Anyone have experience with Bose speakers?

[mrblunt]

I'm thinking about upgrading from my current setup (AR towers with Denon center, rears, and sub) from something new. I have looked into a few Bose systems but dont like the Lifestyle systems very much. Reason being is that I have a 50" Hitachi Ultravision and i'm going to buy a hd upconverting dvd player in the near future (the LG one with the built in hd over the air receiver). The lifestyle package has a built in dvd player but doesnt support that feature, currently. I like some of the features of the Lifestyle unit but I already own a nice Onkyo receiver and really the only thing that i would be getting new with the bose unit would be the video staging 5 (basically a pro-logic II type sound matrix) and the multiroom capability. For the extra 600 bucks i can get my dvd player and keep a 200 for other stuff. I'm kind of leaning towards the Acoutimass 10 III system. I had a friend that used to work in the factory outlet and some of their demo systems sounded great but I wanted to get a feel for what other bose owners or those knowledgeable in the game thought about the system.

[Nitrousbird]

Overpriced junk IMO. You can get better sounding stuff for less money. Shop around.

[MrMeanGreen]

I like the ones in my car

[6 Speed S4]

Way over priced.

[mrblunt]

Overpriced junk IMO. You can get better sounding stuff for less money. Shop around.

 

Care to give me some reasons why you think that? Thats what i'm looking for. Have you just not been impressed with systems you heard? Have you heard one setup in a home or just at department stores?

 

I'm looking at going to the Bose factory outlet. For 899 you can get the speaker package new, its 799 for the refurbished units.

 

Ant that was very helpful

[Guest Rane]

Pretty sure my 300zx hase bose speakers. Anyways, there is no bass in the car needs a sub. But with the stock speakers I never need to bring them above 3-4 on the volume and I can still hear my music from outside the car. I think it goes up to like 30 on my cd player...

[black00ws6]

I have the old bose lifestyle system(or whatever system it was back then..Cubes with base modules??) in our bedroom. I use just the left, center and right double cubes along with the bass module.. IMO, they sound great BUT don't expect much bass, I added a powered sub along with the module and love it. I have the klipsch series speakers in our theatre room as well as in the basement, if you have the room, get those. The sound quality is so much better than bose but $$$$$. Each of the floor speakers go for about 435 each. Unless you know someone that works at best buy...

[Brandon]

No highs No lows...It must be Bose. If you want some good stuff come to circuit city on polaris pkwy and I can help you get a nice home theatre system! Polk and Infinity are much better then bose, and we carry them

[mrblunt]

I'd like to stay in the 800-1000 dollar range with the speakers. I liked the Yahama Athena series that best buy carried, they sounded great. I haven't read up to much on the newest speakers, what do you recommend in that price range that i might be able to research in teh interweb?

[Total Sign]

Tannoy. Enough said.

 

The bose are expensive. They dont sound good.

[El Karacho1647545492]

bang and olufsen

[McGraw]

Athena

[Mensan]

I have Bose, but not the Lifestyle system. My mains are 501's, center channel is a VCS 10, rears are Bose 100 series (crap) . I have an AR sub that sounds wonderful, and I had a friend who had high end AR towers in his living room. They were awesome. All driven by a Harman Kardon receiver. If you want to upgrade, I wouldn't buy Yamaha. I would buy AR if I had to do it over again. If you want to come by and check it out, you're more than welcome.

[Brandon]

I'd like to stay in the 800-1000 dollar range with the speakers. I liked the Yahama Athena series that best buy carried, they sounded great. I haven't read up to much on the newest speakers, what do you recommend in that price range that i might be able to research in teh interweb?

You want smaller wall mountable speakers, or flooring standing? I mean Infinty has the primus series, not bad for your buck, their beta is better but much more money. Polk has the famous montior series. I would recommend either one, but you have to hear them both, they are very differnt, polk vs. Infinity

[iwishiwascool]

from what I have heard, PSB is a very solid brand but very pricey. Can anyone confirm that?

[Trouble Maker]

channel is a VCS 10, rears are Bose 100 series (crap) . I have an AR sub that sounds wonderful, and I had a friend who had high end AR towers in his living room. They were awesome. All driven by a Harman Kardon receiver. If you want to upgrade, I wouldn't buy Yamaha. I would buy AR if I had to do it over again. If you want to come by and check it out, you're more than welcome.

 

Yeah, I’ve heard some casual music on his system and it’s sounds good as far as I can tell, without every having sat down and actually listened to them. And I hate Bose. I think Bose can make a good speaker, and some of their speakers are good speakers. I absolutely think that any good speaker they, or anyone else has, will be limited to a real sized speaker. Buy this I mean nothing that does not look like the Bose Lifestyle speaker systems. Physics simply dictates that something like that will not work as well as something properly designed (look at just about every other speaker in the world). So this means that you are going to pay more money (because they can/in theory making a speaker like that sound ‘decent’ will take more engineering and/or materials will cost more) for something that doesn’t sound as good. I’m not talking out of my ass either.

 

I’d suggest to just go listen to a bunch of speaker systems, that’s the best advice anyone can give you as you’re ears and taste in sound can be greatly different than any other person that gives you can advice. That is a very competitive price for bookshelf style 5 channel (or even 5.1) speaker systems. You should be able to find half a dozen different combinations at your local Best Buy or Circuit City. Have fun fighting the crowds to play with these systems around this time of year.

 

If you go this route, you’re going to have something that (may be) a little less ‘wife friendly’ (the only thing Bose are good for) but that you’ll actually be pleased with. Speakers, listening to music, and watching movies, just happen to be a few of my passions. I can say this because I’m not married, but if she can’t deal with a few small speakers in you’re basement, I’d be looking to get rid of something in my house other than a set of ‘crappy looking speakers’. There’s no point in plopping down ~$1k on speakers if you don’t go shopping around and/or aren’t pleased with what you get.

 

Bang & Olufsen is far more over hyped than Bose could ever be.

[1Quik7]

Bose uses paper cones and still seems to cost $1 million dollars. paper cones = teh suck. you need to look around at other places, circuit city is teh suck as well. just because it's a well known name, doesn't mean it's a good product. there are a few places in Columbus that carry quality shit...the only problem is you have to pay an arm and a leg for it...therefore, just go in and demo what you want to hear, then find it at a better price online that's what i do. get the phonebook out and find some audio stores, bring in your favorite CD or DVD and ask them to play it...after you listen to some good brands you'll hear the difference.

 

some stuff in your range...i'd say, Energy, PSB, Klipsch, Paradigm, B&W.

 

finding a good total system on a budget is sometimes hard, always remember when watching movies, around 70% of the sound is coming from the center, and 20% from the front channels...i would splurge on those and not worry so much about the rears.

 

also check out http://www.audiogon.com they have new, used, and demo stuff at great prices. i have bought lots of stuff from there.

[Total Sign]

from what I have heard, PSB is a very solid brand but very pricey. Can anyone confirm that?

 

I have one system with all PSB, its alright. Don't know about price. Still think tannoy kicks their ass.

[Lustalbert]

http://www.partsexpress.com

Worth looking into if you want to build you own speakers. They have several books on design, and also lots of components to build your own. Also should be cheaper than buying a name brand pre built.

Personally, I built my own speakers with pioneer components. I omited the center because my front channels are big enough they overpower most center speakers. I originaly built my mains when I was on campus for making music loud as hell. 1 15" sub, 2 4" mids, 2 3/4 domes per box. Plenty of sound and bass even w/o the bass amp on. The rears are 8" sub, 4" mid, and 3/4" dome per box. My sub channel is 8-8" pioneer subs in a row below my screen, and it great for pissing off the wife.

Only have about 500 in the speakers.

[SHIEF]

I would look elsewhere other than Bose. Although it does sound very good in my Envoy, I wouldn't use them for home audio.

I did shell out $300 for my Pioneer home system (5 disk dvd, 5 speakers), and for $300 it sounds good and looks pimp imo. Sounds alot better than some of the $600 systems I thought I was going to use at my apartment.

[Science Abuse]

No highs No lows...It must be Bose. If you want some good stuff come to circuit city on polaris pkwy and I can help you get a nice home theatre system! Polk and Infinity are much better then bose, and we carry them

Dude I need some decent 4" for the Benz, and the frickin settings whipe clean every time I shut the car off.

[twistedfocus1647545489]

I listened to alot of different setups (Bose included) before buying my current setup, and was really impressed with the sound of the Paradigm Atom. It had come down to the Atom or entry-level Klipsh(forget the #) and I decided to go Paradigm (4 Atoms and a CC270 center), as they fit my budget better and sounded warmer to me. When I went to pick up the Atoms, I ended up "auditioning" a set of Titans (next size larger than the Atom) and was even more impressed at the clarity and warmth. So, I ended up with 4 Titans and the CC270 center, and couldn't be happier without spending another $1k+. For near-refference quality on a budget, they are worth taking a listen to. I got mine from Audio Encounters in Dublin. They have several set up you can listen to. It's important to listen to them because opinions in this sort of thing will vary wildly, and it's pretty common for people to like different characteristics in their music/movie sounds (warmer/brighter/etc).

[ZYUL8TR]

Go to Best Buy and check out Klipsch. Have an employee assist you with your listening experience. You will never be more impressed.

 

I have a Yamaha receiver matched with the Klipsch F-3 floor speakers, the C-3 center speaker, and the S-3 surround speakers, finally the 10" Klipsch sub.

 

I shopped all the local high end audio shops. Watt for watt, the best quality available.

[Mike C]

Dear Chad,

 

The next time I see you, I will kick you in the nuts for asking about Bose.

 

Your pal,

Mike C

[Mike C]

from what I have heard, PSB is a very solid brand but very pricey. Can anyone confirm that?

 

Canadian company. We used to sell them years ago. Nice speakers for the money and better than 95% of the mass market crap in this thread. If you are looking in that price range, better things exist.