Bose vs my old Avid or Sansui Speakers Circa 1970's

[JackVa1]

Ok, I am new but have collected stereo stuff from the 70's when I was overseas till now with the home theater thing.

I have bose cubes from a company award 6 years ago - two cubes and a midrange thing that sort of power the bose and do mid-range stuff. They can blow out my 20 x 20 family room.

I bought some stupid bose surround speakers - I think they are 151 's or 161's or something that i set up for the rear to "match" my system...

Here is where it gets good...I bought an Onkyo TS-797 a few years back and also a large Velodyn sub woofer ct-150 so I have some good things I think.

I keep reading people bashing the Bose but they seem to fill the room. The sub seems to make up for the lows I am missing with the Bose cubes. What the heck am I missing?

I have a pair of AVID 101 speakers whish Consumers Report rated as a 90% accurate reproduction speaker back in 1973. Was consumers wrong back then?
I also have a pair of Wooden Sansui speakers (three way cross-over) I bought in Thailand (1970) that can also blow out a room.

What amI lacking here? Shoud I toss the old 70's speakers or mix them in the surround for maybe rears or even front surround and scrap the Bose? These Bose retailed for about 650.00. I need some sound advice. I want to keep the ONKYO and the VELODYN I think - I need a good analysys - thanks

More $$ than brains maybe

 

[Gasman]

Welcome to the forums.. Plenty of help here.
To get a general idea and ballpark on what you want to spend, start here - http://www.audioholics.com/buying-guides/system-buying-guides/

Once you pick out a setup, then check out the connections of the 21st century.

But come back to this post once you have an idea.

 

[JackVa1]

Thanks for the good link.
I am not prepared to toss out my Sony TV , My AV receiver or some of my speakers. I would love some sound technical information rather than just "buy new stuff".

If consumers said a speaker had a 92 % reproduction score in 1972, is it not stil scoring high on reproducing what it has been fed? What has changed?

 

[Gasman]

Oh, use that link as just a guide, and update only the items you feel need updating.

For speaker buying tips, and what to look for - start here - http://www.audioholics.com/buying-guides/how-to-shop/how-to-shop-loudspeakers.html

How to Judge Loudspeakers - Sound and Accuracy go here - http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/how-to-judge-loudspeakers-sound-and-accuracy

If you mean real technical, then posting in the beginners area is not the place.
Go over to the speaker area and start here - http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13377
and here - http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37001

As well, if the speakers sound fine to you, then by all means 'why upgrade, as sound is very subjective'.

 

[no. 5]

If consumers said a speaker had a 92 % reproduction score in 1972, is it not stil scoring high on reproducing what it has been fed? What has changed?

How was the orignal score of 92% obtained?

In addition to Gasman's links, the Harman International white papers have a number of other useful papers by Floyd Toole regarding good sound ("Audio - science in the service of art" is particular good).

 

[abboudc]

Speakers, have evolved quite a bit over the past 30 years and the bar has been raised.

The best parallel i can draw is cars. ABS, power steering, power windows, power locks, etc can all be found in today's budget cars. In the 70's they were nowhere to be found, and in the 80's some of them were found, but only in luxury cars. Today, they're commonplace.

Speakers are similar. There were no "subwoofers" back then. Most speakers were made of paper. There was no video shielding, etc. Computers alone have made speakers much better as modeling can be done before building anything.

The scores/reviews you saw back then were relative to the technology available. Something that scores a 92 today will not be considered a 92 in 30 years as standards have shifted.

At the end of the day though, what matters is how they sound to you. If you like them, whether a magazine from 30 years ago or from yesterday scores them good shouldn't really matter.

 

[Seth=L]

Speakers (except Bose), have evolved quite a bit over the past 30 years and the bar has been raised.

I fixed it.

 

[highfihoney]

Bose vs prison sex.

No real winner,their both fun for some guys but it is no substitute for the real thing

The stuff is junk,i could give you 1,000 reasons why i think/know bose sucks but unless you have a reference of what good sound is supposed to be then you'll be happy with the bose.

 

[Seth=L]

Bose vs prison sex.

No real winner,their both fun for some guys but it is no substitute for the real thing

The stuff is junk,i could give you 1,000 reasons why i think/know bose sucks but unless you have a reference of what good sound is supposed to be then you'll be happy with the bose.

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

 

[markw]

Well, I guess it all depends on what you want.

I keep reading people bashing the Bose but they seem to fill the room.

Bread baking in an oven can fill a room with a scent, but so could my old dog when it passed gas. I know which I preferred.

Seriously, Bose, IMNSHO, lacks true highs and cannot go low enough to meet the upper response of that sub, thereby resulting in a hole in the overall response.

 

[no. 5]

I keep reading people bashing the Bose but they seem to fill the room. The sub seems to make up for the lows I am missing with the Bose cubes. What the heck am I missing?

They are not 'bashing Bose' for an inability to be loud; they knock Bose for its inability to accurately reproduce sound (much as Markw said).

Two people can listen to a Bose system and arrive at two polar opposite conclusions as to the systems sound quality, why? It's all about what they are listening for; a mechanic could give your cars engine a listen, and from that know that X is wrong with it, it's not that he has super hearing, it's that he knows what to listen for.
For the most part, everyone has the same capacity for discernment into what is and is not good sound, they just need to train themselves what to listen for.