Bose Lifestyle 12 series II for $999 should I get it?

[Gunbuster]

Does this system get panned because it sounds like crap or cuz people paid $2000 and it only sounds ok

The $999 deal I can get includes a free wave radio

(just reposting since the server burped)

 

[DaveJ]

You could do a LOT better for $2000, unless you're just looking for something small and unobtrusive. If you want something that actually SOUNDS good, stay away. Stay far, FAR away! Do a search here, there were a few good HT threads in the last few weeks with some excellent suggestions for speakers and amp/receiver combos. Bose is crap, pure and simple.

For your $999 "deal" you could probably get a good quality midrange receiver, and some decent speakers. $1500 would really be the sweet spot though, if you can come up with the extra cash...

Dave

 

[Ornery]

I got a LOT of help in the speaker topic that I started. They lead me to check out components at AudioReview.Com Equipment Reviews . Great source of info. I don't see the Bose units listed that you're looking at, but even at 50% off it might not be such a good deal. Personally, I'd hate to patronize a company that screwing consumers the way they seem to be. Hey, I've got nothing against great marketing and hype. It's the American way! But I also believe in warning others of snake oil salesmen and hucksters in general. Yeah, that means you too Monster Cable! :|

Above all, buy them from someplace that you can easily return them if it doesn't work out.

 

[yakko]

I have heard a lot of Bose systems and have not been impressed by any of them. They try to make it sound like their wave radio is some sort of technological marvel when all it is is a waveguide. Nothing new there and it costs an arm and a leg. For that kind of money you might want to look into the Nakamichi bookshelf systems. A lot of sound for a little space.

 

[smensch]

There's an old saying in the audiophile world: "No highs, no lows. Must be Bose." That pretty much sums up my feelings on Bose and their crappy products.

 

[Replevin]

I'm pretty sure nobody buys Bose for the sound. It's a status symbol, like a three hundred dollar dress shirt, a Mercedes minivan, or a landscaped swimming pool installed just for looks.

Bose has great name recognition and gets much props from Yuppies and baby boomers (especially baby boomer yuppies making six figures). From that perspective, its worth whatever it happens to be worth to the buyer. Nothing more.

I mean for chrissakes, nobody is buying those Wave radios for the orgasmic sound - and they sell a damn lot of those Wave radios. (Ever see the price on one of those glorified clock-radios? Jebus!)

In short, there's nothing wrong with buying Bose (it's just like shopping at Neiman Marcus, or buying Chanel, etc.) as long as one intends to buy for the name. But it's a damn tragedy if someone actually thinks that Bose's price reflects some notion that their sound comes personally endorsed by Orpheus himself.

 

[billandopus]

Please don't. Really. Please. Pretty please.

Make me feel so much better about humanity and don't get sucked in by Bose marketing products.

Put it this way, Bose would have a kick-arse product if they poured the money that they put into their marketing program trying to sucker in the masses into R&D. Simple as that.

The only redeeming feature of the Bose Lifestyle series is the size and it ain't the cat's meow anyways since most other systems will rival it's size with much more performance.

It's very expensive for what you pay for and the sound is very unimpressive.

It makes me cringe that people still buy Bose. It's the greatest trick since the quote from "The Usual Suspects"


Please make me happy by auditioning the Energy Encore system (Multiple award winner from industry pundits) among others like Paradigm, Klipsch, B&W, PSB, Mission ... hell, anything but Bose! .

Again, put it this way, you will never hear anything positive from industry people about the Bose. Otherwise they would put it in their marketing program. Right? If Bose was a decent product then it would garner some defense of it. But it doesn't.

Go anywhere like www.dvdtalk.com or www.audioreview.com etc and you will find the same opinion.

Man, this is just getting me riled up. I mean, let's all think about Bose clinically. You have a sub/sat combo. Someone please tell me what kind of frequency range a small cube can produce. Then tell me what kind of bass response and sound quality a piece of crap excuse-for-a-sub can produce.

You


just


can't.

This is why you will encounter Bose only in stores or vendors that cater to the masses. B&M stores that sell appliances and washer/dryers in the next section. Additionally, who are these people that are trying to sell you this Bose product in these B&M's? Hmmmn, they ain't professionals that's for sure. They don't know up from down. If people on this board complain that they know much more than the average CompUSA/BestBuy salesperson with regards to computer stuff ... then is a audio/video salesperson any different in these stores? No.

Any self respecting audio/video specialist steers clear away from Bose. If you ask a salesperson about Bose and they will be diplomatic about it. Pressure them and they will tell you the same thing i'm tellin' you know. Bose sucks. Bose is suck to use an Anandtechism.


Sorry for the rant. But please don't buy Bose.

Just check out the latest issue of Stereophile's Guide to Home Theatre and their bang-for-the-buck recommendation for 5.1 system. Easy.

 

[smensch]

Wow, bill_n_opus (I miss Bloom County). I posted something similar in another thread. All I have to say is "ditto." Of course, I'll add this:

(In Charlton Heston voice) Bose tweeters are made of paper!! They're made of paper!!!

 

[billandopus]

Yah, smensch, I just get all hot and bothered when I hear of someone possibly considering Bose. I mean, I have nothing against people who work for Bose. I'm sure that there are some good people who depend on Bose to make a living.

I'd just wish that Bose higher ups would do those workers a favour by doing a better job in the market with regards to speaker quality. Hey, come to think about it ... maybe they are already. It would seem to be an indictment of general consumerism that they are doing okay. Scary.

 

[Sluggo]

NO

For a little price comparison, I recently upgraded my home theater set-up.

Sherwood 8090 DTS
Klipsch Micro-quintet set of 4 (no sub)
Bought these on here from Madcowz, you can get 'em from Ubid all the time.

Velodyne CT-150 Wanted the HGS series, buy way to much money.

The receiver and Klipsch speakers were $300
The Velodyne was $650 @ Circuit City

I wasnt hoping for much only spending $1000, but I am here to preach, the system rocks for $1000. I am extremely impressed with the sound and SPL I got for my money. I would put it up against ANY bose system, whether you want to compare sound quality or bass response, I think mine would win hands down. Hey of course I am biased, but I am pretty picky on sound quality, and could have spent 10x what I did.

The Klipsch speakers are great, and really small, so they fit well with the wifes decor, but IMHO the Velodyne makes the system. The bass is awesome, it moves crap around the room and shakes pictures of the wall. Not that crappy boomy bass either, nice and tight, it is really outstanding.

 

[Kjazlaw]

you can definitely do better than this. i hear the energy take 5's are quite good, for only $350, plus receiver and a sub and you're near the price of the bose ripoff system.

 

[ElFenix]

didn't someone used to sell a kit to make those stupid little 2" "direct-reflecting" speakers for like $10 each? little platic boxes with little paper drivers that dry rot in 2 years? direct-reflecting isn't an innovation, sound isn't linear like a laser beam, its more like a floodlight. sound was already reflecting.


hey anybody, where should i put my bass module? i have kind of a weird tv room with 3 sides walls and the other side open to kitchen dining. on one wall is the couch, on the opposite the tv. there are a few places it will fit, being behind the couch, behind the tv center, and to either side of said center. so, there it is.

 

[damocles]

It is refreshing to see a lot of good comments. My friend used to have a very expensive sound system which sounded like crap. He justified it by saying it was Bose it must be good. If he truly belived that based on listening to it i wouldnt have cared, but he bought it without listening to it because the guy in the store said it was the best (share coincidence it was the most expensive). In my city no High Fi stores sell Bose, it is strictly a department store range- this has to say something

 

[Taz4158]

Frankly Bose are absolutely the worst speakers made. They have nothing even mildly musical or accurate. As a company they are great at marketing and abhorrant at making speakers.

 

[Fathom5]

Taz4158 is exaclty right. Great marketing poor systems.

I recently rebuilt a set of 22 year old Genesis II speakers. The sound reproduction from them just floored my 2 brothers in law that have expensive Bose systems. Putting in a classical piece of music they both had, they could hear faint nuances in instruments they were never able to hear before.

Rule of thumb is you have to listen to a lot of speakers. Take your own music, preferrably something classical with strings and woodwinds. Don't let the salesman pull the crap of cranking up the speakers. Listen to them at all levels especially low levels. Most of all speakers are subject to individual taste. What I like you may not like, buy what sounds good to you and remember that they will sound different in your home.

 

[Taz4158]

Also there should only be ONE set of speakers in the room while you're auditioning. If they can't do that, go to a PROPER store.

 

[Muadib]

Here's another NO vote, but I think you should buy them & try them in your home for a week. If you
like them more power to ya, if not take them back!

 

[DanStp]

AS is the way on this board I concur.
BOSE is SUCK
NO highs no lows must be BOSE

 

[Imported]

Mercedes has a minivan?


Bose do suck. I'm trying to convince my dad to go get some Paradigms..

 

[Croton]

no

my parents have a bose lifestyle in their living room for their home theater.

it's ok......

for that money, get some real speakers tho.

a long time ago, BOSE was the best because they came out w/new techonology -- ie small speakers. however, their techonology has yet to improve. it's been stagnant for a while now (10 years). nowadays, bose relies soley on it's 'name' to sell speakers. if you heard a bose system compared to any other system on the market, i can guarantee you that the bigger system would kick it's ass.

hell, i have the midiland s4100 for my computer, and that kicks my parent's bose system to uranus.
haha