Are Bose products good enough to justify their prices?

[Arch]

I'm told by electronic engineers that by the time you can afford the really good Hi Fi (with the extended range at the bottom and top of the audible range) your ears will be too old to hear those frequencies properly.

So God really does have a sense of humour!

I think we've (IE, the human race) reached a stage where all the improvements we can make to technology are arguably wasted on the average human body, which we're mostly powerless to improve - I mean, beyond correcting deficiencies. I'm thinking of HD tv, and so on, when so many of us have less than perfect vision, and even if we do, the benefit to be gained from HD is often minimal. After all, a TV programme is only as good as it's content. Morecambe and Wise are no funnier in HD. Fred Astaire is no better a dancer.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Sennheiser make better headphones IMO, so no in regard to the OP's question; Bose might be good, but they're a complete rip too.

 

[Milo]

Bose are a fantastic example of marketing over performance.

 

[fossyant]

I paid about £500 for my JVC separates system 26 years ago, so I don't suppose £600 for a BOSE isn't that bad.

Still have my JVC system, huge compared to the stuff now but it works. Only thing that started playing up was the CD player, so I upgraded that to a 5 disc Technics changer about 15 years ago.

 

[RhythMick]

Can you still get the needles for the gramaphone?

Lol. Koetsu Rosewood cartridge, but close.

 

[MontyVeda]

I paid about £500 for my JVC separates system 26 years ago, ...

it's mad isn't it... a half decent separates system still costs around £4-500, just like they did in the 80's... TDK blank cassettes still seem to be around £4-5 for a five pack (if you can find 'em!), the same i was paying 20+ years ago... some things just aren't affected by inflation... or am i going prematurely senile?

 

[Night Train]

Many years ago in the days of transistor radios you could buy an extension speaker which was claimed to dramatically improve the sound quality. I bought one and have to admit it really did work. Certainly not hi-fi, but plug it into the earphone socket and it was like having a mains radio on. One day I decided to take it to bits and see what made it work. All it was was a cardboard tube with a small speaker in one end pointing along the tube. A bit of fancy trim at each end and that was it. I can't deny that the Bose radios are very good and I would love one, but having seen what they are they are inside they are the same principle as my cardboard tube.

My phone has crappy speakers. It is much improved when the phone is placed inside a cardboard tube or a box.
When camping with Arch and friends, once, I put my phone in a cooking pan (when not using it for cooking) and we got quite acceptable campsite entertainment from it.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Bose seems to be the Marmite of HiFi.
To compensate for the smaller range of smaller surround speakers the sub is asked to cover more.
I know people who rave about it, but I'm not one of them. But then I've got the room, and I once had the budget for my great big B&W 602s3 etc.

 

[fossyant]

Can you still get the needles for the gramaphone?

Can and have done recently !

 

[Rob3rt]

Go to an audiophile or Hi-Fi forum and ask this question

I think a prevailing opinion is that they are mediocre product's at "premium" prices.

* I have no opinion on Bose, don't use their equipment!

 

[Panter]

BOSE get a real slating everywhere I've inquired about them!
However, I must have cheap hearing as I like the sound of their kit, in fact, I like it a lot.
I have a pair of 6.2's and a pair of 701's in my front room

I recently bought one of the WAVE radios (sorry Bose haters!), it sounds incredible for what it is.
However, I bought it 2nd hand for just over £200.00, don't think I'd pay 3x that for one.

 

[swee'pea99]

There's a pretty savage (but persuasive, with much hard data) hatchet job on Bose here.

Elsewhere among folks who know of such things, the general consensus seems to be that if very small is all important to you, they'll do a pretty fair job without cluttering the place up, but other than that they're very overpriced for what they deliver.

 

[Globalti]

If BOSE stuff was cheap nobody would beleive it was any good.

Suntour learned a very hard lesson about marketing equipment too cheap.