Bose speakers

[Harrison]

I was trying to find something to do while waiting for my other half to finish her clothes shopping, and so popped into the Bose shop in Gunwhalf, Portsmouth. And Wow! Their current range of speakers sound amazing!



The cube speakers for home cinema setups are really small and unobtrusive and sound amazing in combination with their base sub unit. I was amazed how rich and good the sound was coming from such small speaker units. I'm seriously going to be looking into replacing my huge floor standing Eltax speakers with these in the future as they are so small they are unobtrusive and can just be placed out of the way on the wall, and not be a large part of the room, as my current ones are.



And the second speakers that impressed me were some computer speakers. The COMPANION 5 Multimedia Speakers. Found here. I played the whole in-store audio demo for these and was really impressed. Their sound is as good as full sized speakers, and they create amazing virtual 5.1 surround sound; the best I've heard from a 2.1 setup to date.

Does anyone here own any of these Bose speakers? Or listened to them in-store too?

[AlexJ]

I've heard (but don't know enough about it myself to confirm) that Bose use fairly cheap components in their speakers for the price you pay.

[Harrison]

I've always found Bose speakers have a good reputation when I've asked many music related people. Not sure about the quality of the components used to build them, but the sound quality is really good which has to be the main thing in my view.

[Sharingan]

I've heard (but don't know enough about it myself to confirm) that Bose use fairly cheap components in their speakers for the price you pay.

That appears to be the general concensus among audio enthusiasts. Then again, elitism and snobbery among most 'enthusiast' crowds tend to skew opinion.

The best thing to do when shopping for audio equipment is simply to ask for a demonstration in a closed listening room, to find out what suits you best.

[Harrison]

Which is exactly what I had at the Bose shop I visited last weekend. I think the store is new as I don't remember it from the last time i visited. It has closed glass listening rooms all around the store so you can experience all of their equipment at its best. I was impressed, although I will say that Bose speakers are only for average home use. I would never recommend them for professional purposes to monitor recording levels or edit video. For this you need dedicated monitors from one of the top speaker manufacturers like B&W.

[killergorilla]

I'm not a fan of bose gear. I know a friend with a setup and while they sounded awesome in the showroom, they really struggle to fill a room any bigger.

I'd just recommend getting a nice set of B&W instead. Man they are sexy.

[Harrison]

But bloody expensive!

I am seriously considering a set of the Bose PC speakers as it is only a smallish room they will be used in, and they will reduce the space taken up by my current setup. But I think I will be keeping my current Eltax speaker setup for my full 5.1 home cinema setup for the moment.