What with my living room CD player having broken down at last, after 10 years, and a handsome bonus expected in the near future, I’m thinking of buying a Bose Wave system, perhaps this one. As you can see from their website, it sells for a little more than a grand. Can anyone tell me of any experiences with this unit? It would be used in a large living room. In terms of portability and simplicity, it seems too good to be true.
[fixed coding-Czarcasm]
A few years ago, I bought a Wave radio. The sound was very good but not blow you away good like they advertise. After a few of months, it just died. I didn’t try to get it repaired so I can’t tell you about their customer service or support.
I have had a Bose CD player in my office for the past 3 years. I really like it, so much so that I got my parents one (with the assistance of my sibs) for Xmas last year. I haven’t had any problem with it at all, and neither have my folks.
That about sums it up. I’ve listened to some Bose product like this (can’t remember the specific one) in a Bose store in a mall, and thought it sounded okay–but not for the price they were charging. You’d be much better off spending the money on separates (i.e., CD player, tuner, preamp, amp, speakers)–this will give you better quality and makes it much easier to upgrade your system in the future.
Listen to Hunter Hawk. It’d be much better to buy quality components separately instead of blowing over a thousand dollars on some mediocre Bose all-in-one. Or, if you want everything in one box, find something cheaper. As long as you read some reviews first, you can get something better for less.
The Bose system sounds as good as some $150 systems I’ve listened to. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound a fifth as good as the worst $1000 system on the market, which is what that Bose radio will cost you.
I worked for Bose in the early 90s when they were rolling out the first version of the Acoustic Wave. Although at the time it was marketed as a go-anywhere portable, it was not built to operate that way.
It is meant to be a compact, one-piece indoor stereo. Part of the Bose philosophy of the time was that people were tired of having to hook all these components together, and would prefer to have things as simple as they once were. Hence the Acoustic Wave, and the Lifestyle Music System, which I don’t iknow if they still market.
Placed in a not-too-large room with decent acoustic properties, I can verify by experience that the sound is incredible. You get the impression of stereo imaging no matter where you stand in the room, with a rich deep bass, thanks to a convoluted resonance tube folded right into the box. It does not fare that well in a larger room. From the looks of it, they have not changed the design since then.
I also recall that the CD mechanism used was substandard in the 1990 version.
You must also remember that Bose is the Apple Computer of the audio electronics industry, focused on experimentation and creativity rather than profit. Their items are priced not necessarily to reflect the superior engineering of their work, but to keep the company afloat between successes.
Among audiophiles (I don’t claim to be one), Bose has a reputation as a company with a marvelous marketing division, a crap product line, and a long list of suckers as customers. My novice ears agree with this, FWIW.
Take a look at http://www.hometheaterspot.com/htsthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat= . This is a forum called Home Theater Spot, with subforums devoted to different manufacturers (scroll down a bit). Note the only manufacturer forum with a warning not to bash its products.
The joke is if you want Bose sound, buy another brand and throw a comforter over the speakers.
If you do not want “all those wires” hanging around and you don’t like the way separates look then the Bose rig is a good choice (in a small room). I spent a load of money on Bose speakers (AM 15) and at first people laughed at me (some still do) but they sound great!, The “audiophile” folks snub Bose products but in my social circle there are several (AM 15, Wave Music System, noise cancelling headphones) and we are all VERY happy with our stuff. You can get “better” sound but finding it in a small, attractive package is difficult (that said Bose equipment is not cheap!), buy from Bose.com and use the “same as cash” deal.
unclviny
I agree with Hunter Hawk, the sound is decent, but nowhere near worth the price.
Bose only made 1 really good home speaker and then they abandoned it (dumbasses). Find a CD that has a piano, an acoustic guitar, a saxophone and someone singing. Then go a-testin. (places like Best Buy don’t let you test your own music).
For $1,000 I would spend $300 on a receiver and $700 on a pair of bookshelf speakers. Use your DVD player to play CD’s. Try not to let the size of the speakers matter (unless you need something really small). I have my preferences but that is a whole other post. If you are handy and want to build speakers that’s another post. You can make some killer bookshelf speakers.
scotandrsn: Your phrase “impression of stereo imaging no matter where you stand in the room” would perhaps be better phrased as “distorted sound no matter where you stand in the room”. The Bose idea of “Direct/Reflecting® speaker technology” is a deliberate distortion of the audio signal, and I refuse to buy equipment that explicitly has that as a design goal.
unclviny: Some of the Denon shelf systems are surprisingly good, and should be significantly cheaper than the Bose box.
SoP: If you’re really looking for a simple system, I would highly recommend that you look for a used Linn Classik and couple it with a pair of Paradigm Atom speakers. (Of course, this presupposes that you’re willing to buy used audio equipment.) The Classik is a box about…umm…the size of a small pizza box but twice as thick, and contains a CD player, preamp, and amp; depending on the model, it might also have a tuner. The Atoms are small bookshelf speakers that sound VERY good for the price. This would form a system that would be a great entry into genuine hi-fi, and the price should be somewhere in the ballpark of a thousand bucks.
Okay, here’s a thread where I can make a big contribution…
Two months ago, I was looking for a Christmas gift to get for my wife. She’s a discriminating audiophile, and I’m a guy who’s happy if the music doesn’t sound like it’s coming out of a tin can. I wanted to get her a music system for the living room, but it doesn’t have a lot of room to spare, and she’s said she didn’t want speakers scattered all over the place.
Sounds like a perfect solution for the Bose Wave, eh? I was thinking that, but the high price and the less-than-flattering reviews I heard from others was discouraging me.
Then, while wandering around Fry’s Electronics, I bumped into the Cambridge Soundworks Radio CD 740. Only $400 (versus $1000 for the Bose), small size, built-in subwoofer, and – from my in-store tinkering – capable of delivering house-blasting sound without distortion. About the only thing missing was support for multiple CDs, but the sound was impressive enough for me to overlook that. Suffice it to say, the Cambridge blew my wife’s socks off, and everyone who’s listened to it is amazed at the sound quality we get out of the little thing. Best damn gift I ever bought for her.
Ditch the Bose and go with the Cambridge, I say.
Thanks to Czarcasm for your help with my OP.
Thanks to the rest of you for your highly informative yet decidedly disappointing answers. 
:). Maybe if it comes with a good enough warranty I’ll still consider it.
Oh, and thanks to rjung. I’ll definitely give the Cambridge a listen.
Judging by what I know of your typical Fry’s, the accoustics must have been pretty terrible in the store, so if the unit sounded good to you there it must really be good.
Just to let you know, there are at least three current and former employees of Bose marketing on these boards. I was one of them until I was laid off over a year ago. While I am still pissed at Bose for laying me off, I still like their products. However, I do think that they are overpriced. The reason that they are that way though is because their research and development team is enormous. They are not kidding when they talk about all the time and money they put into developing new products. Other companies simply steal their best ideas after they are developed so they can charge much less. I would buy an accoustic wave if I had the money. I borrowed one from work once for a party and it sounded fantastic in my living room.
Anyone who likes good music should appreciate that a pair of headphones equals speakers worth 5-10 times as much.
The guys I learned audio enginereeing from didn’t own car hi-fi gear but they owned real good european headphones. Personally I like open air Sennheisers - people can talk to you while you fill your head with rock.
I used to mix live sound. Whenever I could I used to hire the PA that was all Bose 802s. Crystal clear.
My parents bought us one. As most everyone has already said, the sound is OK, but nothing special. I would not have gone out and bought one myself.
Now that I’ve thought about it, I’d describe it as “the best sounding clock radio I ever owned”. Until it stopped working.
I have a good friend whose entire business is designing and installing custom home sound and video systems. He NEVER touches Bose, because although they don’t sound bad, they sound bad for the cost. They spend a lot on advertising, and charge even more for the perceived status of the name.
You can get more for your money by just asking your local audio geek, and stipulating that you’re just not willing to spend more than the amount for a Wave Radio.