[chgolatin2]

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html  for those that think that Bose is considered "Hi Fi"

[robert1325]

There we go!!!!!!!!!

[Thebiker]

Hmmmm, no highs - no lows; must be Bose

[Bill Baker]

There is an obvious reason they do not publish specs. They are after those in the market that don't know any better. This will be the only system they will ever purchase and have nothing to compare them to.

 Their marketing is tricky. If you go into a store that carries Bose as well as some other gear, most salesmen will have to listen to the Bose first. I think this is because the brain always goes with the first impression. Once you listen to something else, it sounds much different and to the average [Bose] consumer, they will conclude that the second system they listened to was not as good as the first because it sounds so much different.
 Also, watch one of their infomercials. The people calling in that absolutely love their Bose are older people that have listened to nothing but $29 boom-box radios for the past 70 years. That is their target market.
 Bose customers don't know any better and most probably don't care.

[Nels Ferre]

When I was in the audio business, Bose supplied dealers with specially EQ'd 3" demo CDs to make their speakers sound better. Mostly jazz stuff, if I remember correctly.

BOSE...Better Off with Something Else

[sts9fan]

I work on the same road as bose HQ and one of my good friends works there.  Needless to say we have some wonderful talks on the subject of good sound.  I would say one problem is that at the big box stores there are no competitors to bose.  There is all the cheaper stuff and then bose.  So if "Johnny don't know audio" goes in there and wants "the best" he is fooled to think its bose.

[Russell Dawkins]

When I was in the audio business, Bose supplied dealers with specially EQ'd 3" demo CDs to make their speakers sound better. Mostly jazz stuff, if I remember correctly.

Interestingly reminiscent of Edison and his live vs recorded demos ( yes, he predated AR in this) where the singers were specially trained to sing sounding like his horns!

[Daygloworange]

Great article.

Interestingly reminiscent of Edison and his live vs recorded demos ( yes, he predated AR in this) where the singers were specially trained to sing sounding like his horns!

Russell, are you serious? That's hilarious. 

Cheers

[Daryl]

Of all signal types natural (jazz) recordings make detecting faults in the playback system the most difficult while test tones make such faults most noticable.

[Russell Dawkins]

Of all signal types natural (jazz) recordings make detecting faults in the playback system the most difficult while test tones make such faults most noticable.

uhhhh... right!

[Daryl]

Of all signal types natural (jazz) recordings make detecting faults in the playback system the most difficult while test tones make such faults most noticable.

uhhhh... right!

Of course I am speaking to the practice of manufacturers and audiophiles to use Jazz as a test of a systems merrit when it is the least revealing of all possible signal sources.

And the popular clich'e about using real music instead of test tones to evaluate a system.

P.S. By 'test tone' I am referring to all forms of test signal depending upon what you are looking for.

[Russell Dawkins]

Great article.

Interestingly reminiscent of Edison and his live vs recorded demos ( yes, he predated AR in this) where the singers were specially trained to sing sounding like his horns!

Russell, are you serious? That's hilarious. 

Cheers

Yes.
Here's a quote from a Stereophile newsletter:

It's not a new idea. That master showman Thomas Edison did the same thing more than 4000 times between 1913 and 1920, to promote his Disc Phonograph and vertically cut Diamond Disc recordings. Edison would rent concert halls and hire prominent musicians, such as British soprano Maggie Teyte, to appear in a series of comparisons. Ms. Teyte and the phonograph would both be hidden behind a curtain and, after what author Roland Gelatt refers to as "appropriate commentary from an Edison representative," Ms. Teyte would sing a song, a recording of which would then be played on the phonograph.

In his wonderful book The Fabulous Phonograph, Gelatt reports that these demos apparently convinced audiences, in the words of an Edison flack, "that there was no difference between Miss Teyte's voice and the New Edison RE-CREATION of it." These so-called Tone Tests sold a lot of expensive audio products. The Edison Disc Phonograph sold for $200 for the basic model and up to $800 for the fancy ones—this at a time when a really well-paid factory worker (say, at the Ford Motor Company) made about $5 a day.

Wait a minute, I hear you saying. People couldn't tell the difference between a scratchy old record and a live singer? Apparently not. Read and Welch's From Tin Foil to Stereo quotes a critic in The London Advertiser as saying, "The most sensitive ear could not detect the slightest difference between the tone of the singer and the tone of the mechanical device."

Of course, as Conrad-Johnson's Lew Johnson, an avid collector of early audio devices, points out, the demo was a leetle bit rigged. Vocalists were favored because that's the range the phonograph reproduced best—and even then, singers whose range fell right into the device's sweet spot (Ms. Teyte, for instance) were sought out. Also, Johnson suggests, the vocalists may have been trained to play to the phonograph's strengths.

taken from here:
http://www.stereophile.com/images/newsletter/305stph.html

in looking for that I also found this by James Boyk, a real innovator in the world of reproduced sound, including recording:

http://www.performancerecordings.com/capturing-music.html

[Daygloworange]

Truly hilarious!

"The most sensitive ear could not detect the slightest difference between the tone of the singer and the tone of the mechanical device."

Imagine if AudioCircle or AudioAsylum existed back then. Yikes!! Whatch out!!

Cheers

[stereocilia]

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html  for those that think that Bose is considered "Hi Fi"

Maybe I'm dense but it's not clear to me who wrote this article.  It's been around for a long time, right?

[miklorsmith]

Their logo is pretty cool.  While I don't disagree with the "review", it's hardly an unbiased one.  It was a setup, plain and simple.  I'm pretty sure it's been around for a while.

[chgolatin2]

It really bothers me and people and especially my brother and friends ask me about Bose and how good the equipment sound, you have to admit that they have an extensive marketing plan.  If people buy products base on looks, commercials and uneducated decisions or information  then what can you do?  No wonder these electronic stores are doing so well, mass marketing and super cheap products with crappy components that cost basically nothing to make.  Its a shame that these companies such as Bose and "others" have their products cheaply made overseas paying super low wages, no benefits and exploiting their workers for their own greed and benefit.  The American consumer buys the product unaware of whats really behind the product.  It should be a crime but I guess thats the "American" way of life and it's all about PROFIT plain and simple.  Ok I am done ranting   

[Bob in St. Louis]

It should be a crime but I guess thats the "American" way of life and it's all about PROFIT plain and simple. 

Unfortunately that's all too true.   

[Thebiker]

When asked about "how good is Bose?", my standard reply is that Bose has the world's best marketing firm.  You can't pick up a newspaper or magazine or turn on the TV or radio without seeing or hearing an ad for the wonderful Bose Wave Radio.  And it's always endorsed as being preferred over those bulky old fashioned stereos by "critical listeners"   

I tell people that someone gets to pay for all that advertising, anyone who buys the product.  I also tell them that the people that claim that Bose is so good, are being paid by Bose.  Ah well, there is an a** for every saddle.

[BobRex]

The ironic thing is if you read the article, it's so full of bad information that it's almost like calling the kettle black.

At one point the author refers to 280Hz range frequencies as midbass.  last I checked, that was above middle C.

The author claims that most $1300 speakers have responses from 15Hz to 25K!!!  On what planet is that????

Umm, I thought the Bose / CU lawsuit was over the 901 review, not the AM-15.

2K to 20K is upper octave?  Hmmmm....

Bose markets on the same level as Wilson??

I'm all for hammering Blose, but let's keep it a clean fight.

[robertwb]

my favorite analogy for the uneducated is to compare Bose to McDonald's, obviously Mickey Ds' is the most well known eatery in the world, but do you think that means they make the best food in the world?

They both got where they are with a cheaply made product and really good advertising, but I think you come much closer to getting your moneys worth at McDonald's...

the most important quote to remember when trying to educate someone about Bose is-
"Never argue with a fool.  Someone watching may not be able to tell the difference."  ~Author Unknown

Robert