Whathifi & Bose!!!!

[admin_exported]

Just purchased the June edition of Whathifi (excellent as always) and to pass 5 mins before going to work i decided to browse the Buyers guide (as you do), when i noticed something missing, no Bose equipement appears to have been reviewed.

This is not a criticism, just wondered why that is.

 

[Anonymous]

It's fairly straightforward: on the few occasions that we've been able to review Bose equipment over the last decade, our strict performance-per-pound reviewing criteria have meant that often, the company's products haven't fared too well. That's not a criticism of the company or its products, by the way: more a reflection of the relative value Bose kit offers in the UK.
It's worth adding that we do have one significant and highly rated Bose entrant in our Buying Guide: the Quietcomfort 3 noise-cancelling headphones, rated at four stars in April 2007. True, a solitary pair of headphones hardly represents the full extent of Bose's range of equipment, but still: at least we've covered something with a Bose badge on it!
Naturally, we're always trying to improve our review coverage, so hopefully the current picture will improve over time.

 

[Anonymous]

Funny I was about to submit my first posting on What Hi-Fi regarding Bose.

I will be moving in to a new flat in a couple of months and will take the opportunity to upgrade my equipment. One thing that I didn't anticipate upgrading were my Bose Accoustimass 10 speakers (circa 1998). However, looking at this months review of speakers, I may be changing my thoughts on this.

In the buyers guide I see Acoustimas 10 series III gets 3 stars which I assume is down to price more than performance. Can anyone tell me how my series I would compare PERFORMANCE wise with Q AcousticsQ-AV 5.1 or KEF speakers at around the £600 mark.

Does the soundbar of the Q-AV lose some of the effectiveness of seperated speakers in an average size lounge? The review sounded good, and I liked the neatness of it.

Thanks - there'll be more questions coming over the next few days. TV, AMP, Virgin etc!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Andy

I should have known Whathifi has our interests at heart.

 

[Anonymous]

come on ive been a hifi expert for over 20 years and ive still not heard a pair of 250-300 pound pair of speakers that touch bose 301 series 5 , they are tricky to setup correctly and when done properly they are exceptional , the real reason they dont dont get reviewed well by certain mags is simple bose dont sponsor their reviews i,e, give free stuff and paper bags , i know for a fact this goes on as when i did speaker test for another mag i was asked to see if i could get freebies for good press reviews and 9 /10 all offered these except bose mmmmnnnnn,

also when people come to my shop they hear 301 and say nar they dont sound good as certain books told me so ,

so being a neautral i also set up 301 properly on good stands with quality van damme studio 6mm cable and then compare with so called award winners like mezzo 2 450 pound , ma bronze 2 250 pound , bose 301 299 pound ive not had a single customer take any speaker in this price over 301 .

and as for your high end stuff the bose 901 are stuff of legend 40 years old and still going you people are very ignorrant , imet amar bose in la 6 years ago and tackled him about how i never rated 901 then he SETUP A APAIR PROPERLY IN A DEM ROOM and my lip was on the floor ive since setup a few for customers the same way and

they are amazing ..

remember dont slate stuff you know nothing about ,

 

[Cofnchtr]

Hi,

Are you suggesting that corruption and bribery exists at What Hi-fi Towers? Oh dear - as you say, don't slate stuff you know nothing about.

I heard some Bose speakers years ago when I was breaking into 'seperate' systems - they did sound good but weren't what I was after. Doesn't mean they are the best.

If Bose suits you then brilliant - you buy them but allow me to make up my own mind thank you.

PS Welcome to the forum.

PPS You should be declaring your position as a 'hi-fi expert' in your signature as per the house rules...

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

 

[umbucker]

I have had heard a few bose systems demo'd and in my option they sound good but not amazing. I certianly would not listen to Music through a bose system and I dont think any true music enthusiast would!? I think they sound very impressive for Movies but a decent AV amp with floor standers and full range centre and rears at half the cost would blow a Bose system away. A lot of the what you are paying for goes towards their research for "lifestyle" micro speakers and functionalality rather than hi fidelity sound.

 

[umbucker]

PS amar007, I suggest What Hifi to look at your email login - just to see if it ends @Bose.com !!

 

[Andrew Everard]

amar007: the real reason they dont dont get reviewed well by certain mags is simple bose dont sponsor their reviews i,e, give free stuff and paper bags , i know for a fact this goes on as when i did speaker test for another mag i was asked to see if i could get freebies for good press reviews and 9 /10 all offered these except bose mmmmnnnnn,

Damn, you have discovered our weakness: give us a paper bag and the five stars are as good as assured. And we tried to keep our paper bag collection a secret...

Meanwhile, a) stop writing total rubbish and B) if you have written reviews and have a shop, please declare your interest in your signature, as required by House Rules, or you will be banned.

 

[umbucker]

Good point Chebby - Sorry Bose !!

 

[Andrew Everard]

Nothing to add other than that a) the poster doesn't have an address with any link to the company in question, but b) neither does the name with which he has registered ring any bells in terms of someone who has written reviews for other magazines.

Oh and c) if his story about requesting freebies in return for good reviews has any substance, it's good to find out how other magazines work - does wonders for our sense of propriety.

 

[scene]

chebby:Also Bose would not want to upset a magazine who gives popular equipment like this SoundDock a five star review earlier this year!
WHF also rate some of the Bose headphones, IIRC.

(Or these headphones. Thanks Scene.)

(Hard to keep up with all this editing...

)

As has already been said, the WHFS&V ratings have a price/performance weighting, so if you're product is expensive, it's going to have to be very, very good. And Lifestyle systems (can I say that without Bose suing me as they've Trademarked this term...

) tend to make you pay for style over substance. But not always, hence why the SoundDock-II got five stars...

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I am not a fan of bose speakers

I have heard quite a few of there speaker pacakges in our local panasonic shop they have them there but to be honest they do not sound or look good in my opinion.

They also have a shop in the bicester village but always think

when i go in there.

 

[El Hefe]

IMHO, i do like the Bose system. It does provide good surround sound for movies and I love the simplicity and compact sized set up. But yes, it does not justify the high price tag. And of course, they still have not moved on to 7.1 channel for bluray.

 

[martynsh1984]

We sell Bose equipment at Comet, and although i think they are good systems, you can achieve much more for less. The lifestyle systems are exactly that, designed for someone who doesnt want the hassle of set-up or separates systems with matching brands etc. They are simple and effective systems for people who want to buy one box and be done with it. Price per pound however i believe they are poor. I could have bought one of their systems with a nice discount but decided on other options that offered better value.

I do like Bose products, I own a set of their headphones, But i do feel they rest heavily on their reputation and charge a little too much for the privilege of owning a Bose product.

 

[bigboss]

Do you work in Comet then? I've never seen Bose at Comet. Do you sell the full range of Bose products or only a selected few?

 

[bob.g]

I have a (relatively old) Bose Acoustimass 15 system, set up in the lounge of an old beamed cottage. The subwoofer is up the inglenook and the small speakers just disappear into the overall beamed effect. The 5.1 sound for TV and movies is very good.

Yes, I agree we could get better sound from other systems, but what we lose on sound quality is (for me) more than made up by the fact that you just can't see any speakers, and in my opinion is an ideal blend of form and function.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

They have some bose speakers in our local comet along with some old pioneers on display, i asked the assistant are they for sell those display pioneers and the guy said unfortunately not and they belong to bose and were not allowed to do anything with them.

 

[Clare Newsome]

martynsh1984:
We sell Bose equipment at Comet,

Please amend your signature as per House Rules (no.9) on trade members. Thanks!

 

[Dalesman]

Andrew Everard:
Oh and c) if his story about requesting freebies in return for good reviews has any substance, it's good to find out how other magazines work - does wonders for our sense of propriety.

Well said.

 

[El Hefe]

martynsh1984:
We sell Bose equipment at Comet, and although i think they are good systems, you can achieve much more for less. The lifestyle systems are exactly that, designed for someone who doesnt want the hassle of set-up or separates systems with matching brands etc. They are simple and effective systems for people who want to buy one box and be done with it. Price per pound however i believe they are poor. I could have bought one of their systems with a nice discount but decided on other options that offered better value.

I do like Bose products, I own a set of their headphones, But i do feel they rest heavily on their reputation and charge a little too much for the privilege of owning a Bose product.

Well, which company does not use their name as part as the pricing strategy? Sony does it too. All of us know as consumers, the price for hifi in the market might have been marked up 300 to 400% of the production cost especially when companies know that they can actually do that and people will still buy

 

[martynsh1984]

Clare Newsome:Please amend your signature as per House Rules (no.9) on trade members. Thanks!
Appologies, I put it in the bio section insead of my sig.

EDITED BY MODS - a bit too like an ad.

Yes Bose specifically asked for Pioneer TV's to be used and they are owned by them now. We had to use Samsung TV's originally due to stock levels and were very quickly told to change them.

 

[martynsh1984]

Well, which company does not use their name as part as the pricing strategy? Sony does it too. All of us know as consumers, the price for hifi in the market might have been marked up 300 to 400% of the production cost especially when companies know that they can actually do that and people will still buy

Absolutely and they have earned the right to do so, But how many of us on this forum own any of the Bose satelite speaker ranges? When given the choice of paying the extra for the Bose many have opted for B&W or MA options instead saving a good deal of cash in the process.(and dare i say get better speakers in the process)

 

[El Hefe]

I really would purchase a Bose system for its simplicity and styling. The sound quality if i may say it, its not that bad and still provide enough stir for movies. But as I said, its putting me off at the moment because it will not support blu ray. I have been looking for a discreet system for a while now as my current rental house does not allow me to hang my rear speakers on the walls. So been looking at bose system.

 

[martynsh1984]

I keep asking our rep about it and he says its for 2 reasons, they think the market will increasingly go to streaming content, and the cost involved in adding blu ray would price many out of the market for their products.

The newer systems V25 etc feature no dvd/bluray so i suppose this could be a happy medium. Or buy the acoustimass speakers on their own and choose your own receiver?