[Tonto Yoder]

I realize this is not a particularly novel thread,  but I just had to post anyway. A customer is letting me listen to tunes (while I work in his home) via his Bose Acoustic Wave; he was quite proud to announce that he owned the Bose and seemed to think he was doing me a big favor by letting me listen.  I already knew Bose didn't deserve its lofty reputation, but I was reminded just how dreadful this thing sounds----its technique for maximizing bass in a small enclosure yields such a bloated, one-note bass that it was almost unlistenable. There IS a slider to minimize bass, but it didn't seem to make much difference.

I've heard that smaller Bose radio that looks like a clock radio and thought it sounded decent (if overpriced),  but this Acoustic Wave really surprises me. I just can't understand why owners treat it with such sonic awe?!
This Bose thing is $1K????? Now, I'm even more surprised.

[Woodsea]

The great masses of the people... will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
   
    Adolph Hitler

In this case the lie is in the small box.

[cjr888]

Youch, didn't realize those suckers were that costly!  You could buy 10 bottles of Brilliant Pebbles http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina17.htm or a couple wooden knobs for that price!  http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NOB_C37_C&Category_Code=VOLUME&Product_Count=2

Seriously though.  I've heard them, they sound horrid, and I understand exactly why people would want them...though not necessarily at that price.

The WMS is marketed as "Performance everyone can recognize, simplicity everyone can appreciate, and elegance that speaks for itself."  I think that one truth and two half truths ain't bad for marketing these days.

Performance everyone can recognize -- The media reviews as spectactular, thus they must be exceptional.  Bose is a brand everyone recognizes, so if you put the label on anything, it will assume to be good.  Similar things could be said about Musical Fidelity in certain circles.  If its better than what you had before, and you don't know all your options, but you need an equivalent product, you will buy it, and frankly, you will be happy until shown otherwise.  I'm relatively sure this could be said for a large percentage of the people on this board at some point in their life.

Simplicity everyone can appreciate -- I understand this one and consider it the one truth in advertising.  Its simple, its easy to use, it requires no knowledge, no cables, can be carried and plunked down in the kitchen, bathroom, by the pool, by the bed, or on the deck.  Its basic and mobile.  People like that.  People don't want fuss.  People don't want space taken up.  People want to have their music where they feel like being.  I certainly appreciate that.  When I go to a friends house, we unfortunately have to listen to one of these things.  But also in the summer when we sit by the pool, he drags it out, and we have music.  When we go outside at my house, I walk past a 45 pound tube amplifier and 100 pound speakers, and we sit outside without music.  He wins and I'm selfish.

So part that it quietly and easily fits into people's lives rather than consuming it, and part because they don't know their other options.  Brand recognition plays a huge part in things, whether you are a reader of Consumer Reports, Stereophile, or follow price trends on Audiogon.  

Same bit, different target market, and each target market thinks the other target market is completely and totally nuts, and yet everyone is happy.

Take a tripath amplifier, a dvd transport, and a couple 2-4" drivers that aren't half bad.  Give it both battery power and a power cable, crame it in a single box, and make it look pretty.   Your target market will eat it up.

For the rest of the world, they will too....after you build your brand for 10 years.

Product placement and marketing can have more of an impact on sound and value than component break in.

Try it.

Have some DIY speakers that look like 'speakers' vs. something esoteric that will get a wow regardless?  Buy some Bose emblems here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64616&item=5734965957&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW and put them on your speakers.  Invite a stranger over.  When he asks who makes them, point to the emblem.  Guaranteed to have good sound all afternoon for him, while it will sound worse for you.  

Deep down, I wouldn't mind a bit of what they have, and if they heard what I have, they'd want a bit of that as well.

<cough> to manufacturers.  We're lazy, we're tired, we want good sound.  Now help us out!

[cjr888]

One addition in Bose's favor.  When you really turn up the volume, the vibrating plastic can really add something to the recorded sound of a plastic kazoo.  I certainly cannot same the same for exotic woods, C37, or metal enclosures.

So in that respect, the Bose unit could definitely be called "musical" and "organic" compared to audiophile units.  It is tuned like an instrument.

This is most likely why it costs so much -- it truly does justice to the majority of the , plastic music out today.

[Kim S.]

I think the popularity of the Bose wave has to do primarily with its advertising.  My best friend owns one.  He lives in another state and I don't get to visit him often.  Heard it for the first time last spring.  I thought it was OK for background music but nothing exceptional. My friend  said it was a "sonic marvel", and other discriptions directly out of the Bose ad!  

I think audiophiles need to realize that most people don't care that much about ultimate sound.  They have bought into the idea that smaller is always better, digital is always better, etc.  Its frustrating when some of these people, like my friend,should know better.

[lonewolfny42]

Bose Acoustic Wave Radio = Upscale "Boombox" for the Masses.....

Like it or not.... Bose is very successful....and that's the bottom line. [/list:u]

[Tonto Yoder]

I think audiophiles need to realize that most people don't care that much about ultimate sound.  They have bought into the idea that s ...

I don't have much problem with the masses preferring small, convenient music systems (heck, I often enjoy listening to my boombox and mediocre car stereo); I'm just surprised how much Bose is able to charge and how the owners I've met seem to boast about its quality. I agree the advertising has been very effective.

But I'm just as surprised by the audiophile adulation of the Panasonic digital receivers.

[ctviggen]

I think the concept is interesting, and it does sound much better than other radios of this type.  However, it's also much, much more expensive.  I'd buy one, if it was $100.

[8thnerve]

I think audiophiles need to realize that most people don't care that much about ultimate sound.   ...

I do not believe this.  I have never, ever met anyone who, upon hearing something obviously better, realized that there was more out there, and wanted it.  People love Bose because they think it IS the best you can get, not because it sounds good enough to them.  Computer speakers and in-walls sound good enough.  People who buy Bose are paying WAY too much because they think they are buying a premium product that they can be proud of.  Yes there is a matter of convenience, but only from the most rhetorical standpoint.  The Acoustic Energy Aego package is much less expensive, and much better sounding.  The Gallo packages are small and leagues better.  Even Boston Acoustics makes better sounding "table radios".

There are MANY convenient alternatives to Bose, but most people don't know this, because in order to let everyone know about something, to be a household brand, you simply have to spend over $10 million a year in advertising and marketing, period.  It's not even that their marketing is so good.  That much money at an ad agency buys good marketing.  It's really just the money.  Got $10 mil to burn?  You can finally kick BOSE in the nuts, if that makes you happy.  Personally, I love BOSE, the company.  Their audio gear is not for me, but they are primarily a research company that does a tremendous amount of cutting edge research across the sciences.

Don't worry, pretty soon, the best sound will come from Microsoft speakers.

[electricbear]

We in the industry have two things to say about Bose.
 Firstly Bose stands for Buy Other Stereo Equipment.
and the second being No Highs, No Lows, Must BE Bose.

[nathanm]

Audiophiles find a way to mod every piece of gear under the sun, so why not the Bose wave radio?  Come on people, where are the gagillion picofarad cap upgrades, bybee filters, super-improved output stages, mu-metal shielded case and vitrified speaker cones?  The Bose cash cow's got udders you ain't even touched yet!  Get with it!

[woodsyi]

You don't mod a Bose radio; you mod the room.  I suppose you can put burnished copper sheet over all the walls to "maximize" the sonic energy.  Can you magine what a bass trap will do to a Bose sound?

[ludavico]

Sheeesh, my Wave radio is TOTALLY immune to vibration control (Polycrystal, Vibrapods, Mana. etc.).   Nothing touches that whale bass.    


Why do anything anyway?  You already have the cool blue display...

Tells time pretty good too.

[Kim S.]

I still don't think ultimate sound quality is that high on alot of peoples priorities.  I've had friends say they are impressed by my system and then go buy a mass market system that sounds only average but has infared controlls, etc.  I know a musician friend who loves music and put in wall speakers in all the rooms of his new house.  To me they sound like I'm in a department store, but he thinks its cutting edge.  My brother in law marvels at a Bose speaker system that features tiny cube speakers.  He says "isn't it amazing that such small speakers sound so good?"  The only problem is they don't sound anywhere near as good as conventional speakers do.  Its the size that more important to him, not the best sound.

[SWG255]

She returned it to Bose before the 30 day in-home trial period expired. It didn't sound as good to her as her H-K receiver, Yamaha CD player and Infinity bookshelf speakers. She's 72 years old and can still hear the difference! I'm proud of her.    She did like the Bose for its diminuitive size, but that was it.

And no she's not ready for separates, she loves my RM-40s but says they're much too big for her house!
 

[smargo]

just got done looking at forbes magazine's  top private companies in the world. Did you know that the bose corp did 1.7 billion in revenue last year. That's like 150 million a month. about 75 million every 2 weeks and 37.5 million a week. That's over 5 million dollars a day.
 
For all that's wrong with their products they are the best at marketing and I can't belive other makers of speakers and systems don't just duplicate what they do in terms of advertising and networking. I mean doesn't it show that your products don't necessarily have to sound good or be of great quality as long as their perceived as sounding good and are perceived of good quality.
 
I can;t belive no one in the audio industry doesn't learn from bose. I mean isn;t everyone in business to make money or just cater to audiophiles. I don't get it.

[lonewolfny42]

Audiophiles find a way to mod every piece of gear under the sun, so why not the Bose wave radio?  Come on people, where are the gagillion picofarad cap upgrades, bybee filters, super-improved output stages, mu-metal shielded case and vitrified speaker cones?  The Bose cash cow's got udders you ain't even touched yet!  Get with it!

nathan ....excellent post !

Mod the Bose...get on the bandwagon. I can see the ad's now...."Make the Best....Even Better !!". [/list:u]

[amitm]

just got done looking at forbes magazine's  top private companies in the world. Did you know that the bose corp did 1.7 billion in revenue last year. That's like 150 million a month. about 75 million every 2 weeks and 37.5 million a week. That's over 5 million dollars a day.
 
For all that's wrong with their products they are the best at marketing and I can't belive other makers of speakers and systems don't just duplicate what they do in terms of advertising and networking. I mean doesn't it show that y ...

Talk about fudging numbers!  

Why not 1.7 billion/365 (about 4.65 million a day).

Sorry, smargo! I just could not resist it.

--amit