Bose AM5 Series III - Your Comment Please.

[argho]

hi argho,

you will like this-

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/images/bryston-bp-26-preamplifier-remote-control.jpg

That's just perfect. I love it - my dream remote.
I'm serious.

 

[illusion_heart]

Bose - Highly Overrated.....pls skip. Better deals available for same amount of money.

 

[sandeepmohan]

This has happened a countless number of times & I don't understand why users on this forum rate the Bose AM5 as absolute krapp. Makes me wonder if any of you even know what good sound is all about.

Reading a review is one thing & then listening to them is another.

To the original poster of this thread.....They are a very good set of speakers & I will close my eyes & buy one.

 

[SKR]

I think its fashionable in audio forums to bash Bose systems. A lot bash it with good reason (bad performance vis-a-vis other hi-fi systems) and some to just join the mob.

The big problem in comparing Bose systems is that they make it very difficult as they are not sold in multi brand outlets. So its only when you bring it home you know what it sounds in a normal (non-demo) setup.

That being said, they are in terms of sound quality much better than the LG's or Sony's that one hears from a speaker perspective but their marketing helps them get compared to being at a level which they are definitely not.

Some of their systems like the Wave CD are generally regarding quite good and to some extent their noise cancelling headphones. Not all products are good.
Like Yamaha might be a good receiver company but hardly makes great speakers.

So deba if your question was how Bose AM5 series III is, its nice but not worth any premium. Its much better than the philips or sony dvd based home theater system but at a significantly higher price.

I think Sud98 got it right. Being an audiophile many people think crticising Bose is their right/duty. I have a few points
1.Fisrt listening and liking music/sound is highly SUBJECTIVE HOBBY
2.How many audiophile members criticising Bose have had Bose system in their
home or a friends home and have done extensive listening. Unless you give
some time it is difficult to judge. Yesterday at my McIntosh dealers show
room I heard MBL speakers costing over $70K but was not impressed and
there could be so many factors like Set-Up,Amplification,Power supply etc .
A short listen in show room is not enough as your home and Demo room
of a product are totally different situation. Most shops demonstrate LCD
TV's using High definition software and HD Playeys and picture quality
is very good but at home we cannot reproduce same picture quality.
3.Audiophiles are like people driving Benz,BMW and they think those driving
Toyota,Honda or Maruti do not understand about motoring.
4.Being a very subjective hobby it is the level of enjoyment and hapiness(WITH RESPECT TO YOUR BUYING POWER AND PRIORITIES) you
get from you system decides which is good or bad FOR YOU. Not because
SKR says Bose is good or Sud98 says ProaC is better.

Yes in our Forum we need to discuss and share mutual experiences about various systems available and what one member feels about it and why he differs from other members opinion. This is what this Forum is for. BUT WE CANNOT SIMPLY GIVE A SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT THAT BOSE IS A LOW QUALITY SPEAKER NOT WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION. May be the Judge doesn't like Bose but I may like it.
Bose is a commercially successful product and lots of people like it and enjoy it. And nothing succeeds like success

 

[suri]

How many audiophile members criticising Bose have had Bose system in their home or a friends home and have done extensive listening. BUT WE CANNOT SIMPLY GIVE A SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT THAT BOSE IS A LOW QUALITY SPEAKER NOT WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION. May be the Judge doesn't like Bose but I may like it

Hi SKR,

First of all, let us all participate in this thread without being irritated about another's subjective judgement-

in a forum like this there will be people who make strong (subjective) statements but that is because they feel like that - just like the opposite parties feel otherwise - let them be, because irritation about a forum member's thoughts eventually fouls a thread.

i lived for many years in my (parent's) house with Bose, including the one with nine transducers facing backwards, and even now they have a lifestyle system - i have had extensive listening sessions with Bose, and, of course, enjoyed it when I was first exposed to it - the previous listening was with the big Sansui boxes, and it was a step up, yes.

But now, i do not enjoy them any more, and i have to suffer them when i listen at others houses - it really irritates me, but that is because I have heard better (critically) and know how music should sound when played back.

so, when the thread originator was undecided about what to buy, i felt it was my duty to save him from Bose and guide him to better things -

here, if other thread participants feel strongly about guiding the thread originator towards the Bose systems and it's pleasures, they could do so easily without stepping on toes.

judgements are judgements, and any one judgement does not reign supreme over another - they are just that - subjective judgements.

and SKR, have you thought about why there are so many Bose bashers? - people start bashing not without reason - a woman scorned is a terrible basher!

likewise, you cheat a friend, you make him an enemy forever, and he will bash you forever - in the case of Bose speaker systems, people wake up suddenly and realise how many years were wasted listening to an undesirable system - and then start bashing Bose.

 

[deba]

After auditioning Bose Speakers endlessly under various setups I have come to the conclusion that either Dr Bose is a Genius or the greatest bamboozle of the century.

So either their speakers are very good which we fail to appreciate or they are true crap being sold under great marketing and brain washing.......very confusing.....

 

[psychotropic]

but how did they sound? did YOU like them?

After auditioning Bose Speakers endlessly under various setups I have come to the conclusion that either Dr Bose is a Genius or the greatest bamboozle of the century.

So either their speakers are very good which we fail to appreciate or they are true crap being sold under great marketing and brain washing.......very confusing.....

 

[navinmra]

I've auditoned the Bose lifesytle at Purva Mall (MGRoad Bangalore) and for some reason I felt it did not sound as full bodied as my Denon+ Polk Audio floor standers which costed me much less
Now, Room acoustics can ruin a great pair of speakers and sometimes jut bad receiver settings like over driving the subs can make things worse so I can't tell if the Bose was truly bad.
One other thing about auditioning systems is that you tend to benchmark relative to what you have heard before. When I first bought an all Onkyo setup 5 years back I was graduating from an Aiwa and you can imagine I loved it. After staying with it for 2 years I upgraded to the Denon+Polk audio combo with a visible difference. When I recently heard a Chord stereo amp with Focal speakers costing 6 times my current setup I can tell the difference but back in the day when I bought the Onkyo I couldnt - you just graduate in sound as they say.

Bottomline of all this rambling - Listen hard and build a good benchmark (YOUR benchmark that is) and compare multiple setups side by side and not one sytem in isolation. Thay way you dont get swayed...

And like all of us Indians, we're never really done so I have one more thing to say about Bose - I think they are overpriced in the Indian Market.

 

[deba]

but how did they sound? did YOU like them?

Of all the Bose Stereo Speakers I have audioned I must say that I liked the sound of the 301 very much, if you set the 301 on a good floor stand at ear level you will get good output. The 201 also sounds good but due to its compact size it lacks a bit of bass.

The AM5 seems to lack the very high and low notes , I fail to understand why Bose damped the High Frequency Output in the satellite speakers.Moreover if you rotate the satellite modules too much you get a feeling of a lost center stage, maybe due to too much reflected sound in the listening room.I will test the AM5 with a Software Tone Generator and come out with precise test results.

Overall I am not a blind fan of Bose but have a very mixed feeling about their product.

 

[square_wave]

Of all the Bose Stereo Speakers I have audioned I must say that I liked the sound of the 301 very much, if you set the 301 on a good floor stand at ear level you will get good output. The 201 also sounds good but due to its compact size it lacks a bit of bass.

The AM5 seems to lack the very high and low notes , I fail to understand why Bose damped the High Frequency Output in the satellite speakers.Moreover if you rotate the satellite modules too much you get a feeling of a lost center stage, maybe due to too much reflected sound in the listening room.I will test the AM5 with a Software Tone Generator and come out with precise test results.

Overall I am not a blind fan of Bose but have a very mixed feeling about their product.

The satellites roll off around 12 khz .The rest of the frequency is gone
The one note bass producing band-pass bass module cannot go anywhere under 50 or 60hz. There is a big hole where the lower midrange should be in between the crossover points of the satellite and the bass module.

What do you expect ?

 

[deba]

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to test the AM5 s High Frequency Output at my friends place.

I connected my Laptop's External M Audio Card Output to the input of a Rotel RA 971 Amplifier and used Adobe Audition 3.0 Tone Generator (Generate>Tones) and generated a 16KHz / 18 Khz and a 20KHz Signal to the AM5.

Interestingly I could hear the 16 and 18 KHz Signal very distinctly but the 20 Khz was missing may be because of my hearing limitation. I have read reviews of the modules unable to produce above 13 KHz. Is something wrong with my test? I tested it repeatedly and I could hear the 18 KHz output very clearly.

Any one can try this at home if they can get hold of the AM5.I will test the acoustimass modules low frequency output and see if it can produce 60Hz and below.

Thanks.

 

[sandeepmohan]

I have listened to the AM5's for quite a bit & to me its a really good sounding pair of speakers for the money.

The design of the AM5 is such that it will work well in conditions where you would otherwise have to used a sub when its a book shelf speaker system. Thats the beauty of the system.

The biggest problem for a budget setup is the installation & not all of us have the luxury of a home designed to fit in their Hi Fi. This is where it gets tricky for book shelves to work. Being a user of a book shelf for close to 20 years; I know this is a very serious problem. Its next to impossible to get an kind of bass from a book shelf unless you fiddle with the tone controls.

Then again don't try a AM5 in a very large room & expect them to sing well. They are perfect for a area of about 300 sq ft.

 

[Mahesh babu]

Bose AM5 Series II is very good System but not price worth it.
Since you get very good system even better Quality in Kef & Focal
just try it.
Recently even i had the same confusion but later on read the reviews had lot of demos & finally found the right system & right place to buy.
ITS PROFX store.finally i bought Focal its france made excellent ones i made it get tested in comparision with bose.

 

[neutral]

I have listened to the AM5's for quite a bit & to me its a really good sounding pair of speakers for the money.

The design of the AM5 is such that it will work well in conditions where you would otherwise have to used a sub when its a book shelf speaker system. Thats the beauty of the system.

The biggest problem for a budget setup is the installation & not all of us have the luxury of a home designed to fit in their Hi Fi. This is where it gets tricky for book shelves to work. Being a user of a book shelf for close to 20 years; I know this is a very serious problem. Its next to impossible to get an kind of bass from a book shelf unless you fiddle with the tone controls.

Then again don't try a AM5 in a very large room & expect them to sing well. They are perfect for a area of about 300 sq ft.

1. Why do you need a sub when you can have a pair of bookshelf speakers than can go down to 50hz ?
2. Why do you equate the one note bass producing bass module with the AM-5 with a real subwoofer ? A good bookshelf speaker with a subwoofer are a totally different animal. They will extend from some 30hz to 20khz with no holes anywhere in the spectrum. A bose AM5 will do some 50hz to 11khz with some seriously big holes in the midrange and a big mid-bass thump in the frequency system.
3. A good bookshelf speaker will outdo a AM5 in every way unless you are looking at the bookshelf speakers than come with mini-combo systems.

Heres a good read about the AM15.

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

 

[suri]

Bose is the most sold speaker system in the world - IMO.

just look at the designer stand pictured in the link below-

Your Wii Is Not Fancy Enough For This Horgan Becket Media Cart - Horgan becket media cart - Gizmodo

and what do you see ? - attention - it is a Bose!

 

[sandeepmohan]

Oh you should try that book shelf in a home that is very unfriendly to Hi Fi and see if you can hear all of 50Hz. And most regular homes are not tailored for a book shelf to sound good. I am struggling with one myself.

I am not equating anything. A good book shelf is hopeless if it is not setup well. The design of the AM5 has no such issues. Its a design more suited to the layout of a regular home & it does not need any special placement or positioning for it to sound good.

I am well aware of the capabilities of a book shelf speaker system.

Please don't talk about book shelf speakers off a Mini Hi Fi. They don't even fit in this thread.

The link you provided is very informative but I am still for Bose Speakers. TO ME they sound good.

 

[deba]

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html


I dont know who that numskull was who stated in this abovementioned 2004review (link) that the satellite module produces upto 13Khz only. Its proved beyond doubt that the review is qualified garbage written with a malafide intention. I am not a great devotee of Bose but it hurts to see false reviews being written to mislead people.

Bose AM 5 is not an audiophile grade speaker but not as bad a speaker either as pointed out in many magazines and online forums.

 

[square_wave]

If one has a serious issue with bookshelf/traditional speakers, you can of course look at a sub/satellite system. Sometimes that is the only solution that works.
But there are dozens of far superior sub/sat systems available which will far outperform the bose.

For most of us, bose is never an option. The tinny/plasticky sounds puts me off whenever I hear one. I have lived with the 601 and at least a dozen of my friends have the AM series loudspeakers in my hometown and some in the city. Surprisingly all of them listen to mainstream film songs and pop songs. It works for them. I cant stand them. They do not do anything right with Jazz, western and Indian classical/classic rock. I can write an essay on this. But I guess it is just a waste of time.

 

[suri]

If one has a serious issue with bookshelf/traditional speakers, you can of course look at a sub/satellite system. Sometimes that is the only solution that works.
But there are dozens of far superior sub/sat systems available which will far outperform the bose.

For most of us, bose is never an option. The tinny/plasticky sounds puts me off whenever I hear one. I have lived with the 601 and at least a dozen of my friends have the AM series loudspeakers in my hometown and some in the city. Surprisingly all of them listen to mainstream film songs and pop songs. It works for them. I cant stand them. They do not do anything right with Jazz, western and Indian classical/classic rock. I can write an essay on this. But I guess it is just a waste of time.

hey square_wave,

like you say it is a waste of time - time better spent listening to your scanspeaks.

this thread is best left to true believers and lovers of Bose who will, then, be able to peacefully exchange notes about the suitability and versatility of Bose in any room in the house.

Sayonara, deba - choose well and wisely - as for me, i will never, ever )) participate in a thread in which Bose figures:indifferent14: - and i hope that i will never have to suffer listening to a bose system at a friend's home - which happened recently - at a birthday party, the birthday gift from the wife to the husband was a Bose system - and he says "hey suri, guess what mia (wife) gave me? - boss, the best music system money can buy - boss, what music you want me to play?" - and for the next two hours, sheer torture! - hey, but that was just me, others seemed to like that terrible sound!

and deba, if you are (mis)lead to buy Bose, do not feel too bad, if you like the sound - and Bose is a status symbol in some circles:indifferent14:

 

[suri]

dear suri-ji
our deba is now lookin at B&W........ (just follow the thread in Spks)
what an 'about 180 deg turn' from Bose to Bowers..........
or will it be a 360 deg back.........:lol:

Oh, that is great news! - especially if deba buys a 685 and you help him with the mundorf upgrade!:yahoo: