DVD experience, look, size & ease of installation.

Price & CD sound

Every time I sit back to watch a DVD I am amazed and impressed by the advancements in theatre audio. The Acoustimass 15s do an excellent job of making the whole experience enjoyable. The atmosphere that is created draws you into the picture by a perfect blending of satellite and LFE. Cases of directional audio (example: gunshots from behind) are never imposing or easily forgotten. What makes it all worthwhile, assuming you have calibrated the system, is the realization that it is perfect every time. No exaggeration occurs with treble or bass. What you hear is what the filmmakers wanted you to hear. Should that not be a requirement of any sound system?

CD music does leave something to be desired. I have pondered what this is and I may never know. I feel like there is a flavor missing from the reproduction. I wonder if it may be caused by the expectations left after watching a DVD. I think I am expecting an ambiance from 5.1 channel audio, but I am only listening to two channels. To help remedy this situation, I decided to pair the AM15’s with a set of JBL ND310’s. The two sets of speakers work together to balance out each other’s weaknesses with CD audio and add to the richness of sound.

When I first began this review, I told myself that I wasn’t going to give in and comment about other reviews. Everyone is entitled to an opinion right? Well, I decided to go against my conscious and add an observation. But first, some thoughts.
I love my AM15’s. I enjoy the experience and I am pleased when I hear others are happy too. If you cannot stand the AM15’s, that is fine. No one has the same tastes. What I do not understand is why some loose sleep over this idea? It seems to me that there are a number of self-proclaimed activists pushing for a cause. What is this cause I wonder? To save us all from the horror of deciding that we like the AM15’s more than you do? There may be more important things to spend your time and energies fighting for.
My advice to you, assuming you haven’t blown off this review because of your biased opinion toward Bose, is if you owned/tested/tried/bought/ate/slept with a speaker system, give an honest review. Everyone will respect that (except the slept with part). If you write a review just to vent steam, hopefully you will realize that the pain is yours. I will feel sorry for you if it makes you feel better. But only after I am finished with my movie.

Size, BOSE "name"

Flat, Unimpressive sound, not worth the $

When shopping around for the best speakers for my money, I researched many different Home Theater Setups: Bose, Polk Audio, Energy, Klipsch, Sony, Etc.....you name it. I can't think of how many electronic stores I went to (other than Bose) to hear these speakers. I was very dissappointed to hear such a flat, unenthuiastic demo from the Acoustimass line. I needed to find a good sattelite set to complement my HK Receiver.
Desperately trying to find the best setup for this Acoustimass 15 Set, I went to the official Bose Store. The sound was still unconvincing and led me to purchase the best sounding Set on the planet (within my price range), the Polk RM 7500s. Bose, in my opinion is good for the name and reputation, but please weigh your other options before spending $1200+. But seriously isn't that would you should do before you pay for objects this expensive?
Sorry Bose fans, this is no longer the 80s.

Similar Products Used:

Bought Polk Audio RM 7500 instead

they are nice looking speakers thats where it stopps

everything else

ok i didnt actually buy these speakers and i never would i usta b a bose fan also but then i heard a real speaker like jbl and a real sub like velodyne i own the bose 201 speakers and i dont think those speakers are bad they r actually pretty good i went to circuit city today to test these speakers out and they are honesly the worst speakers i have ever heard no bass no lifelikeness they dont go loud at all they really suck i must say my system sounds 10 times better! if u are interested in these speakers run away and dont look back! if u want a good sat/sub speaker system i really wouldnt recomend it but i defenitely wouldnt go with bose even if u do go with a sat sub system sry to say but bose sucks!!!!!!!!


my system consists of:
sony strde545 reciever
jbls310 mains
bose 201 rears
velodyne ct150 sub
jvc i art tv

Similar Products Used:

cambridge soundworks

they are nice looking speakers thats where it stopps

everything else

ok i didnt actually buy these speakers and i never would i usta b a bose fan also but then i heard a real speaker like jbl and a real sub like velodyne i own the bose 201 speakers and i dont think those speakers are bad they r actually pretty good i went to circuit city today to test these speakers out and they are honesly the worst speakers i have ever heard no bass no lifelikeness they dont go loud at all they really suck i must say my system sounds 10 times better! if u are interested in these speakers run away and dont look back! if u want a good sat/sub speaker system i really wouldnt recomend it but i defenitely wouldnt go with bose even if u do go with a sat sub system sry to say but bose sucks!!!!!!!! the sub on this system is a complete joke my little sister has the bose mediamates and a rca sub woofer that sounds worlds better than this product quick run run run! its only worth at most $50.00 and to think that one day i was gonna go and buy this omg im gonna go cry myself to sleep!


my system consists of:
sony strde545 reciever
jbls310 mains
bose 201 rears
velodyne ct150 sub
jvc i art tv

Similar Products Used:

cambridge soundworks

good lows and mids......

the bass power a little

the sound of this little speakers ...... when is used in fm radio is good..... and in directv too... using sourround sound dolby prologic...... BUUUUUT when this system is used with pioneer elite dvd player.. a sony strde-945 dolby digital receiver and a help of the bass module ... adding a pair of boston acoustics vr500 amplified woofers ....the sound is simply phenomenal..... try it this with your favorite dvds movies ...... in the movie gone in sixty seconds you feel the sound of the 1967 shelby mustang motor in all the floor INCREDIBLY clear ...... sound better than any other systems that cost 4 or more times .....

Similar Products Used:

boston acoustics

Easy to Install, Sizes

Everyting else. A non-competitive product with high price.

I certainly do not aggree with what Rick said. If you are prepared to spend $1200 on your speaker, actually you can get a lot better quality with $300-400 less money. Look at Polk Audio RM6600, for example, at Circuit City, the sound quality is much better, the price is cheaper, and the size of speaker is just slighly larger than Bose. I certainly have problems seeing Bose making dirty money on consumers, especially for un-experienced consumers. Consumers need to know what they are buying. This place is very important for them. Look at other products, if a product is good, people will give the very good reviews. therefore, there is a reason people bashes this product so badly.

I will give it one star, because that is the lowest I can give. Of course Bose produces better sound than my car radio, but with $1200.00, I would expect something better than that.

Response to Timmy:

No one is holding Bose to a higher standard. We are all comparing Bose to it's consumer market competitors. Bose builds a speaker system that is priced higher for less speaker. The white paper specs from all benchmark tests on Bose speakers are a complete embarassment (why do you think Bose doesn't publish them?). Everything that can be measured sonically has empirically proven Bose to be unequivocal garbage. Even the immeasureable factors are time and time again proven Bose to be crap. Sound imaging is nonexistant, depth dynamics and dimensionality are flattened, transparency is a mere dream. It is clear that Bose sucks hard for music.

As for home theater, yeah sure these things put out sound. Accurate sound? Nope. Movies are harder to decifer accuracy, which is why Bose passes for good these days. How many of us know what it sounds like to have a helicopter explode in mid air from missile turret fire, or an M-249 machine gun firing off in the streets of LA?? Do you get my point? If Bose speakers screw up in sound reproduction, who's to know the better? If all you want is loud loud noise in your room then by all means buy Bose. But let me remind you that for LESS money you can still get noise in your room.

Size is now a moot point. Virtually EVERY speaker company has a satellite speaker system (that's over 350 alternatives). Sure they aren't always as small as Bose cubes, but most have no more than a 4 by 4-inch footprint. Now unless you live in a phonebooth, this shouldn't present a problem.

Once again for the record, the main arguement of all Anti-Bose audio enthusiests is: you can get BETTER sound from a CHEAPER speaker company that actually tries to make a well performing product instead of living off a tired decade old speaker system that has always been subpar and held to the lowest build standards in the industry.

For a more thorough explanation, visit: http://www.geocities.com/trustnoho/boseframes.html

Size

Sound, price

A quote from another review stands out:

>I'm very happy with my purchase. I don't undestand why some people
>are so keen to put them down and simply lie about their sound....?

It's great that this person is happy with his purchase -- in the end that's what it's all about, right?

However, no one who says this HT speaker system isn't very good is "lying" -- the fact is that for the money they aren't very good. Which, unfortunately, is true about every Bose product I have tried, hoping to find one that was a good value.

This Bose system costs around $1300. For around $900 you can get five NHT SuperZeros, an NHT SubOne powered subwoofer, and a pretty good Onkyo AC3/Dolby Digital receiver -- which offer far more features (including a full-featured receiver), and blow the Bose system out of the water in terms of sound. And better yet, they would sound good on both HT *and* audio (the Acoustimass system is much worse on music than it is for home theater). For the *same* price as the Bose system ($1300), you can get five NHT SuperZeros, a Velodyne powered sub, and a higher end Onkyo THX receiver that includes 7.1 channel output for DVD-A and SACD. This system is far better than anything Bose makes.

So while some may be upset that people don't like Bose, that's shortsighted. The reviews here are not supposed to be a way to defend your purchase; they are supposed to help *other* people make educated purchasing decisions. And the truth is that regardless of how happy some people may be with their Acoustimass systems, this Bose system is a poor value, since MUCH better systems can be had for less money.

Similar Products Used:

Several other systems

Looks

Sound

let me start by saying that I'm not an internet geek who is out to smear bose. I actually gave them a 5 star rating just so I would not bring down any statistic numbers that might be derived from this. I'm not out to hurt bose, just to help consumers. I just thought I'd let others know that there is definitely something better out there.

When i finally decided to spend some cash on a home theatre, i immediately went to the bose store. i was blown away by their demo's. then, like everything i buy, i decided to research it. I quickly found that there were much better speakers for less money. I went into Tweeter with the idea in mind (and told the salesman this) that I was ready to buy the Acoustimass 15 system. The salesman had $1300 looking him dead in the face. But he chose to show me the Bostons for $1000. Why would a person who works on commission talk me down $300. Because he has values and would not sell me crap. the difference in sound quality was amazing. but i still wasnt sold. i was still considering the bose because they looked better. then i kept going back and listening for about 2 weeks. i ended up realizing that if i wanted decorations for my home, i should just get some paintings, but if i wanted a true sound system, get the Boston Acoustics system. I am so glad i did get the bostons. they have such a great sound in every range.

Now keep in mind that I'm not a salesman out to destroy bose. I'm a professional violinist who has a good ear for things. I'm not a recording studio producer or audiophile, just a guy with above average ears. I like to listen to everything from dvd's to beethoven to ice cube and i like it to sound good!

I just thought I'd spread my confession to others to try to help them out. I too was once sucked in to the bose machine, and was lead off course of my objective---get a good SOUNDING system.

to those out there shopping....take my advice....do you homework and remember....your buying something to LISTEN to not to VIEW!!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustics System 9000

everything you can ever want in a home theater speaker package

$$$$$$, but you get what you pay for

Speakers are great.
I cant understant the hard negative reviews on these speakers.

I considered Polk (all models), and Klipsch (all models), and Boston acoustics. Im sorry to say that after 2 months of feeling listening, the Bose won. Style and sound all in one. The other speakers sounded good, but the Bose did it for me. I have a DENON 2802 receiver and it sounds great.

Dont listen to the sales people. They push what they will make the most $$$ on. The sales person tried to guide me to another product. Bose sets the price on their products so the store cant really mark the price up.

All I can say is that you have to go to a store and listen to them all without the sales person around to bother you and adding that extra subwoffer without you knowing ( i caught em)....
well..... Just buy american speakers :) ....Joe

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yamaha speakers that came with a mini system