Help!

[renix]

I have some a pair of speaker from the Bose 321 system, and I'm trying to use them without the system and have come into many problems. First off, they use a 4-pin plug, not speaker wire. I asked Bose for an adapter and they dont make one, they said using them stand-alone wasn't recommended and was nearly impossible. I hope I can still use them. Bose woudn't tell me a recommended wattage either, they told me a max wattage said I needed to buy the whole system to use them right. BUT since I didn't spend $400 for the speakers and another $400 for the receiver thing I would love to use them, it's seem like a good challenge.

Any help out there?

[This Guy]

this is why everyone hates Bose here. There is nothing you can do but sell them on ebay (proabably get a lot of your money back) and get a nice set of speakers. Bose makes almost all of their systems impossible to upgrade, they want you to keep everything Bose. For the money you could do WAY better then that. I'm sorry Im dissing your speakers, but it's the truth, please don't get offended.

-Joey

[woodman]

You've come face to face with the exact reason why I've been telling everyone who'll listen that Bose is a company that's totally lacking in business ethics and morals and doesn't deserve anyone's money. The fact that they use "proprietary" connections to prevent people from using their products in any way that involves products from any other companies other than Bose is clear-cut evidence of what I've been complaining about for many years now. Most people "bash" Bose for strictly performance reasons ... their products simply don't perform anywhere near well enough to justify the prices they charge. To me, their marketing decisions paint a far more distressing picture.

I have to agree with ThisGuy and recommend that you dispose of the Bose speakers and buy something from a company that isn't so greedy as to use connections that are less than "standard" in an attempt to lock the consumer into using strictly their brand and no other. Shameful way for any company to behave, IMO.

[renix]

I DID NOT pay $400 for speakers with retarded plugs, however I got them for REALLY REALLY cheap, some lady sold em to me and had no idea of their value. Let me reiterate the REALLY CHEAP, I almost feel bad, well not really! I don't have money for hi-fi sound anyway, I'm 20 and don't make a whole lot. Bose said I need one of their 4 pin wires plugs that comes with the 321, then an "extender" for going through walls etc. What if you just connect speaker wires to the 4 pins? I mean, can it be done right? How does the 4 pin wire work? For the money I paid, I'm gonna try to work this out somehow!

[This Guy]

if you try to connect regualr speaker wire to these speakers you will most likely accidentally make the wires touch and short your amp. If the amp has no protection against this the amp will be fried and never work again. Don't be foolish with audio equipment, you can ruin your equipment very easily, hell you might even hurt yourself. Bose is NOT gonna help you out with making these speakers work with a none 321 speaker system. They were designed for that system and will only work with that system. Your options are selling them, trying to make them work and fry your amp, or waste your money and try to buy the Bose 321 receiver. Those are your only choices and you can't do anything about it.

-Joey

[renix]

I'm sure I could get a clean connection if I tried, I just don't know which wire to put where. I doubt I'm gonna hurt myself! I've installed equipment for theaters and my car stereo system and haven't had any injuries yet! How about if I took them apart? I just don't know which pins to put two wires on or if it would work. I'm gonna try to jimmy rig them the best I can. Another choice is to order the wire and extender that I mentioned, but I don't know how much they want.

[This Guy]

alright I was maybe over exagerating when I say you might hurtyour self. What you could do it try to open the enclosure and pull the + and - wires out of the cabinet and try to coonect that to your wire. Doing this will lose all resale value. I mean you could proabably get $200 for those two speakers maybe more, and you could get a number of speakers in that price range that will surpass the quality of these Bose speakers. All this trouble is NOT worth it.

-Joey

[renix]

Wow, never thought of that! So who would buy these if they don't work?? So which speakers do you recommend? I really want to hook them to my computer. Thx man.

[This Guy]

Look at speakers from Paradigm, Axiom, Wharfedale, Energy, Boston Acoustics,Mission, and quite a few more. Go to your local stereo/ht specialty shop, not best buy or circuit city. They will have nice quite listening rooms and have them set up correctly. (Axiom is an order online speaker only). Oh an go to ebay and sell them, and try to include a picture. Good luck man.

-Joey

[renix]

Do you know of any good computer speakers? They seem overpriced for what you get.

[This Guy]

if you have an amplifier laying around you could just buy a pair of bookshelf speakers and use them for the computer. Otherwise I had good luck with Altec Lansing for computer speakers. Klipsch is good too.

-Joey

[renix]

I don't have an amplifier that's why I asked, I think the Klipsch are out of my price range, but I'll check out the Altec Lansings.