Amar Bose

Incidentally, Bose manufactured a very powerful Cl AB stereo amp which was highly rated by reviewers. Later they introduced a plastic bodied class D amp(around ₹50k), which served well in installations. As a side note I saw a Woodstock clone of the Acoustimass AM 5 . It had a proper dome tweeter and a punchier sound than the original!
 
I owned the 401 in the past. Many of my friends owned models like 901, 301 etc. Have heard them a lot in the 90's. Bose uses psychoacoustics to the max in their products. They essentially build products that sounds much better than regular brands and works well with mainstream music and in room acoustics and placement situations that are common in non audiophile homes. That is their USP. And that worked well for them. That way, they were very innovative. The moment you are more stringent with your needs and are willing to go the extra mile to achieve that, bose loses its charm.
I remember playing a lot of pop and rock on the 401s. You can crank up the volume in a regular living room with hardly any acoustics and it never sounds harsh and it is quite entertaining. But the sound is far away from fidelity to the original :)
 
They are a bit like Montblanc fountain pens and Mercedes Benz cars. Product is/was good no doubt, but the brand is bigger than the product, which is what you pay for. And both the brand and the product has seen better days. Bit of a mass produced luxury, with recognizable bragging rights, and the products just good enough for bragging.
Now both discerning as well as value conscious people have other choices on 2 ends of the spectrum, so only some people with nostalgia value the brand anymore.
 
I do not understand the hate.
My first encounter with a Bose product was a used Bose acoustimass 2 channel system which I picked dirt cheap. The sound was very decent. Now I use 4 double cubes as surrounds and atmos, why not , they are very compact, well built and sounds good too. The weight of each cube is impressive unlike the cheap satellite speakers even by Yamaha. They keep up well with my Genelec front LCR's in a dirac calibrated system.
 
For excellent sound that won't break the bank, the 5 Star Award Winning Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Bookshelf Speakers is the one to consider!
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