Great anti-bose article

[sdy284]

http://intellexual.net/bose.html

it's quite a long read...but it really is a great read for anyone who already knows BOSE blows and hopefully will open the eyes of many people who actually think bose makes a good product

 

[KeithTalent]

Yeah, very interesting and informative read.

AT's resident soundman 'YOyoYOhowsDAjello' actually has this linked in his sig which is where I first discovered it.

 

[sdy284]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Yeah, very interesting and informative read.

AT's resident soundman 'YOyoYOhowsDAjello' actually has this linked in his sig which is where I first discovered it.

lol, yea thats where i found it...i just wanted to bring it up

 

[Hyperlite]

yep i always make people read that.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

:shiftyeyes;

 

[smthmlk]

i like talking about sound hardware (home audio/car audio/etc) with people, but I try to bring up bose early on to see if they know anything or not. if they're not fully anti-bose, i quietly exit the conversation Bose has been garbage for a very, very long time.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Are they really that bad? They sound good to me whenever I hear them in action...

 

[Auric]

Whatever. People only badmouth Bose because they haven't heard them setup properly with Monster Cable.












:laugh:

 

[NexLevel]

Funny.

Wasn't Home Depot Lamp Cord (TM) for $0.12 a foot shown to be as acoustically sensitive as $100.00++ per foot Monster (or similar) cables?

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: NexLevel
Funny.

Wasn't Home Depot Lamp Cord (TM) for $0.12 a foot shown to be as acoustically sensitive as $100.00++ per foot Monster (or similar) cables?

LOL methinks I am buying the (TM), not some "monster" noname!

 

[TheLidlessEye]

No highs, no lows, must be Bose!

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: NexLevel
Funny.

Wasn't Home Depot Lamp Cord (TM) for $0.12 a foot shown to be as acoustically sensitive as $100.00++ per foot Monster (or similar) cables?

Highly likely. It is not like there is some special Peruvian copper that only Monster uses. But if you want to buy cheap copper at silver prices, buy Monster Cable.

Oh, back on topic. I still like their Cylinderical Radiators for cover band usage. Packs into a small case and works at a bar or Bar Mitzpah. The full Marshall spread may be better, but the Bose system fits in a small car. I can link a compressed clip if you care.

 

[coaster831]

Dislike of Bose aside, there are some things that bother me in that article. In the "Cold Hard Numbers" section, he shows the graphs of the frequency response of the Acoustimass system and complains about the rolloff that happens before 20kHz... I don't know many (actually, I don't know any) speakers that have faithful reproduction up to 20 kHZ -Here's a link to the Event ASP-8 studio monitor freq response chart, which they conveniently chop above 11 kHz (you can already see the freq response falling off)... and they are *excellent* speakers.

He also claims that "The bass module and satellites don't even begin to harmonize until beyond -10dB", referring to where the bass module and satellite responses cross around 250 Hz. First, "harmonize" doesn't really mean anything here. This is a crossover point between the sub and satellites, which from the graph occurs at around -7dB. Guess what? An ideal crossover point is around -6 dB- the sum of the power of the bass and satellite modules will sum to 0dB at that point.

Related to that, in the next graph where he claims "the only relevant information on the graph is the measurement between -3dB to +3dB because 3 decibels is the slightest detectable change from zero to the human ear", he neglects to sum the power of the bass and satellite modules! This graph is basically useless.

In short, Bose sucks, but don't trust everything this guys says.

Edited for grammar and punctuation.

 

[Boyo]

I dumped my Bose a long time ago. They stink. I went out and bought a 5.1 Mirage system and I am much happier.

 

[PianoMan]

Originally posted by: coaster831
I don't know many (actually, I don't know any) speakers that have faithful reproduction up to 20 kHZ -Here's a link to the Event ASP-8 studio monitor freq response chart, which they conveniently chop above 11 kHz (you can already see the freq response falling off)... and they are *excellent* speakers.

I agree with almost everything in your post - however, most serious loudspeakers do extend to 20kHz, just do a Google image search of "[speaker manufacturer here] frequency response" and you'll get a bunch of independent (mostly audio reviewers) tests confirming extension up to 20kHz. Athena and KEF up to Dynaudio and Thiel should give you what you need.

Hate to say it, but those Events DO extend to 20kHz - logarithmic scale - the next tick mark is 20,000Hz.

And yes, Bose sux.

PM

 

[coaster831]

Originally posted by: PianoMan

Originally posted by: coaster831
I don't know many (actually, I don't know any) speakers that have faithful reproduction up to 20 kHZ -Here's a link to the Event ASP-8 studio monitor freq response chart, which they conveniently chop above 11 kHz (you can already see the freq response falling off)... and they are *excellent* speakers.

I agree with almost everything in your post - however, most serious loudspeakers do extend to 20kHz, just do a Google image search of "[speaker manufacturer here] frequency response" and you'll get a bunch of independent (mostly audio reviewers) tests confirming extension up to 20kHz. Athena and KEF up to Dynaudio and Thiel should give you what you need.

Hate to say it, but those Events DO extend to 20kHz - logarithmic scale - the next tick mark is 20,000Hz.

And yes, Bose sux.

PM

You're right on the Event chart, I should have noticed that- I stand corrected on my 20 kHz remark. Even when I was typing that I thought the Events should go higher than 11 kHz! Thanks for the info.

 

[Bob Anderson]

I remember the name BOSE from my stereo nut days decades ago. I never was interested in what looked like to me a table top radio. I was only interested in discreet components.

Well, BOSE has been doing a lot of web advertising here in Canada. So, after I read this thread, I looked up their basic WAVE radio at FutureShop. I was astonished to see the basic radio sells for $700!

Who in Hades would pay $700 + 14% tax here in Ontario for what looks like a table top radio?

-Bob

 

[Oyeve]

The only Bose thing I own is the original tri-port headphones. If they cost $30 I would say they were pretty good. But they cost $150 so they suck ass. I only have them because they were free. The cable is way too thin, the plastic around the left and right shaft is made of the cheapest plastic in the world. I own dozens of various head phones ranging from $15 to $300 and even the $15 set is made better than the tri-port. Geez, even the wire on the free headphones you get from airlines are better!

 

[Kinslayer777]

*whistles and pretends he didnt just remove the $150 dollar bose speakers he was going to buy in two days....*'


Thanks!

 

[SuperNaruto]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
The only Bose thing I own is the original tri-port headphones. If they cost $30 I would say they were pretty good. But they cost $150 so they suck ass. I only have them because they were free. The cable is way too thin, the plastic around the left and right shaft is made of the cheapest plastic in the world. I own dozens of various head phones ranging from $15 to $300 and even the $15 set is made better than the tri-port. Geez, even the wire on the free headphones you get from airlines are better!

whats the marketing ploy for the triport, i see it on the train advertise.. but they dont print anything..

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: SuperNaruto

Originally posted by: Oyeve
The only Bose thing I own is the original tri-port headphones. If they cost $30 I would say they were pretty good. But they cost $150 so they suck ass. I only have them because they were free. The cable is way too thin, the plastic around the left and right shaft is made of the cheapest plastic in the world. I own dozens of various head phones ranging from $15 to $300 and even the $15 set is made better than the tri-port. Geez, even the wire on the free headphones you get from airlines are better!

whats the marketing ploy for the triport, i see it on the train advertise.. but they dont print anything..

Those ads for the Tri-port IE? They make no sense to me. Of course you wont find any specs on them. The sheep will buy them for the "cool" factor I suppose.

 

[Slammy1]

My opinion, if anyone cares, is that it isn't Bose are craptastic it's that they're way overpriced for what you get. And, um, paper cones.

 

[oynaz]

It actually surprises me that Bose has such a bad name. The Bose speakers i have heard sounded fine, though not great. I do not know the price of those, they may have been overpriced.

 

[Zepper]

Bose designs things to "sound good" to typical consumers - not to reproduce the input signal accurately. It has ever been so. They have never used a real tweeter in any of their component speakers as that much treble is "irritating". So if you bother to compare, you will always note the nasality (thus the sobriquet: "Bose Blows") of a pair of Bose against a pair of accurate speakers.

One consumer BS filter you can use is whether they advertise the price along with all the other glowing bushwa in their print ads. If they don't, then keep going - it's almost for sure overpriced junk... Doesn't matter whether it's audio gear or vacuum cleaners (e.g. Oreck). Another clue: if they really have a top quality product, then why do they have to direct-market (one of the highest cost selling methods)? If you have a great product, there will always be many ready to carry it in their stores. At least Bose does still make some of their stuff in the USA which somewhat justifies the high prices...

.bh.

 

[ToadkillerDog]

I like my too expensive Bose speakers so everybody that doesn't can blow me

Have an Ipod Bose speaker set up that I was given. They don't sound bad - in fact they sound better than much of the competition, but I was blown away by the comparably priced Klipsch Ipod speaker system my freind purchased. Makes my Bose sound 2nd rate. Waah!