Can I replace Bose sub with another?

[acqui]

I have a Bose Acoustimass speakers ( a gift not a choice purchase)hooked up to an Onkyo rec. for secondary HT system in my basement. I am not pleased at all with the bass from the Bose sub and was wondering if I can replace it with another sub? Someone mentioned the Bose systems are integrated and may not be compatible. Could someone shed some light on this? Also, what sub would you recommend for a 14 x 18 room? I have an Infinity Alpha 1200s in my primary setup and it's a very good sub. But I wanted to try something a bit tighter and a bit less boomy.

[poneal]

Since you are using your onkyo reciever then you can buy a sub and connect it to the sub out of your receiver. Im guessing that this is the way you currently have the bose sub connected.

[Willow]

this is what I was told....I too have the accoustimass its now in the bedroom. I went to a HIFI shop and he said you can't change the sub due to the fact that the sub sends certain signals to the cubes. He also said you shouldnt connect the cubes directly to the receiver. I went home and looked over the manual it says the same BOSE does not recommend hooking up the cubes directly to the receiver..My thought was the cube is a speaker like any other speaker...(in the general sense not quality) so why cant we hook it up to the back of any other sub as you would with a sub/sat system....maybe we should get together and toss them off a bridge..it would solve all problems...never problems would cost so much !!!

[acqui]

I absolutely dislike Bose systems and had it not been for the fact that I got it as a gift from my parents, I would dump this thing in the trash in a second. I think they design their systems not so much for integration as to prevent you from adding components from other companies to their systems. There has to be some way to add a sub. Hopefully there is someone on here who has done it and can share their thoughts on it.

[Willow]

Actually, if you want to swap out the speakers on your Bose system or use them on a different system, it is possible. The catch is that you have to purchase a wiring harness from Bose, which I believe sells them for $100. Of course, they don't tell you this and just hope that they can bamboozle their customers into buying a whole new Blose system when they decide it's time to upgrade. Either way, Blose is just trying to bleed their customers as much as they can by creating these proprietary nonstandard connectors and nonupgradable hardware. How they conduct business should be considered criminal.

this was posted by Woochiffer on a post I had going...look into it

[HT BUFF]

Another reason to HATE Bose!!!!!!!

[markw]

"Someone" was right when they said that the Bose sub is integral to the sattelite's proper operation. You gotta work around it as best as you can.

FWIW, I don't think even Bose has the audacity to call that a "Subwoofer". Isn't it called a "bass module" or some such? ...big difference. A "Sub"woofer is designed to come into play below where the woofer starts to peter out, therreby the terminology "Sub", meaning "below".

Poneal was on the right track with his answer. You can ADD a sub to that system but you cannot replace that "bass box" that Bose considers a sub. ...as long as you do it from the speaker level side of the equation. Hook the real "subwoofer" up to the speaker outputs of the receiver and then hook up the entire Bose setup to the speaker outputs of the subwoofer as per Bose's directions.

Trying to bypass the Bose Bass Box (say that three times fast) and simply using the sattelites with a "real" subwoofer might result in the sattelites going up in a puff of smoke. I believe the bass box blocks (again, say that three times fast) prevents any lows from getting to the satelites.

[Woochifer]

I have a Bose Acoustimass speakers ( a gift not a choice purchase)hooked up to an Onkyo rec. for secondary HT system in my basement. I am not pleased at all with the bass from the Bose sub and was wondering if I can replace it with another sub? Someone mentioned the Bose systems are integrated and may not be compatible. Could someone shed some light on this? Also, what sub would you recommend for a 14 x 18 room? I have an Infinity Alpha 1200s in my primary setup and it's a very good sub. But I wanted to try something a bit tighter and a bit less boomy.

In order to add a subwoofer to your system, you can direct the LFE output to a new subwoofer and use your receiver's bass management to redirect any sounds under 80 Hz into the subwoofer. Unfortunately, this will not replace the Bose bass module (the term subwoofer does not apply because it does not go anywhere near the lower octaves). The Bose unit actually needs to extend high into the lower midrange because of inadequacies in the cube units' lower frequency handling. So, getting rid of the bass module will wipe a significant amount of midrange as well, plus you need it anyway since the cubes connect through the bass unit. By adding a subwoofer, you will get the lower bass extension that you want, unfortunately, you still have to keep the Bose unit.

[Willow]

its not like the module is big enough to add another big box.....we can make it easy just sell it or toss it and start from scratch.... but thanks for the options

[Woochifer]

Actually, if you want to swap out the speakers on your Bose system or use them on a different system, it is possible. The catch is that you have to purchase a wiring harness from Bose, which I believe sells them for $100.
this was posted by Woochiffer on a post I had going...look into it

One quickie note, that wiring harness only applies to the speakers that come with the Lifestyle systems and include that proprietary speaker connector. Those systems sold as standalone Acoustimass speakers can be wired into a standard receiver speaker output, but everything is still routed through the bass module and the sound quality's the same.

[Lord_Malone]

"Someone" was right when they said that the Bose sub is integral to the sattelite's proper operation. You gotta work around it as best as you can.

FWIW, I don't think even Bose has the audacity to call that a "Subwoofer". Isn't it called a "bass module" or some such? ...big difference. A "Sub"woofer is designed to come into play below where the woofer starts to peter out, therreby the terminology "Sub", meaning "below".

Poneal was on the right track with his answer. You can ADD a sub to that system but you cannot replace that "bass box" that Bose considers a sub. ...as long as you do it from the speaker level side of the equation. Hook the real "subwoofer" up to the speaker outputs of the receiver and then hook up the entire Bose setup to the speaker outputs of the subwoofer as per Bose's directions.

Trying to bypass the Bose Bass Box (say that three times fast) and simply using the sattelites with a "real" subwoofer might result in the sattelites going up in a puff of smoke. I believe the bass box blocks (again, say that three times fast) prevents any lows from getting to the satelites.

Yeah, this is the answer I've been looking for. Had my Acoustimas 10 Series II speakers since 2000 and they're not very good on their own. Falling for the old Bose marketing hype, I paid a nice chunk of change for those suckers back then. I just wish I was more internet research savy back then, and I could've saved myself some money and got a much better sounding system. I've had these speakers hooked up to my Yamaha RX-V995 for almost a decade now, but always found it lacking in the low end. I get better sound quality from my ancient Panasonic mini-system that still graces my living room. FWIW, I still spin vinyl on a Technics SL-1210 MKII as well, so I'm a little slow to upgrade audio and video. Anyway, I just can't bring myself to part with these speakers for whatever reason. At least not yet. Mainly because my wife thinks these are "good enough". The main appeal being that they're unobtrusive and are somewhat discreet. Plus we now have a two year old, so we don't want to have anything that'll shake the little dude out of his sleep when we're watching action flicks at night. Even now my wife thinks they're too loud and can't imagine why I'd want anything more. I'm pretty easy to please and fairly content, but like most guys, I like to feel the bass thump in the pit of my stomach when I'm watching movies like Transformers on home theater. I think I'll just add something like a cheap Yamaha YST-SW215 subwoofer to give it a little more kick in the low end, but eventually I'll get an entirely new home theater system altogether. Yeah, steer clear of Bose if you can help it.

[Rich-n-Texas]

HOLY THREAD REVIVAL!!!

Welcome to the forums. The list of Bose haters has just grown by 1.

[pixelthis]

Kudos to the poster who said that the doze "bass module" was not a true sub, which is why they can't call it a sub.
All of the crossovers, etc are in this "module", sadly a lot of HTIBS" copy this form factor.
So heres what you do, first throw the bass module in the trash, then throw the REST
of the crap in the trash.
You could sell it, but its immoral to take advantage of the ignorant (which, while it doesnt bother doze, it should bother you).
YOU SEE, TIME SPENT LISTENING TO CRAP IS TIME YOU DONT GET BACK.
Even if its a gift, a turd in the box is still a turd in the box.
Gently explain to your parents that you love them, but they dont know SQUAT
about HT, and to not to try to buy HT again, as they might strain something.
Then go out and get some REAL speakers

[johnny p]

I'll get hated for this, but you said it was in the basement...... what system is your main one? How much listening time do you spend in the basement? I am planning on using my old system in my basement, because..... well, quite frankly it was paid for 9 years ago, I don't think I'll spend much time down there, and it'll be better than sound from the T.V. speakers. I think if I sold the system for what it's worth, I'd be upset because I know how much I paid for it!!!!

Bottom line, I'd probably just keep what you have unless something prevents you from listening to your main system more often, and save to upgrade the main system. I'd rather have one very nice system, then one nice one, and one decent one.

[Lord_Malone]

HOLY THREAD REVIVAL!!!

Welcome to the forums. The list of Bose haters has just grown by 1.

Glad to be a member of yet another on-line community.

My dad likes my set-up. Not so much for the sound, but for the simplicity. But he's a very simple man and not at all a hardcore audiophile. I'll just give my Bose to him.

[bfalls]

You'll be hard-pressed to find a sub for the Bose system. I suppose you can use the "bass-module" for satellite connection purposes and turn down its bass output. Like stated before, the xover on the replacement sub will need set high enough to fill the hole in frequency respose. This hole is present on almost every Bose system, usually between about 80Hz-120Hz and pretty much no bass lower than 50Hz. If you can find specs on Bose systems they're given at +/- 10db, not the usual 3db.

Setting the sub this high will make placement more critical, since the higher freq. are directional. They should call the Bose HT system 6.0 instead of 5.1 since the bass module puts out very little low frequency and acts more like a normal speaker.

I had a similar situation with my Klipsch GMX D5.1 system. The control module's amp was so noisy I removed the satellites and connected them directly to my receiver. The bass module does a good job, so I kept it and connected it via RCA/miniplug to the pre sub-out. I have the system connected to a surplus Yamaha RX-V2095 (100Wx5) receiver. It does OK, but you really need to watch the volume since the satellites are really meant to be multi-media and only rated to about 20W.