Sound Output and Quality?

[tristramshandy]

Linn's pushin' the $1200 mark -- Not necessarily so. I'm selling my classic Linn Saras with dedicated stands right now for $350 plus shipping. 'Course I'm in Dublin, so shipping is a bit of a problem.

 

[flood]

Workin'-
Paradigm makes some very nice speakers (esp their flagship model), I've even owned some.
Have you heard electrostats or planar magnetics like martin logan or magneplanar?

back to bose comparisons-
There is no way a $1200 cone based speaker system (esp bose) will beat a $1500 planar magnetic setup (or even a $500 setup like the MMG)

A $1200 based setup with.. 6" drivers? how about a REL with a 10" that goes down to 20hz perfectly flat?

even cheaper setup:
Magneplanar MMG $500
Cambridge Audio D500 $260
NAD C340 $300

planar magnetic with british electronics.

 

[DamienVorlion]

Personally, i like my system and yes, everything I heard, bose was by far the best. Maybe your confused, but bose fixes the prices of their products. I believe Sears tryed to have a sale on bose about 3 years ago and lost their contract for a year.

 

[tristramshandy]

Don't forget about NAD -- very good, accurate British-made components that are superior for a first mid-audiophile system.

Hey Damien, I know those Bose speakers are loud enough and they probably sound dynamic enough, but you should check out the sweet, pure, powerful sound of the really good stuff -- if you care enough to have an opinion. Note: I don't own very high-grade audiophile stuff cause I can't afford it. Nonetheless, I've heard enough demo'ed to know what 3 or 4 k are buying.

 

[flood]

I second that - NAD 0wnz

 

[Workin']

NAD is decent stuff but they don't make speakers. Maybe they did years ago, I seem to recall, but not anymore, right?

<< Have you heard electrostats or planar magnetics like martin logan or magneplanar? >>

Yeah. I wish I could afford the Martin Logan Aerius. Well, I could afford them but my wife won't let me put them in the living room....

The absolute most amazing sound I have ever heard was from a pair of Apogee Duetta full-range ribbons. 1 ohm impedance! Played through a stack of pre-Madrigal Mark Levinson electronics (i.e., stuff that was actually designed by the man instead of just having his name on it), they made my jaw hit the floor. But so did the total cost, which was over $35,000 (the Duettas were about $15k). And that was 1987!

Magnepans always sounded a little thin to me. The old Carver Amazing Loudspeaker was nice, ribbon mids and tweets, 4(!)-12-inch woofers in each speaker.

<< Personally, i like my system and yes, everything I heard, bose was by far the best. >>

It's good that you like it, and I don't begrudge you that, but saying it is high-end or even good is a dis-service. What else did you listen to? Fisher-Price and Emerson (yet another proud name reduced to the crap bin)?

<< Maybe your confused, but bose fixes the prices of their products. >>

Maybe you are, price fixing is illegal in the US. Retailers can sell whatever they want for however much they want. I certainly know how to read, and every week some retailer or another has Bose crap on sale. And I know SEARS is on everyone's must-shop list for quality speakers. Just the fact that they sell them there should tell you something. &quot;Refrigerators are in aisle 5, over there between the high-end audio and the socket wrenches....&quot; Sure.

So now that this thread has been totally hijacked I'm sure the original poster is sorry he even asked.....

 

[Pariah]

Did a Bose engineer drive over your dog workin'? You seem to have an unhealthy level of disadain for Bose. They're just speakers, and they aren't as bad as you make them out to be.

 

[flood]

<< They're just speakers, and they aren't as bad as you make them out to be. >>



I agree totally.
Theyre much worse.

 

[Workin']

flood5, lol

<< Did a Bose engineer drive over your dog workin'? >>

Well, SOMEBODY must have

<< You seem to have an unhealthy level of disadain for Bose >>

No, I have an unhealthy level of disdain for people who think Bose is &quot;high-end&quot; or even the best product available for the money. Bose has every right to peddle their stuff at whatever price the market will bear. And everyone is free to waste their own money, as well. Good marketing can overcome a mediocre product almost every time. And if it makes you feel any better, I have the same unhealthy level of disdain for all the Klipsch zealots, too. But let's not go there.

<< they aren't as bad as you make them out to be >>

Yes they are. Unless you aren't talking about sound quality. But they aren't the only junk out there, by any means.

 

[Pariah]

&quot;No, I have an unhealthy level of disdain for people who think Bose is &quot;high-end&quot; or even the best product available for the money.&quot;

Bose is highend in the market that it is intended for, which does not include audiophiles. Obviously there is no way a $1500 speaker system can be considering highend in the the overall picture when one can easily spend upwards of $70,000 on just mains.

&quot;Yes they are. Unless you aren't talking about sound quality. But they aren't the only junk out there, by any means&quot;

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

[Workin']

<< Bose is highend in the market that it is intended for, which does not include audiophiles. >>

If you narrow down your criteria far enough, *any* product could be considered high end in their market.

<< Obviously there is no way a $1500 speaker system can be considering highend in the the overall picture >>

But the fact is that there are dozens of better products at the same price or much lower. Now I know I have been coming down hard on Bose, but I really don't have a vendetta against them or anything. It could just as easily be any other mass-market consumer product. It's just irritating when people who have no clue and only know what they see in an advertisement think that there are no better choices. But as you say and I agree, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Although it probably seems like it, I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, just trying to broaden their horizons so they can make better-informed decisions. Hehe, maybe I should change my sig to &quot;Friends don't let friends buy Bose&quot;, lol

edit: I was going to write &quot;it depends how you define is&quot;, but we know how well THAT goes over.

 

[flood]

<< Hehe, maybe I should change my sig to &quot;Friends don't let friends buy Bose&quot;, lol >>


I'd do it, but my sig is too long already (255 limit)

 

[crisscross]

Hey everyone! Thanx a lot for your posts )) I never got over 30 replies to any of my other posts but honestly. what do I do now? I am not going to get a Bose anymore but what are the alternatives? can I get something for around $500 and hook it up to my pc and listen to music, watch DVD's with surround sound etc. I don't have a separate DVD player so I am gonna hook up my TV to my PC. but what about the other aspects? Do i hook up stereo speakers to my sound card through an amp?

Thanx.

P.S. Incase you guys didn't notice, I am confused!

 

[erikiksaz]

bah, all you people with your multi-thousand dollar speaker setups. i'm happy with my grado sr325 and creek amp. ahhemm, less than 1k for a good setup, ahhem.

 

[haut]

Hey, I just joined this forum and I'm glad to see some fellow audiophiles! Down with Bose! To answer the original poster's question: yes you can have pretty good sound from a computer (better than Bose is VERY possible) with the right equipment. I would suggest the Midiman Audiophile 2496 sound card (no experience, but suggested by others) which I think I saw for $150 somewhere. Connect that card to a decent power amp and a decent set of speakers. If you can use power tools and want to save some money, build your own speakers! That's what I do and they sound great. Do a kit though because designing your own is very difficult for a beginner. For more info on this go to www.madisound.com and go to the forum. There are some VERY knowledgeable people on there who are willing to help. Rick Craig, who designs and sells kits (thats where I got mine) is very knowledgeable. Check his site, http://home.earthlink.net/~selahaudio/ and go to the kits. The STS kits are often compared to $5000 retail speakers. Good luck in your audio endeavors.
--Ryan

 

[helikon]

While we're on the subject of Bose,yes as a poor college student I thought the 901's sounded good back in the 1970's and since then have heard bose speakers sound pleasant playing background music,but as accurate reproducers...not to my ears.It's a shame that alot of people in this country think(and I've heard this many times)that Onkyo and Bose are high end.That's what you get for listening to advertising and shopping at Circuit City and Best Buy.Sound quality aside,what I dislike most about Bose is their tenacious lawyers who went after Consumer Reports and high-end speaker manufacturer Thiel because C.R. said that the Bose speakers made Aretha Franklins' head seem 5 feet tall and Thiel had a series of speaker designated 2.2.Bose came back and told Thiel that they(Bose) had &quot;2.2&quot;that's two point two--copyrighted.WTF.How the hell can you copyright numbers and decimal points? Then there's the construction quality versus price.Tearing some of their speakers apart you may find just some particleboard,vinyl and cheap drivers.And to think they cost hundreds more than other higher quality U.S. and european speakers that sound better.Such is the power of advertising.Well I've said enough.Flame me if you want.

 

[crisscross]

Thanx for ur replies guys. Haut I thank you for your views and suggestions. Unfortunately I live in India so it's not very practical for me to build my own set of speakers, What I can do is ask my dad to get me a set of speakers when he returns to India from USA. so what do u guys say? any onlien retailers who carry these speakers? any help appreciated.

P.S. hmmmm ironic isn't it? Amar Bose was an Indian too!

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

As soon as this guys said that Boss was high quality i knew the flames would start coming. Ha, well bose is good if you are an idiot and don't wanna have to setup a real sound system. They are good for parents and old people too. i would never buy them because they are overpriced and i can get much better equipment with my money. Paradigm rules!!!

 

[RC7]

That's an interesting fact that Bose was Indian, was not aware of that. Anyway, bose isn't the highest end. If you really want nice you could get some celestions or other hi-fi speakers. Audio Advisor has hi-end stereo equipment for you to get ideas. I'm not sure why people lay down cash for PC Speakers...

 

[flood]

The Klipsch speakers will give you very good sound - I like their tweeters very much. Their sub that comes with the computer setup is also very good for the money.
I personally would get this setup. Monsoon MM-2000 - 4channel planar magnetic sound with a sub that can keep up with the klipsch.

 

[DamienVorlion]

<< Maybe your confused, but bose fixes the prices of their products.
Maybe you are, price fixing is illegal in the US. Retailers can sell whatever they want for however much they want. I certainly know how to read, and every week some retailer or another has Bose crap on sale. And I know SEARS is on everyone's must-shop list for quality speakers. Just the fact that they sell them there should tell you something. &quot;Refrigerators are in aisle 5, over there between the high-end audio and the socket wrenches....&quot; Sure.>>


I don't know how your getting a fixed price confused with price fixing, which is illegal, but let me say it one more time...If you want to sell Bose systems, you have to sign a contract with Bose which will have a fixed price, a price which you have to sell for. This price is the same for every retailer. Sears, BestBuy, whoever. Now I know your next response will be 'I can buy a Bose system and sell it at whatever price I want.' And that would be correct, but if you are a major reseller, you would lose your contract and Bose would penalize you. This happened to Sears some time ago and they lost it for a year. As far as discounts go, again, Bose has to authorize them, and if they do, they get authorized for every reseller.

BTW, Sears has one of the best return policies around. I bought my Bose sys about 6 months ago and can return it tomorrow if I wanted to. They have a satisfaction guarantee or your money back, and that is all it says. I returned an 8 month old Wega without anyone saying anything and traded it up for a newer model.

I'm not an audiophile, and I don't have the time to spend searching for the best setup or the desire to be a sound guru. Now that I have seen the general consensus I admit I was wrong to say Bose was high end. I did not know any better. I might just take that Bose system back, still got the old packaging so it should be no problem.

 

[flood]

DamienVorlion- im glad you have an open mind, unlike some people on the audioreview forums (which is why i stopped reading/posting there). I suggest you try out a paradigm system comparably priced. You can find a local dealer at http://www.paradigm.ca
for $1200 you can get their top of the line monitor series speakers, or atoms and a very nice sub. you could even dabble in their reference line.

 

[mattyrug]

Celestion and Hi-Fi in the same sentence?? J/K
My 2 Cents......
I have a Yamaha YMF-744 hooked up to an old Mitsubishi 4 Channel Block Amplifier, w/ a pair of old Teac, yes Teac (actually Pioneer Labeled) Speakers (JBL 8&quot; Re-Loaded).
I write, track (record), edit, and mix on these. I even re-mixed my band's album on 'em.
$20 for the Soundcard, $5 for the Amp (at a yard sale) and the Speakers were $100/pr 12 years ago. As far as Accuracy, They hold up to the Yamaha NS-10's and the Alesis Monitor 1's and 5's we used in our studio. In short they transfer very nicely to the 'outside' world!
It's not %100 sonically pure, but It sounds decent.
I use Logic Audio Platinum, if anyone's familiar w/it, you know what the recomended sound cards are! Aside from E-Magic's own Audiowerk cards, Not High-End Creative Labs cards, or Philips cards, but Mostly Yamaha Cards!
Hey Workin' - Droolin' over them Apogee's!! Their Studio Monitors are un-freakin'-believable!!
...But then again I'm a sound engineer, who works for a company that has all JBL SR-SeriesII Boxes! Mix on those all night at w/10,000 watts @120+ dB, Talk about HARSH!!

 

[Workin']

<< bah, all you people with your multi-thousand dollar speaker setups. i'm happy with my grado sr325 and creek amp. ahhemm, less than 1k for a good setup, ahhem. >>

I'm sure those cans sound very nice but it's probably not too much fun at a party.

Regarding the &quot;fixed price&quot; debate, I give up. If it's true then it's just another reason not to buy that Bose garbage. There was a similar thing back in the &quot;old days&quot; of the late 1970's. Many audio manufacturers (JBL, harmon/kardon, and lots of others) used what was called &quot;fair trade&quot; pricing which dictated the price that retailers could charge for their products. The FTC forced them to eliminate this practice, reasoning that a retailer can sell their wares for whatever price they want.

 

[flood]

<< bah, all you people with your multi-thousand dollar speaker setups. i'm happy with my grado sr325 and creek amp. ahhemm, less than 1k for a good setup, ahhem. >>




I too switched to a headphone-only setup -
Sennheiser HD600
X-Cans Musical Fidlelity v2 (Tube Amp)
Cambridge Audio D500

Sounds better than speaker systems in the $10k range

But no one else can hear it - does jack at a party