Horrific Confession and Question

One reason many audiophiles bash Bose, I suspect, may be that one time or another they got burned by Bose -- I have. I had to work my tails off during the summer and save like Scrouge to afford (an amplifier and) a Bose satellite system about ten years ago which was almost 1K at the time (I know, I know). After a year of horrific experience with them, I finally found the light and realized what a rip-off they were. It was not really the sounding bad or missing frequency factor that got me. Rather, the rip-off part that leaves a long lasting impression. Ever since then, I have become a Bose basher. :) With regards to the enjoyable Bose at Tower Records, I too like what I hear. I second the opinion that it may be because of the multiple speaker setting. Multi-speakers, when placed right, can make ambient sound that is very impressive and pleasing for casual listening. At the same time, I suspect it has something to do with the joy of music shopping. Like going to some bad sounding concerts or live. Most good concerts do outshine any system by gazillion times. But, regardless of sound being natural or otherwise, some lives sound quite bad. Neverthelss, it is still more enjoyable for me to listen to a quartet, solos, or guitar riffs in live than from my audio. I think the occasion of going and being in a live concert adds dimesions that not only compensate for bad acoutic, screetching guitar, dry violin, etc., but also turn what could be a disastrous experience into a very enjoyable one. Well, nothing can cure the overamplified sound in a small bar, though...

One of the reasons people buy Bose is the hype created by its marketing, and Bose is a mediocre brand in terms of performance. I think many would agree to the two facts. Bashing Bose is not equivalent to bashing people who buy it. In fact, I have not seen anyone of Bose bashers here bashing people who buy Bose -- somebody, please, show me otherwise. I am not bashing people who buy Bose, nor would I call them stupid for the lack of time and interest to research and buying the hype. If high end audio industry were bloated with overprofiteering, that would be a legitimate reason for somebody who feel got ripped off to blast it. If you feel otherwise in terms of whether or not you got ripped off, that will be compeltely acceptable by me. However, I do feel such activities as bashing or complaining for a legitimate reason is consumers' right to protect themselves and is an only channel to expedite, along with boycotting the products at personal level, what one sees as common good for consumers. When the sentiment spreads against a product or a company, it becomes a consumer movement materialized in mass boycotting. Of course, so called Bose bashers are inconsequential because they are minority in number. Nevertheless, how many participates in such is inconsequential in terms of the legitimacy of the cause. Even bashing is not a negative activity when there is a legitimate reason. Nor does it arise from envy. Money or price is one of main objects in the evaluation of products. When some products offer little value comparing to the price they charge, or when they juggle with words to create marketing niche by adding imaginary values, some may call it scam.