Speakers: all-time worst

When I was in college, a twice annual lampoon of the student newspaper was eagerly anticipated by all. Mind you, this is the university where Dr. Bose taught, and still teaches. Well, in one memorable lampoon issue, there was and advert for "Blose" speakers (very easy to alter the logo, even well before the days of Photoshop). Like the Bose adverts of the day, the text was a mish-mash of pseudo-scientific babble about acoustics. In particular there was a description of the "revolutionary" port system in the speakers which required less air than the output drivers. Or to quote, "This research breakthrough has resulted in a remarkable speaker: one that blows more than it sucks". Enough said.

Cardinal, are you saying that Bose is "blow" the quality standards of those seeking music? I certainly agree! (Great story, thanks!)

As I tell people who come into my audio shop here in Austin...Bose was recently given the franchise to outfit all the patients rooms at the State School for the Deaf here in Texas. About says it all. By the way the quip about the tire and the stick was hilarious...thanks for all the laughs.

There was a chain store in the Dallas area several years back called Highland Superstore's. That now defunct franchise used to have a dedicated Bose listening room. In this torture chamber from left to right was a wall starting with the BOSE 901 all the way to the "new" accoustamas. EVERY one of these had the same boomy, bland sound! No wonder the sold so many of the "little cube" speakers - why not get the same crappy sound from something 1/3rd the size? And what was up with those speaker designs??? Tweeters firing out the top and sides at wierd angles. Cones upside down in the cabinet that were supposed to give you "stereo everywhere" as the speakers fired out the side AT EACH OTHER! Of course all of this was explained by some computer graphic or speaker cut-away illustration. By far the crappiest, overpriced, overhyped pieces of sh-- on the planet! A car salesman just lost a sale last week because I was all ready to buy a new car from him until he told me it came with a "premium Bose sound system". I told him to knock down the price - so I could afford to get that crap ripped out of the vehicle - and he looked at me like I was nuts. Didn't I know that was an "extra" he was throwing in? The biggest tragedy is that it's companies like Bose that are putting real speaker manufacturers out of business. By the way, my vote for second crappiest speaker is Cerwin-Vega. I had a buddy in college that used to crank his up all the time - now he's almost deaf!

Martin Logan arius...in the set up i heard ss Conrad Johnson amp and rest...sounded lifeless, dead...wonder all this reviews..it must be some trick! Also Klipsch (any)should stay frozen in the 50's....