Amar Bose, RIP

Doublej · « **Reply #20 on:** 13 Jul 2013, 06:23 pm »

I'll let the Bose lawyers take it from here.

Ericus Rex · « **Reply #21 on:** 14 Jul 2013, 12:47 pm »

Quote from: Doublej on 13 Jul 2013, 01:37 pm

Nice job ignoring your first claim!

So there is no way to transfer any value from the company to Bose's family without paying 51% tax? I am not an estate attorney but I have a tough time believing this.

The 'magical' number of 51% certainly does strongly suggest a legal motivation.

Cacophonix · « **Reply #22 on:** 14 Jul 2013, 02:17 pm »

Quote from: AJinFLA on 13 Jul 2013, 02:20 pm

RIP Dr Bose. You brought music into more homes/lives than all the audiophool dodos combined.

+infinity

Diamond Dog · « **Reply #23 on:** 14 Jul 2013, 06:16 pm »

Quote from: AJinFLA on 13 Jul 2013, 02:20 pm

RIP Dr Bose. You brought music into more homes/lives than all the audiophool dodos combined.

Nope.

The Bose corporate entity brought a form of sound reproduction which was/is more about marketing a generally mediocre but highly profitable product than about music into the homes/lives of consumers who were susceptible to the pitch. It wasn't about bringing music into people's lives. That's just silly Hallmark eulogization. It was about money. That's different. Music will find it's way into people's lives without the help of speaker designers or pitchmen or combinations of the two, be they at the level of the late Dr.Bose or somewhere perhaps more... aspirational. At least Dr. Bose had the sense to not constantly insult his potential customers ( or competitors for that matter if that was the target this time ) by throwing around terms like "audiophool dodos" on Internet hi-fi message boards. Too successful to spare the time, I suppose...

D.D.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #24 on:** 14 Jul 2013, 07:04 pm »

I remember an audition of Bose 901's conducted by a sales person at Pacific Stereo in San Francisco way back when. I had long hair at the time and I remember the salesman saying "Every (pot) head wants a Bose". Wow. I think I laughed out loud at that patronization. Besides that, I worked in a record store on weekends when I was in junior high that sold hifi gear. I had some reference, in other words. That, and my mom's best friend had a stereo console and played music all the time. She was like us. Opera was her thing and, boy, did she love it, but she let me spin my lone BB King album on one or two occasions. The blues and tragic opera have something in common. Bose didn't leave much of an impression with me. Much later in life, a friend of mine brought a friend of his over to listen to some tunes. I was using Dahlquist DQ10's at the time with some mono amps and a tube pre with an analog front end (this was before digital, btw). This friend was all negative. His reference were his Bose 901's. If I had it to do all over again I would have thrown the guy out of my house. Bose had it's converts is what I'm saying, for sure. I don't imagine many 901's are being sold in more recent times. The small package systems are the company's main thrust, I believe. I admire the guy but have vastly different ideas about SOTA as do you, I'm pretty sure. He was an innovator and a half and an astute businessman. He has my admiration and respect for those reasons. RIP.

I'm gonna take a time out for awhile. Since my wife died very unexpectedly three months ago today, I've been on a bummer. Drinking too much, feeling sorry for myself, and just flat out goddamned angry. Wasn't the way we planned it. I was supposed to go first. I'm ten years her senior, lived dangerously in my youth with an organ transplant to show for it, and the one with all the life insurance. I have some accepting to do, some coming to terms.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #25 on:** 14 Jul 2013, 07:17 pm »

Before founder Bose company, Dr.Amar work for Nasa.

SteveFord · « **Reply #26 on:** 14 Jul 2013, 09:41 pm »

I understand this was a corner mount model right before the 901 - I wonder how this sounded?

lowtech · « **Reply #27 on:** 14 Jul 2013, 11:26 pm »

Jim, I'm sorry for your loss.

SteveFord · « **Reply #28 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 01:39 am »

Yes, what lowtech said - losing a spouse is just about the worst.
Hang in there, time makes things a bit easier.

Chromisdesigns · « **Reply #29 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 02:54 am »

Does anyone besides me remember the days when the Bose 800 series PA monitors were all the rage for clubs and small venues? For a long while, it seems every time I went to a club to hear music, these were in use.

Is it live, or is it...Bose?

North Star · « **Reply #30 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 04:20 am »

It's Memorex (memories).

R.I.P. Dr. Amar Bose

playntheblues · « **Reply #31 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 12:21 pm »

Quote

RIP Dr Bose. You brought music into more homes/lives than all the audiophool dodos combined.

Times Aliens, RIP

AJinFLA · « **Reply #32 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 12:39 pm »

Hang in there Jim G. Maybe put some music on to lift your spirits?
As long as your speakers aren't Bose, they should emit music, rather than some "form of sound reproduction"

Quote from: SteveFord on 14 Jul 2013, 09:41 pm

I understand this was a corner mount model right before the 901 - I wonder how this sounded?

I imagine Phil Spector would have been delighted?
It does show a willingness to experiment and his subsequent forays into pyschoacoustics were probably the real innovation for the era.

Quote from: Chromisdesigns on 15 Jul 2013, 02:54 am

Does anyone besides me remember the days when the Bose 800 series PA monitors were all the rage for clubs and small venues? For a long while, it seems every time I went to a club to hear music, these were in use.

Ironically, while no big fan of their products, my last exposure to Bose sound was in a PA a few months back. The band was using an odd mix of unamplified drums and bass (stand up) with one of those Bose L1 (line array) things for vocals and "regular" stuff for the (electric) guitars. A bit to my surprise, the vocals actually sounded good!
How much of a hand Amar had in all their modern products (car/pro, etc.) is questionable, given his seeming focus on the active suspension stuff.
Anyway, it's still RIP to the old MIT prof.

cheers,

AJ

Phil A · « **Reply #33 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 01:37 pm »

Yes I remember the PA monitors. They used to have this club in a mall where I used to live and I remember being there for lunch and getting a headache and then I looked up and saw the PA monitors. Their speakers however would take lots of power and could play loudly.

I remember I had neighbors a few doors down who were in my house and say my old 3 piece Cambridge Soundworks system (designed by Henry Kloss) laying around as I had been using them in the bedroom. They asked me what I was doing with it and they had the $750 Bose two cubes and woofer system (vs. the $330 list on the Cambridge Soundworks and they used to advertise being twice as good as Bose for half the price before I believe Bose sued them and they had to cease that - one of many audio companies they sued - Thiel used to have a model 2.2 and I believe Bose sued them for that and they changed it to 22) and wanted to know if it was better. I told them take them home and compare (did not want to introduce my preferences) and if they wanted them it was $150. I went over there next week and the Bose were gone. They gave them to their parents. They told me they could not believe how much better the Cambridge Soundworks were.

RIP though. If I were marketing a product, I'd want them to do it for me. They are one of the best ever in that regard.

Charles Calkins · « **Reply #34 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 02:13 pm »

Brian Cheney and now Amar Bose are gone from our audio world. No future in getting old. May they both rest in peace in audio heaven.

Charlie

dB Cooper · « **Reply #35 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 02:32 pm »

Quote from: Phil A on 15 Jul 2013, 01:37 pm

Yes I remember the PA monitors. They used to have this club in a mall where I used to live and I remember being there for lunch and getting a headache and then I looked up and saw the PA monitors. Their speakers however would take lots of power and could play loudly.

I remember I had neighbors a few doors down who were in my house and say my old 3 piece Cambridge Soundworks system (designed by Henry Kloss) laying around as I had been using them in the bedroom. They asked me what I was doing with it and they had the $750 Bose two cubes and woofer system (vs. the $330 list on the Cambridge Soundworks and they used to advertise being twice as good as Bose for half the price before I believe Bose sued them and they had to cease that - one of many audio companies they sued - Thiel used to have a model 2.2 and I believe Bose sued them for that and they changed it to 22) and wanted to know if it was better. I told them take them home and compare (did not want to introduce my preferences) and if they wanted them it was $150. I went over there next week and the Bose were gone. They gave them to their parents. They told me they could not believe how much better the Cambridge Soundworks were.

RIP though. If I were marketing a product, I'd want them to do it for me. They are one of the best ever in that regard.

I too had the opportunity to directly A-B the Bose sub-sat system with the Cambridge Ensemble II. The Bose was shrill, bright, and hard. The Cambridge, aside from a bit of tubbiness in the bass that was completely cured by a little Plasticlay, was far more musical and listenable.

It indicates what a force Bose was within his own company that we are discussing both the man and his products here. That's a difference with a privately held company. That's why Bose was never marginalized within (or muscled out of) his own company, the way Rudy Bozak, Saul Marantz, David Hafler, or Henry Kloss (several times in his case) were.

dB Cooper · « **Reply #36 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 02:39 pm »

Quote from: SteveFord on 14 Jul 2013, 09:41 pm

I understand this was a corner mount model right before the 901 - I wonder how this sounded?

This was a Bose product? I thought the 901 was their debut speaker.

SET Man · « **Reply #37 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 10:59 pm »

Hey!

Here's one from Stereophile...

http://www.stereophile.com/content/amar-g-bose-phd-19291502013

From Michael Fremer's Analog Planet site...

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/dr-amar-bose-dead-83

Some might find is harsh but he does have some points there. And Stereophile also mentioned the lawsuits and etc. Well, at least Dr. Bose can't sue him personally but the company he left still can.

I remembered when I bought my fist speaker back in 1990. I was at Macy's at 34th Street NYC... yes back than they used to sell electronics too.... and there were Bose, Ohm (or was it AR?) and Advent... for about the same price of all three I walked out with Advent of which I found sound best for me.

Well, I can say that I've never own a Bose product in my life and I'm proud of that.

Take care,
Buddy

Cheeseboy · « **Reply #38 on:** 15 Jul 2013, 11:22 pm »

Amar was a very good engineer and businessman. I heard him speak several times and had lunch with him once. I really liked the guy. Someone has to bring product to the asses of the masses. From the AM5 system with sub to the 301 Bose products were a good value. They were innovative and well thought out. In the dog eat dog days of retail Bose carved a big slice of the pie. I don't believe there has ever been a speaker manufacturer with as great a market share as Bose in the 90's. I think it was as high as 47%. His company innovated the sales pitch for speakers as well. Stereo Everywhere, Good Clean Bass, and Life Like Spacious Sound. Does anyone remember the Bose three step to selling? Bose really never went for the audiophoile market. They aimed clearly at the low/middle and hit paydirt.

Bose led a genius marketing company.

The King is dead.

Ericus Rex · « **Reply #39 on:** 16 Jul 2013, 11:10 am »

Quote from: SET Man on 15 Jul 2013, 10:59 pm

From Michael Fremer's Analog Planet site...

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/dr-amar-bose-dead-83

Some might find is harsh but he does have some points there. And Stereophile also mentioned the lawsuits and etc. Well, at least Dr. Bose can't sue him personally but the company he left still can.

I'd say that was an honest article. Harsh? Sure, but sometimes the harsh view is the honest view. He was the Sam Walton of audio, after all.