Shame on Bose

[zipper]

I received a mailer from the Good Guys & while flipping through it found what is basically a HTIB from Bose,only it advertises as "an intelligent system that learns your moods & creates custom playlists on the spot to match how you feel.Right. 5 cubes,a sub,& a 48 CD player for $4000!!!
Shame on Bose for preying on the ignorance of the average consumer.You may say that if someone is stupid enough & has enough money to blow on this crud then they deserve it,but I find it insulting for them to put this krap together & try to tell me that it's going to learn what mood I'm in & what I want to listen to. There is going to be a "Bose demo day" in my area in about 3 weeks. I'm going to go there &(probably get arrested or escorted out) try to expose these frauds for what they are. With a tad bit of cooperation from the GG's staff,maybe we can embarass these rats a little.

 

[Rob Babcock]

It wouldn't take a very smart device to divine my mood if I paid paid that kinda jing & end up with B[l]ose- very miffed, indeed!

 

[gene]

Shame on Bose for preying on the ignorance of the average consumer.You may say that if someone is stupid enough & has enough money to blow on this crud then they deserve it,but I find it insulting for them to put this krap together & try to tell me that it's going to

Zip;

It could be worse you know. Some cable companies enjoy charging in excess of $4k for speaker cables with a battery attached to them. I say shame on the companies that do this, the dealers that promote it, and the consumers whom don't research it enough before buying it!

 

[annunaki]

The worst thing about it is that some people actually think the systems sound good and then have the audacity to use it as a reference to which all others are judged!!! That whole system, cables, player, speakers, amp, enclosures, ect. probably cost Bose a whopping $400 to manufacture. The drivers in the cubes only cost bose $1.80 a piece!! Unfortunately there are misinformed people out there that will shell out the cash, (as the think Bose is a luxury item like a Cadillac, or Mercedes) and keep the Bose machine rolling. If there is one thing I have noticed in my experience with sales and management, it is that (most) Bose customers are an ignorant breed. (No offense to those who own their products it is your money and your choice. Remember, I said most not all.)

 

[Polygon]

It is a shame because there was a time when you actually paid for research and development when you bought from Bose. They used to be a very good choice for audio products. Now they are a sham, charging audiophile prices for middle of the line crap and people buy it this crap because of the name behind it. The consumers are partly to blame for not auditioning multiple systems and find what sounds best to them. Instead a lot of them read a magazine article or watch a show that touts Bose equipment and believe what they hear from this biased, Bose funded, garbage. I agree with Gene as well, a lot of cable companies do this and get away with it because they use fancy scientific terms to dupe the average, uninformed, consumer into thinking they have made a physics defying marvel.

However, this happens in a lot of other markets as well. The fact is that there are just dishonest people out there willing to do anything to make a buck.

 

[gene]

In one defense to Bose. They do have an amazing engineering team and research facility that is top notch. Sadly very little of that research trickles down to their consumer products.

 

[zipper]

Yes,Gene,it IS a shame. Bigger than I know,probably,because what has really changed about Bose products in the last 10 years?

 

[Rob Babcock]

Yeah, I think that nowadays most of their research is market research. But I gotta give 'em props; they manage to sell WalMart-level speakers but have somehow convinced the world to pay Saks prices.

 

[TT-]

If other manufactures have a marketing team rival that of BOSE, they can even sell $#!T for that kind of money. Average consumers aren't well expose to what makes a quality speaker and their over all sound. If they walk into a Bose store, all they see is the flashy plasma, nice pretty little cube that "sound" like a speaker, and a saleman that preach religiously like a Sunday gospel why Bose is superior.

A friend of mine visit my place couple of days ago and he inadvertently said that , "this place would be nice if you got those Bose speakers." I was about to break lose "educate" him on Bose, but I didn't want to ruin the evening. I was going to turn on my Mackie HR824 and let him listen to the difference, but... anyway... I shouldn't burst his bubbles.

 

[annunaki]

You should have let loose on him. People need education and manufacturer's are not going to do that for them...ahem....cough...Bose.... If anything they will fill their heads with disinformation.

We the "audiophiles" need to become proactive if we want our hobby to survive. I saw a piece this morning,on the NBC morning talkshow, about how successful the I Pod and the poor excuse for music we call Mp3 are. And how CDs are not cool anymore. They actually referred to them, and I quote, as " '90's ". Unfortunately, they failed to report on the inferior sound quality and dynamic range of the Mp3s, not to mention the poor signal to noise ratio and low voltage output of the I Pod. We, as audiophiles, who have passion for music, cannot let our hobby be taken from us by media, poor excuses for speaker manufacturers, ect. We cannot let people think Mp3 on a Bose system from their I Pod is reference quality audio reproduction. It is beginning to look as though it will be up to us to make, what has become, our "special intrest group" loud enough for the majority to take notice. So I encourage all of you to try the following: If you see a customer (in the electronics department) in say, a Walmart or Sears or any place else that sells wanna be electronics and speakers, take them aside, play devil's advocate, and educate them. Who knows maybe you will make a new friend, or even start the roots of audiophilism. Maybe you will have prevented them from making a $1500 mistake... that is a Bose acoustimass system.

Sorry for the rant, I am also sorry it (my post) has drifted slightly off topic. I am concerned for the future of true "dynamic, high fidelity" audio sources as well as equipment.

 

[Gatorchong]

I don't approve of Bose products, but you've got to admit that they have one hell of a business model. None of us wants our friends and neighbors to pay $1200 for a system that can be outdone by Aiwa, especially when we can educate them about it. But you have to face it, Bose sells God knows how many speakers and stereo systems a year, and I would bet that most of the people who buy them take them home, set them up and are overall blissfully ignorant of the glued together crap they have just spent their money on. I think most people are happy with them because I myself have gotten recommendations from people on their Bose systems. I just smile and nod because I know not everybody listens to music the same way I do. So I don't really hate Bose as a company. They make an awful lot of money off their customers, but their customers are happy because they are probably never going to know that they spent $600 on $50 worth of particle board, paper, and plastic. (And some refrigerator magnets). And also, most people I know don't really sit down and listen to music. The stereo is only on when they're cleaning or driving so when my friends ask how much my sound system costs I usually just tell them that they don't want to know. And they usually respond with something like "that thing doesn't even have superwoofers like my JVC." At least in my "circle" (and I'm 22) people who sit down and listen to music on even semi-expensive, good quality audio equipment would probably be considered hobbyists at best. I have spent maybe $2500 on my sound system thus far (which is probably only a fraction of what a lot of others on this site have spent) and my roommates think I'm disturbed. And these are the kind of people who buy Bose. They just don't care that much about how music sounds because they really don't listen or pay that much attention to it. So if you don't really appreciate good music, why does it matter what kind of speakers you have turned on in the background. That's why Bose has so much bank. Maybe if Paradigm opens a store in an outlet mall, makes their speakers cuter and more trendy they can start going to the bank a little more often too. But that's not what Paradigm is about. So to sum up, I don't think Bose is going anywhere. And "Bose Quality," (an oxymoron if I've ever heard one) is so instilled into the minds of most consumers you're probably just going to sound crazy if you try to convince them otherwise. (What do you mean, that jazz musician endorses them???!!!) So unless you really have a need to educate, just let it go. I think there will always be companies and enthusiasts who will be happy to sell us good quality audio equipment so we can feed our desires for it. JMO

 

[zipper]

Good points Gator. I guess it's really not our business to "save people from Bose" so we shouldn't try unless asked. I,too,have friends who couldn't care less if the music came from Martin Logans or a boom box. But it's just a shame when friends or relatives fall prey to marketing.If they're gonna spend a lot of dough you'd like to see them get their moneys worth.But hey,if they're happy then I guess they got their moneys worth.

 

[Unregistered]

Bose hating is a bit wierd?

I first heard Bose speakers in the form of Room-mate powered speakers which i got 2nd hand for 200 bucks when I used to work on a ship in the early 90's. Just the Bose and a portable CD player gave a strong, clear sound. The crewbar on the same ship had a Bose sound system and I remember comparing that to cheap hifi and noticing a palpable difference in the way the music sounded in that little room; transparent.
Having read almost perpetual slagging of Bose product on this and other sites such as audioreview.com, oftentimes people taking a long detour from what they are saying just to give Bose a few good kicks, I am starting to find this snobbery boring and suspect.
Guys, are we sure that Bose hating is not just a symptom of having spent, far, far too much money on hi-fi as a vice, tweaking a sound beyond any human perception and being subsequently jealous of people who aren't similarly trapped and delusional? Or can someone give me a commonly accepted story on what the hell Bose do to screw people as badly as is being maintained? I mean manufacturing, service, spec on the actual sound reproduction....
BTW I don't own any Bose kit, but will be travelling, was considering buying some room-mates again, googled it, and that brought me to you people!
Of course, while we're on the subject, can anyone recommend powered speakers?
Awaiting wierdo flames!

 

[Gatorchong]

If you go to www.hifi.com, they have some pretty good powered speakers you can travel around with. But to answer your question about the aversion to Bose products that you'll find on audiophile websites I can only speak for myself. What bothers me about Bose is that their company is not devoted to furthering technology in audio reproduction as they claim; they are purely and simply a marketing company. The only thing that they research is how to convince people to purchase $100 worth of old technology and some of the cheapest materials available for 5 to 10 times that price. And yes, this is a hobby and perhaps some may take it too seriously, but that's basically it. Bose sells Hyundai quality at BMW prices. (No offense to those of you who own a Hyundai) So basically they tell people that they are purchasing a good product with millions of dollars of research behind it, when in reality Bose speakers perform dismally at almost every test that humans have come up with to measure loudspeaker performance. If Bose was pricing and representing their speakers similarly to say Sony or KLH you wouldn't hear much about them. But they don't. They claim that their speakers are some of the best, and I call bulls$$t. JMO

 

[nm2285]

I think this should nicely sum up the position of Bose-haters everywhere:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

 

[Unregistered]

Wow.
OK, I'm on board. Many thanks both of you for explaining things to me. I have a new job in London and am anticipating many trips to Richer Sounds ;-)
I'm curious, was there a time when Bose actually had good product? I still maintain the room-mates were fine powered speakers, but that was 12 years ago.

 

[nm2285]

Bose had to build their reputation on something. Some of it was a decent product back in the day, most of it was great marketing. Their older stuff wasn't bad, however, their technology has barely changed since then. Check out the post I just placed about my visit to a Bose outlet for more bad experiences.

 

[TT-]

I think this should nicely sum up the position of Bose-haters everywhere:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

The link was the most informed analysis I've ever read. I've been trying to find something like this to forward to my ignorance friends who're just drooling over BO$E. Thanks!!

 

[djoxygen]

Powered speaker recommendation

while we're on the subject, can anyone recommend powered speakers?

If cost was no object, go with Mackie HR series (~$500 each for HR624, ~$650 for 824).

My "other" system, which I've had since college (10+ years) is Acoustic Research AR-somenumber, but was more recently sold by Advent as a "multimedia" speaker, the "Powered Partner 570"

http://www.epinions.com/Advent_AV570_Powered_Partners__Speakers_AV570BLK

They'll blow away your memory of those old Bose Roommates!

 

[Unregistered]

skunkboy

Thanks for that, Advent eh? I'll check em out.
Its actually for a 2nd system and based on the link posted above by MM, I might get the Henry Kloss model 2. I'll be in London which has some great radio stations, and I can plug my Nomad Zen Xtra in to it. as most of my music will be MP3 / WMA I figure I don't want great speakers as they might show up the relatively cheap encoding (although it is nearly all above 192kbps.
I will have a look at the advents tho, thanks.