Would anyone care for a Bose 901 Lifestyle system?

If he agrees, you're lucky. Nothing to beat 901s

Thanks for the offer but i am going to decline. Bose is all about extensive marketing and very little quality.... If i had some Bose speakers i would be dying to off load them.

ciao

I tend to agree with puchoo on this one.

manek.

Now I'm real angry! Grrr!

Ever since I bought my new component stereo system, my mother's been picking on me since the speakers don't look as attractive as Sony's minicompos.

My brother poohs the system as sounding nothing like his ultimate 901s.

I now have you forum guys telling me that Bose is no great shakes.

So what's the truth? Just tell me where in Mumbai can I compare a 901 side by side with another accomplished speaker?

cant help you there.... im not from Mumbai but im sure there are enuf guys out there who are.

ciao

Neutral, why dont you go to the bose shop at crossroads and then just hop across to the shop opposite and hear the jamo D870. Both flagship products. I guess you will hear the difference.

Manek.

hi ,

Initially I too had the impression that Neutral has. I felt that Bose was the best etc. But when I heard the others, I felt Bose was all marketing and very less quality.
For those of you in Banglore, ProFX (for Jamo and Polk Audio) and Bose and very close to each other. Just have a visit and compare. Bose is all just name and pure advertising and very expensive.

There are many other brands with better quality and less price.

-- Viv

HEY GUYS!
TAKE A LOOK AT THIS WHAT i FOUND ON THE NET...
I have never seen so much anger and anguish over anything material...
http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

this is possibly oneof the only pieces of literature available on the net which criticizes bose on technical and scientific data. I hadf th opportunity to read this a while back and found it quite enlightning. Was going to post it up myself but u beat me to it. A must read!

yep, read it many months ago.

Go to a bose showroom and ask for technical specs of their speakers...you wont find any. Ask them whats the frequency range of the speakers and they say "sir they are full frequency speakers". They say that even for their bookshelf models and the wave radio

I remember going there with a friend for that bose demo. Their amp unit was clipping very badly and speakers distorting. I pointed that out and they insisted that something was wrong with the demo CD track

Inspite of all that there are a lot of people who buy bose.

Hey ! to each his own !

Manek.

I did the same back in Delhi at the Bose showroom at CP... and i was told that the specs are confidential... straight on!

I have had the opportunity to extensively use one system in particular - i think its the 5 series (??) which an aunt of mine bought for tons of moolah about an year back...

Forget finding faults with the sound... the unit in terms of cosmetic condition has failed to deliver.. little chips of paint or whatever here and there.. the power plug has become loose.. the bass module wire is loose..

like the man said - to each his own!

Thanks Manek,

I'll check out Crossroads. Nothing beats learning for oneself. Yes Bose offers full-range drivers. The objective is to eliminate crossover distortion present in the critical mid-range region of other speakers. However, you won't get deep bass since the 901 uses 4.5" drivers.

puchoo, the specs are not confidential but embarrasing so maybe thats the reason why they told you what they did :-) Even their cabinet construction is flimsy.

Neutral,
the 4.5" drivers used by bose can hardly be called full range:-) though technically they may be so.

Do go over to crossroads. you will find out for yourself. please hear the Jamo D870. Also hop over to profx on the same floor and hear the polk audio LSI 8/9 bookshelf speakers(45k MRP). You will find that they are better than the bose flagship.

Manek.

Bose is good for people who upgrade from minicompos or typical kenwood/pioneer rack systems. In fact Bose is targeted at this audience. I have owned the Bose 401 in the past and my cousin owns a 901. The speakers that I sold recently the wharfedale diamond 8.4 is a far better speaker than the 401 and the 601. The 901 is also no great shakes either. For the price, there are an amazing variety of speakers out there which will knock the socks off them. A typical bose speaker is probably worth 1/3 of its asking price. The acoustimass systems are the worst with tinny treble coming from the plastic container (also known as satellites), a big hole where the mid-range is supposed to be and bloated mid bass.
If you are a satellite/sub lover, you could just buy a pair of handsome small bookshelf speakers with a real mid/bass driver and dome tweeter from some good European /Danish brand and invest in a real powered subwoofer and get killer sound and still save some money.

Amar bose knows how to make speakers but he is not interested in the audiophile market. He targets the casual audio enthusiast who can't make out the difference between the sound of a Steinway piano and a Casio synthesizer. It is a good marketing decision and he is very successful.

square_wave schrieb:

Amar bose knows how to make speakers but he is not interested in the audiophile market. He targets the casual audio enthusiast who can't make out the difference between the sound of a Steinway piano and a Casio synthesizer. It is a good marketing decision and he is very successful.

Interesting.......

That seems to be such a brainy move !!! I hardly remember any other brand doing such tricks so successfully.

Now I seem to understand why Bose hasnt come up with any Audiophile grade of speakers.....If at all they manufacture one, there will be an immediate comparision among their own products and that can even eliminate the ACOUSTIMASS.....

hi there,
you are right, BOSE has been absolutely successful in convincing the masses that they are the best thing available. Particularly true in case of Indians who live abroad. Bose has become sort of status symbol there(of course these guys don't come any where near serious listening). may be Bose is better option than standard minicompos available in Indian market; so that these people can show them off in front of their MINICOMPOaffected friends.& yes it's sometimes really difficult to convince them .
sorry BOSsE YOU ARE NOT CUT FOR AUDIOPHILES.
as Sizes do not matter here.
dressel

The 901s are acually the best of the bOse range and they implemented the Direct Vs Reflected sound pretty well.
perhaps the only Bose product which has a semplance of respect in the audiophile community which is not speaking too much

But then they never claim to be an Audiuophile Company !

it along with B&O are more for the Snob & brand value hence it is not really fair to compare them to the typical audiophile speakers

I never expected my simple post would stir such a lot of controversy!

I checked out the link on the Intellexual site. Ya, the sub-sats setups of Bose suck if what they have said there is completely true. But frankly, when have home theaters been good for music?

I started off with an Artis home theater, realised the sound quality is ordinary and have now moved to a Pulz stereo setup which actually delivers clear laidback mellow sound. But that's audiophile stuff.

Fact is most people want kicks. Big bass, big effects, boombastic stuff. How would an average sucker know that big brand names don't mean great sound quality? My brother never shopped at all. He just went in and bought Bose because it's the 'best'!

Now he and my mother abuse my choice of Pulz (having a really neutral sound) because they have got used to Bose's doctored unnatural sound. My tough luck. Before I turned an audiophile, I was actually prepared to offer my brother a lakh for his system even without ever hearing them. Nothing like marketing hype!

However, all said the 901s do have good soundstaging. You can't deny the reflecting concept does have its merits. All sub-sats (except Lithos) that I have heard are mediocre and only lifestyle customers buy them.

Well there are some wonderful Subsat combinations as well which apparently outdo fullrangers at their price
-The Cabasse Baltic + Thor Sub
- The Sonus faber concertino (Not really a Sat) + Rel Strata another amazinp pair..

But they cost MONEY

Let me clarify. I was referring to the sub sats used in the regular home theaters. Not to proper bookshelfs backed by subwoofers which can deliver good sound.