Bose bashing

[HDBRbuilder]

I kinda like hearing the singers take in a breath between lines of their songs...and hearing the fingers slide along the strings of a guitar as the player repositions his hand for the next note or chord is pleasing, too! Not to mention the breaths taken by the horn players and harmonica blowers!! It kinda makes one feel he or she is right there in front of the performers!! And that is something non-horn-loading just doesn't provide!! Neither does BOSE!! Somehow it all gets lost in the reflecting of the sound from a wall towards the listener!!

But, then again...BOSE concentrates on a "big sound from a small package"...too bad they don't concentrate more on ACCURATE SOUND REPRODUCTION and efficiency, instead!!

[artto]

I have a reprint of a paper PWK published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society comparing modulation distortion in various loudspeakers, with horn-loaded ones that included spectrograms of the sideband distortion products. One section titled "Test of Full-Range Loudspeker" describes the following:

"The speaker choosen for the test was direct radiator consisting of several small cone loudspeakers of 'long throw' capability and with a total area approximating that of a 12 inch cone loudspeaker. This system was intended for 'full frequency range' and normally employed an equalizer."

Sound familiar? Gee. Now this just couldn't be the Bose 901 direct reflecting crap now could it?

One look at the spectogram of this speaker is enough to make you puke. 14% total modulation distortion (95Db SPL reference). The second sidebands (distortion) are nearly half the height of the 2 fundamental test tones and even 50% higher than the first sidebands.

As PWK put it:

"Its easy to ignore sideband amplitudes of less than 3% when there are distortion amplitudes exceeding 10%. It would also be interesting to find the causes of these unpredicted distortion products, but the cone loudspeaker with its infinite number of modes of vibration and breakup could take a lifetime of studying third order effects."

"In the case of the multiple loudspeaker whose performance is shown in Fig. 3 (the spectrogram mentioned above), obviously the mere proliferation of the number of loudspeakers fails to reduce distortion to tolerable levels. In the companion paper, a horn woofer was tested at 100Db SPL and found to produce less than 1% total modulation distortion".

Thats the reality of why BOSE BLOWS.

If you like your music full of distortion, go with Bose.

[sunnysal]

did anyone see the most recent car and driver, they mention bose in this context (quoted inexactly but close enough) " the bose system sounded terrible, no matter how we adjusted the tone controls it always sounded as if it had dryer lint in the speakers"...dryer lint in the speakers...hmmmm...sounds like bose...tony

[White01L]

I must admit that in my HT setup I am using the Bose 901's Series 2 ('73) as front channel and their VCS-10 as center channel speaker. The LFE driver makes up for loss of bass and with my hearing loss I don't hear the high end that isn't there. Am using some old Norman Labs as surrounds.

I also receive the Sound and Vision magazine, compliments of a catalog retailer, and I must say that I don't recall even seeing a Klipsch ad in there, though I clearly remember seeing many Bose ads. If the Klipsch ads are there they must be unimpressive or unrecognizable.

Regarding editorial and or magazine review articles, remember that nothing bad will ever be printed in a magazine that will in anyway degrade one of the major advertisers or that would offend a large number of subscribers. Consequently Sound and Vision wouldn't say anything to alienate the large number of Bose users that subscribe to that magazine, just like a motorcycle magazine I use to take could never find anything on a Honda to be critical of, too many Honda owners subscribed to the magazine. Get it, the goal is to sell the magazine.

Before the flames get to high let me say that the Bose speakers sound like crap compared to my '74 Heresy's and even worse compared to the '73 Belle's.

My thoughts on the Acoustimass line, its crap, bought a set of AM-5 from catalog retailer (with liberal return policy) and tried these out to use for the surrounds in the HT. The did very poorly as surrounds matched with the 901 fronts. I then tried just an A/B comparison with the 901's, ohh even worse. I think a tin can with a string would sound better, almost. Anyway the Acoustimass stuff went back.

I love listending to music with the Klipsch speakers, my wife isn't interested, even better.

I can tolerate the Bose 901's with their heavy midrange sound for home theater setup.

I am sure glad I have the HT in one room and another room has my 2 channel gear.

[DTLongo]

IMHO, Bose makes only two price-worthy products, the model 301 bookshelf speakers and the 901 Series VI's, both of which I own. Maybe their Quiet Comfort noise-cancelling headphones also qualify, they do sound very nice though the dangling little outboard control & battery box is a pain. Bose's Wave Radio is a rather nice sounding little clock radio but overpriced.

Bose's acoustimass line including their Lifestyle series home theaters are wayyyy overpriced for what you get -- nil bass below 40 hz (if even that) and a shrill sound. But except maybe for the 901 VI's, Bose is not marketing to audiophiles but to a mass public that wants loud sound out of small components. Bose's philosphy is to produce products that are cheap for them to make, price them grotesquely high, and then market, market, market the heck out of them. (I think Oreck vacuums does similarly.)

Withall, I have very much enjoyed my 901 VI's that I've had since around 1988. And I am surely going to enjoy replacing them in the near future with a pair of new Khorns. They will arrive maybe in January... Thomas Longo, Ocean Pines, MD

[T2K]

"I also receive the Sound and Vision magazine, compliments of a catalog retailer, and I must say that I don't recall even seeing a Klipsch ad in there, though I clearly remember seeing many Bose ads. If the Klipsch ads are there they must be unimpressive or unrecognizable"

Wow! No telling what you've been missing Wo1L! Klipsch has had ads in Sound & Vision/ Stereo Review for many years .

Keith

[zandern]

There in there, but I really hate the Klipsch adds. To me the are very dull, dark, and very unimpressive. Bad marketing to me, and from what I learned at school. But thats their style. I think they sell by sound, not by adds. Just my opinion.

[MrMcGoo]

artto-Nice quote from PWK!!!

As far as Klipsch advertizing is concerned, it needs to change. The company should hire some experts to run focus groups. They would find out what people actually think about their ads. The reason that they are not changing is because sales are doing very well. Better ads would boost sales IMO.

Re:Bo$e-It is just too much fun to resist the bashing. Poor quality products deserve the heat. The Internet may help folks to avoid giving their money away for a very poor product.

Bill

[prodj101]

lol, you want a company with unimpressive ads, look to joseph audio! nice stuff, **** ads.

[TheEAR]

Prodj,

Joseph Audio makes some great speakers at very realistic prices.And the top of the line they make(a Wilson WATT/PUPPY lookalike)bests the Wilson WATT/PUPPY!For less money too

B0$e deserves the bad rep they get,low end products desguised as quality ones.I know B0$e just hates the internet,and they hate me.