Honest review of Bose 535 system

[snkadh]

The net is full of experts who say the bose speakers are of poor quality and with high prices.

But we all know Bose is the biggest most successful speaker comany in the world. And selling a poor product at high price is not a way to succeed over 50 years.

Now they say that it is because consumers are uneducated and Bose marketing is unethical.

At the face of it, they sound like politicians who lose elections and then blame the voters and their campaign techniques.

So I want to hear from people who actually either have a bose system or have tested them extensively.

Hi shkumar,

Before you go for BOSE or any other band, you have to consider the following:
1. The usage of your sound system, i.e., for cinema or for listening music. If mainly for cinema then you can get much more better setup that Bose in nearly half price. For music, i.e.,for stereo setup well I personally believe, BOSE is not upto the mark. I have taken audition of BOSE system before buying my system , they way they represent is amazing. At that time you will be sold to their presentation.

2. If you don't want to do much more DIY setup and go through the extensive research and audition, then BOSE is good. Remember if a brand have this much of reputation, then you can not dump it so easily. But it is over priced.

I was also about to buy a BOSE system last year. Then I visited hisaikat's place and listened his system. BOSE is an expert in making miniature system like bluetooth speaker, etc. And if you auditioned to them, then you could see that their main USP is big sound from small speaker. Rest your decision.

 

[vktyagi]

Without commenting on performance and price, for which I am not qualified, I would like to say that Bose relies on very strong marketing campaign, be it print media, well trained sales staff and presence in every niche market. Bose targets well to do non-audiophiles therefore hit ordinary newspapers and magazines rather audio/video magazines and journals. The result culminates into their high volumes of sales and higher prices. So when an average Indian upgrades from Philips, Sony type mas market audio, only brands he knows are Bose and JBL.

 

[Robert Bose]

Dear Sir

I have Bose 901 MkVI, and Bose 301 MK III

The 901 is a 50 year design, which made the company famous

the 301 was from late 60s Early 70s

All models reduce in quality in proportion to increasing

version no, the first version 901 uses Philips Drivers in a sealed box

and is the best version of the 901

both 901 VI and 301 III lack in resolution and musical tone

Bose has Govt of USA connections being a math prof and

problem solver for US Govt for acoustic and mech issues in

US Army in suspension systems and Helicopters where the noise

cancellation is put to use etc, also he has ties with Major Auto Makers

for expensive car audio systems, thats where the big component of

his turnover comes from , political and Govt connects always help

watch for Adani ......

regarding home Audio, there is very poor Engg in the products

crude pressed steel plate for the speaker baskets, their accent is on

psycho accoustical reserch , which is basically finding out ways to

fool your brain into thinking you are getting genuine good sound

but actually producing 10% distortion in LF which they know by research

your brain cannot distinguish at 50-100 Hz from 1-2% distortion

in competing systems, that is the research they try to do Companies like

Focal, Triangle, etc are way ahead

in SQ along with Many others, ultimately it is not the ears that hear, it is the brain/mindthat hears based on electrical signals from the year

everyone has different way their brain works for same signals coming from the ear based on background , upbringing, listening tastes, conditioning age
mental mood and physical condition, so if Bose sounds good buy it and be happy, it is very difficult to evaluate any system based on short term evaluation in showroom, blind tests are also not conclusive as the listeners
mood and mental state at the time of the test influence the outcome

buy it use in 6 months, if you like it keep it or else sell it

I am looking to sell 901 Mk VI

I am keeping 1984 vintage JBL TI18 bought for 15K 12 years back

it has T1044 tweeter, one of the best I have heard, some other member

may do the opposite, but kindly dont equate company turnover

with Quality or competence, there is no co relation there

Robert Bose

 

[Soundstage]

Ya.. don't mean to prove you wrong, just my 2cents.

But try this, visit a Bose demo store and ask them to disconnect their bass module and play only via the satellites. They will refuse to do it.

Why ? Any other speaker seller will oblige to turn off the sub and play only a select speaker set.

I used to own the Bose AM series some 20 years ago and so I speak from that knowledge/experience. The bass module is designed to be fed directly from the amp and it then sends the mid and high frequencies to the sats. It is an integral part of the speaker system and not an add-on.

It is no wonder that any Bose salesman will refuse to connect the sats direct to the amp. It is like asking any other speaker salesman to connect just the tweeter of a conventional 2 way or 3 way!

 

[Fillmore]

I used to own the Bose AM series some 20 years ago and so I speak from that knowledge/experience. The bass module is designed to be fed directly from the amp and it then sends the mid and high frequencies to the sats. It is an integral part of the speaker system and not an add-on.

It is no wonder that any Bose salesman will refuse to connect the sats direct to the amp. It is like asking any other speaker salesman to connect just the tweeter of a conventional 2 way or 3 way!

Fair enough, maybe a bad example on that point

But when they demo to customers they mislead unsuspecting customers saying all that sound you are hearing is coming from those 2 tiny cubes.

 

[arj]

Fair enough, maybe a bad example on that point

But when they demo to customers they mislead unsuspecting customers saying all that sound you are hearing is coming from those 2 tiny cubes.

is that what they do now ? in the US they used to showoff the woofer by keeping a ball on the port which used to shoot out pretty irritating
i guess 200Hz to 15khz is coming from the cubes..200 and below (i think till around 40) comes from the bass module

It is not really a subwoofer but a transmission loaded woofer

 

[amit11]

I had the Bose sounddock (and still have) before I purchased the new stereo system recently. Like a normal common man, i was not aware of such stereo system with amplifier concept, hence Bose was what I had looked for.

Before the Bose, I had very normal music system with cassette player, and like a novice, "Bass" was what I always used to look for. More bass meant a better system.
After few years, the cassette concept got reduced and I purchased Bose sound dock so that I can plug an ipod and listen at the touch of a remote button. The Bose definitely had a good bass and also a good mid-range(vocals) and clarity.

Again after 3 years, I got tired and felt something missing. Then someone at demo showed me the concept of floor standing speakers and stereo amplifer and thats how I reached till here. (I know I am still a beginner in hifi)

I would not argue whether Bose is good or not, but I would say one thing that I learned to appreciate "vocals" and "the nuances" after listening to Bose only. Before that it was only the bass which i used to look for.

 

[thx911]

Bose music Rocks, but the price Shocks!

 

[shkumar4963]

I apologize for coming back here a bit late. I was traveling and could not find time.

Anyway there is a lot of dialog and a lot of good questions. I will try to provide additional details so that you guys can provide additional insights on this mystery for me. To restate, the mystery is:

"if Bose speakers are of poor quality and with high price, how come the company is the most successful company in the world and that too by a wide margin" I don't have an answer but based on responses so far, it is obvious that many of you do. Let's see if I can understand your answers better.

One responder asked: Why are Bose not sold in Hi-Fi stores? That is a good question and I frankly don't have an answer. I have been working in consumer electronics business for a large multinational. It is not in speaker business but I know that the hi-fi shops charge 35% to 50% margin for selling their products while big box stores do it for 5 to 15%. May be that is the reason?

Someone else mentioned that may be because of their size they dominate the market. But other companies like Yamaha, Sony and Panasonic have similar systems that sell for much lower price than Bose systems but sell a lot less. Why? In fact many high end speaker companies also have small satellite systems with similar or even lower prices but don't sell as much. Why? Let me know your thoughts.

Someone compared Bose to McDonalds saying poor quality can also result in financial success. I would have agreed if McDonalds burgers were priced equal to or higher than a good restaurant burger and still succeeded. But they are not priced that high. So may be their lowers prices is the reason why they are sold in billions. On the other hand Bose speakers, as many of you have mentioned, are priced equal to or above hi end speakers and still are more financially successful.

Some suggested that it must be Bose's marketing genius. That could be. But if that is the reason, I am sure that other companies would like to learn that. Heck.. i would like to learn how I can sell cheap products at high prices and make tonnes of money. I am sure it is part of the answer buy somehow does not explain this large a success completely.

Some suggested that Bose have better word of mouth recommendations. And that may be true. I have often seen that people who actually own Bose give them high marks, as evident from Amazon reviews. But how do you get such good customer reviews when you have a crappy product. How do you convince one person at a time to have positive opinion about your product when the only connection you have with them is through your product and your product is crappy as many of you feel.

In fact, most people get their recommendations from the net nowadays. And Bose does not have very good reviews on the net as is evident from responses here. In that case, the only way for people to buy Bose products will be to go listen to them and make up their mind one-person-at-a-time. So after listening to Bose, why so many people choose them especially if they have poor sound quality and high price?

Some compared it to Apple. And i feel that may be a better analogy (Sorry McDonalds). As Apple figured out early that the phone or MP3 technology had matured sufficiently that the way to improve customer satisfaction would be to give them a more reliable and easy to use user interface, Bose probably had figured out that for speakers, in order to improve its customer satisfaction, it was more important to make the system small and easy to use with good enough sound quality. And may be that is what most customers want and are willing to pay high price for. And that explains their success. But then why the same strategy did not work for Sony, Yamaha and many hi end speaker suppliers who also produced small satellite based systems?

And there may be some truth to that. We all look at speaker's freq. response curves and look for +-3dB frequency response. Somehow we assume that a speaker with flatter frequency response will sound better at home. Now that Room Frequency Measurement and Correction software are free and easily available, we understand that in a typical room frequency response could be + and - 15dB from what speaker is capable of. I often wondered what was the point of me looking for a flat speaker frequency response when my room added unpredictable + or -15 dB. I would love to hear others comments....

The same reason could be (not sure though) for not getting THX certification. It costs money for the speaker company to get THX logo and the testing is done in an anechoic chamber. Companies who have their own brand names and customer acceptance do not have to rely on THX brand name. Does anyone in this forum know how much THX costs?

Finally someone asked if I had heard Bose speakers. And I have. In my personal opinion, they don't sound bad. That is not to say that I have done hours of critical listening with them and KEF LS50 (my favorite) or B&W CM5 with an A/B comparison switch whee I here the same passage over and over again from both of them one after another.

Thank you all for your incisive questions and suggestion. Please let's keep them coming. I am sure we have people in this forum who can clarify this mystery for all of us. May be other speaker companies can learn as well. I see so many good speaker companies go out of business or are taken over by chinese brands. May be they could have been more successful.
(sorry for typos. I am using my smartphone for this)

 

[shkumar4963]

Here is an old review for Acoustimass 15 with some technical data.

Bose Acoustimass Review - intellexual.net

Hope it helps.

 

[arj]

I have been seeing that link since 2003 ..but they changed the specs after this and the "hole " was apparently filled up. But since no one measured it I don't know

 

[shkumar4963]

Robert Bose mentioned that a large portion of Bose revenues come from luxury auto sales. I am perplexed how Bose has been able to convince luxury car companies to buy it's system especially when it is supposed to be of poor quality. Of course I am assuming the these luxury brands do have technical staff who can assess quality properly and are not uninformed consumers. That is another mystery and it has nothing to do with small size or ease of use. Help me guys.. and gals...

 

[amit11]

I had read somewhere that Bose is very good at psyscho acoustics. And seems to be true. They very well know what an human ear likes to hear and what it does not. Hence ear fatigue related to treble is almost nil in their products. Active equalization ( and not passive / static ) takes care of equal loudness concept / fletcher munson curve so even at low volumes it sounds rich. Ofcourse all such things colors the sound, but for most ears it sounds very good. And another reason is not many people know about stereo system with a separate amplifier. ( i also came to know recently). Not many people have heard sound coming from the invisible space between the speakers.

 

[haisaikat]

Of course I am assuming the these luxury brands do have technical staff who can assess quality properly and are not uninformed consumers. That is another mystery and it has nothing to do with small size or ease of use. Help me guys.. and gals...

Like Amit said, car makers also go by phsycho acoustic and tell me something how many people who go to buy luxury cars in that segment take favourite music tracks with them during a Test-Drive ? I do not think a single one of them do. They are there to invest in a luxury car which will raise their social-status and having a branded music system like Bose only adds to that and becomes another selling point. The very concept of luxury car segment is probably built around giving you tons of features that adds to the cost apart from the main aspects (Engines and Driveability and Safety features) 50% of which you might never utilize to their fullest capabilities, add to that the fact that many luxury cars are actually not even driven by owners at least in India.

And another reason is not many people know about stereo system with a separate amplifier. ( i also came to know recently). Not many people have heard sound coming from the invisible space between the speakers.

So very true :clapping:

 

[raju2512]

I haven't listened to much in Bose HT systems. But a few years back Chennai Music Academy changed their sound system to Bose and the effect is awesome. It elevated the concert experience to a different level and I feel it is the next best thing to chamber music

 

[Audio_Freek]

If that is so try to explain the entire fast food industry..especially coke/pepsi/Fries !!
People are idiots and will buy what is sold and this is has always been ever since we discovered "Marketing"
.

Arj Sir,

Just Eco Your Thoughts, Being a commerce student i still remember the statement my Teacher explained the meaning of Marketing (In India, What i understand).

If you have skills to sell the Donkey Shit in a Air tight pack,artificial color and a Model in add and it goes for Pre order ,Its Marketing.

If you have learning habit and like to get things with some study then you are in safe and satisfied Zone. This is the reason "Made in Japan" for the Amps are still attractive in Used Market.

I use JBL 80's Speaker and recently heard the JBL new Models, But the soul is really missing though the cost is almost 3-4 Times higher than Mine.

People would say 70's is era for Music and Systems too. For same quality we need to spend much more.

 

[Kushanava]

Note:On the point that why Bose is not sold in Hifi Shop?
This statement is false ..On every hifi dealer I visited in Perth , they stock Bose.However , they are always marketed as good home theatre speakers or as docking systems.They don't display them in parallel to any Stereo set up.

On a different thought , if again , bose was so good , why are they not used by recording companies?

I have seen people who use Bose for stereo are never active listeners.Where bose excels is on ambient music ..thats why they are so much popular in Shopping malls or in your living room where , you carelessly listen to music.I have never seen any one using a bose in a dedicated "Stereo" listening room , but they may be using them for home theatre.

 

[Soundstage]

Bose's target audience is not the 1 or 2% of the population which cares for quality sound, it is the other 98%. So you will rarely see them advertising in Stereophile or TAs or any of the other mags read by audiophiles. They advertise heavily in newspapers and glossy magazines. Their stress on "Better Sound through Research", added to the fact that Dr. Amar Bose was associated with MIT, has most of this 98% believing that if there is any manufacturer engaged in research it is only Bose. So when a typical person wants to splurge on his first music system, or upgrade from a compo system, the first name that comes to his mind is Bose. He feels comfortable with the name Bose and not intimidated by it, as he would, if told to invest his money in such unheard of entities like ATC, PMC, B&W, Dynaudio, etc. etc. He also hears most of his non audiophile friends, even those who have never seen or heard a Bose speaker, talk of Bose with awe, so it automatically becomes an object to aspire for. And, the fact that those tiny cubes have a tremendous WAF, only helps in his decision.

 

[Robert Bose]

WAF cannot be emphasized enough, it is 50% of the Target already achieved

another 25% for tracability to MIT, final 25% to the big time moolah spent on

advts, I took my Cd to a Bose Event in Bangalore that had all their systems on display

and for purchase also, as well as visited Bose Store Bangalore with my ECM Jazz Cds

their Satellite/Woofer Box was a disgrace, but some 15 years back they had a tall huge

tower speaker, around 5 feet high, at Bose Store near Plaza, it sounded damn good

it was playing with Yamaha 80W amp costing 20 K then , I asked the cost of speaker

they said 78 K or so , I went home, after 5 years I carried 78K to the same Bose Store

and enquired for the tall huge speaker that used to be there, they told me it was

scrapped, Manufacture stopped years back, it could have been 10.2 or 601 Mk3

it had side firing driver in the centre, the sales man said this was based on obsolete

tech and was now replaced with the latest satellite/LF Box concept

that was the last time I visited Bose Store near Plaza Cinema Bangalore

I had listend to all the other stuff in the store, this was the only one that made music

that too with a 80W, 20K Yamaha which was affordable, I have never seen this big

tower speaker with a side firing driver in the Bose ads that used to come in Audio Mags

at the time, they even coined a new term ,Accoustimass at that time

Bose was from MIT as a Math Prof with high level connection in the military Political

Establishment and no doubt was one of the top guns in that field and we should

appreciate and respect him for that, James B Lansing was a watch maker and repairer

there is a big contrast there, Bose Inc achievements as an Audio Company on the

other hand will not have had any significant contribution to the field of Audio

even the Sub Sat concept predates Bose and the Names of Edgar Villuch, James B

Lansing, Rudy Bozak and many others will be towering in this field

but having said that as someone pointed out 83-94 was the Golden Age of JBL and

other companies, the sheer quality of Engg put in to the products is amazing

today if you want the Good JBL you have to shell out 1.6L and above

compared to which, Bose is cheap, the 30-60 K range of JBL and other

big names has dipped very much in Quality, I have JBL E60

it is not a good a good speaker, better than Bose 301 current version

but nowhere compared to the 80s JBLs, Focal W Cone series driver based

speakers, with inverted titanium tweeter are good, I also have a beat up

condition Yamaha NSM 1000 bought from this forum , which is 38 years old

and holds itself against any other speaker I have come across.

Robert Bose

 

[shkumar4963]

I haven't listened to much in Bose HT systems. But a few years back Chennai Music Academy changed their sound system to Bose and the effect is awesome. It elevated the concert experience to a different level and I feel it is the next best thing to chamber music

Yes. That is what is perplexing. When people who invest time and energy and are knowledgeable lime Chennai Music Academy choose Bose, how can we say that Bose is of poor quality. I am sure advertising will pay a much smaller part in that decision. is there anyone in this forum who has worked for any such institutions amd tell us how Bose achieves that quality that supposedly high end speakers (read KEF, B&W, Dali etc) can not.