Bose Cube's Vs. 4 way speakers

[Soul Coughing]

I have book shelf speakers from an older mini-system that are set up as my main speakers. I recently aquired a center bose cube and a left and right speakers. the left and right bose speakers are set up as my left and right rear surround sound speakers. I also have two older speakers my dad gave me at the back of the room to play the B speakers when im entertaining friends and not just sitting in front of my computer.
The speakers at the front of my room are pretty good, at least to me, listening to mp3's through my Live 5.1. Now im thinking of getting the AVL 701, or whatever its called as a cheap sound card upgrade. Now my question is two-part. First, do you think i would hear a difference if i switched those bose speakers and put them as my front speakers? are they any good? also, will i hear a noticable difference to my music when i get this new sound card? I also have a sub beneath my desk with a 150 cut-off. Asthetically I cannot make up my mind. Do i keep the the bookshelf speakers to give some size to my desk, or go the minimalist approach with the (perceived) quality of bose to the opposite sex? any response would be appreciated.

Cheers, Jonathan

 

[Eric1285]

The bose speakers you have probably aren't very good. It'd be helpful if you could post what kind of speakers your dad gave you. Chances are, they're better than the bose.

 

[GodsMadClown]

Sell the Bose crap on your local craigslist and use the money for better speakers. Bose has a high brand recognition, and a very decent resale value.

 

[pigwalk]

Try out those Bose speakers before you get rid of them. I´ve used over a dozen bose setups, from the low end clock radio to the pro gear used in small clubs, and I´ve NEVER heard any of it sound anything but incredible. It´s really amazing how thye can get their speakers to sound 5 times their actual physical size.

Shows you what a good R&D department can do for you.

-wil

 

[mustang_steve]

I say, go buy a yamaha bp4500 6.1 speaker set and enjoy far better sound.

They arent high end or anything, but they are a decent value for what you get.

 

[MrJohnson]

Try out those Bose speakers before you get rid of them. I´ve used over a dozen bose setups, from the low end clock radio to the pro gear used in small clubs, and I´ve NEVER heard any of it sound anything but incredible. It´s really amazing how thye can get their speakers to sound 5 times their actual physical size.

Shows you what a good R&D department can do for you.

-wil

actually for the price you can get much better speakers.

 

[Deleted member 72990]

Try out those Bose speakers before you get rid of them. I´ve used over a dozen bose setups, from the low end clock radio to the pro gear used in small clubs, and I´ve NEVER heard any of it sound anything but incredible. It´s really amazing how thye can get their speakers to sound 5 times their actual physical size.

Shows you what a good R&D department can do for you.

-wil

generally people by speakers for sound, not size. however, even a set of promedias sounds better than anything i've heard from bose. i've found bose spekaers generally to distort easily

 

[E4g1e]

You see, I have personally listened to many Bose loudspeakers. Every single one of them made in the past 15 years or so that I've heard were sonically unimpressive: The bass on the Bose speakers was muddy and one-note; the highs were muffled and grainy; the mids were shouty and uneven.

 

[scottatwittenberg]

i had bose cubes and thought they sounded great.. then i got some BIC v62i or something like that.. basically $125 a pair bookshelves.. and they made the bose sound like they have pillows in front of them.. so i traded the bose to my dad for some old 601 or 501 or something floorstanders.. so i am not a big fan of bose.. but they are great for most people cause they just are like.. those are loud for their size...

 

[madmike]

i had bose cubes and thought they sounded great.. then i got some BIC v62i or something like that.. basically $125 a pair bookshelves.. and they made the bose sound like they have pillows in front of them.. so i traded the bose to my dad for some old 601 or 501 or something floorstanders.. so i am not a big fan of bose.. but they are great for most people cause they just are like.. those are loud for their size...

The only thing loud is a single octave. The bose speakers are THE worst sounding speakers for their price in the world. Thats not my opinion although ihave heard them many times and they suck. Thats scientific fact. They are missing a complete frequency range. They do have high brand recognition though so sell them and buy something decent with the money.

read this here http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

 

[FastBu]

Wait a minute... how is it a "scientific fact" that you listened to speakers and your OPINON was that you didnt like them? I dont see anything scientific about that at all. Posting opinions is fine, but lets not try to get ahead of ourselves making credentials sound like more than they are.

And on topic, i think Bose sounds fine and for the most look cool. For the money you could get selling them though, you may be able to end up with something better... or at least something as good and some extra money.

 

[molson3530]

Wait a minute... how is it a "scientific fact" that you listened to speakers and your OPINON was that you didnt like them?

Read the article. I think that the sound mesurements used in it could be classified as "scientific".

Also, I think that you should ditch the Bose speakers. I have never heard a good sounding Bose system. They sound good to people who do not know what good sound is.

 

[Deleted member 72990]

Bose system. They sound good to people who do not know what good sound is.

that is the most shockingly true statement i've heard all day.

 

[Hvatum]

The only thing loud is a single octave. The bose speakers are THE worst sounding speakers for their price in the world. Thats not my opinion although ihave heard them many times and they suck. Thats scientific fact. They are missing a complete frequency range. They do have high brand recognition though so sell them and buy something decent with the money.

read this here http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

Thanks for the link. I had the chance to demo on of their Acoustimass systems and was honestly not impressed. Having read Rich Wang's assessment I know how bad the situation really is - to think I nearly bought their Acoustimass!

 

[mustang_steve]

gotta remember...bose does sound better than your average boombox or shelf system with "full-range" speakers. This is why people still think they are so hot.

As for the rest, tehy sell small, simple gear...that appeals to them...however, with some work, tehy could get hold of a NAD compact DVD/receiver unit and a 5-channel klipsch quintet speaker set with a 10" klipsch sub for about the price of those lifestyle systems....and with exception to the console being taller, and the sub being a hack of a lot bigger, the sattelites are still just about as unobtrusive as the Bose ones.

Basically, there's tons of options for those willing to look. Athena, energy, klipsch, and many others make some very nice compact surround systems for equal or less than Bose's offering. Actually I would feel safe saying your average HTiB from any decent name brand, like yamaha or onkyo in the $200-300 price range would match or exceed bose.

It's not so much as bose bashing as it is just showing that better can be had for the cash.

I used to want a pair of 901's myself....then one day heard them...another dream shattered, since my modified KLH floorstanders sounded better at an end cost of $180 a pair

 

[Thor]

I used to want a pair of 901's myself....then one day heard them...another dream shattered, since my modified KLH floorstanders sounded better at an end cost of $180 a pair

finaly.. some one else that knows that KLH infact arnt crap speakers.. i have a set of 5001a's (not the b's) and wouldnt trade them for anything in the same price range... (i paid 100$ a piece for em... at cosco... ) thow i would like to drive them with more power...(powered by a TEAC AVG4200 80x2 (dose pro L surround but not useing it) heh i would love to hear em at the 300w rms there rated for.. but cant find a 2 channel amp that is capable of doing it... considering getting a plate amp here (udc400) for each box and driveing the 12's off of it and running the mids and tweets off the 80w provided by the reciver...(should be more than ample... ) but they sound plenty good and are freaking loud at only 80w... are there better.. shure.. but for the price... good luck

thore

 

[Deleted member 72990]

finaly.. some one else that knows that KLH infact arnt crap speakers.. i have a set of 5001a's (not the b's) and wouldnt trade them for anything in the same price range... (i paid 100$ a piece for em... at cosco... ) thow i would like to drive them with more power...(powered by a TEAC AVG4200 80x2 (dose pro L surround but not useing it) heh i would love to hear em at the 300w rms there rated for.. but cant find a 2 channel amp that is capable of doing it... considering getting a plate amp here (udc400) for each box and driveing the 12's off of it and running the mids and tweets off the 80w provided by the reciver...(should be more than ample... ) but they sound plenty good and are freaking loud at only 80w... are there better.. shure.. but for the price... good luck

thore

klh actually represents a pretty good value, but i have a weird experience with the one product i bought from them. it was a 10' subwoofer that wouldnt turn off even when i flipped the off switch. i was worried about it so i took it back for a refund.

some reviews i've seen around the internet describe how klh is better than bose (and they are). they are amusing to read if you find them.

 

[compslckr]

my mom has one of those bose "wave" radios(like this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39821&item=5769287601&rd=1), and she thinks it is the greatest thing, and everytime people come over she always turns it up pretty loud to "show it off". in my opinion it sounds very flat and inconsistant, some of the highs seem to be way higher than they should be and the lows are almost non-existant. i would gladly take my denon avr-485 and polk r-15s over the wave radio that cost more than twice as much (my system was receiver-$180, r-15s, $49; she paid $480 for the wave radio)

i think bose is highly over rated, and i too would recomend selling those bose cubes and getting some better speakers that will cost less.

 

[GodsMadClown]

I would reccomend better speakers. Try the Fosgates over at Accessories4less.com.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=878530

 

[mustang_steve]

If ound for the most part, KLH today uses decent drivers, but crap crossovers and unbraced (and thin) wood for the enclosures.

What I did was add some hardcore bracing to the inside, as well as added a large amount of damping material to the inside. This was a sealed box, but a pretty big one....just about 4 more inches of depth and it would be acoustic susension....I think the woofer didn't mind the loss of a little volume.

Then I fixed up the crossovers. The stock ones were just terrible...all it was was the midrange and tweeters had high passes on them...the woofer was being run full-range. So I set the woofer at 2khz, the mid at 2khz to 6.5khz, and the titanium tweeter to 6.5khz. Good thing I had an extensive junk drawer at the time so I caould affford all this and hit only $60 on top of the price of the speaker.

When it came time to sell them....I didn't have time to find someone since I had to move fast for my new job...so I sold it to a pawn shop....after the owner tried them, he told me he wasn't going to resell them and he would give me $250 on the spot

...he knew they were modified, he had a stock pair of the 10" woofer models on the floor already..

 

[Soul Coughing]

ok, well thanks for the responses. the front speakers i have now are from an Aiwa mini-system. The back ones from my dad (maurdant-short pagaunts) could have been good, possibly 20 years ago when he bought them, subsequently, when i was 10 i turned up the speakers way too loud and blew the tweeters and now have some radioshack ones, one with a ghetto fab crossover i made. So i doubt they would reproduce acceptable sound. OK, so i guess ill check out the boss as the front. See how it sounds and go from there... and then if its a no-go, i get some nice 200 a pair shelf speakers... any recs? thanks guys

Jonathan

 

[mustang_steve]

I hope you still have the tweeters...if so get them rebuilt by a reputable spaker repair shop. Mordaunt-short makes some damn nice speakers...and even 20 years old will be better than those aiwas.

Heck, I started out with a 1960-1970s pair of sansuis that pretty much blew everything else I could afford away for quite some time. Given they weren't great..but for a 15 year old's budget, they were very very nice.

That was about 10 years ago...

Old speakers are great for starters.

For upgrading remeber to get your source and receiver up to par, then go looking for nice speakers. No need to drop buku bucks on your source/receiver though. Be practical...you just want something you can grow into, since speakers will yield a greater bang for the buck...so save the cash for that.

Also remeber you can buy speakers that are too big for the room....this is the one thing that annoys me to no end...some guy putting floorstanders in a 6x8 room....for a room that small nothing bigger than 5-1/4" woofers....in my 11x14 bedroom I wouldn't go beyond an 8" "bookshelf" speaker.

edit: oh and if you can do good solder work, check out the BR-1 kit from parts express. They are about $140 shipped, add $10 or so for shielded woofers. I use the unshielded ones and they are really nice. They aren't the most sensitive things in the world though, and don't have the best power handling either (something like 75w)...but they do put out some good sound.

 

[Deleted member 72990]

Also remeber you can buy speakers that are too big for the room....this is the one thing that annoys me to no end...some guy putting floorstanders in a 6x8 room....for a room that small nothing bigger than 5-1/4" woofers....in my 11x14 bedroom I wouldn't go beyond an 8" "bookshelf" speaker.

lol, your post makes me feel ashamed. i have a 11x14 room (pretty modestly sized) and i have a 12 velodyne sub, and 4 mtx floorstanders with either 10" or 12" bass driver in each.

but then again, im only 20 and i plan to move out when i finish college in a couple years, so they were more intended for increased usage when i have a bigger place to live.

 

[E4g1e]

Also remeber you can buy speakers that are too big for the room....this is the one thing that annoys me to no end...some guy putting floorstanders in a 6x8 room....for a room that small nothing bigger than 5-1/4" woofers....in my 11x14 bedroom I wouldn't go beyond an 8" "bookshelf" speaker.

In fact, speaker systems that are too big for the room will actually sound worse than speaker systems that are properly sized: No matter where you place those huge floorstanders in such tiny rooms, you'll end up with overly boomy, resonant, muddy, one-noted bass. In fact, I've tried almost every imaginable size of woofers in my 8.5x11 bedroom before finally settling on a pair which has 6.5" woofers.