Bose or not to Bose

[Jonboy]

We had a little Shopping trip down to Gunwharf Keys yesterday and i always like to have a look in their Bose shop, the wife keeps threatning to get one so she can have her lounge back devoid of my bits and bobs (not happening by the way) anyway we had a look around the shop to humour her when a young salesman askes if we want to hear the latest in sound technolgy from Bose " it only takes 6 minutes for the demo " so what the heck we went in and sat down.

lights dim, music and sounds start coming from all around, a typical av system i thought hd pictures flick up on the tv screen, i'm looking around at all the walls to see where the speakers are apart from the obvious front channels and sub woofer, the film keeps playing running through its set piece with a Lion roaring and thunder and lightning going off, a live concert recording etc, all too loud i might add ,the sales man then comes and starts to remove what i thought were speakers from the front channels as the narration carries on except they wern't speakers they were only empty boxes hung on the wall, but still the sound keeps coming out all around,

Thats clever i thought it must be a sound bar under the tv screen, but no its all comming from the telly, it had 16 odd speakers built into it and new technolgy making these speakers sound the way they do, if you have a look at the Videowave film to me it looks to me like Ribbons and horns, so nothing new there then dispite them telling us it's the latest and greatest, and no one else has done it before or words that effect.

At the end of the day it sounded ok not the last thing in sound quility i have heard a lot better for less money but that might be partly down to the overly loud volume it was played to us at causing distortion to my ears.

After it finished said to him "crunch time how much" 6k was the reply, "i won't be buying one of those thats for sure", was my reply, one box solution or not

What we do here will knock it for six but if you are passing a Bose shop pop in and have a listen, just out of interest.


Link to the above here (http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-audio/videowave-entertainment-system/)

[WAD62]

Hi Jon,

Back in '91 when I was a bit more impressionable, and whilst working in the US I picked up a set of Bose acoustimas MS1's, for $350, they were £900 at the time over here.

After the novelty of 'oh that's a big sound from tiny speakers' wore off, I realised that that's all they had going for them, and I think that they were the pinnacle of Bose products.

However they are quite indestructible, and now they make up the rear surround sound speakers of my AV setup, the split direction of each unit makes them ideal for this. Not bad after 29 years...

I'm sure you've seen this, I love it as my mate has one...

ZCBe7-6rw4M

[HighFidelityGuy]

Bose seem to go out of there way to use fancy technology to get sound out of odd shaped boxes. They seem more bothered about showing off that they can make a tiny cube sound like a mediocre speaker rather than making actually good speakers. Whenever I've heard any of their gear it's just all top and bottom end and crappy midrange. It always sounds distorted as the demonstrator always turns it up too loud. I don't think their designs look that nice either. It's just all black or white plastic. Added to all that they cost a fortune for the sound quality you get.

I think some people just like the boom tizz sound and get suckered in with all the marketing bollocks about how they're using revolutionary technology to get sound out of things that just aren't meant to sound good. I really don't like their whole concept. I don't want a plant pot (or whatever) to sound like a mediocre speaker for £5000. I can buy a proper hi-fi for less. :rolleyes:

The only "normal" product I've seen from them that actually looked like a good idea was their noise cancelling headphones. If I lived out of a suitcase I'd give them a try but I don't, so I won't.

[DSJR]

My favourite Bose speakers of old were the mk4 version of the 301. Placed sideways on 24 - 30" stands they really could communicate the musical message and with a fair stab at accuracy and clarity as well - FAR better than cheapo KEF's and B&W's available back in the mid to late 90's I thought, but by now the cheap (expensive from Bose from memory) bass drivers will need re-foaming soon.

The best way to get ones room back is to look out for some of the smaller but good actives out there (AVI aren't the only players here, although sadly they've attracted all the acidic comments...). Getting rid of your average cr@p passive crossover and building the amps into the speakers can make a huge improvement if it's done right. Anyway, as a prime tinkerer and no longer in the industry, I like playing with the gear too and wifey has been wonderful over the Spendors, which are a little past their best visually (the grilles sag).

[HighFidelityGuy]

My favourite Bose speakers of old were the mk4 version of the 301. Placed sideways on 24 - 30" stands they really could communicate the musical message and with a fair stab at accuracy and clarity as well - FAR better than cheapo KEF's and B&W's available back in the mid to late 90's I thought, but by now the cheap (expensive from Bose from memory) bass drivers will need re-foaming soon.

The best way to get ones room back is to look out for some of the smaller but good actives out there (AVI aren't the only players here, although sadly they've attracted all the acidic comments...). Getting rid of your average cr@p passive crossover and building the amps into the speakers can make a huge improvement if it's done right. Anyway, as a prime tinkerer and no longer in the industry, I like playing with the gear too and wifey has been wonderful over the Spendors, which are a little past their best visually (the grilles sag).

The old Bose speakers probably were better than their new all-in-one stuff. At least their old speakers actually looked like speakers. As you say, there are plenty of other sollutions to the problems of lack of space, heat output, power usage, complexity etc. Most people just don't know what to look for and because Bose and other larger manufacturers have a presence on the high street, they are the companies that Joe public go to for the sollution.

[anthonyTD]

Did it have a wave guide though!:eyebrows:
:lolsign:
A...

[DSJR]

The 301mk4 if properly used sideways had a 6" (from memory) foam surround paper cone bass mid, a 4" upper mid driver on the outside and their ubiquitous little shrieker set at an inside angle. In this one case, the whole was definitely better than the sum of the parts. Oh yes, despite little to no wadding inside, I remember there being a polyprop cap on the crossover as well as a finely wire-wound resistor which looked to be some kind of protection, too many parties would cause it to heat up like an electric fire I suspect, reducing output to the tweeter.

[Reid Malenfant]

8" bass/mid Dave & i agree they didn't sound bad at all ;) Just trying to remember what it's bigger brother was with a 10" :scratch:

[Spectral Morn]

Ummm okay.


Take a few of your fave movies for the demo rather than their DVD or wherever/whatever the video and sound source is derived from software wise. You may ask why ? Simple what you are watching is more than likely a specially prepared sample (it may not be in this case). I have experience of this with all sorts of companies in the past....the Yamaha sound bar being one recent example (from two and a half years ago. I can't speak about current demo practices or sample sources/DVDs). Most/many shop demos are done with Yamaha (or other companies demo DVDs) sourced DVDs and they have been designed sonically to do things that a standard DVD won't do.

Anyone heard the frogs in the rainstorm demo from this Yamaha Sound Bar Demo DVD ? Very impressive (via the Sound Bar).....as are the movie clips.

I could never get the same results from standard DVD movies as I could from the Yamaha demo sample DVD....even the same clip but from a commercially bought DVD.

If the Bose unit is still as impressive with your movie discs then fair enough, if not (which I think will be the case) then walk-on-by. A similarly priced separates set up will be vastly better though not as neat or compact. I also suspect that a much cheaper conventional Home Cinema set up will also be better.....though I have not had any recent first hand experience with current AV kit so base that comment on my experiences two + years ago.

I demoed these sort of items with commercial DVDs and they either sold or not, if not I would sell a standard Home Cinema set up for a bit more money or less.

Frankly I feel using special demo DVDs is a con (strong word Yes but imho that is what I feel it is) and is unrepresentative of how the items will perform and sound with everyday material when you get it home.


Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

Frankly I feel using special demo DVDs is a con (strong word Yes but imho that is what I feel it is) and is unrepresentative of how the items will perform and sound with everyday material when you get it home.
That is downright bloody sneaky & personally i'd suggest you wording could be stronger still :eyebrows:

[Spectral Morn]

That is downright bloody sneaky & personally i'd suggest you wording could be stronger still :eyebrows:


You may think that but I could not possibly comment ;) further......

I hate to say it but among many shops it is standard practice to use pre-prepared demo compilation DVDs (supplied by the manufacturers) to use for demo rather than commercially bought DVDs.

I for one used to sell loads of Home Cinema kit when I was in Brown Goods sales (6 + years ago) via the Loby scene in the Matrix (loads of Toshiba Dolby digital back projection and 32 in to 36 in flat CRT TVs) then the opening of Gladiator and two and a half years ago the scene in Kingdom of Heaven of the attack on Kerac castle. Standard bought commercial DVDs. Honest and representative of what you would get at home from your own DVDs etc.

I have no problem with a company supplying a compilation of movie clips but where the sound has been enhanced over the normal version (and note I am not saying that companies do this currently as I have no current proof of that) but it was standard in many cases a few years ago and before that.

So be suspicious and bring your own software.....

One other bug of mine is TV retailers etc feeding their demo flat Tvs with an HD signal and not telling people that is what they are watching as standard material will not look as good...particularly an issue with LED flat panel TVs. Only HD looks good on these.


Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

One other bug of mine is TV retailers etc feeding their demo flat Tvs with a HD signal and not telling people that is what they are watching as standard material will not look as good...particularly an issue with LED flat panel TVs. Only HD looks good on these.
Hmmm, actually i'd expect a full HD signal to be fed to one as a demo. I know what you mean though as SD can look bloody awful on some HD TVs, just depends on how good the inbuilt scaler is. On the other hand there are some excellent scalers built into certain DVD players & i'm happy to say mine is exceptional in this regard :eyebrows:

By the way, i have the blu rays of the three films you mentioned & the surprise for me was Kingdom Of Heaven - what a film ;)

Back to Bose :spew:

:lol:

[Spectral Morn]

Hmmm, actually i'd expect a full HD signal to be fed to one as a demo. I know what you mean though as SD can look bloody awful on some HD TVs, just depends on how good the inbuilt scaler is. On the other hand there are some excellent scalers built into certain DVD players & i'm happy to say mine is exceptional in this regard :eyebrows:

By the way, i have the blu rays of the three films you mentioned & the surprise for me was Kingdom Of Heaven - what a film ;)

Back to Bose :spew:

:lol:


Yes great film but sadly not very faithful to History. Why must Holywood play fast and lose with History.

The characters existed but their relationships and that of the main character who was much older (and was part of a family he had brothers there..so not an illegitimate Orphan or a blacksmith) still present an interesting but much more complex story...much more complex than presented in the film.

You can read more here about the History..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Heaven_(film)


Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

Actually i should probably have said i was talking about the image quality :doh:

Don't talk to me about re-writing history :rolleyes: :lol: I know exactly what you are saying & lets not go there or we'll be here until our fingers ware out :eek:

[Spectral Morn]

Actually i should probably have said i was talking about the image quality :doh:

Don't talk to me about re-writing history :rolleyes: :lol: I know exactly what you are saying & lets not go there or we'll be here until our fingers ware out :eek:

I think my fave Ridley Scott film is The Duellists.

Ridley has a way with capturing the magic of a vista :)

The standard DVD of Kingdom of Heaven is very good too......I don't do HD still got a very nice CRT Panasonic 36 in TX-36 PD50


Regards D S D L

[Puffin]

I've done the demo at Gunwharf. There was a very large active sub up front as well when I had mine.

[Spectral Morn]

I've done the demo at Gunwharf. There was a very large active sub up front as well when I had mine.


Sorry.... can you expand on this as I don't know or understand what Gunwharf etc is :scratch:


Regards D S D L

[Jonboy]

What i was getting at was that i was impressed that all the sound heard came from the tv and not from external seperate speakers, but as to sound quility it was the usual little drivers trying to doing big things.

As Neil said take your own discs, then see if they let you play them, but give it a go after all its free

[Jonboy]

Sorry.... can you expand on this as I don't know or understand what Gunwharf etc is :scratch:


Regards D S D L

Gunwarf Quays is a shopping centre in Portsmouth

[Spectral Morn]

Gunwarf Quays is a shopping centre in Portsmouth

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh :) okay.


Regards D S D L

[WAD62]

Yes great film but sadly not very faithful to History. Why must Holywood play fast and lose with History.

The characters existed but their relationships and that of the main character who was much older (and was part of a family he had brothers there..so not an illegitimate Orphan or a blacksmith) still present an interesting but much more complex story...much more complex than presented in the film.

You can read more here about the History..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Heaven_(film)


Regards D S D L

The full length 4.5 hour version is far better IMHO, gives a little more background...but yes there is some artistic licence abuse...a bit of an 'apocalypse now' for the crusades...

"The "Director's Cut" of the film is a four-disc set, two of which are dedicated to a feature-length documentary called "The Path to Redemption." This feature contains an additional featurette on historical accuracy called "Creative Accuracy: The Scholars Speak", where a number of academics support the film's contemporary relevance and historical accuracy. Among these historians is Dr. Nancy Caciola, who said that despite the various inaccuracies and fictionalized/dramatized details considered the film a "responsible depiction of the period."