Any Hi-Fi experts in the house?

[Panter]

I have the opportunity to buy a friends Bose 701 speakers. I first heard these things when he first got them and was pretty blown away by the sound.

However, and this is a very long story cut very short, he'll only sell complete with the stereo system which is a Sony Lissa thing that I don't want as I'm quite happy with my old separates.

I have to pay £400.00 for the lot, so the intention would be to sell the stereo on fleabay and try to recuperate what I can. However, worst ways is I have to assume I'll get <£100.00 for it so could end up paying £300.00 for the speakers.

Much as I love the Bose, they are a few Years old now, am I better off looking at something like these new and not having to worry about selling the Sony system? http://www.whathifi.com/review/mission-mx3

 

[Lee_M]

as a sad hifi geek I would say Bose are
over priced, style over substance and sound shoot

but that is of course just an opinion

Not sure you'll get much for the sony either


I dont know the missions so cant comment on those sorry

 

[Dave7]

To my (very limited knowledge) Bose are over rated & over priced.
I would suggest going to your local independant...let him set up a basic system similar to what you expect to end up with.....then let him add speakers starting at, say £250-peaking at £350.
Out of interest I WAS going to swap my Heybrooks for something smaller and went to the local shop. I paid in the region of £200 in the 80's.....they tell me I would have to pay over £800 to get better!!!!! I'm sticking with them.

Quick edit.
With speakers/sound.....it's very much what result you like rather than what is best......you may prefer the ones at £50.00 .......another reason to go to the local independant and listen to a few.

 

[ushills]

Personally I would expect the mission floorstanders to be better than the bose due to their better ability to shift air.

I have not heard the missions but Bose are IMHO not real hifi.

Owner of quad 306, Rotel pre, Dali floorstanders and Kef speakers in the past (the really, really big ones!!!). Nowt will compare to the Kef's for the price.

 

[green1]

Bose are gash. Very much like apple, bought by gullible people taken in by marketing.

 

[marzjennings]

Gotta agree with others here. Bose sound great in the store, but never really live up to expectations when installed in the home. For 199 you could get a nice pair of KEF C3s to connect to your existing system.

 

[Andy_R]

Cambridge Audio...just my contribution....

 

[Panter]

So, I'm getting the feeling that Bose aren't overly popular in the audio world?

Many thanks for all the advice, I shall see what else is available then and take it from there.

 

[Steve H]

It's been a few years since I had a set of Mission Floor Standing Speakers. They were very good, but needed a lot of space. Ideally stood 1 meter from any walls. If you had them too close to the walls they became quite boomy above very low volumes. Not sure if things have moved on, but if you fancy the Missions, I would recommend listening to them how you would like them set up.

 

[Panter]

Thanks Steve, I'll bear that in mind.
Phew, it's a bit of a mind boggling World this AV stuff isn't it!

 

[Cheshire Celt]

I've got a focal set up in the house there amazing but not cheap

 

[threebikesmcginty]

We've got two sets of Tannoy speakers, M2 and M3, wired up to Arcam stuff- still sound good to me after 15-ish years.

I won't mention spending lots of cash on expensive cables though...

 

[subaqua]

We've got two sets of Tannoy speakers, M2 and M3, wired up to Arcam stuff- still sound good to me after 15-ish years.

I won't mention spending lots of cash on expensive cables though...

not oxygen free copper , with gold plated connectors, made from 47 single strands lovingly woven into a cable. i just used some 6mm singles from work.

 

[derrick]

You need to try the speakers on your system, the same speakers sound completely differant with differant amps, bose are alright but there is a lot better out there, B&W for me at the moment running through a Naim system, and the cables don't ask.

 

[Profpointy]

I have the opportunity to buy a friends Bose 701 speakers. I first heard these things when he first got them and was pretty blown away by the sound.

However, and this is a very long story cut very short, he'll only sell complete with the stereo system which is a Sony Lissa thing that I don't want as I'm quite happy with my old separates.

I have to pay £400.00 for the lot, so the intention would be to sell the stereo on fleabay and try to recuperate what I can. However, worst ways is I have to assume I'll get <£100.00 for it so could end up paying £300.00 for the speakers.

Much as I love the Bose, they are a few Years old now, am I better off looking at something like these new and not having to worry about selling the Sony system? http://www.whathifi.com/review/mission-mx3

i don't know Bose speakers - though understand they are a pukka make, but £400 will get some quite serious kit off fleabay. Regarding what you'd get for the sony stuff - my guess would be a lot nearer zero than £100. Perhaps a few tens of pounds if "seperates" - virtually zero if an all-in-one type thing.

As comparison, I recently bought some Kef reference 105/3 for £500 on fleabay. These are said by some to be the best speakers kef ever made - at any rate are astonishingly good - and were apparently £3k new. they are big and weigh 40kg each, so not not exactly bookshelf models, nor acceptable to everyone's domestic authorities.
kef reference 104/2 should be a bit cheaper and broadly similar thing - your mate's bose's would have to be pretty good to give them a run.

That said, I can't comment on the bose choice specifically, but just have a think on what £400 would get you if you know what your getting.

From someone else's comment - the above speakers replaced my tannoy m2 (or was it 3) which are ok for what they are, but obviously not competing with the kefs . I think I sold for no more than £70