-
Bose or B&W
The in-laws just got a new Sony 32" 1080P set. They are looking for a set of home theatre speakers. Their preference is either Bose or B&W. Which is more appropriate.
-
I'm hungry and want a steak. Do I want a genuine Peter Luger's steak or Waffle House quality at essentially the same price?
Seriously, if they don't want to see the speakers and don't mind less than mediocre sound (particularly for the price), then Bose makes sense. Bose sells style and (non-audiophile) peer acceptance, not great sound.
If sound and value have any bearing here, then there are many, many other speakers than Bose that will deliver in spades. B&W is very nice, but many other fine speakers in many price ranges exist as well.
-
Go with the Bose all the way, there are the best ever.
Just jokin, the Bose aren't even in the same league as the B&Ws. Youll be scrapping the bottom of the barrel with the Blose. Way over priced for the crap that they are.
Having said that, there are a lot of comparable speakers to the B&Ws such as Paradign, PSB, Axiom, Monitor Audio to name a few. I would spend some time researching "reputable" products within your budget.
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mingus
The in-laws just got a new Sony 32" 1080P set. They are looking for a set of home theatre speakers. Their preference is either Bose or B&W. Which is more appropriate.
Do they want good sound or "wows" from the ignorant masses?
If good sound, then B&W, (or Paradigm, or PSB, or Monitor Audio, or Epos, or NTH, or Quad, or Definitive, or Energy, or Athena, or Emotiva, or Polk, or damn near anything), is going to sound better.
If wows from the masses, then maybe B(l)ose but B&W are pretty well know too.
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mingus
The in-laws just got a new Sony 32" 1080P set. They are looking for a set of home theatre speakers. Their preference is either Bose or B&W. Which is more appropriate.
As you can tell by the replies, Bose is a four letter word around here.
The real question that you should be asking is; What budget do I have?
After you've answered that then there's a methodical way to narrow down what will fit your needs. So if you can give me a budget I will give you several choices to go with.
-
Almost anyone here will be glad to recommend some speakers and any other gear necessary. We will need more information before giving any advice.
You can be pretty sure of one thing. No one, I mean, NOT ONE SINGLE SOUL will recommend Bose speakers.
-
I think he got the message:)
You can always count on the AR fidels to bash Bose
-
I will go with the B&W. Bose is a great company but B&W will sound better and it will look better! I never was impressed by Bose!
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by dakatabg
I will go with the B&W. Bose is a great company but B&W will sound better and it will look better! I never was impressed by Bose!
Only great at marketing..if it wasn't for Paul Harvey and other Famous pitchmen spouting pre-written lines for years over the radio every 15 minutes i doubt they'd be in business.
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeyBC
Only great at marketing..if it wasn't for Paul Harvey and other Famous pitchmen spouting pre-written lines for years over the radio every 15 minutes i doubt they'd be in business.
The success Bose has experienced goes way behond Paul Harvey and "other Famous pitchmen." In the late 70's and 80's, the business relationship between Bose and their dealers had no peer, and nothing like it has ever surfaced since. Dealers HAD to dedicate an entire wall in their stores to showcase Bose products, but in return, Bose employees installed numerous in-store displays and set up the 901's in varied positions (usually suspeded from the ceiling) in order to provide the best acoustic environment to illustrate Bose's "reflected sound" theory/nonsense. NO speaker company ever, anywhere offered as much support as did Bose, nor did any speaker company (nor any another audio company for that matter) provide as much P.O.P. (point of purchase) material as Bose did, nor did any other company offer such strong marketing support.
Like most other AR members, I think Bose products are good, but hardly worth what they sell for. Still, many a manufacturer could learn a lesson or two taking a walk through history to see all the things Bose did for their dealers.
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mingus
The in-laws just got a new Sony 32" 1080P set. They are looking for a set of home theatre speakers. Their preference is either Bose or B&W. Which is more appropriate.
B&W, B&W B&W!!!! I love my 684's.
-
My father is one fo the hooked. Read the literature and believe Bose fanatics. he has a set of the SE-5 Woofer-satelite speaker setup(you notice I did not say SUBwoofer) because in reality it isn't. But he loves his speakers. He is getting older and I think his hearing has got to the point that he cant hear wht he is missing! But he bought this setup in the early 80's when these speakers first hit the market and he heard better then. I think Bose does better in smaller towns like mine that does not have a better audio shop or have people knowledgeable in audio that live there. My father is very smart in basic electronics but other than a couple of people this area does not have knowledgeable audio people in any sort of abundance in it. In fact almost all the people that visit my home only know the basic audio video products in my system. The JVC,Yamaha,JBL, But enything that does not make smaller products that are not audiophile stuff like Paradigm and Adcom they have never even heard of. I think thats part of their success as well. Bose seems to take advantage of people's ignorance of what can be had in audio today. they setup an area and have nothing else around them to compare them to because they know if there were they would sound bland in comparison. IN MY OPINION I WOULD AGREE WITH THE OTHERS on this forum and go B&W and leave Bose to the audio uneducated that feed into the hype.
-
so go with the B&W speakers
-
For a high end, 2 channel set-up, I wouldnt even consider bose. Butt for a home surround sound, bose makes a great, easy to set up and use system. Their lifestyle systems sound pretty decent to my ears, a little expensive, but bose makes it very easy to use for people who are audio deficient.
-
The in-laws budget for the speakers is around the $2000-2500 range. They really like the B & W based on their reputation. The Bose recomendation is from their dentist and at a demo at the Bose store.
-
How about:
Monotor Audio Radius
They come in several colors and look very nice & Bose-like, but with a much better pedigree.
There is also:
Gallo Acoustics
That will be an even higher-quality speaker, and has both the wow factor and the brand-name recognition.
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mingus
The in-laws budget for the speakers is around the $2000-2500 range. They really like the B & W based on their reputation. The Bose recomendation is from their dentist and at a demo at the Bose store.
Take them to some demos of a "real" HT system. As for your dentist, tell him to stick what he knows best. hint: it ain't audio. It may be style anf falling for hyperbole, but it ain't audio.
-
Bose (Better Off with Something Else)
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mingus
The in-laws budget for the speakers is around the $2000-2500 range. They really like the B & W based on their reputation. The Bose recomendation is from their dentist and at a demo at the Bose store.
Great! In that price range you cannot only get a good speaker, but a good value too. Let's move on to the next parameter before making any suggestions:
I assume that the inlaws aren't into bass heavy techno or hip-hop? If so then you probably don't need a set that can output a lot of low bass. This will help a lot on the cost of the system. In most speaker lines the price points are determined on how much and at what quality you get in bass response. If you can settle for a little less lower bass you can usually get a great pair of speakers with the same tweeter/midrange drivers as the much more expensive ones.
Next we have to look at room size. If the room is a large one then your going to have to consider that into what output the speakers are capable of. Very few people listen to music at over 95dB. I would put this as the minimum maximum dB that you should be able to achieve in your room without distortion. (If your inlaws are into "Death Metal" you might want to put this numer at 105dB!) Most speakers, even little monitors can achieve this (95db) is a modest room, but if the set has to fill a 24' X 36" space then you might need speakers with a higher maximum output. This will also cost.
Once you know what is most likely to be played on them, plus the size of the room they will be in you will be well on the way to making an informed decision.
-
bose is a four letter word around here hahaha that was hilarious
-
If the better speaker companieslike B&W, PARADIGM, KLIPSCH, made a home theatre in a box outfit like bose does, they would be in trouble. The thing that makes bose so attractive to people, is the speakers with matched sub and matched source, and of course their size. I hate to admit it, but i have one of the lifestyle systems myself, which does duty in the living room. The speakers are small and easy to hide, the dvd/tuner, is small and easy to hide also. The biggest piece is the sub, but not so big that its hard to camouflage also. In a small place the lifestyle system is tough to beat, buttt I spent over 2k on something that is not upgradable, and its a proprietary system. Meaning you can only use the acoustimass speakers with this system,and only the bose sub. So if they buy the bose, they get what they see and thats it, no upgrades possible. On the plus side, bose does have a great customer service department, they are very helpful and theres no computers to deal with, just real people. just my .02 cents good luck
-
OK, my choice in this price range is narrowed down to one system only. The Axiom The Epic Grand Master 500. I reviewed this system several years ago, and in it's price range It's a stand out performer. Here's a link to me review;
http://www.audioreview.com/AXIOMSURROUNDcrx.aspx
-
My educated guess is that the inlaws aren't going to need the extra bass output of the 500 series, so you could easily used the more moderately priced "Epic Grand Master" with the smaller sub. Even with the smaller sub the system will provide realistic home theater sound.
-
Wow
I never seen a spread of sound quality like that.
-
These are very good suggestions. The bass output is not the main factor in choosing the speakers thought they both like heavy action movies. Their music taste tend to be in the mellow side. The room size is modest is at 20' x 15'. In the past I try to convince them on Paradigm. Since that's what I have - Studio 60s, Studio Center and Atoms' for the rear and Velodyne Sub.
|