Bose Wave Music Systems......

[Musketeer]

I've been intrigued by all the advertisement lately for Bose Wave music systems. Does anyone have one? I like the fact that it is compact, but is the sound that good?

Is it worth the price or the hype?

I see that Wave Music System II is now available as well.

 

[Nickelodeon]

I think you will get strong and diverging opinions on your question.

My suggestion is to go to a reputable dealer (maybe Kromer) and listen to the wave vs. some other compare smaller audio package that they sell. Then you can make a solid decision based on quality or quality vs. size trade-off.

At the end of the day, the audio quality as it sounds to you, is the only thing that matters.

 

[The Bandit]

Bose systems/speakers are way over-rated. Do you notice they're rarely set up beside anything to compare them with?

I have two sets of Bose speakers, 201's and 301's only because I got them used at a good price...$99, and $150.

 

[wetnose]

I've been intrigued by all the advertisement lately for Bose Wave music systems. Does anyone have one? I like the fact that it is compact, but is the sound that good?

Is it worth the price or the hype?

I see that Wave Music System II is now available as well.

Hype hype hype. Do yourself a favor and stay away from Bose.

If you want a high-water benchmark, bring your 2 or 3 of your favorite CDs to Bloor Radio and audition the Totem speakers with Naim components.

 

[crystalpalace]

Agree with the consensus. Bose is nice but overpriced. They have a very good marketing team but their brand glitz is starting to fade. Notice a few years back all the high end car makers were installing Bose systems in their cars but that has been reduced to only a handful of mid to upper market brands in the past few years.

If you are going to spend that amount of money on a stereo system make sure you check out Bay-Bloor Radio in Manulife Center to see all your options as mentioned by wetnose. Ideally you want three distinct flavors of music that your ears are familiar with so that you can thoroughly test the equipment out in the full audio range.

 

[bennyboy68]

for what it's worth, i have an acoustic wave radio - and love it.
also have a bose home theatre (the tiny jewel cube speakers) and their noise-cancelling headphones for when i travel...

so i'm a bose man.
oh well.

are there cheaper systems out there? - sure
can they sound as good? i'll even say yes - or at least maybe

i, for one, have never regretted purchasing any of my bose gear.

take, for example, the time my new lab puppy decided to work her way behind my entertainment centre and proceed to chew wires...4 years after i had bought the system...

i called bose to order new wires, and they shipped them to me free.
the entire set - not just the one she chewed.

so my advice?
go listen to a ton of systems.
read.
ask friends.
set a budget and stick to it...

and the end of the day, your perception is your reality.
if you think it sounds like the best system in the world, then it is!

 

[terb1248]

I've been intrigued by all the advertisement lately for Bose Wave music systems. Does anyone have one? I like the fact that it is compact, but is the sound that good?

Is it worth the price or the hype?

I see that Wave Music System II is now available as well.

are there cheaper systems out there? - Absolutely
can they sound as good? No, they sound way better than Bose. Giving the same amount of money it is hard to find other sounds worse than Bose.

Bose is crap, that's all. Bose is for those don't now about equipment, and have too much money to burn. Don't be misled when you are auditing Bose. The apparently good sound is not what qualify as a good equipment: namely clean, full, tight bass, clear and not irritating tremble, sweet middle. Listen carefully, you will find none of them in Bose systems.

If you are going to spend $1500, stay away of Bose. I may consider it for casual listening in a small room if it were below $500.

You can get a fairly decent set of separates mid-fi ($500 cd, $500 int. amp. from say NAD or cambridge audio; $500 speakers from JBL or Polk). It is totally other level.

 

[The Bandit]

I suggest you go listen for yourself and shop at a quality store like Bay Bloor to audition them for yourselves. Your own ears will tell you what to buy.

Or you can shop a the Bose store in Yorkdale where there's no competiton.

 

[wetnose]

i do have a warning though. This Hi-Fi world is like the mp/sp world. It gets addictive fast. You'll keep on wanting to get better sound. Once you head down that road there is no return. I speaking from experience.

Well as long as you discipline yourself with a budget it's OK. After a certain point...say $1500 for a bookshelf system, the improvement in sound is marginal, IMO.

Just listen and judge accordingly, don't believe in the hype or reviews. There's a reason why Bose advertises so much....because they suck. Ever see ads for Harvard or Oxford, the best universities in the world? No, right?

 

[WoodPeckr]

Have to agree Bose is way overrated.
Just go and lisrten to Bose and competitors and you will see you can easily find speakers sounding the same or better for half the price of Bose.
Don't fall for all that Bose marketing.

 

[Cinema Face]

I never heard the wave system but my experience is consistent with the consensus here. Bose is a great marketing company with a big advertising budget selling a grossly overrated, overpriced product.