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Spectrum rs-232, rip-off?

C

comfy711

Junior Member
Hey guys, this is my first post on here so I apologize if it was put in the incorrect place. Today I was approached by some guys in an SUV offering me to take a look at a home theater system. I had been talking only yesterday about picking a system up. They looked good and I ended up buying them. Lets not get into how much I spent :| I'm wondering if it's even a decent system? I opened the box and there don't seem to be many, if any instructions on set up. I also looked online for reviews but really couldn't find any. The speakers are the Spectrum rs-232. Did I get totally ripped off or is there any way to salvage these speakers as a viable setup? I appreciate any help, thanks guys
 
comfy711 said:
Hey guys, this is my first post on here so I apologize if it was put in the incorrect place. Today I was approached by some guys in an SUV offering me to take a look at a home theater system.
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That was your first clue that you were about to be ripped off. D:

comfy711 said:
I had been talking only yesterday about picking a system up. They looked good and I ended up buying them. Lets not get into how much I spent :|
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That was you taking the bait. 🙄

comfy711 said:
Did I get totally ripped off...
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If you have to ask, you already know the answer. :hmm:

comfy711 said:
... or is there any way to salvage these speakers as a viable setup?
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Your local police may be able to help you, but only if you're lucky enough that they can find the guys in the SUV. :'(
 
Harvey said:
Your local police may be able to help you, but only if you're lucky enough that they can find the guys in the SUV. :'(
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Aside from operating a business without a license there isn't much the police can charge them with. As far as any way to salvage these speakers, they do sell those on ebay so they probably are real speakers and if you are lucky they are all hooked up right. They probably will work but there is probably no way in this world they are 1500 watts as the website lists them as. They are probably 5 watts a piece and 10 watts for the woofer.
 
They look just like Bose speakers so they probably sound just like them. Put some Bose stickers on them, invite your friends and brag about the good deal you got.

They will be amased at how good they sound.



😉

On a more serious note, ya, I too got taken for a little bit of money on a scam like this. Live and learn.

We all make mistakes.
 
Number1 said:
They look just like Bose speakers so they probably sound just like them. Put some Bose stickers on them, invite your friends and brag about the good deal you got.

They will be amased at how good they sound.
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You are joking, right? I'm an audio electronic design engineer, and I disapprove the above message. :thumbsdown:
 
Harvey said:
You are joking, right? I'm an audio electronic design engineer, and I disapprove the above message. :thumbsdown:
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OMG what have I done?

You audio electronic design engineer guys OK?

I am sorry, I did not mean to challenge your authority.
 
Number1 said:
OMG what have I done?

You audio electronic design engineer guys OK?

I am sorry, I did not mean to challenge your authority.
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You're welcome to do so. Yes, I live in Los Angeles, a major recording center, where I design professional studio recording electronics. I have a lot of friends in the business, including some in acoustics and speaker design and production, among whom are senior engineers for Harman Electronics, which owns Bose.

Stating my qualifications wasn't an ego post, and I don't even like Bose products that much, but I know from professional experience that your statement was so misleading that I had to ask whether you were joking. The OP's own statement is clear evidence that he doesn't know enough about speakers to know whether you were serious.

If you were joking, and your apology was sincere, we can let it go at that. 🙂

If not, rather posting than any further sarcastic replies, if it really matters to you, you can PM me to ask what I do and what I know about audio.
 
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Harvey said:
You're welcome to do so. Yes, I live in Los Angeles, a major recording center, where I design professional studio recording electronics. I have a lot of friends in the business, including some in acoustics and speaker design and production, among whom are senior engineers for Harman Electronics, which owns Bose.

Stating my qualifications wasn't an ego post, and I don't even like Bose products that much, but I know from professional experience that your statement was so misleading that I had to ask whether you were joking. The OP's own statement is clear evidence that he doesn't know enough about speakers to know whether you were serious.

If you were joking, and your apology was sincere, we can let it go at that. 🙂

If not, rather posting than any further sarcastic replies, if it really matters to you, you can PM me to ask what I do and what I know about audio.
Click to expand...

I would be curious to listen to the Bose and rs-232 systems side by side. They look strikingly similar.
 
I only buy my speakers from white vans that demo them in the van so I can hear how they sound in the acoustics of the white van. White lets the sound resonate more than a black van would.
 
NutBucket said:
Bose is certainly overpriced and overhyped but to say there's no engineering in its design is ridiculous.
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The engineering went into making it as cheaply as possible and making it look good with a high WAF. The money they saved went into marketing, they are geniuses at it.

How in the world can you get decent sound out of one small sub and a bunch of 4 square inches main speakers? Bose does not even publishes the frequency response of their systems, for good reasons.

The OP probably got a better deal on the rs-235 system, on a performance to price ratio than he would have had buying a new Bose system.
 
Harvey said:
You're welcome to do so. Yes, I live in Los Angeles, a major recording center, where I design professional studio recording electronics. I have a lot of friends in the business, including some in acoustics and speaker design and production, among whom are senior engineers for Harman Electronics, which owns Bose.

Stating my qualifications wasn't an ego post, and I don't even like Bose products that much, but I know from professional experience that your statement was so misleading that I had to ask whether you were joking. The OP's own statement is clear evidence that he doesn't know enough about speakers to know whether you were serious.

If you were joking, and your apology was sincere, we can let it go at that. 🙂

If not, rather posting than any further sarcastic replies, if it really matters to you, you can PM me to ask what I do and what I know about audio.
Click to expand...

cue "Yes, Nik, This is Me" Picture 😎
 
comfy711 said:
Hey guys, this is my first post on here so I apologize if it was put in the incorrect place. Today I was approached by some guys in an SUV offering me to take a look at a home theater system. I had been talking only yesterday about picking a system up. They looked good and I ended up buying them. Lets not get into how much I spent :| I'm wondering if it's even a decent system? I opened the box and there don't seem to be many, if any instructions on set up. I also looked online for reviews but really couldn't find any. The speakers are the Spectrum rs-232. Did I get totally ripped off or is there any way to salvage these speakers as a viable setup? I appreciate any help, thanks guys
Click to expand...

You got scammed. But just chaulk it up as a life lesson. As life lessons go, this is cheap.
 
That Spectrum website looks like a total hackjob scam site circa 1998. It looks like something created so that victims can search for the product and see that site and think that the product is real. But that site only makes it look even more like a scam. I'm surprised this sort of thing still happens in 2013.

Compare to a site like this: http://www.energy-speakers.com/ who sells real products.
 
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I have read many posts on the web regarding the Spectrum RS232 speaker set and only one poster out of dozens actually wrote why they were negative on this set - the poster said there is no amplifier in the set!

THAT IS TRUE - it is a SPEAKER SET and does include not a stereo amplifier.

Basically this is a Chinese knock-off of the BOSE speaker system. The speakers work fine, clear and distortion free whether you use the included sub-woofer for your home theater or not.

To test I moved the speaker wire from my existing Home Theater system over to the Spectrum RS232 speakers and found they were very clear sounding with no distortion even at high volume. I cranked it up with music, then with TV and DVD - all passed without objection! 😉

SUB-WOOFER: NOTE the SUB-WOOFER (SW) is not a powered unit!! It is a passive SW and does not require any electricity to work! Also note that you do not have to use the SW at all - the speakers work fine without it.

Further testing with the sub-woofer was positive. Note their wiring diagram shows just the front speakers routed through the sub-woofer while the rear and center speakers are wired directly from your Home Theater amplifier to the speaker - bypassing the SW.

Even at high volume all 6 speakers were clear and distortion free (2 front, 2 rear, 1 center, 1 sub-woofer).

You do not need the sub-woofer for the speakers to work.

Also, You can use your existing SW if you have one. I own a Teledyne powered sub-woofer and I am using that instead of the Spectrum SW and the speakers work fine.

Wiring help:
FRONT SPEAKERS ONLY: Assuming you use the included Sub-woofer -

Using good speaker wire - Connect YOUR previously installed (home theater capable) stereo amplifier speaker outputs to the INPUT on the Sub-woofer; then connect wires from the Sub-woofer OUTPUT to each of the FRONT speakers.

Center and rear speakers: Connect speaker wires directly from your (home theater capable) amplifier to the CENTER speaker. Do the same with the REAR speakers - connect directly to your amp.

SUMMARY: This set is not worth the over-inflated MSRP of $1,795 (or whatever shows on the box you see) that is on the sticker on the box. That part is 'scammy' for sure. This set should be about $150-300!

These 'out of van' sellers are hitting one state after another. NOTE if you walk away from the deal a couple of times you will likely find the price keeps dropping - my guess is if you are willing to blow the deal and keep walking away you can get the set for $100.00 (note I paid $200 and now that I installed and listened to the set I am fine with that).

I would say the set is worth no more than $200. to be a real deal.

One last thing - this kind of deal supports intellectual theft by the Chinese. I am sure Dr. Bose would be very unhappy to know his hard work and decades of superb advancements in sound is now being peddled from vans and trucks in Home Depot (and other) parking lots and street corners.

I regret supporting this whole 'black market' approach.

However, the speaker set is good enough to keep and use...IF you get it for under $200!! Good luck
 
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