Bose Jewel Cube Help...please!!

[Greg922]

Hi. I know how most of the audiophiles feel about bose speakers on here -- but I was hoping that someone could help despite their feelings. I have heard that there is a way to connect the jewel speakers to a powered sub and regular receiver and was wondering if that was true and how to do that. I want to purchase the jewels from the lifestyle 35 system on ebay. I would be most grateful for either a point in the right direction or for some audio expert to tell me how to do this -- will it sound just as good (to my ear anyway!)

Thanks so much.

gg

[N. Abstentia]

Why not just look into some Polk, Cambridge, Gallo, Paradigm Cinema, Velodyne, HSU, Energy, or one of the other many small speaker systems out there that are designed to do exactly what you are wanting to do? Why only Bose?

I don't want to say they are completely useless without the Acoustimass module, but I would not bother trying to make Bose cubes work without it. There's more than just a crossover in there.

[Hoho]

. . . you're likely to have more luck on hometheaterspot.com. Select Manufacturers' Forums, then Bose.

Or why not just contact Bose? Customer Service is one of their strengths. www.bose.com or the toll-free number in their ads. I *think* it's 800 344-BOSE. Not sure.

[N. Abstentia]

They will just say it's not possible to use the cube without the module, as it's very easy to blow the cubes since without the module you're bypassing the crossovers, resistors, and light bulbs that help keep the tiny drivers from being over driven.

[Woochifer]

If you're asking about how to connect the Bose cubes to anything other than that Bose bass module, forget about it. The Bose cubes can only extend down slightly below 400 Hz, which is still well inside the midrange. The Bose bass module extends up to about 250 Hz, which is also in the directional midrange (NOT the nondirectional bass notes as Bose claims). Using the cubes and that bass module together, you has a frequency gap in the lower midrange.

If you try to use the cubes with a regular AV receiver and a true subwoofer, then the crossover point is around 80 Hz, which leaves you with an even bigger frequency. This will sound very weird because your music and movies will be missing the lower midrange and midbass disappear altogether.

And if you decide to buy the Bose bass module along with those cubes, you'll be in for yet another rude surprise -- you CANNOT connect it to a standard receiver. This is because the bass modules that comes with the Lifestyle systems use a proprietary connector, incompatible with anything other than Bose systems. As others have suggested, why are you wedded to Bose?