9.) Newsgroup Opinions on Bose
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One issue brought up by certain Bose supporters is the nature of the participants in the audio newsgroups. In particular, one or two have claimed that everyone on the audio newsgroups is an "audiophile," while implying that this is a very bad thing. Beside casting aspersions on audiophiles, these assertions also ignore the fact that the audio newsgroups (exceping rec.audio.high-end) are generally *not* heavily populated by audiophiles and, indeed, are often quite hostile to audiophiles in certain regards. In fact, besides the Bose issue, debates between audiophiles and non-audiophiles are the most common and heated discussions on the audio newsgroups.
For those not familiar with this debate, a little background is in order. As their basic philosophy, "audiophiles" hold that personal listening must hold precedence over all other factors. In particular, they believe that careful extended listening can reveal important details which are missed by current measurements and blind testing procedures. Many non-audiophiles take exception to this. Indeed, there is a great body of evidence that the human hearing system is highly fallible, and easily influenced by things other than sound quality itself, so that only controlled rigorous blind tests yield generally useful results. Many non-audiophiles also say that today's measurement technology can give an extremely complete profile of sound quality. Finally, many non-audiophiles express incredulity at some of the expensive equipment touted in certain audiophile circles, especially tweaks such as exotic cables, CD coatings, vibration control devices, and so forth. This FAQ has made an effort to represent both points of view throughout the text, since both sides have merit. There are even many people who hold both views, to the extent they do not conflict.
Despite their vigorous disagreement on many other topics, Bose is a topic about which both factions agree --- both factions tend to be strongly skeptical of Bose. The engineers believe they have the measurements, the blind listening test results, and the theoretical and technical arguments to prove that Bose products have serious drawbacks, while audiophiles think that Bose speakers simply sound much worse than a large number of other less costly speakers.
10.) Magazines and Bose
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New comers to the audio newsgroups may wonder why the opinions expressed here are so different from everything they've heard before. In particular, they may wonder how Bose could receive such positive reviews if their products are as poor as many people claim. The first point is that Bose has certainly received its fair share of negative reviews. Furthermore, many of the more ambitious magazines simply ignore Bose products. Finally, the US publications which regularly feature Bose may not always have the most proper or stringent standards. The purpose of this section is to describe the various major publications, to explain why their judgements may or may not be reliable, and to point the reader to major magazines other than those they currently rely on.
The five major US publications which review stereo equipment are Consumers Reports, Stereo Review, Audio, Stereophile, and The Absolute Sound. The first two concern mainly mass-market equipment, the last two concern mainly "audiophile" equipment, while Audio magazine attempts to cover both markets. In many ways, none of these publications is entirely satisfactory. A brief critique of each follows:
*Consumers Reports. They assess speakers using measurements and, to a lesser extent, blind listening tests. Their standards and testing procedures were designed many years ago, and are widely considered out-of-date and inadequate. In fact, after they negatively reviewed a Bose speaker, Bose sued Consumers Reports on the grounds that their testing procedures were faulty. While Bose lost the suit, it was on other grounds, and not necessarily because they failed to prove the faults in CR's testing procedures. (Interestingly, Bose speakers have tended to rate quite well in Consumers Reports ever since.) A common opinion on the audio newsgroups is that Consumers Reports' speaker ratings are actually *inverse* to quality. In other words, the better speakers rate lowest, and the worst speakers rate highest. You should listen for yourself and decide.
*Stereo Review. Stereo Review is widely considered an advertising format by those on the audio newsgroups. Annual subscriptions are available for very low prices, presumably subsidized by advertising revenues. As a matter of editorial policy, you will *never* see a bad review in Stereo Review. They claim that if they can't say anything good, its better to simply say nothing at all. However, they do give many people the impression that they will positively review almost any product from any advertiser. Assuming that they review products that they would not personally endorse, some people feel that they can intuit the reviewer's true feelings by reading between the lines, magnifying the gentlest criticisms to mean that the reviewer actually despises the piece in question. The joke is that a typical Stereo Review article concludes with "it has a handsome polished oak finish and, of all the speakers I have ever reviewed, this is certainly one of them." While non-judgemental people have their place, non-judgemental audio magazines have a more limited usefulness.
*Audio. At one time, Audio was not that much different than Stereo Review. However, in recent years they have made an effort to beef up their content, and to improve their staff quality. While they may not feature many negative reviews, their style gives many the impression that their reviewers still have certain standards.
*Stereophile. An "audiophile" magazine. Their reviews are usually based on unscientific listening tests done by one reviewer, although they occasionally conduct blind listening tests, and they always provide fairly good measurements for those technically minded enough to interpret them. Many on the audio newsgroups are put off by the paucity of scientific listening tests, and their espousal of sometimes outrageously expensive equipment ($2000 is sometimes cheap in this world) including various oddball "tweaks." At the very least, their reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, and the reader must take a good deal of effort to ensure that their tastes match those of the reviewers. Stereophile publishes a useful list of recommended components in the April and October issues. It is unlikely that a Bose product would ever be reviewed by Stereophile.
*The Absolute Sound. Another "audiophile" magazine. Provides an alternative to Stereophile, while taking the same general philosophy, except even more purist and (depending on your point of view) extreme. No measurements or blind testing. It is unlikely that a Bose product would ever be reviewed by TAS.
There are, of course, many smaller US publications as well as numerous foreign publications, especially British, which are beyond the scope of this FAQ.
11.) Bose and Litigation
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Like many large corporations, Bose has sometimes taken legal action to protect its reputation and patents. In some cases, this can be seen as the dark side to their marketing efforts --- not only do they disseminate positive information about Bose, by they also attack sources of negative information, as well as other speaker manufacturers. Besides suing Consumers Reports for their negative review, as mentioned in the last section, some other instances cited on the newsgroups include:
*Bose sued Theil to prevent them from naming their speakers with a .2, since Bose also named their speakers with a .2, and Bose felt that this might lead consumers to confuse Bose with Theil.
*Bose sued Speaker Builder magazine for publishing the specifications of a bandpass enclosure that Bose claimed infringed on their patents.
*Bose sued Cambridge Sound Works for their claim that they offered "Better Sound Than Bose For Half the Price." Bose also claimed that some of Cambridge's speakers resembled Bose speakers. (For the record, the newsgroup participants generally rate Cambridge ahead of Bose.)
*In the example that hits closest to home, after a student posted negative opinions about Bose on the internet, Bose wrote a letter of complaint and, as a result, the student was called before the Dean.
12.) An Aside
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At this point, the FAQ has summarized most of the points raised endlessly for and against Bose. While you can read about Bose till doomsday, one listen is worth a thousand words. The remainder of this FAQ will explain how to go about listening and deciding on the merits of Bose for yourself. This is generic advice which applies equally well to any speaker brand.
While the next two sections are generic, and do not address Bose specifically, they are included in this FAQ for the following reasons:
*They rebut certain claims made in support of Bose. In particular, these two sections rebut the claim that most Bose purchasers make carefully informed decisions --- it seems highly unlikely that most Bose purchasers, or most purchasers of any speaker brand, have followed the demo procedures and principles outlined below.
*Without these two sections, readers may run off to the local appliance/T.V./stereo shop, compare Bose to obviously inferior speakers, in conditions which do not allow for meaningful comparisons, and conclude that Bose is indeed the best speaker on the market for the money. While Bose may be a superior product, its important to base such conclusions on a sound foundation.
*These two sections are aimed especially at readers who have already listened to Bose, and feel that their personal experiences have already definitively proven Bose's superiority. Hopefully, these sections will indicate some ways that your experiences may have mislead you. In other words, even if you think you *know* that Bose speakers --- or any other speaker brand for that matter --- are the best, these two sections may give you pause. Hopefully, it will inspire a few of you to reconsider your opinions, even if you ultimately decide that you were right in the first place.
13.) How to Listen to Bose
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Listening is key, and this section will provide a few pointers on how to listen correctly and effectively.
To begin with, it helps to be aware of human psychology and how this can bias your perceptions. Some of these include:
*Expectations. If you expect Bose to sound good, it is likely to sound good. Visa versa, if you expect Bose to sound bad, it is likely to sound bad. Try to keep an open mind. Better yet, try to compare speakers without knowing which brands you are listening to. In this sense, the less you know about the speaker you're listening to, the better.
*Second Speaker Sounds Best. In a comparison of two items, people tend to prefer the second item. This is one of the bases of the Pepsi challenge --- present the Pepsi second. This effect is sometimes used by dealers to favor a specific speaker.
*The Louder Speaker Sounds Best. In a comparison of two speakers, people to to prefer the louder one. Of course, this is not true if the loudness difference is large. However, small differences in loudness are not perceived as differences in loudness --- rather the louder speaker is perceived as better. This effect is sometimes used by dealers to favor a specific speaker. This effect can be minimized by demoing speakers at a variety of different volumes --- fiddle with the volume control!
*The Speaker with more Bass and Treble Sounds Better. In a comparison of two speakers, people tend to prefer the one with more bass and treble. Again, like loudness, slight differences are not perceived as due to frequency response differences --- the increase in bass and treble is perceived as better. While increased bass and treble sound better in the short run, it can become extremely fatiguing in the long term. Many speaker manufacturers build a slight contour into their speakers to help them perform well in short casual demos, but the purchaser drawn in by this technique often lives to regret their decision. This effect is also sometimes used by dealers to favor a specific speaker. Playing with the bass and treble controls, and varying the volume (perceived frequency balance changes with volume), can help overcome this effect. If you find that, for some reason, you actually prefer increased bass and treble, most receivers have a loudness switch, and bass and treble controls, which accomplish the same thing. However, if the bass and treble boosts are built into the speakers, it is nearly impossible to cancel them exactly using bass and treble controls if you later find them tiresome.
*Room placement. The sound of a speaker is greatly influenced by its location in the room, and its interactions with a room's acoustics. The sound is also influenced by listener position and listener height. For example, most speakers sound best if the tweeter is at the same height as the listener's ears, or slightly lower.
*Mood. In particular, it is very hard to judge when nervous or under pressure.
*Other factors. Color, size, styling, lighting, etc. can affect your judgements. I have even heard of dealers using small surround sound speakers --- used properly, listeners will not perceive the additional separate speakers, but will instead perceive the main speakers as better.
The only way to ensure a completely neutral assessment is a double-blind test, where neither the listener nor the conductor of the test knows which speaker is being heard. Unfortunately, a proper double-blind test is out the realm of possibility in most cases.
To summarize, while most dealers are honest, a few use human psychology to push specific speakers, the ones which earn them the most money, or perhaps speakers that the salesperson honestly prefers, although their tastes may vary from yours. Even when a dealer is not purposely trying to bias the customer towards a particular speaker, its possible and likely for non-sonic aspects to greatly influence judgements of sound quality. Being aware of possible bias factors, as listed above, can save you from making some common mistakes.
When auditioning speakers, its vital that you be familiar with the music. In other words, BRING YOUR OWN MUSIC. If you allow the dealer to choose the audition music, they may choose music which flatters the speakers in question. At the very least, if the dealer uses unfamiliar discs, you will have no idea what the music should sound like, and thus you will have no way to distinguish the sound quality of the disc from the sound quality of the speakers.
For myself, I try to bring one or two really good sounding CDs to test for the ultimate capabilities of the speakers --- but don't be surprised if CDs that sound good on your current speakers turn out to be mediocre on better speakers, and that CDs which sound mediocre on low quality speakers turn out to sound excellent on high quality speakers. In other words, if you've never heard your CDs on first-rate speakers, don't be surprised if your sonic judgements change as you hear them on more and more speakers. I also try to bring several CDs with known sonic flaws --- harsh treble, slight distortion on loud passages, tape hiss, maybe even some 78 transfers with surface noise ---- to see whether the speaker exposes those flaws, while still bringing out the better features of the music, so that overall sound is still enjoyable.
You might also want to bring a CD containing lots of low frequencies, such as pipe organ music, to test the low frequency behavior of the speaker. The biggest flaw with most speakers, especially small or less expensive speakers, is either a lack of low bass or a poor quality low bass, in that the bass has a one-note thumping quality, instead of a continuous range of well-defined bass frequencies. If you can't afford the cost or room for a speaker with true high-quality deep bass, you need to determine whether the bass response is satisfactory on the types of music you listen to most often.
Having established some common pitfalls, now let us describe the proper set-up for listening.
*Placement. The speakers should be placed well away from walls and other speakers. Any nearby object or surface can affect the sound quality of a speaker. This is especially critical in terms of bass response --- speakers near walls or, especially, in corners will have more bass, although the quality of the bass can be worse, since the bass is reinforced at some frequencies and canceled at others, resulting in a very uneven bass response. (Of course, when it comes to bass, some people prefer enormous quantities to quality, and I wish those people would stop driving by my house.)
*The best demos are relaxed, preferably in familiar surroundings, such as your own home.
*Leave plenty of time. First impression are often wrong. Any change in sound is often perceived as an improvement at first, and only extended listening will tell for sure if the change is for the better, the worse, or just different
*The speakers should be hooked up separately --- they should *not* be wired through a main switcher box. With more than two or three switches, most commercial switcher boxes are notoriously poor in sound quality, and will tend to make all speakers sound much worse than they should, and may obscure important differences between speakers. The store can use a *high-quality* switch between two or three speakers for the purposes of blind testing, but this is quite rare. If a store complains that its too much trouble to wire the speakers individually, there are other stores which do. I've seen stores tediously and methodically disconnect and remove one set of speakers, and connect a second set of speakers, so that the two speakers are compared using the exact same system and in the exact same location.
14.) How to Choose a Bose Dealer
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Besides offering demo conditions such as those listed above, here are some other things to look for in a store and its salespeople.
* The staff should NOT employ high-pressure sales tactics. Some examples of high-pressure tactics include: sales which end tomorrow; special manager approved discounts which are only good if you purchase right away; excessive badmouthing of certain products; excessive praise of certain products; completely controlling the volume, music, and other conditions in the listening demo; staff is too solicitous, so that the salesman never stops talking or never leaves you alone; the list goes on and on.
* The staff person should be able to explain a speaker's design philosophy briefly and in easy-to-understand terms, but they should not use design or features as the main selling point --- after size and price constraints have been established, a speaker's sound quality should be its main selling point. There are many ways to successfully design a good loudspeaker, each with its advantages and disadvantages, and there is no one correct or superior design. Many people will buy a speaker based solely on which one has the best "story" about its design and features.
* The store should carry a wide price range. Listening to more expensive speakers helps you to understand what high-quality speakers should sound like, so that you know what to look for even among less expensive speakers.
* The store should use better quality electronics in their demos. This includes brand names such as Adcom, B&K, Rotel, and harman-kardon. Even if you choose to use a budget receiver in your own system, better electronics will reveal the ultimate capabilities of the speakers, in case you decide to upgrade someday. In any event, you do not wish to penalize a speaker for simply accurately reporting the poor quality of the receiver or CD player used in the demo. Of course, on the other hand, you do not want to choose a speaker which accentuates or exaggerates problems with other components. Different speakers may sound better with different receivers, and the store should be competent enough to choose a good match. If you're seriously considering purchasing a speaker, you should try to audition it with the rest of your system, and in your room, to make sure they're compatible.
In most cases, these conditions are found only at dedicated stereo stores. While one might expect to pay extra for the extra service, these stores generally carry speakers starting for around $150-200, or only slightly higher than cheapest speakers in mass-market stores. Of course, they may also carry speakers well into the $1000s. For best service, visit the store at off-peak hours, when the sales staff is relaxed and can afford to spend some time explaining and demoing. The mass-market applicance/T.V./stereo stores usually do not have adequate demo facilities and, perhaps as a direct result, tend not to carry the better speaker brands, since differences in sound are rarely audible under the circumstances. Rather than using sound quality, appliance/T.V./stereo stores tend to sell speakers in the same way as appliances --- they stress brand name, price, sales and promotions, advertising, salesperson recommendations (their salespeople often lack a deep knowledge of stereo, or are not candid about their opinions), and features.
Unfortunately, lacking adequate local dealers, many people will be unable to demo speakers under the proper conditions. In this case, you may have to rely largely on recommendations. At the very least, hopefully these last two sections have given you some basis for assessing the credibility of any recommendations. If you must buy your speakers without a proper demo, make sure to get a money back guarantee.