Bose Speaker Measurements & Frequency Response Graphs

[davestradamus]

the bose acoustimass and 901s are a bit ridiculous, and they might suck. but not all bose equipment is bad. for example:

wave radio - although a bit overpriced

various 201/301 speakers can be had used, for less than 100 bucks. not too bad i say. they arent the best but they arent bad and theyre cheap.

bose 2.1 system. great for people who are a bit intimidated by the whole home theater deal, and dont want to learn a bunch of stuff to have decent sound. (old people, the stupid and people too busy to care).

i agree that acostimass sucks ****... i mean cmon, how can you get decent sound out of a bunch of little creppy speakers???

and capitalism sucks sometimes.... but hey, who would want "their little secret" speakers or whathaveyou getting into the mainstream. bose is actually helping you out by steering people away from buying your equipment and making you less "cool".

peace love and all thats associated.
and take a shower you hippie.

-david

 

[JackVa1]

Bose "Base" Module with other speakers

Any value in using this unit with other than the bose cubes? I am very curious about this...also on another note...

When talking of the acustimass systems does anyone ever consider that using these with a quality SUB does take care of the Base response shortcomings or am I all wet?

My system is greatly enhanced by the SUB, but I guess there are other gaps I am missing.

Thanks

Jack

 

[pzaur]

Any value in using this unit with other than the bose cubes? I am very curious about this...also on another note...

When talking of the acustimass systems does anyone ever consider that using these with a quality SUB does take care of the Base response shortcomings or am I all wet?

My system is greatly enhanced by the SUB, but I guess there are other gaps I am missing.

Thanks

Jack

Any quality sub will take of any bass response shortcomings of any system. The acoustimass has all sorts of issues and shortcomings. The bass response is the least of them...imho.

-pat

 

[JackVa1]

What about with other speakers...would there be any value in running my speaker wire through the Acoustimass Base unit before connecting to towers or my Classic Sansui or even to my real Bose 161's?

Is there anything bad it would introduce?

 

[pzaur]

It all depends if the unit has a crossover built in. If it doesn't, it'll reproduce as much of the signal that goes through it, full range the the given speaker. Not a good thing for any subwoofer, or in this case, bass module. You'll hear the sounds coming from two different locations.

-pat

 

[spkrdtr]

Post without links to meet my quota of >5.

 

[spkrdtr]

Another post without links to meet quota of >5 in order to satisfy the link 'police'

 

[spkrdtr]

Dr. Bose explains why he doesn't publish specs

A blog article at the link below written by someone who paraphrased (as best he could) some remarks made recently by 'the man' to a group of journalists.
For what it's worth. I'm sure the Bose bashers won't be swayed a bit by this.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/09/19/dr-bose-tells-all-company-sercrets-why-they-dont-publish-specs-and-more/

 

[bandphan]

A blog article at the link below written by someone who paraphrased (as best he could) some remarks made recently by 'the man' to a group of journalists.
For what it's worth. I'm sure the Bose bashers won't be swayed a bit by this.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/09/19/dr-bose-tells-all-company-sercrets-why-they-dont-publish-specs-and-more/

nothing new in the article that hasnt been discussed. His thoughts on human perception is right and he has made a good living based on that

 

[TjMV3]

nothing new in the article that hasnt been discussed. His thoughts on human perception is right and he has made a good living based on that

He can say what he wants. But this human's perception when auditioning the 601 and 701 was that of pure junk. Worst sounding pieces of garbage I have ever had the displeasure of hearing.

I've heard $100.00 Boom Boxes that have sounded monumentally better, than those two Bose speakers.

 

[no. 5]

A blog article at the link below written by someone who paraphrased (as best he could) some remarks made recently by 'the man' to a group of journalists.
For what it's worth. I'm sure the Bose bashers won't be swayed a bit by this.

What exactly are we to be swayed to? Am I to read that and come to the conclusion that of every perceptual researcher and loudspeaker designer, Dr. Bose is the only one who knows anything about sound quality?

Consider some things from the article:

I decided I woud like to test loudspeakers in our chamber. At that time, I had no interest in acoustics. My field was a different field at the time. But this became a problem that began to obsess me: How could something measure so well and not sound good?

How did he know that the right thing was being measured? Why was he sure that the measurements were 'so good'?

When we launched [the 901] it caused quite a stir in the industry because it had no woofers and no tweeters and worse yet, eight of the those full-range drivers were facing back agains the wall, with one facing forward. Imagine this in a community of people who still believe in measurements. They didn’t know how to measure it. They measured it in a chamber with a microphone in front, so 80 percent of the sound went away from the microphone!

Who evaluates a loudspeaker's performance with only one measurement??

There are two reasons we cut out the specifications:
1) We don’t know of any measurements that actually determine anything about a product, and 2) Measurements are phony, in general, as they are printed.

That first statement is alarming (the second is usually true), is he saying no measurements reflect audible performance? If a speaker's input level changes 10dB, but the output level changes only 4dB, that would be clearly audible and measurable compression, but Dr. Bose is apparently saying it means nothing; if a speaker measures as having no treble, that apparently means you will have to listen to it to determine if it does in fact have no audible treble.

Sorry that I'm not swayed, but what he says contradicts too much research from people that don't have their names attached to the company that pays their bills.

 

[highfigh]

A knock-off brand (white van scam) that mimics the look of the Bose logo.

You mean, the "Hey- you wanna buy some speakers? They're left over from a job and my boss'll never miss them. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?"?

 

[EYEdROP0]

Ive got a question. We all know Bose typically uses lower quality drivers and sometimes poor wood. How is it that they get sound like that out of such cheap material? I mean, lets be honest. Bose isnt THAT bad. Ive heard plenty worse. Ive noticed their box designs are unconventional. Sometimes I wonder what their stuff would sound like paired with high quality drivers. Why doesent Bose make a true flagship speaker?

 

[no. 5]

Ive got a question. We all know Bose typically uses lower quality drivers and sometimes poor wood. How is it that they get sound like that out of such cheap material? I mean, lets be honest. Bose isnt THAT bad. Ive heard plenty worse. Ive noticed their box designs are unconventional.

It's a question of tolerable mediocrity. There truly is a huge number of mediocre loudspeakers on the market, picking a "good" one is just a question of which is less offensive. Even with bad speakers, the sound quality often has to be absolutely grotesque before many people will say that it sounds bad.

We as humans have an amazing ability to listen past the often bad sound quality of loudspeakers, and tune in to the sound that is being reproduced, largely ignoring the objectionable parts of what is being heard. Side by side comparison with another product will make flaws readily apparent.
But that is not to say that flaws can't be heard without comparison, they can, just that our hearing will tend to adapt to what is being listened to.

And remember that quality of drivers and materials alone does not dictate sound quality.

Sometimes I wonder what their stuff would sound like paired with high quality drivers.

Although it may produce some improvement, the very designs of many of their products are not optimal for high sound quality.

Why doesent Bose make a true flagship speaker?

I don't know, and in my opinion it's a shame they don't, because I suspect they have all the ability to.

 

[Seth=L]

Of course they have the ability to. Money is a means to produce research, but they dump all their money into researching marketing tactics. To be honest, they haven't changed their tactics too much. If they don't change their tactics soon they will find themselves going south. More and more people are learning about Bose for what it really is. A lot of Bose customers are not tech savy, but we are a generation of tech savy people. Of course, there will always be stupid people.

 

[EYEdROP0]

Listen up Dr. Bose:

Of course they have the ability to. Money is a means to produce research, but they dump all their money into researching marketing tactics. To be honest, they haven't changed their tactics too much. If they don't change their tactics soon they will find themselves going south. More and more people are learning about Bose for what it really is. A lot of Bose customers are not tech savy, but we are a generation of tech savy people. Of course, there will always be stupid people.

Bose claims to have extensive research in psychoacoustics and sound reproduction technology. Yet they havent given us anything new since "Direct Reflecting" and "Acoustic Waveguide" stuff that actually impressed people. I mean, the 901 was obviously a huge hit and sounded like nothing else at the time. Acoustic Waveguide made small speakers sound "bigger". But since then, nothing has changed. I mean, all this stuff was developed in the 60's-80's. Nowadays the products are unimpressive, to be honest. Bose needs another "901". And until then, their products clearly perform inferior to what certain manufacturers have nowadays at similar prices.

Lets get realistic Bose. Your clearly letting down music lovers and audiophiles alike. Please shock us.

 

[Clownfish]

Of course they have the ability to. Money is a means to produce research, but they dump all their money into researching marketing tactics. To be honest, they haven't changed their tactics too much. If they don't change their tactics soon they will find themselves going south. More and more people are learning about Bose for what it really is. A lot of Bose customers are not tech savy, but we are a generation of tech savy people. Of course, there will always be stupid people.

I am a Bose owner.***


(Whew) That said, I am new to this fourm. I was duped into the system by my spouse, who was duped by the sales pitch, because they didn't like all my large components in the house.

We have the 3-2-1 Lifestyle system. It was sold to my spouse as a "Fantastic sound system that will fill the room with music, play movies in surround sound, and do an amazing job!" It was sold to my spouse at an "outlet" store, and they were pressed for time shopping...

I AM NOT AN AUDIOPHILE. What I can tell you is, the system did NOT play in surround sound, and when I played CD's, the music lacked. I didn't know what or how, again, I'm not an audiophile. There was no real bass, the music seemed to be missing, and I didn't enjoy it at all. I played music over our new plasma 50" Panasonic TV... BECAUSE IT SOUNDED BETTER!

Sad, huh? I do not really have a good understanding yet of "testing" or what some of the information is telling about music or sound, frequency response, impedence, mgz, hz khz, etc. What I can tell you is it sounded like krap when we got it home.

I have finally convinced my spouse the Bose blows, and after reading on these fourms, I now understand why. I want to listen to music again, so I will study up, and make a better choice for my family.

My friends and neighbors thought I was crazy for wanting to dump the Bose system. It's one of the best, or so many people who are not audiophiles, are misled to think. A guy I work with wants to buy it, because it a Bose, a fantastic, high end system, so he told me.

Why should Bose make a better speaker, or system? They are selling enough to turn a large profit. What they are doing is working, for them. Their marketing is the best. Most people who are not into audio, video, or "techies" are under the marketing myth that Bose makes top of the line equipment. I don't see Bose going south anytime soon.

Are people stupid? Were we stupid? I don't know, I suppose so, we bought a Blose.

***WOW, that was very embarassing to 'fess up to, and tough to post on this fourm.

 

[Nemo128]

My 2c for what they're worth...

Blindtested Bose myself while working retail and the Bose rep was showing off a Lifestyle system. Blindtested pretty much everything else they made from the cheapy PC 2.1 speakers up to the $2k HTiB set at the time (2003).

They were always compared to something in their immediate price group (+-a few dollars) that our store sold. In every comparo, almost every employee picked the other option over the Bose. Out of 10, 1 or 2 would say system A was better, but because it sounded more "smooth". We learned that their idea of smooth was lacking in low and high detailing, so their opinions were summarily discarded and they were moved from selling AV to cameras and cell phones. =)

Interestingly enough, even crappy PC speakers like the Logitech Z-680s beat the comparably priced Bose PC stuff and cheaper Lifestyle stuff just because they had more sound and detail throughout the reproduction. Everyone said Bose lacked the bass and highs that the Logis (which are pretty craptastic for highs) at least had in spades (bass) and had a hint of (highs).

Is Bose absolute trash? I wouldn't say so. Are they handily crushed by stuff in their immediate price range? Absolutely. Does the wife love the look of the cutesy lil cubes? Unfortunately yes, but I convinced her to get Def Techs all around for our place. =D

 

[captiankirk28]

I am so glade i never got suckered into a Bose system.

My brother in law did (3-2-1) but after listing to my system he is far from proud of his Great Bose Lifestyle 3-2-1. He is going to sell it and get something that has some sound to it. Im sure all the info i printed of here for his reading pleasure probley did'nt help his feelings any

 

[BillP2R]

Reading this thread brought to mind that back in the day when the 901 was the "latest and greatest", my friends just could not understand why I was not impressed with their performance.

While the 901s were not unlistenable, I thought they were just average (and over priced).

--------------- Bill