised by this misinstallation??

the install was over a year ago? Good luck getting satisfaction.

In any case, the ONLY thing that was connected correctly was the subwoofer.

 

[TLS Guy]

The Geeks did not connect it up correctly. They did not blow the sub however. Bose just Blows! Blows up that is. They could have damaged the satellites.

In the end Bose gear is just awful and way over priced.

Take our advice, and get rid of Bose, and buy yourself a nice set of speakers and a sub. It hooks the way you have the current system set up, which is the way any properly engineered set up is connected.