Bose Acoustimass 15 iii v Tannoy Arena 5.1 and Sony STRDA5200ES v Onkyo TY-SR875

[admin_exported]

I live in Bahrain and I have just bought a Sony Bravia X series HDTV and I have decided to go the whole hog and buy a home cinema system. My budget is around £2,000 and choice is between the two speaker and Amp options above.

Reviewing What Hi-Fi ratings - the Bose acoustimass 15ii are given 4 stars while the Tannoy are given 5 stars. In the UK both speakers retail for around £1,000. In Bahrain I can buy the Bose for £600 brand new(but no Tannoy agent unfortunately). My question is, are the Bose a 5 star speaker at this price or should I go for the Tannoy even though they are more expensive... Also if I come to sell then Bose seem to sell very well on ebay!

The Amps I will have to buy in the UK so there is no cheaper option unfortunately. Is the HD digital sound on the Onkyo so much better than the Sony? Both systems have great reviews and I want something that is as future proof as possible. My fiirst choice was the Sony until I read the Onkyo SR875 preview in this months magazine.

Many thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Well, I'd go for the Onkyo I think, and the Tannoys really will make more of it than the Bose system. Tannoy has a pro agent in your part of the world - might be worth a call or an email to see whether they handle the domestic stuff, too. The website is here.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the agent details, will try them tomorrow. I did try the Bose speakers in one of the retailers here and was not really impressed but I put that down to the set up in the dealer. That said, the woofer on the bose is a huge ugly looking thing and looks cheap , as does the speakers close up.

So even at £400 cheaper than the Tannoy there is that much difference between the two? Why does Bose have so much Kudos with the uninitiated? errhh like me... before buying your magazine.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="kiteman68"]
Why does Bose have so much Kudos with the uninitiated? errhh like me... before buying your magazine.

[/quote]

One word: marketing!

Bose spend an inordinate amount on making sure you see their ads for their lifestyle system, headphones or wave radio/ cd things in all sorts of magazines and newspapers! Hence their popularity with the "uninitiated"!

P

 

[Andrew Everard]

Lot of received wisdom there. Truth is, a lot of people have bought Bose systems and been perfectly happy with them, so who's to argue with that? You might not buy one, I might not buy one, but if people are happy with their purchase - and Bose does put a lot of design and engineering into a combination of consumer-impressing sound and usable features - what's the problem?

By the way, there's a lot some companies could learn from the ease of set-up and use Bose designs into its systems, as anyone who's ever actually set one up will tell you.