In all seriousness, NONE.

So many you'd be shocked!

Click here to read an article written by me after auditioning and disassembling an AcoustiMass-15.

Please do not buy these, I cannot reiterate enough how horribly these sound when compared to a similarly priced competitor.

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Click here to see a chart of alternative systems by competing brands.

Excellent sound for the hearing impaired.

Sound for the rest of us.

"I had Bose tested for accuracy at a lab...Bose was at the top...For those who like midrange/midbass heavy stuff go elsewhere..." Sounds like reverse buyer's remorse. This cat must sell this shyte, because he says just the opposite of what EVERYONE else says. What a joke. Misleading.

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Nothing like Bose :(

I purchased the Bose Acoustimass 15 back in December '98 after listening it in a Bose's demo room. It sounded pretty darn great at the store but when I listened to it at my apartment, I realized that I purchased the wrong home theater system! Was this the same system I just listened at Bose? It was totally lacking the mid-bass/range from the cube speakers and the bass module was not pumping out any real bass, only loose, rumbling, muddy bass. After listening to the Bose sub for couple of hours, I was getting annoyed with its one note bass.
I returned the system and got my money back (Thank God for the 3-month refund policy) and purchased from another audio store the Definitive Technology Cimema Pro 100. When I listened to the Definitive 100 at my apartment, I was amazed to say the least. The over sound was full and blended all six speakers with clarity and richness. The bass from the sub was deep and tight! Thump, Thump, Thump. There was a 180 difference between the Bose sub and Definitive Tech sub that you can feel. It's to bad that I live in an apartment were sound level is an issue. I could only turn up the bass gain to 1/4 of its capacity when watching movies. But it is still clean, enjoyable bass.

Do yourself a favor, the Bose acoustimass 15 does look stylish and is a space saver, but if you care even a little about sound quality of DVD and music, shop around. You'll be surprised as to how many GREAT systems are out there for the same or less price range.

Andrew...

small size, name

price, sound

OK, I've got to make a review on these. First, to anyone really interested in Bose AM speakers, my advice is to not put much value in these reviews. There are too many Bose bashers and too many Bose followers. Reviews are so biased based on that.

I used to use Bose AM speakers for my HT setup between 1996 and October of last year. For that time I thought they were great and I wasn't a big HT/audio man so I was quite uneducated when it came to speakers and stuff like that. Well in September I started to really get into the HT thing and decided to upgrade my speakers to some Def Tech gear. Tonight I decided to hook up the old Bose AM speakers (just the front l/c/r speakers & bass module) to see how they in fact sound. Oh my, do they sound bad compared to my current speakers. It's hard to describe the sound. It's like they lack good midrange, bass and TRUE highs. They have an old "muffled" mono-type (by the way, I hooked them up to my Marantz SR-18) sound to them (kind of like they are behind a pair of jeans or something) and you have to crank the volume (I had to turn the volume up 8dB from my usualy level to get them at the same loudness of my Def Techs) to get a decent output from them. They do a good job at producing a decent sized soundstage but the sound is quite bad compared to my current speakers. Now I should say my current Def Tech L/C/R/ speakers retail for about 2 grand total (BP30s, CLR2000) but still...they blow the Bose stuff away and I think the CLR2000 but itself could out-perform the combined 3 AM cubes in any test. Hell, Def Tech's ProMonitor 200s (I have a pair of those in a different room) blow the Bose AM speakers away and they are around the same price.

Now, I am not going to tell everyone to stay away from Bose because it's your choice if you choose to by them or not. However, Bose IS a poor company when it comes to quality & price/performance and the only reason they are big is because of marketing. The review below me brings up reviews of "professionals" but the only reason they give the Bose AM series good reviews is because Bose advertises like a banshee in HT/audio mags. Obviously if Bose is supplying some $$$ to you, you won't trash their product.

Oh and the bass module is not a subwoofer and it does not have good bass. You can get a $200 speaker that has much deeper bass. Tests have been done on the module and it only goes down to like 65Hz or something like that. If you plan on getting an AM setup, get a stand alone sub because you'll need it.

In conclusion, although they are not all that great, I don't think Bose's AM line is as bad as people say it is. I agree with many people who say that if Bose charged less for their AM line, then they would be decent/good for the money. As it stands now, they are a very poor value when considering other brands.

Absolutely not onw

everthing!! build quality sound

This is less of a review but a call to all of you Audiophiles, Audio Enthusiasts, and even casual listners to warn every man woman and child about the atrocities of any and EVERY Bose product ever produced and currently on the market. For too long now Bose has falsely claimed that they are the worlds greatest speaker, making a total mockery of high-end as we know it. As a matter of fact bose can't even be considered Hi-Fi they just don't have the frequency response to be called that. "So what" you may think "it's sound quality that matters not frequency response or any other kind of measurement" I would tend to agree with you I have heard stellar systems that cannot be considered hifi, but this IS NOT ONE OF THEM!!!!! The sound quality is ridiculous, build quality is worse. Bose as a company and Amar Bose himself should be ashamed of themselves for putting their name on such a disgusting and embarrassing product. I find Bose's philosophy even more appalling "Better Sound Through Research" WHAT!!! What research????? They have been releasing and re-releasing the same tired old design with a few minor "tweaks" (and i use the term loosely) since the eighties. I can sit here and bash an already bad product into the ground for endless amount of time, but everthing I think has been said below. you will see two extremes in the reviews below those who think Bose is good and those who KNOW Bose is the most awful, disgusting, wretched, overpriced, horribly constructed, worst sounding, overly marketed, laughibly ridiculous piece of speaker garbage ever. The people who say it's bad are the ones usually that back it with a little bit of obvious experience behind their point of view, those who don't just say b.s. like "It sounds good, just like those big speakers do (something Bose and those who carry Bose would have you believe) I just can't think of enough bad, damaging things to say about this "product" So i leave you with this my audio friends it is time to expose the truth about Bose to everyone, it's time bose realized there is more to audio than marketing and ridiculous gimmics, and finally it is time for the Bose company to perish once and for all!!!!!!!

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just about anything if you want a good small speaker try anthony gallos micro nucleus

Size, Build Quality,All-In-One

All the emotional reviews on this website

After reading all the reviews and playing olympics by throwing out highs and lows, I decided to buy these speakers, along with a Sony STRDV444ES (actually the receiver was a gift from someone) I am going to set them up this weekend and run the receiver with my existing speakers, Old Infinity Quantum II's (drivers replaced) Cambridge center channel and cheap KLH rears and compare. Should be interesting. I'm pulling for the Bose.... I want to get rid of the Towers in the worst way!

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Bose outdoor speakers

Small, great for the "wife factor"

The way they sound once you get them home :(

If you are considering buying this system, READ THIS FIRST - I am not a Bose basher but I have a story to tell because I want to help. I admit it, I went and purchased the AM-15. I was so pleased by what I heard in the enclosed demo room (lobby scene in the Matrix) at the store that it didn't occur to me to ask the salesman to listen to some music - plus, my wife liked those, "cute little speakers". Well, I got it home, hooked it up, and fired it up. In all fairness to Bose, to a rookie's ear, they sounded very good for DVD movies. But, like most, I demand more from my system - I want to listen to music too. I listen to some pretty loud music (Metallica, VH, lots of hard rock) and when I fired up the Black CD from Metallica - my heart dropped. In my living room, it sounded so muddy and garbled I couldn't believe my ears. I mean, it sounded so sweet in the show room. I was pretty upset and had buyers remorse immediately.

After two weeks of going to high end stores in my area, I listened to B&W's, Definitive Technology, Mirage, AR's, and the Energy Encore's. EVERY one of these {comparably priced} systems blew the Bose away for under $1500. After much deliberation, I decided on 4 Mirage FRx-One's with a Mirage center channel. My mind was blown when I heard the Carver Sunfire, "True Subwoofer Jr". This thing rocks! If you like true, pure, hard driving bass - it will not only shake your house, but your neighbor’s houses as well. I took the Bose system back and gladly returned it.
Now, I listen to my system every night, both music and movies and I am delighted. From Mozart to movies to Metallica – it sounds amazing!

DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID! Even though you are eager to get home and listen to your new system, take several weeks, visit as many high end speaker stores (Best Buy and Cir. City don't count) as you can and listen, listen, listen. Don't be afraid to take some CD's with you to test out. Just shop around. You CAN find a truly wonderfully sounding system for under $1500. Good Luck.

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Mirage FRx-One's with Sunfire Subwoofer

Hi Eric!
A question such as this would be better suited to the Tech Talk Speaker Forum on this site. However, I can confidently recommend as a former Bose Acoustimass owner, that your $500 can be much more wisely spent. Try auditioning a set of Energy Take 5's or a similarly priced system from Paradigm. These two options will offer a much higher quality product in terms of sound and build.

Hope this helps.
Greg

Physical size, sound output (level) vs. size, the Bose name

Quality of sound (frequency coverage, etc), cost vs performance

Short and sweet here...

First, I want to thank the individual who published the Bose specs from the review in one of the audio mags. After having unfortunately purchased these speakers- then returning them within 1 week- I can confirm the poor upper end of these units. I did a A/B comparison to my monitors... granted the monitors are running in eq mode off of a spectrum analayzer/eq- but none the less, there is no way that I can eq the bose to produce the linear spectrum I would like without maxing the eq adjusments on the receiver. The Bose seems to roll off so much on the high end that I think this makes this impractical (13.5Khz +/- 10db!!)...

As far as the low end is concerned, I found this to be way too much boom, and not enough (defined) bass. The apparent holes in the frequency spectrum is a totally separate story...

Bottom line (for me anyway): Always do your homework before putting your hard-earned bucks on the line:

- see what other folks have to say (independent reviews, etc)

- let your ear be the judge- and be critical!!

- bring your favorite CD's, etc (one's U know sonically well)

- don't fall for the name alone...

Anyone have any ideas as to what would be a good set of 5.1 speakers for a Sony DA777ES ($1,5000-2,000 price range)??

Thanks for all the good info...

Mike

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First set of AV speakers, although have used JBL pro monitors for home audio

Excellent 3-D sound, pretty loud for the size!

bass

I don't know why all the poeple above say these speakers are so bad. These are surround sound speakers, guys! You definately need a reciever that can give 200 watts per channel for Bose's full power, and an 80 Watt subwoffer support. If you can't buy those, then bose is useless!!! I have a great reciever (Kenwood) and a DVD player, and i think that the effects watching a violent movie are awesome. although i paid $1,200 for this system, I think it's worth it because i know how to use it. My sugession, Go buy these right now, and buy a GOOD reciever. Trust me, set them up correctly, and they will sound awesome!

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Polk audio, Aiwa