Bose vs. Onkyo

[thekid]

We recently bought a new plasma TV for our TV room and were looking to get a good audio system to go along with it. What I am currently looking at is the Bose Lifestlye 28 and the Onkyo HT-S780. Now I know that Bose is one of the best when it comes to home theater audio, but the only think scaring me away is the price. I have heard a lot about Onkyo recievers and it has only been good. Basically my question is that is it worth it to shell out that much money for a Bose or buy the Onkyo for a cheaper price and get better componet speakers. Thanks.


Here are links:

Onkyo-S780 http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?m=...ss=Systems&p=i

Bose http://www.bose.com/controller?event...ls28_dvd_index

As has been said by others the problem with the Bose you mentioned is that it is overpriced and does not sound better than their stand alone speakers (201 or 301's) with a sub and is about twice as expensive. If you are considering shopping at the local Best Buy see if you can find one with a Magnolia HT store inside. i just had the chance to visit one and compared to my regular Best Buy at home it was like another store/world. Good luck in finding your system.

[lbrande]

All the suggestions made are good. What I did was purchase the Home Theater Buyers Guide, and reviewed the speakers that would meet my criteria. In the beginning cost then response. After making my choices, I looked for places that would have them. The end result was Magnapan MGIIIb's which I have for 20 years, and replaced the tweeter elements on each only once.
A systematic method would work best initially, with rigerous auditions with your favorite music and DVD's. Electronics are less problematic.

[jamison]

what you need to do is do a side to side comparison of the 2100 dollar bose set up compared to a 499 dollar set up made by anyone else.... that is more like an equal comparison on performance.
that is if you can find a place that will let you compare bose to other manufacturers... bose doesnt want this to happen for a reason... they make inferior products. my brother in law is all about bose... i swear he should sell the darned things.. he goes on and on about how great Bose is. then after 5 minutes he asks me what is that crackling sound coming out of the surround speaker, 5 minutes after that he is asking how do i tweak the center so i can hear the dialog. jump ahead a few years and he has a party at his house with all kind of snobish rich business clients and they all are oohing and ahhing when they see bose in his living room... we listen to it then the bass goes out on the left speaker... low and behold the surround on the woofer rotted out. I started chuckling very hard and said BOSE = Better of with something else.... what does my bro in law do but take em in to the bose store and have em refoamed for 150 bucks. christ he could have bought new woofers for 60 bucks at rat shack and they would last longer