I am in line to purchase a 5.1 Home Theater Setup and I have spoke with to co-workers who own Bose and both love them. I have no heard a demo yet but I was wondering how owners of the Bose Acoustimass 15's felt about their performance. Now I've seen on some sites that people love to bash Bose foe some reason, but I would like honest opinions. I will be using them primarily for DVD's with some CD playing. Thanks for any imput.

Do YOURSELF a favor, forget Bose! For the money you spend on Bose, you can do much,
MUCH better, quality-wise and audio-wise!
Bose is over-rated, over-priced CONSUMER
GRADE equipment. Nothing wrong with it
but boy, can you do better for the money!
Now if the AM15 was priced at $300 retail,
that would have been a different matter.
If size DOES MATTER, there are other systems
you might want to consider with units that
a just as small as Bose with a performance
curve that will leave BOSE miles behind!!!
Good luck!

Zinger: You are correct. People love to bash Bose (as seen by the above post). It's funny how you ask for an opinion from some people who has them, and people without them bash Bose.

Anyhow, what's important is to get what sounds good to you and fits your needs. Most everyone I have heard of that have bought an Acoustimass 15 are happy with them. The Acoustimass 10 is another story. I invite you in to hear a demo on the Acoustimass 15 at your local Bose store. Be sure to bring some of your CDs and/or DVDs. If you need to know where some Bose stores are in your area, just e-mail me and I'll be glad to give you a list.

Good luck.

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If you couldn't already tell Bose Pro works for Bose. I do not own any bose speakers but have demoed them and have 2 friends with Bose systems. The bottom line is Bose sucks. One good reason they suck is all their woofers are paper and so is the tweeter which results in shitty to no bass. Another reason Bose suck is not only are the components shitty but you pay a lot for it too. There are much better speakers in that price range, and when I say much better I mean it. Go listen to Bose speakers and then another line of high quality speakers in the same price range and you'll then know the difference. I am really not trying to bash Bose but I feel that their speakers are simply a marketing scam. Do yourself a favor and give a price range that you want to spend on speakers along with any constraints you may have in your HT setup and let the people in this forum give you some good suggestions on speakers.

I am an EX-bose owner, does that count?

There are much better speakers for the money. Bose is a VERY average speaker witha high price tag. The only good thing about them is they are easy to sell on ebay.

BosePro,
I never said anything wrong about Bose or
that anything is wrong with Bose. Just said
that it's over-rated and over-priced!!!!
Being the BosePro that you are, what do you think??? Can't the customer do much better
for the money he's planning to spend????
Now if they were priced at $300, that would
have been more realistic as far as quality/
price ratio is concerned!
End of my 2 cents worth!

If you don't listen to a few of the models
on this page:
http://www.goodsound.com/speakers.html

and just blindly buy Bose, or any other
random model, you're changes of getting
a good sounding system are on order of
winning the lottery.

Start with what's on the above page, and
work from there. Those models are recognized
unanimously across every audio publication,
and any 'serious-audio-dude' you may meet, as
being the among best available in their
respective price classes.

In other words, the models on that page
cost half as much as Bose, and sound twice
as good.

Good luck.

When will you learn Bosepro that you are fighting a battle you will never win.The cubes you are in love with cost only $5.00 to make and the subwoofer if that is what you want to call it is pathetic.Do yourself a favor Bosepro and listen to some of the speakers on Michael`s list and then get back to us.Yeah right

Another former-Bose owner here. Just like 4KRG mentioned - there are better speakers for the money.

Consider auditioning other speakers and let your "ears" be the judge - not the marketing hype of Bose.

Michael, That is a pretty good list on that link. However, it doesn't address what may be the main concern that Zinger might have and that is SIZE.

Kenwood mentions in another thread that he has bose speakers because he had to compromise with his wife. She wanted the speakers to blend into the room and not be noticed. That is kind of difficult with most of what is on the list.

I was in a similar situation and decided to bite the bullet a tiny bit on size. I did wind up with items on the list you linked (NHT superones/zeros) and wound up paying similar to the AM15 cost all in (including velodyne sub and NHT supercenter). Much better setup for the money, but it was bigger and more noticable than I would have liked.

It's not on your list, but if someone has SMALL as a priority, I think they should seriously consider the Klipsch quintets. Ultrasmall, cheap and I think they are much better than Bose. I bit the price bullet to get the NHTs for quality though I seriously considered the quints.

A final note: my dad has the Bose's and he likes them. He really wanted something SMALL. After hearing my system, he said he wished he listened to more before buying. He didn't realize what he could get for the money. He DOESN'T use his Bose's for music at all, just HT. He has an old pair of AR's (I think it's AR-2) that are in incredible shape that he uses for music.

Bose is very weak in the bass department and you can get a very good/great system (with powered sub) for the same or less. Whatever you do, go listen to MULTIPLE systems and judge by your ear. That in mind, try to listen to the speakers driven by the same amp/receiver you have if possible. If not, try to listen to them powered by a different one but the SAME one. Take the receiver differences out of the equation.

Many HT systems will not do as well for music. That will mainly be driven by your amp/receiver. It took me a long time to find what made me happy. Make sure the heart of your system will handle both to your liking.

Good luck finding the speakers that YOU like.

This is a reply I left just a few days ago on a similar topic. Instead of rewriting it, I'll just copy it here:

START
Well, as you can see, there are several different view points on Bose speakers and such. The bottom line, as mentioned above, is Bose sells a lot of speakers and systems.
No, they are not the best speakers out there. Can you get better for less? Certainly. And keep in mind, this is coming from someone who works for Bose. The simple fact is is that Bose systems are geared towards the customer who does not want huge speakers taking over his/her living room, family room, or whatever room. If you want the absolute best speaker without concern of size, there are several speakers out that will blow you away.

It's a matter of several of your personal wants:

-Do you want smaller speakers? Does the size of the speakers matter to you?

-How big of an audiophile are you? How much do expect to spend? Can you hear the difference between 18KHz and 22Khz?

-How do they sound to you? This is most important. No one can choose a speaker system for you. You and your ears have to decide.

Bose speakers are some of the smallest speakers (if not the absolute smallest) on the home theater market. They give great sound out of such a small unit. They have years of research into them. And, if bought at a Bose store, they have the BEST garuntee (sp) on the market. So, check out several systems, and make your own decision.

Good luck.
FINISH

As you can see, I am honest when it comes to the speakers. There are better. But the Acoustimass 15 serves somewhat of a different purpose compared to many other systems. I'm not Pro Bose, I'm Bose Pro. All I ask is that the buyer weeds through the crap everyone piles up here, and gives EVERY speaker a fair chance and demo. Then decide on your own. If you choose another, no problem. I won't loose any sleep over it.

One thing I have to say: a Bose cube does not cost $5.00 to make. You believe what you want to believe. But a fact will always be a fact. It does not cost $5.00. I know what they do cost, but I am not allowed to convey this. It's just stupidity that makes someone claim that it's only $5.00 to make.

Good luck on whatever system you choose Zinger

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Did I miss something or did most of you miss the Gallo speakers on that list Michael has.They are just as small as the $5.00 cubes "plus tax" (sorry Bose Pro), yet sound BY FAR better.Nuff said

If you are interested in small speakers-best to look at Energy Take 5 system. Picked mine up w/8" sub for ~$500. These little suckers can fit the size of your hand and are of higher quality materials at a fraction of the cost. They are finished in high gloss. I have been using mine for about a year and is extremely pleased with them. They are one of the best price/quality 5.1 HT speaker setup you can find. You definately can't go wrong with so many people raving over this.

Want speakers that are small and cost next to nothing but sound better than Bose...get some of those KLH stuff they sell for $99 for all 5 speakers from amazon. Want something that sounds pretty good for again less than the cost of Bose...get Energy Take 5 for about $500 like another poster stated. Want something that looks damn good and sounds great and costs comparable to Bose...Gallo is ready to sell it to you. Want to be a real sucker?....get Bose. I'd really like to hear from Bose Pro why they insist on not having their speakers auditioned with other competitors, like KLH which is the closest sound-wise. Granted KLH speakers are a fraction of the cost. Does any audio store in the entire USA sell Bose? I'm not talking about Best Buy. Very curious. Bose is suck, that's the truth.

To save everyone else from having to read through all this stuff, I'm not going to get into a huge debate on Bose any longer.

The simple fact is is that Bose will remain a top speaker company, they will con't to sell the number 1 selling bookshelf speaker in the world, the will con't to make the best sounding and selling table radio in the world, they will con't to sell speakers that other companies will always try to copy, they will con't to sell ... all this, rather you like them or not, rather you buy them or not, rather you ever get your facts right or not, rather you read this or not.

Good luck.

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svadas:

So you think 5 speakers for $99 sounds better than a Bose Acoustimass system?

Don't be an idiot.

I'm sure this thread will run a little longer. First of all I do not work for Bose.

I started out in Home Cinema about eight years ago and did so on a really tight budget. I bought equipment in stages, but bought the best at the time that I could afford. I ended up with a system that sounded pretty good (considering the price), but it was a bitch to setup and looked ugly.

Whilst sound IS important to me - that's why I don't listen to movies through the TV speaker; looks are also equally important. I upgraded my system 18 months ago to get DVD and DD/DTS etc. I did about a years worth of research, listening, reading etc. The audiophile equipment is great and yes, it can be bought for reasonable money, but I opted for an Acoustimass 10 system. It sounds great to me - I know I could buy better sounding equipment, but I live in an apartment and the setup is in my living room, which is used every day and the room is not too big. I also have neighbours downstairs and I don't think they would appreciate monster levels of bass.

So I 'compromised' - but I have something which sounds good, but does not invade my living space. Some people ARE interested in what the kit looks like and after reading countless reveiws of equipment, I very much doubt that the average listener can discern between different speakers and setups to any great degree without metering equipment.

When I move onto my next property, I aim to dedicate a room for my cinema and then I'll buy the best equipment around and have it professionally installed. Until then, I'll live with my compromised system.

Yes, I do think they sound better. In fact, pretty much every speaker I've ever heard sounds better than Bose.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Lush:
svadas:

So you think 5 speakers for $99 sounds better than a Bose Acoustimass system?

Don't be an idiot.

<HR>

First of all, there is no need for everyone to constantly bash Bose speakers. If you like the way they sound and are willing to pay those outrageous prices, more power to you. However the people here are right. For the same price, you can get a much better sounding system and not have to pay over $1000 for it. You might just have to sacrifice some living room floor space to do it. Take for example the Klipsch Quintet Microsystem. I have demo'd these and I find them to be ten times better then any Acousitmass system. They are just as clear, if not clearer, and you can even get the 15" 800 watt sub with it. The only drawback is that they are not as compact as the AM's. The Bose powered sub is about 50 or 75 watts. Being so underpowered it is no wonder why you can never find a power rating on any of these speakers!

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quote:<HR>Originally posted by Bose Pro:
The simple fact is is that Bose will remain a top speaker company, they will con't to sell the number 1 selling bookshelf speaker in the world

>SNIP<

all this, rather you like them or not, rather you buy them or not, rather you ever get your facts right or not, rather you read this or not.

Since when does popular = good? Many people
like "Backstreet Boys", but that doesn't
mean they're good, it just means a lot of
people like them.

Hope this analogy is helpful.



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DVD Toolkit | Audio 101 | Stereo411 (The Ultimate Audio Resource!)

Exactly.

A lot of people like them. Thank you.

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Phew, that was a lot of doublespeak. You sure you're not a politician Bose Pro?

First you admit that a person can get an system that SOUNDS better and either takes the same or slightly larger amount of space as the Bose AM15, at a cheaper price. Then you state one feature of the Bose - the size - that you have already admitted is not a feature specific to the Bose.

Man, you must be a good salesman. I heard that Amway is looking for some people.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Bose Pro:
Exactly.

A lot of people like them. Thank you.

<HR>

A lot of people are stupid. Present company excluded of course Bose Pro. :-)

I also work in the industry and would add the following from a past post on this topic:

"Bosepro makes some good points. Look Bose is the number one speaker company in America. The products are very well engineered for what they are. The problem is that the are equivalent to computer speakers that sell for a 10th the price. If Bosepro works there he knows the material cost of one cube is under $5! The marketing machine that is Bose has to be funded. The dealers are given huge margins for each sale (larger than any other company can). This is why the dealers push them. Bose is a huge advertiser and this is why the spade is never called a spade.

My advice is to listen and choose for your self. But understand the marketing up front."

The bottom line is when some one says they are bad this is just wrong. If they were priced at $299 they would be the best speaker system you could buy. But at their price almost any other product will out perform them. If size is an issue I would suggest you look at some of the following-


Infinity US-1

Anthony Gallo micro

Polk RM

and many others, these are all very small and will out perform the Bose at a lower price.

Shazam: Where did I say that someone could find speakers that are the same size and sound just as good? I did say there were systems/speakers that sound better, but I did not say anything about equal size.

Anyhow, it's obvious this is not going anywhere beyond repeat. So, let's just leave it at this:

-Most people here do not "recommend" Bose.

-A lot of people buy Bose.

-There are better speakers systems out for the money.

OK, I think that has been the main points covered. I must admit, this has been quite exciting. Too bad we could not all meet up at someone's house who has a killer receiver. We all bring our own speakers and test them side by side, all together, then decide how good or bad a speaker sounds. I'll bring popcorn and beer.

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