Be Excellent To Each Other

I've apparently been a very good boy this year and wifey wants to reach into her own purse to buy me something expensive for Christmas. I quite fancy one of those BOSE DAB/CD whatsits, but are they actually worth the money?

No, BOSE kit is purchased by morons with more money than sense. BOSE is all about marketing and looks. Function doesn't really come into it. It's not like, say, an Apple where at least the hardware is a decent spec and the OS is nice. BOSE kit can be outperformed by many pieces of kit that you can pick up at Richer Sounds for half the price.

Go to a Richer store, see what's on offer (and listen!). They are decent people and they will sell you something better and cheaper than BOSE.

But if you do get the BOSE, remember to get the special mains cables and oxygen free speaker cable*.


* Yours for only £299 a metre.

No. Not unless you're going to get a commercial installation.

Let me elaborate:
NO.

If you want a BOSE, buy one. If something else tickles your fancy, buy that.

Do what you want, man!

So that's a NO on the BOSE DAB/CD whatsit.

So what DAB/CD whatsits do people actually have and would recommend?

Pretty much anything that costs 50-75% what the Bose does that you like the look of and has the features you require will be at least as good.

There is, I think,a BOSE shop in Bicester village, so feel free to come for a cuppa chez malia if you want.

Bose shops, like Bose commercial installations, are designed to make you think Bose is the best. That is not what you will get from what you buy. It's all marketing. Very, very expensive and calculated marketing.

He asked for advice. We're giving it.

Telling the OP to do whatever he wants is fine, but he was looking for opinions. My opinion is that BOSE kit is overpriced and a quick visit to a Richer Sounds store and you'll have the choice of at least 5 systems that have better performence and cost far less.

My own Father almost fell for the BOSE marketing in the Sunday papers before I sent him along to Richer. He still ended up spending the same kind of money but got a vastly superior system.

Listen to chinny, because unlike me he's a professional, whereas I've just read deconstructions of their equipment over the last decade or so while I've been fretting about my own (occasional, but not cheap) AV purchases.

Wait, we agree.

For special fun, try and dig out the shit they got in over a lucrative* "noise cancelling headphones for a US airline" contract.

* Or not, as it turned out.

Edit: Extra editing than usual to account for not wanting to get Grim... (and me) in trouble. I'm still not sure I've vagueified it enough.

"These aren't the tanks you wish to shoot"

Dammit!

Edit: No, hang on, my edits didn't affect that quote.

Go to Richer Sounds. The kit they have will vary month to month but they don't sell shit. You'll have to go in with a budget in mind and see what you like the sound of in the price range. They do have a web store but a) they don't sell everything online and b) you can't listen to the kit.

Remember that having a DAB receiver is all very well but check you have decent indoor reception otherwise you'll need an external aerial. My Father got DAB and found he had no reception. Also remember that a good FM receiver will sound better than DAB. In my old job I had the 4 main nationals all coming in on DSAT, DAB and FM. For a station like Radio 2, sound quality went DSAT>FM>DAB. Sure DAB had cleaner audio but the 128k MPEG encoding murdered the bottom end and squeezed all the life out of it.

Suddenly reminded of the fact that in that old job we had BOSE computer speakers. The previous owner of our division (a company who's chips you all have inside your computers) spunked away as much money as possible when setting up. Cue high end LCD's and expensive speakers that ended up being sold off to our national broadcaster for a pittance.

Thing is the Creative Gigaworks T20's I have on this system cost half the price and sound every bit as good. The BOSE speakers were actually quite reasonable, but the problem was they cost twice as much as any sane person would care to pay. But the name "Creative Labs" says "cheap" and "consumer" whereas BOSE doesn't. Go figure.

Bose are not worth the money no. They do sound good and they are nice but as Chinny has already pointed out you can get more for less.

I have used Bose before (901 and Acoustimass) but only because I got them very cheap. They do sound good but their drivers were prone to rotting (cardboard and perishable foam).

I like the sound of the Wave Radio and I like the look but I don't like the price. Build quality on Bose is so so again there are far better on the market.

I'm not quite sure what unit you are looking at but when it comes to radio, any radio, I would always choose Roberts. 16 years ago I got my mum a single speaker tape/radio affair. It was £70, a fucking lot considering that you could get an Alba or such forth for about £20. 2 years after I got it for her my brother pinched it from her and took it to work. He was a carpenter, so it took a real beating. When I got back home from the USA he showed me a pic of his office (he trains in a college now) and there it was, filthy as fuck but still going strong.

We had this ongoing joke over it because the bastard knew how much it cost me and knew I brought it for mum. But he had to have it

Posted at exactly the same time

http://www.froogle.homecinematv.co.uk/s ... SOUND-MP53

An example

Why stop at Bose? Just get a B&O. Or a Tag McLaren.

Lifestyle non-fi for the win

Tag McLaren were actually really high-end gear, though still not a surprise they went splodey.

I have to admit I did lust pretty hard after that blue and silver thing from 1999.

My mother almost got suckered into buying some Bose products on impulse about a year ago, as QVC were heavy-selling Bose at the time. She's a bit gullible for that kind of thing, unfortunately. Like Chinny says (and my dad who also say if he was a Beexer), it's all about the image and marketing with this brand.

I've also heard from many places that Bose are highly overpriced for their level of performance. There is a Bose shop in Bicester Village, like MaliA suggests, but when I went in there the discounts were shit.

TBH the thing that most irks me about Bose is their vicious American advertising strategy. They have definitely found a niche market of fooling people who know little about good HIFI stuff into believing that they are the best money can buy, and, are cheap.

They offer these wonder discounts all the time, but even with them their products are still stupidly over priced.

After owning my Acoustimass all those years ago I went on to own a set of Rogers Ls59 BBC units. They were priced around the same as the Acoustimass.

The difference however? Well let's put it this way. I have never, ever, heard a set of speakers with the detail and clarity on vocals as I have with those Rogers.

In comparisson the Bose sounded whumpy and incredibly clumsy, far from being in the same league. Yet they were in the same price bracket.

Oh, and the air scoop in the front of the Acoustimass came out and I had to stick it back in with liquid nails. Not something I would expect to have to do on a set of £1200 speakers.

Chinny's right about the 128k bitrate but DAB is actually mp2, not mp3. Hence it simply sounds shit straight out of the gate, regardless of what kit you use to decode, amplify, and play it. Hence, don't buy particularly expensive ones.

Also don't buy BOSE ever, for reasons remarked upon already.

Also also, stop listening to advice in Richer Sounds around the point they tell you to spend 10% of your budget on cabling.

Even Chris Moyles has moaned live on air about how stupid DAB is - analogue has amplitutude clamping on, but (at the time) digital broadcasts didn't, so could result in massive distortion.

Of course, he demonstrated this by shouting into his mic as loud as he could.

Planet Rock sounds great though, unless I turn the volume on my Ferguson(!) mock-wireless over about 10%.

We bought a BOSE Wave because a) we wanted a decent hi-fi and b) we needed a small system suitable for taking to the hall for the wedding. Self-contained, high quality, portable-ish.

It is fucking, fucking, fucking brilliant. We love it to bits.

No we didn't buy gold tinted cables, oyxgen free remote controls or the unnecessary extras, but it absolutely fits the purpose we bought it for, and I would have no hesitation in recommending one.

I like those. Nobody really makes anything like them either. But they are expensive.. Very very expensive. Still, hark at me, I'm suprised I don't have one myself

My uncle has one in his kitchen and well, it definitely serves a purpose. Whilst sound quality isn't on par with a good set of proper hifi speakers and components it shits all over anything else that's reasonably portable.

I have no doubt that I could have got something cheaper, but we got it off QVC with the DAB thrown in. Four monthly instalments as well.

Someone mentioned the noise-cancelling headphones. Again, can vouch for the quality and the fact that they work, given that they kept my wife sane during our trouble with the neighbours. We tried some other ones, but they weren't quite good enough. Again, I am sure that we could have found some cheaper equivalents that work just as well, but *shrugs*, quite frankly I'd have paid any money for if it kept us slightly more sane during all that period.

[coughs] Beyer DT150's or DT770's.

DT150's are an acquired taste due to the design dating from the 1960's. But if it ain't broke why fix it?



I always remember when I got my DT150's some 9 years ago. I took them in to work. My colleague literally openly wept when he tried them. He'd just spent the same amount of money on some "hi-fi" cans. And this was at the time when 150's were still well over £100 a pair. Today you can get them for about £75.

If you want something that is a little more comfortable and modern looking the 770's are where it's at:



But I prefer the 150's. They are simply the only pair of headphones you will ever need to own. You can phone up Beyer or any of their suppliers and get any component part if something breaks. When I dropped mine and broke a tiny piece of plastic on the earpiece I was able to order up a new one and screw it on. I've had new earpads when mine wore out and also replaced the cord with a curly version for convenience.

You won't read about the 150's or 770's in the consumer reviews. They are professional headphones. Indeed the 150's would probably be slated. But it's funny how the people who do audio for a living keep on buying them.

For the approx 600 quid cost listed on Google for a QVC purchase, you could have hired Gary (oooh oooh - Ed) Davies to run a mobile disco.

Hnnng. I just made a really informative and descriptive post with pics explaining how the Wave radio works and my images are too big

Grim. Can we up the image sizes here? I mean surely noones running 800x600 any more?

I have the post in a word file..

Good job it didn't cost 600 quid then.

I've never broke my own pair though

Just shrink the images down. They don't need to be larger than 800x600.

Or, save as PDF and upload that if you prefer.

At a radio station I used to work at we had a Saturday afternoon presenter who managed to blow one of the drivers on a pair of DT150's. Just try doing that and not losing your hearing.

To say this guy was abit deaf was an understatement.

I my DT150's. It's just a shame they are to unwieldy to use on location.

Creative Soundworks CD 170 (or something like that). At least as good and a fraction of the price. Having said that, I don't think Creative make them anymore....I'll be going now.

Yeah I can do.. I'll try and get that sorted

Hopefully this will work...

Well that's one thing I will credit Bose for. Taking technology like that to the masses and explaining it without you needing to go looking for it and a degree in physics to work out how it works.

The technology in the Wave is far from new. It's a folded horn enclosure much like this -



Which was my system during the 90s.

It works like this -



Which is an enclosure I had in the boot of my car with a 1kw JBL 10 in. Completed it looked like this -



(amps were in the right side, like this)



With a power cap Hnyarr.



Sorry for the incredibly stuff. But I am a huge fan of folded horn enclosures. Basically what happens is your woofer fires from a pressurised enclosure into another pressurised enclosure and cuts off high frequencies putting out only low frequency waves. High frequency positioning is pretty crucial.

So hey, as I say, nothing new Bose did there (even if they like to say it was) but definintely never done on such a small scale

I ran Cerwin Vegas when I was a DJ (see signature). We used to bounce people's beer off the sub bins.

I was a huge fan of theirs before Stanton took over.

That sub is a T45 Intense replica. Trapezoidal folded horn with a 18" Stroker in in.

To buy they were about 3 grand. I had pals in Cerwin Vega so they sent me the blue prints over and sub type. Managed to track the woofer down through Wembley Audio (in Shepherds Bush) and built it over the course of about 5 days. I have never built anything so ruddy complicated tbh. It's bad enough building just a horn, but a trapezoidal one? jesus christ, angles.. Nothing but bloody angles. My brothers electric plane never worked so hard

There's a sheet of 1" MDF there and two sheets of 3/4. It weighed.. Well, too much haha. That's why it was in the corner of the room because my brother was worried about the joists

Amps.. Soundmaster 400VZ running 2ohm putting out about 1800 watts. Rogers E40 valve amp running the highs (10" Crown VZ mids and some pioneer coax in the middle).

My nextdoor neighbour came home once whilst I was running a test sweep and said her light bulbs were swinging around

Good grief

I still remember the slogan inside the brochure

Imagine a nuclear explosion without all of that nasty melting flesh.. Stroker, the ultimate power trip.

Awesome

*If only Alienware made hifi equipment eh?

We ran two 21" sub enclosures. They were oil cooled.

Well that's the thing. My passion for loud music (and believe me I lived it, worked in it, ate it...) came to an end when I met my now ex wife.

I was always into computers, so that was an easy thing to tinker and play with without all the mess (MDF and brazillian birch tend to make a rotten mess lol).

But yeah, I do really get into hobbies, always have.

Did she drown it out?

Nah. She made me sell it all and move to the USA.

Once there the money I had to get more soon got swallowed up.. Women tend to do that...

That's why I had -

Sony head unit (top end model.$400 or something stupid like that.)
Fusion FX45 parametric EQ, active crossover, 8v sub out line driver.
Nesa DVD player with TV tuner (does not have the antenna for TV !) also plays MP3 cds.
9.4" overhead screen with white LED interior lights.
3.5" clif design components fitted in what used to be the door heater vents.
6.5" clif design components in the doors.
Audiobahn tweeters in upright pillars.
0 awg battery ground.
4awg power cable throughout.
Scorpion X circuit breaker under hood.
Phoenix Gold MPS2220 amplifier that runs front stage. (1/4 ohm baby).
Mark Anthony 800MK2 amplifier to run the subwoofer.
Birch folded horn subwoofer enclosure with green LED fans to cool front amp, sub amp mounted on the top.
10" Rockford fosgate punch subwoofer. (JBL died with one of the amps)
Clifford Arrow II alarm system with shock and motion sensors. Remote comes with a brand new cover in the packaging (these are $60 from Viper).
RCA wires are all monster/DEI.
Speaker wire is all 100% OF copper.
Whistler radar detector.
Clifford remote locking.

Which annoyed the fucking shit out of her. Simply as when she left she couldn't take any of it. She cleaned me out of everything else. 52" DLP TV, two DVD players, most of my game consoles.. I started to put things in the car after she tried to talk me into putting her on the logbook one day.. I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to fuck off and take everything. Fucking good thing I followed my instincts or I would have woken up with no car !

When I moved out of (the now very empty) apartment we shared it wasn't a biggy, because if I wanted to watch a film or play a game (had the NGC in there before I sold it, above was a list for Ebay of the audio/interior entertainment) I would just drive down to Salem Co (in south NJ, very peaceful place) crank the AC and watch a film

My Dad has a BOSE iPod dock. It's nice.