Bose Acoustimass sats

[denser]

ok call me stupid
but i'm thirty something an all my life i've been dreaming of Bose speakers since i was kid because i was completly ignorant about sound quality, and finally last week i found a great offer and i bought 5 double speakers (one of last series) and the center speaker for half price together ($400 everything)...brand new (NOS?) as stated on the ad.

they are very nice but when i swapped my old broken JBL J520Ms and a Warhedfale center speaker i said "what is this crap"??

I have a brand new pioneer ht receiver, a decent yamaha subwoofer ... and the bose sound like pc-speaker compared to my jbl (as said: cones are even slightly torn on my jbl)

how is possible?? is it a joke? i'm gonna return them, but maybe i'm doing something wrong...

any advice is appreciated

thanks

 

[dkane360]

Bose is the joke. The bose name garners no respect in the home theater community (from anyone of merit anyways). The cubes have terrible dynamic range, which would be common knowledge except for the fact that bose doesn't release their technical specs because they're so atrocious. You should return them, and we'll be glad to help you pick out some better speakers

 

[markw]

I didn't know they sold those satellite speakers without the bass box.

 

[j_garcia]

I didn't know they sold those satellite speakers without the bass box.

They don't The crossover is in the bass module, so those cubes are difficult to work with without it.

 

[markw]

Difficult?

They don't The crossover is in the bass module, so those cubes are difficult to work with without it.

Make that impossible. They will sound poor*, even by Bose standards. That bass box reproduces a goodly portion of the lower midrange that the satellites can't.

*I'm being extremely kind here.

 

[son-yah-tive]

I had a Bose Acousti-mess 15 system. It sounded great at first. But time has a way of educating you. I finally got rid of the Bose and jumped up to Def Techs. If you get the Bass module for the speakers you have now, you'll hear a big difference. But only for a while. But soon you'll be trying to get rid of them.

 

[yepimonfire]

they sound like computer speakers because, well, take the grills off (if you can) and lookm at whats in there. they are made just like computer speakers, made to take up as least space as possible and give out as much sound as possible. bose has a tendency to exaggerate certain areas of the response, like abnormally bright highs, exaggerated mid-bass (which gives the impression of punchy bass because our ears are more sensitive to mid-bass and the brain will attempt to compensate for lacking sound) and too much psycoacoustics. they have no mid-range and absolutley no dynamic range to speak of, they literally sound like you hooked a mid-bass woofer up to laptop speakers. never buy anything from bose ever again. they are garbage.

 

[dkane360]

You can buy just the cubes at best buy. I've seen them next to all the other small satellite speakers.

 

[rnatalli]

You aren't stupid; you're actually trusting what you hear instead of allowing marketing to influence you. Bravo... If you want small speakers, check out Orb Audio, Mirage Nanosats, and Aperion 4B's. All will blow Bose out of the water and will likely cost less to boot.

 

[markw]

As far as small speakers go...

Heck, keep an eye out for some old Radio Shack Minimus 7's at garage sales and such. I still use 'em around the house for casual listening.

There's billions hiding out there. They sold 'em from the early 80's to the late 90's.

I pick 'em up whenever I find them for sale locally. You can get 'em for a few bucks and they will out-sound those Bose doubles.

 

[dreamwrx]

If only my family members realize that bose isn't good... They really dont know what they are missing. but whatever makes them happy.

I have some Mirage Omnisat those are quite nice, though not high end, but definitely way better than Bose.

 

[njedpx3]

Bookshelf and a Sub

I had a Bose Acousti-mess 15 system. It sounded great at first. But time has a way of educating you. I finally got rid of the Bose and jumped up to Def Techs. If you get the Bass module for the speakers you have now, you'll hear a big difference. But only for a while. But soon you'll be trying to get rid of them.

Bose is overpriced and the small speaker Bose systems can only do so much. And son-yah-tive is correct the Bass module will add some mid and some bass, but only so so. Most Bose is overprice and the sound is good, but niot great until you go up to the 901s. The Def Techs, that son-yah-tive has are a very good choice. However you can find a lot of excellent bookshelf speakers systems with a subwoofer in your price range that will sound much better than the Acousitmas systems. An inexpensive example of a very good 2.1 system are Behringher 2030p truth monitors and a Dayton 120-HT subwoofer.

Behringer 2030 $131.09 /pair
http://www.pro-audio-warehouse.com/b2030p.html

Dayton SUB-120 Ht $155.23
http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-SUB-120-Watt-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B000C9NV78

So for less than $300 you can have a very nice system. If you want to spend more then there are obviously better alternatives.

Good Luck and Good Sound!

Forest Man

 

[njedpx3]

You aren't stupid; you're actually trusting what you hear instead of allowing marketing to influence you. Bravo... If you want small speakers, check out Orb Audio, Mirage Nanosats, and Aperion 4B's. All will blow Bose out of the water and will likely cost less to boot.

I agree with rnatalli. The small speakers of Bose can only do so much. The Bass module adds some mid and bass capability. The setups in stores are specailly setup to get the very best possible sound out of Bose. You will never get that at home ...unless you go with 901s ...but that is a whole different game. When you get an Acoustimaster home and set it up it willmore than likely sound worse than in the store.

As I recommended earlier a good 2.1 system with bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer will sound better than the Acoustimaster small cube systems.

Good Luck and Good Sound!

Forest Man

P.S. - Add Behringer, Cambridge Audio, Paradigm, and Mordant Short to you small speakers that sound better list

P.S.S - The Bose Wave Radio still isn't too bad

 

[yepimonfire]

P.S.S - The Bose Wave Radio still isn't too bad

the bose wave radio sounds just like those "all in one" XM radios at radioshack, forced bass that is 100hz heavy, harsh highs, and scratchy mid-range. for the price you could get a decent 2.1 system for 400-600 dollars including the CD player. it would certainly crush one of those. bose usually has on-board equalization of the low frequencies and the high ones. the set of computer speakers they make have a microphone built into them that constantly EQs itself to get extra bass and treble. my dad has a pair of these. the entire theory that bose has is getting tiny speakers to sound like huge full range speakers, while this is not a bad goal in itself and for many people living in tiny apt. this might be good, but as a genuine hi-fi system its a fail. ever read up on how these things work? the bose acoustimass sub has exaggerated mid-bass that the brain processes as lower deeper bass because our brains will attempt to fill in weaker gaps to make things more intelligible. don't beleive me? shut off you subwoofer and set your speaker to LARGE and listen for about 20 minutes, it will certainly sound better after 20 minutes passes. when i bought my first set of full range speakers (down to 40hz anyways) the bass seemed to drown me out and it seemed overpowering, after about 20 minutes it sounded natural of course and now i can't stand using speaker without a sub. even an extension down to 47hz sounds too thin to me. the brain compensates for missing information.

 

[njedpx3]

Bose Wave is a very good clock radio -- not an HT system

the bose wave radio sounds just like those "all in one" XM radios at radioshack, forced bass that is 100hz heavy, harsh highs, and scratchy mid-range. for the price you could get a decent 2.1 system for 400-600 dollars including the CD player. it would certainly crush one of those. bose usually has on-board equalization of the low frequencies and the high ones. the set of computer speakers they make have a microphone built into them that constantly EQs itself to get extra bass and treble. my dad has a pair of these. the entire theory that bose has is getting tiny speakers to sound like huge full range speakers, while this is not a bad goal in itself and for many people living in tiny apt. this might be good, but as a genuine hi-fi system its a fail. ever read up on how these things work? the bose acoustimass sub has exaggerated mid-bass that the brain processes as lower deeper bass because our brains will attempt to fill in weaker gaps to make things more intelligible. don't beleive me? shut off you subwoofer and set your speaker to LARGE and listen for about 20 minutes, it will certainly sound better after 20 minutes passes. when i bought my first set of full range speakers (down to 40hz anyways) the bass seemed to drown me out and it seemed overpowering, after about 20 minutes it sounded natural of course and now i can't stand using speaker without a sub. even an extension down to 47hz sounds too thin to me. the brain compensates for missing information.

yepimonfire - The Bose radio is a very good clock radio to wake up too. Obviously it will not compare with any decent HT system. Read my posts, I recommended a 2.1 system as you will see if you read previous posts. You say you have demoed Bose, I used to be a complete Bose bigot I have lived and breathed them and yes there are better speakers, especially for the price than a lot of Bose speakers. However, back in the pure stereo days I had a 901 system that was pretty sweet. I also have a Bose clock radio that is nice to wake up too. However, it deosn't hold acandle to my Marantz, Def Tech 7002, CLR 3000, SVS PB1 Plus HTsystem.

OP - pick a budget and look at putting together a 2.1 system as I previously recommended, you will like it better than the Acoustimater system.

Good Luck,

Forest Man


P.S. I also have a Sony XDR-S3HD radio which has better sound than the bose Wave but needs external FM and AM antennas which the Bose wave doesn't. I also have a Sangrean HDT-1X HD tuner which also needs external antennas to pick up the same station as the Bose Wave. A newer clock radio I installed at the cabin is hte Executive NeverLate clock which actually picks up stations as well as the Bose wave, sounds very good - FOR A CLOCK RADIO - and only costs $59.95

 

[GPS]

I fell for the bose too about 10 years ago. I bought the acoustamass 10 from sams club....i just had to get that off my chest. Its embarrassing when i think back about it.

 

[markw]

I fell for the bose too about 10 years ago. I bought the acoustamass 10 from sams club....i just had to get that off my chest. Its embarrassing when i think back about it.

Say ten Hail Omars and never sin again, my son.

 

[pzaur]

Heck, keep an eye out for some old Radio Shack Minimus 7's at garage sales and such. I still use 'em around the house for casual listening.

There's billions hiding out there. They sold 'em from the early 80's to the late 90's.

I pick 'em up whenever I find them for sale locally. You can get 'em for a few bucks and they will out-sound those Bose doubles.

This person might be willing to ship.

Realistic Minimus 7

-pat