I’ve heard quite a few audiophile speakers that used expensive drivers in ways that...well, didn’t suit my taste. Quite a few speakers using Focal tweeters made me feel like that guy in the movie Seven Beauties who went to “better @@%%@!. Say what you want about Bose but a Bose speaker never made me want to leave the room.
There is no company on earth that does the amount of consumer testing that Bose does. They are 100% focused on achieving sales results by crafting the cheapest possible product consumers will spend a lot of money on, so I'm not at all surprised by this.
I have been so ashamed of Bose. I have been an audiophile for fifty years. I really appreciate a great sounding system. I can’t tell you how many times I mentioned this to someone and they exclaimed, “Me too! I own Bose!.” It is humiliating that a company could pull the wool over the eyes of so many people. A few could I bring over to my house and see there eyes open as they realized what a real audiophile system sounds like and they had been taken for a ride. I had to sit through a lot of folks proudly demonstrating some of the worst sounding audio I have ever heard and nod and smile insincerely.
I had a pair of 901vI hanging from the ceiling and a realistic receiver driving them and I was set, happy as I could be. My neighbor turned me on to real hifi and I was miserable for 30 years.
i have 4 bose 901 series 2 speakers hanging from my ceiling! being powered by a mcintoch mc602 power withh 600 watts per chanell, i'm not an audiophile but they sound good to with the volume sky high!!!
In the last 50 years I have never heard one thing from Bose that made me think " Wow , they sound good ! I want them " Over priced mid -fi dreck. But thats just me, to each his own...
It's all about the ads. Definitive Technology got me to buy a pair of their BP-10s back in the 90s. I didn't know any better, just wanted "better" speakers. Well, after i heard them in my room, they went back after just a few weeks and for exactly the same price ($1,100), i did find the "better" speaker: the NHT 2.5i. My first hi-fi lesson.
I bought BP2000s back in the early 90s. Like you, I drank the kool aid. Didn't take long before I traded them in on a pair of VS VR4s, but for a helluva loss.
I had a pair of 901vI hanging from the ceiling and a realistic receiver driving them and I was set, happy as I could be. My neighbor turned me on to real hifi and I was miserable for 30 years.
I believe Amar Bose has made more people happy with his offerings than all Hi end offerings combined and there is a lot to be said for that.
High end I believe fails at keeping a listener from skipping tracks because it cannot do what Amar Bose has done at the end of the day for audio.
So many have walked from the hobby for this reason unlike Bose listeners and have gone back to good Mid Fi.
Another reason so many audiophiles blame speakers when the room is the elephant.
I can extract miraculous results with speakers that have been written off.
I reccomend philes understand the room better.
I can play a set of Bose 301's in a diffused/ absorbed treated room with tube buffer pre that goes against the speakers recs with a Carver M500t and simple NAD pre that has other philes impressed and its not insincere.
There is a wonderful overlooked world of rotating sets of speakers with various electronics and room treatment that negates in many cases judgement on equipmemt.
In one of my rooms treated with duffuser/absorbers from GIK and some home madetuned diffusers I have run a set of Bose 301 seriesV into a Carver M500t with a tube buffer pre between the amp and a Nad 7130 running as pre.
Stteaming to an Arcam irdac....
Not all speakers get along with their electronics or house they live in.
Until the Bashers hook up a set of some Bose speakers to their current electronics I wholeheartedly have to disagree with the bashers.
I think they would be pleasantly surprised and embarassed.
Ishka: I'm only speaking from experience with the BP10s (above). I have no experience with Bose in my house and don't think i ever will, as I've heard the 901s in different set-ups/environments and never liked them no matter the situation. Getting back to what i said, I tried the BP10s in different rooms and different houses, for that matter. I'm not saying my room wasn't a factor. I totally agree with you to some extent, but in the end, the NHT was a much better speaker for me.
Does anyone feel like Sonos is the new Bose - convenience, marketing, lifestyle? Three of my neighbors and my best bud all have Sonos. With this said, my wife purchased some Bose Cinemates when we purchased our first house. Honestly, not too shabby for what they were.
I was at an ATC dealer many years ago, and one of the ATC engineers from across the pond happened to be there doing an educational seminar for the sales guys. The owner of the store had a driver from Bose speakers to show the difference in quality between a crap driver and a good one. The engineer took one look at it and started laughing out loud. Now, IMHO ATC makes possibly the best and most overbuilt midrange driver in the industry, but he recognized the driver instantly and exclaimed it only costs 6 cents! I’m sorry, but nobody builds a good-sounding speaker from nickel-priced drivers. Bose is a marketing company that happens to manufacture lifestyle audio equipment, and yeah it’s sad that many people who don’t know any better associate it with high end. That’s the effect of marketing fluff successfully promoting an inferior product. Bose does its best work cancelling sound, not reproducing it. I could see people maybe enjoying the sound for background music — kinda like how I use my Alexa — but for critical listening, puleeze!!! Don’t even go there, at least not on this site. It’s ignorant and insulting.
FWIW, one of Wilson's midranges by SB acoustics was around $65 several years ago. you asked. is it worth it in a $25k-$50k speaker?? depends on the buyer. to me it's not.
Ishkababble: You started this thread in praise of Bose, fine. Now you've started a straw man argument that anyone that disagrees with you is a " basher " and on some kind of bandwagon. There are many brands Ive encountered along the way that Ive never had the desire or finances to purchase, and having heard Bose many times thru the years I can say they are at the top of that list. As has been stated prior in this thread and many others, if you're happy with them that is all that matters, no need to insult people.
I will put forth a value proposition for those that say they are overpriced junk.....use them for firewood ...Bose no highs no lows yadi yada...
A contact of mine invests 20k in a system....
Martin Logan Electrostatic....
High end amp and so on .....
Contacts me asking for help....
Says he cant take it.....he cant play a Classic Rock song for beans... Stand up and the speakers are horrible.....people over to listen off axis just doesnt get it....
Then the Bose guy who plays all genres and loves them including his or her company.
Overpriced? Really? At the end of the day I believe not.
The premium Bose system in my 2010 911 is really mediocre sounding. The only people that think it sounds good don’t know anything about audio. Modern Bose is a joke in audiophile community and no kind of praise can ever change that. There’s also no getting around the laws of physics. Cheap drivers, cheap cabinets, using resonances to make up for lack of deep bass....
This is the equivalent of someone coming onto a wine connoisseur site and claiming “my $4.99 jug of wine quenches one’s thirst as well as your expensive wine.”
The premium Bose system in my 2010 911 is really mediocre sounding. The only people that think it sounds good don’t know anything about audio. Bose is a joke in audiophile community and no kind of praise can ever change that. There’s also no getting around the laws of physics. Cheap drivers, cheap cabinets, using resonances to make up for lack of deep bass....
This is the equivalent of someone coming onto a wine connoisseur site and claiming “my $4.99 jug of wine quenches one’s thirst as well as your expensive wine.”
Since we are on the topic of recreational/ car audio I..........
My Vette I just sold had Bose....didnt matter you couldnt hear it.
My Lexus Sc430 with its Mark Levinson system and CD playing is remarkable.
The car is like sitting in at home..its that quiet .
What has them all beat is my 04 Carver Yacht with an incredibly cheap Clarion Marine system. The speakers.....70 dollar Koss Marine are magic I can sit in the Salon and well those speakers disappear and the sound dances in air.
Talking about using the "Room" and resonamces well I guess its the Hull and structure of the boat thats creating some kind of magic its the most easy to listen to and dynamic system I often wish for at home its pure joy.
Contrary to what you might think Bose is not a joke in an audiophile community maybe your community not a true "Sonic Wonderer"
Because thats what we do here we "Listen and Wonder".
Your wine analogy leads me to believe your audio pursuits are in the same field.
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