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  1. #1
    Suspended topspeed's Avatar
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    Another one saved.

    I was in Suckit City today getting some gold pins for speaker wire and while I was waiting I watched as two gentleman were being entranced by a Bose Lifestyle demo. I'd never actually watched this thing before but have to admit it was very slick: lots of overblown effects, dsp tricks, and a cute little LCD to guide you through. Say what you will about Amar, but he's a helluva businessman. Anyway, I overheard one say he had just purchased a 52" LCD from CC and let me tell you, that was like blood in the water to the salesperson. Thankfully before he went in for the kill, the two guys came over to where I was and I had to tell them what I thought...I just couldn't help myself! I had heard the buyer say that he was putting the new tv in a 40' x 30' room (!) and I mentioned I didn't think the Bose would be able to handle that much cubic feet and $2900 can go farther than he's looking. I also told him that with that much space he'd probably want at a 7.1 HT system and maybe even two subs. Without getting into details the end result was they went to a local HT installer I recommended that carries Paradigm, ML, etc. to discuss a suitable install.

    A few observations from this encounter:
    1) I'm somewhat amazed at how seductive HTIB like Bose is to the general public. They are really taking advantage of people's ignorance.
    2) Should I have just stayed out of it and let them buy the Lifestyle system? They obviously didn't know the difference and as the saying goes; ignorance is bliss. I am absolutely convinced he would have been more than happy with Bose.
    3) This damn hobby is consuming too much of my mental space!

  2. #2
    Forum Regular Sealed's Avatar
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    Bose

    We must endeavor to keep the Bose cult as small as possible. This can be accomplished via simple education and exposure to real sound systems. This is especially true for things found outside of the realm of shortcircuit city.

    For $2900, I can have an HT system from many companies (epecially the Canadian brands like paradigm and axiom) that will offer exponentially better sound than the bose lifestyle.

    Bose cannot be beat for wife acceptance factor, but it can be slaughtered sonically for far less money.

    Any time we can provide a path for potential Bose buyers to really sit and listen to alternatives, the better.

    If they listen to alternatives, and still insist on Bose, we cannot help that. It does give me a good feeling that I either saved someone some money, or got them a superior system for the same money outlay.

  3. #3
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    WOAH!!!!! 1200 square foot room???
    man...I think thats as big as my whole main floor of my house.
    In that case I think that person may need 4 subs or 2 really powerful ones.
    Hmm...if thier living room is that large....then how large is thier house!?

    jealous...t.t

  4. #4
    Suspended topspeed's Avatar
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    "Bose Cult?" That's funny :) (nt)

    .......

  5. #5
    Forum Regular Sealed's Avatar
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    Cults

    There are audio cults out there, for good/bad/etc.

    Cults that I know of (die hards!)
    LINN- usually mellow people though.
    NAIM- everything else is colored!
    Klipsch- this cult has some seriously cranky folks in it.
    Tube amps- sand amps are EVIL!!! (mellow people otherwise)
    Set Amps- serious snobbery in this cult.
    Norh- despite the very bad measurements and innacuracies of the 9.0 (www.murphyblaster.com)
    De Capo- The reference 3A is hot now
    Full range driver speaker like Lowther, loth-x, beauhorn, rethym (Arrgh! those EVIL crossovers!!!)
    Turntables: Digital is the work of satan!!! gaaah! (I have both digital and analog. I *prefer* analog overall, but cd still sounds good.)

    These folks range from the devout afficianado, to those who foam at the mouth and would thrash you with a cat-o-nine tails fashioned from Kimber kable and sound anchor spikes if they think you said anything that could be construed as negative about these brands.

  6. #6
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sealed
    There are audio cults out there, for good/bad/etc.

    Cults that I know of (die hards!)
    LINN- usually mellow people though.
    NAIM- everything else is colored!
    Klipsch- this cult has some seriously cranky folks in it.
    Tube amps- sand amps are EVIL!!! (mellow people otherwise)
    Set Amps- serious snobbery in this cult.
    Norh- despite the very bad measurements and innacuracies of the 9.0 (www.murphyblaster.com)
    De Capo- The reference 3A is hot now
    Full range driver speaker like Lowther, loth-x, beauhorn, rethym (Arrgh! those EVIL crossovers!!!)
    Turntables: Digital is the work of satan!!! gaaah! (I have both digital and analog. I *prefer* analog overall, but cd still sounds good.)

    These folks range from the devout afficianado, to those who foam at the mouth and would thrash you with a cat-o-nine tails fashioned from Kimber kable and sound anchor spikes if they think you said anything that could be construed as negative about these brands.
    LOL, that is too funny...
    Especially the Turntable and Set Amp cults...so very true!!!

    Should we bother adding the Yeasayers and Neasayers cults to the list? LOL

  7. #7
    Forum Regular Sealed's Avatar
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    More cults

    Well..
    There are those that believe in every single flipping tweak out there. They will give cables some mythic ability to make greater improvement in a system than better speakers or a source. Or they wet thier pants when a 2" phenolic dot is put on a wall. "OH MY GOD!!! can't you hear that...(Insert night/day, 1000%, immense, extreme, etc) improvement??? "

    Then there are the hard-core skeptics. Cd's, wires, amps etc all sound the same.

    A fall in the middle. Reasonable changes to a certain price point, and observe laws of diminishing returns and sanity. I believe in measurements to a degree, because simple measurements don't always tell the whole story.

    I don't confuse midfi with high fi. I don't look down on budget components, nor glamourize spendy components unless they actually do sound good.

    I guess I am extra-medium.

  8. #8
    Sgt. At Arms Worf101's Avatar
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    Red face

    Quote Originally Posted by topspeed
    A few observations from this encounter:
    1) I'm somewhat amazed at how seductive HTIB like Bose is to the general public. They are really taking advantage of people's ignorance.
    2) Should I have just stayed out of it and let them buy the Lifestyle system? They obviously didn't know the difference and as the saying goes; ignorance is bliss. I am absolutely convinced he would have been more than happy with Bose.
    3) This damn hobby is consuming too much of my mental space!
    You did the "right" thing. I did this as well during the height of the home computer boom. I was in Chumps USA and overheard a couple about to be taken in a Major Way by some pimple faced kid. He was selling them some overpriced Hewlett Packard system. I told them about Computer Shopper Magazine and some 2nd tier vendors I knew. They left the store and I was thrown out and banned from the place for a while... You did the right thing.

    I salute you!!!!

    Da Worfster

  9. #9
    JSE
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    MIA - Until Rich is back! JSE's Avatar
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    You done Good!

    We need something like the Bat Signal when someone is about to buy Bose. Maybe the word Bose with a circle and line through it. When we see it, we get to Best Buy or Circuit City as fast as possible to save the potential victims.

    JSE

  10. #10
    Forum Regular Sealed's Avatar
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    True bose story

    I went to a friends house for a listen to his Kef 104.2's. His other buddy was there while we listened.

    The music was detailed, musical, very little color, exceptional sound that can raise goosebumps on your skin.

    After a demo that really left me wanting to buy the 104'2's from him, his buddy pipes up:

    "Yeah, they are ok...but ya gotta hear my Bose am-5's..THEY RAWK!"

    Our jaws dropped at that point.

    There was no saving that guy. His soul was lost.

  11. #11
    Forum Regular vr6ofpain's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sealed
    I went to a friends house for a listen to his Kef 104.2's. His other buddy was there while we listened.

    The music was detailed, musical, very little color, exceptional sound that can raise goosebumps on your skin.

    After a demo that really left me wanting to buy the 104'2's from him, his buddy pipes up:

    "Yeah, they are ok...but ya gotta hear my Bose am-5's..THEY RAWK!"

    Our jaws dropped at that point.

    There was no saving that guy. His soul was lost.

    That is funny. Reminds me of a similar incident that I was in a year ago. Something about Bose had come up and I bashed their products. One of my roommates was like, "No, they are really good." I obviously tried to explain to him that they were not, and that he should go to a real stereo store(not Good Guys or Circuit City) and listen to some nice speakers. My roommate then explains that his buddy has one of their Lifestyle systems and it sounds so great. Now further upset, I explain to him that high fidelity and Bose cannot be in the same sentence. I try to explain that it is not possible to produce a large frequency range from 5.25" woofers in a bandpass box and 2.25" paper cone tweeters in small plastic boxes. (Random memory- I was always amused by my cousin's AM-5 system, because so much of the sound actually came from the box. He thought it was cool, how when you covered the port with a pillow, the majority of the sound disappeared. I believe midbass and midrange is not "omni-directional", so that setup is probably far from ideal.)

    In the end my roommate says, "Well his Bose system sounds better than your setup!" The funniest part of this was that he had never once listened to any material in my room. So maybe he was comparing his buddies Bose system to what he could hear from my room eminating through the walls. I just laughed and told him that Bose spends "millions of dollars" on engineering these systems, and that people like him allow Bose to get all that back and more in profits. He just looked at me confused and didn't understand that I was insulting him. The conversation was over.

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