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Author Topic: Why is the general public so enamored with BOSE? Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-17-2007 08:35 PM                        Seriously, I hear and read people bragging about their BOSE sound systems quite often. For some applications they sound OK, like tiny computer speakers, but even then I don't find the sound extremely gratifying. They always sound extremely "boomy" and kind of "muddy" as well.  |  IP: Logged Steven J Hart Master Film Handler Posts: 282 From: WALES, ND, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 12-17-2007 09:10 PM                        Remember, the general public is stupid..... they don't want black bars on their TV, but they do want boomy sound from their tiny little speakers. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-17-2007 09:21 PM                        I guess the Bose tabletop systems sound sorta surprisingly good considering the amount of bass that comes out of them, but compared to a good full-sized system? No freakin' way. But you're right, the fans swear by 'em.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-17-2007 09:41 PM                     The wave canon only really works at one frequency.... Mark  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-17-2007 09:51 PM                  Bose marketing people are experts at hyping over-priced C-R-A-P. I mean $500 for a "clock radio"? Oh PUHLEEZE! (Exception to CRAP = Noise Cancelling headphones...butt STILL WAY overpriced.)  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-17-2007 10:09 PM                     Joe, most people think "boomy" sound is "awesome bass". I agree with Phil, the ONLY thing good that Bose has ever made are the noise-cancelling headphones, and even those are a bit boomy, but for trips on an airplane, they are the best out there.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-17-2007 10:53 PM                        Remember the 901 III speakers? Man those were overpriced. Nine 4" drivers with a tube in the middle? The only time they sounded good was in a corner to accentuate the bass, and even then they were boomy.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-17-2007 11:03 PM                     My feeling: The general public just wants to vote for a name they've heard of before. They know "Bose." So they think it's good. Even if it's really crap. We have the same phenomenon happening with city council members in my town. Idiot citizens keep voting in the same, old fart Neanderthal, trailer house bastards only because they know their name instead of voting for someone actually better qualified for the position. Please note, that anecdote is all about the factor of name recognition and not about politics.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-17-2007 11:13 PM                        Bose marketing = genius. Bose engineering ability = voodo. They brilliantly cultivated this idea that they are inovative by doing a truly stupid thing like facing a bunch of little crapola speakers at the wall at angles and claiming that was some magic scientific discovery that made them better than all the other tried and true speaker designs that have been around for ages. This "far out" idea is marketed to people who want to stand out of the pack. It attracts the same people who will actually be swayed to buy a car because the dashboard has lots of cool looking lights. It is like the way True cigarettes were designed...not by Lorillard, the cigarette manufacturer to make a better cigarette, but by the marketing agency who created the useless "chambered filtered" -- which amounted to a little plastic insert that was divided into three parts, probably inspired by the three segemented eyes of the Martians in WAR OF THE WORLDS. What did this plastic insert do? It did NOTHING. But it was featured in all the ads with the tag line, "The True filter -- so advanced, it would take a scientist to explain it." But it was a brilliant marketing campaign and it sold a gazillion packs of True. Of course, I guess a piece of plastic that did nothing was better than Kent's "Micronite" filter which was made of...(hold onto your jockstraps boiz) ASBESTOS! And market it they did. Same with Bose....its chambers do nothing except make the sound boomy and highly colored. Aiming it at the all just make the stereo field totally indistinct with sound bouncing all over the place. There was no localization. After half an hour of listening to this hodgpodge, your listen fatigue was painful. And the gullible, asbestos sucking public LOVED it....and evidently still does. I was a kid when I was duped by Bose into spending all my meager savings on their 901 crapola speaker system (a system so unbalanced that it needed a "processor" to get the spikes and dips out of the waveform). I had been listening to the famed KLH 6 acoustic suspension speakers in the studio where I worked and I thought the Bose at double the price would out shine them. Wasn't I surprised to find that the Bose couldn't deliver bass if a stick of dynamite went off in its chambered inards. They were so aweful that in a fit of anger, I purposely cranked up my 350w RMS per channel amp and set the crappy little 6in speaker voice coils on fire. To this day I can truly say that those ass-wipe Bose 901s remain tied as the most disappointing equipment purchase I have ever made (the Rabco Linear Arm Turntable being the other). Consumer Reports review of the Bose 901s was so scathing that it got Bose miffed enough to take them to court; Bose LOST. I was deposed for that trial but never had to testify. The Rabco "unique" straight line tone arm was so designed that it would scratch across 4 or 5 groves EVERY TIME you pressed the stop button. After hours and then days of trying to adjust it, I thought I had solved the problem only to put on one of my precious Direct-to-Disc LPs and have the damn tone arm gouged out 4 groves. I opened my living room window and hurled the piece of rhino dung out the window. Stupid, immature....you bet, but damn it made me feel good.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-17-2007 11:46 PM                        I'm actually quite surprised at how KLH sounds... or at least the way they used to (if they even still exist). Granted their cheap speakers will still sound cheap, but their $100+ per speaker floor standing stuff sound great! Much MUCH better than Infinity stuff of the same size/price. Infinity seems to have little to no bass at all.  |  IP: Logged Peter David Bruce Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: East Anglia -England Registered: Aug 2007 posted 12-18-2007 08:50 AM                    isnt it true that bose used to make all the fancy new designs for their speaker and hifi setups? oh no.... that was bang+ohlufsson (sp?). but still... they do have a good image about themselves... and unfortunately that doesnt translate fully into the actual sound of the products....  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-18-2007 10:05 AM                        I used to have a pair of Speakerlab #7 speakers. They had a 12" and a 10" woofer, plus horn midrange and tweeter. You had to build'em yourself. They weren't pretty due to my carpenter skills, but they sure sounded good.  |  IP: Logged Robert W. Jones Film Handler Posts: 74 From: San Antonio, TX Registered: Mar 2007 posted 12-18-2007 10:25 AM                     Agreed. The Bose speakers I own (bookshelfs, series IV, etc.) sound ok, but not like a really nice system. Problem is they still make a fortune selling 1950's era "sound wave" technology. I have an old popular electronics somewhere which describes the technology.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-18-2007 11:11 AM                     Bose...oh where to begin (or end)? No-highs, No-lows, must be Bose...BOSE= Better Off Somewhere Else; or Bring Other Sound Equipment.... But all jestting aside, Amar Bose is no dumb cookie in the engineering department. His engineering designs are valid and he can make big sound out of small space. It just isn't what I or others would consider good sound. That said...I can't tell you how many people want to believe that those silly cube speakers really can provide full sound somehow without the acoustamass subwoofer somewhere nearby. Like Ghostbusters, they are "ready to believe." It is impossible to convince them otherwise. They want either invisible speakers or at least small cute ones. Bose offers that believability. In the demos, the acoustamass is de-emphasised (because that is big and ugly). I say, if people like em, more power to them. I don't personally care for Bose but I can appreciate the market they have cultivated.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 12-18-2007 11:20 AM                        Bose has done two things right in recent history (I can't speak for their noise-cancelling headphones): 1. They produced a product that people wanted (small speakers) 2. They marketed them very well and convinced people that they wanted them. They were the first manufacturer that I can recall to start selling the satellite / subwoofer combination speakers. People are willing to sacrifice audio quality for aesthetics and/or convenience. Which brings us to the second item... Their marketing is able to have incredible influence over people's judgement, so it colors their ability to evaluate the quality of one set of speakers against another. I've never owned any Bose equipment, but I still see their name all the time. I remember Omar Bose's (?) appearance on This Old House way back when as he described their cube speakers and the in-floor subwoofer. They have a very recognizable name as a result of their marketing efforts. This is something that I believe movie theaters should keep in mind as they are trying to attract new customers and retain their existing ones. Effective marketing using product differentiation and advertising is a powerful tool, but it's also a little like a black art to do well all the time. The percentage of misfires to direct hits can be high some times, but the important thing is to keep putting things out there to see what resonates. Bose has reached a point where their brand is so recognizable, they can slap the name on just about anything and it will sell better than without.  |  IP: Logged

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