clarity, crisp highs, powered bass module

bass module is not as deep as 10 or 12 inch powered subs
(but is still powerful enough)

In short these speakers are excellent. I tried to compare these with the Polk RM6600 but clarity wise, Bose always has the edge. You will be happy if you by these speakers. Always remember that you should listen to these speakers at a Bose store before you buy them. Or you can talk to Crutchfield for unbiased advice. The guy below me must have been deaf when he was writing his report because he has no idea what he is talking about. If paradigm is so good, why doesn't everyone buy them? If you look everywhere, like Madison Square Garden, Churches, Auditoriums, Cars, Computers, Aviation headsets, and so on, you will notice that most of them have Bose. not paradigm, energy, klipsch, or polk. Does this tell you something?
Bose knows what they are doing. Bose knows technology, they take a simple concept on making a speaker(like paradigm and the others do) and they innovate on it. Before you buy this system remember that Bose is the manufacturer of the "Best Speaker" yes "Best Speaker" in the world...The 901. No one comes close. Now you go and make your choice.

Similar Products Used:

Polk

Small and visually appealing, comes as a complete package, pleanty of (cheap) wire

Reproduction of any sound, no bass, weak mids, shrill highs, proprietary plug system, cheap wire, price

First off, I do not listen to music much. I play music a lot, but I don't closely listen. The BOSE seemed fine to me. Until my husband got new speakers.

As it happened, we only got one main speaker in at first. So mu husband hooked that in, and I listened to the Bose and the Paradigm, back and forth. I had thought the BOSE sounded fine. Until I compared.

All I can say is wow... there is a LOT of music the BOSE just does not play. I started to hear things I never noticed before. The bose just sounded flat, like I had earmuffs on. The Paradigms were much more dynamic and crisp, but they could also punch me in the stomach- something the BOSE could never do. There were a few DVD's that made the BOSE Bass module buzz, the Paradigms handled just fine! The Paradigms were HUGE in m living room, but they sound so much better that BOSE, it is ok!

I guess I just liked the way they look, because I do not think they sound all that great. I KNOW they do not sound all that great. Sure, I had them for three years, but I never noticed the music in those three years either. Now that we have decent speakers, I do notice the music. And since both speakers cost the same (or just about), well, it is obvious to me you are paying a lot for the BOSE name, and it is not really worth that much! If I could rate a value LOWER than 1, I would!

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, Boston Acoustic

Size, Sound

None

To those thinking about purchasing this system, DONT listen to those reviews from people who dont own them. Specifically the idiot who says if he hears them in a store he is qualified to review them. There is some sort of Bose hating conspiracy out there. I OWN them they are installed in MY home. If you want a speaker system that takes virtually no space, sounds fantastic and you are not a "eat breath and sh*t audiophile", then these are for you, yea Im sure there are better out there, but in not this size. I could have cluttered up my home theater with big stupid looking speakers and had my room look cluttered, but the Bose are wall mounted (if desired) look great and sound great and I have plenty of space left over in my theater. Im very satisfied. Every person who has heard them in MY home, loves them.

Ease of setup, size

Sound, wire spaghetti behind your system

It's confession time: I made a mistake. An $1100 dollar mistake. Oh well, you live and learn.

Perhaps no other audio brand inspires as much of a division between audio consumers than Bose. I am not a Bose hater, nor am I a dyed-in-the-wool Bose supporter. As I note below, I have listened to Bose 501's for about 15 years, and was quite happy with them (If I were to review my old 501's today, I would give them 5 stars for value -- after all 15 years of good service, and 4 stars for overall quality, because the lows are not very good on them). I will try to give you my honest opinion. I did have these in my home for 6 months, and I did enjoy them at first.

In 1985, my first pair of speakers were the old style Bose 501's. I loved them. I dragged them all over the country with me as I moved around. In fact, I still have them (as nightstands in my bedroom). All the hours I spent listening to them, I can't bring myself to get rid of them totally.

Last year, the rewards from years of being a student started to come my way, and I wanted to upgrade my system to make it an audio/home theater system. Since I had been so happy with my old 501's, I thought that the Bose AM15 would be perfect. I went and listened to it (but forgot to bring a CD with me). I bought it that night, along with mounting brackets for four of the five speakers. I got it home and set it up. It sounded pretty good to me. The little speakers amazed me that they could sound as good as they did being so tiny. Granted, highs were bit flat, and the low end was similarly not there, but Bose products do give you the illusion that the highs and lows are being reproduced. That is a teriffic engineering trick. I also thought that these speakers would improve with time.

Then time marched on, and I listened more and more to them. Disappointment started to grow. The disappointment came mostly when using these for audio. They sounded tinny emphasizing the upper mids, and not delivering true highs. The Acoustimass module delivers low mids, but really isn't there for true bass. The more I listened, the less I liked. I though that perhaps there was a break-in period required. I continued to listen, and continued to grow more disappointed.

My disappointment was less for home theater applications. Since most soundtracks emphasize human voices, the Bose products do very well (human voices are pretty firmly in the mid ranges, where human hearing is the best). Of course, explosions were not earth shattering, but this is home theater, not theater.

After six months of listening, I decided to audition the M&K 750THX system. The differences were astonising. Of course, the stock 750THX system lists for around $2500 or so, and is quite larger than the Bose system. I bought a variant of the 750THX system with a more musical sub, and different surrounds (you can see my review under speakers "M" on this site). I also brought home a pair of B&W 602s2's, and while I decided not to go that route, I couldn't keep the Bose system after auditioning the other speakers. The 602s2's (even without subwoofer) delivered deeper lows strongly, and the high end was just beyond compare -- and mind you the B&W 602s2 has a tiny little metal tweeter that, in my opinion, didn't compare with the M&K highs. I went with the M&K 750THX system, and never looked back (except to curse myself for wasting over $1100). My Bose AM15 is now sitting in a box. It might end up on eBay.

In the end, I learned a valuable lesson. Always bring your CDs to auditions. The Bose sampler CDs are geared to accentuate the mids where Bose packages tend to perform well.

I think that if you are looking for a small package solely for home theater applications, you could do much worse than the AM15 package. Of course, for nearly the same money, I would imagine that you could also do much better, although I have no direct experience with other home theater systems in that price range. If you are hoping to do home theater and audio on the same system, I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere lest you have the same turnabout of conscience that I did.

I don't want to knock Bose since I have gotten 15 years of good service out of my old pair of 501's, even though that seems to be a consistent theme of this review page, but my opinions are pretty strong, and reasonably well informed (since I lived with this package for 6 months). Of course your ears are different, and these might be the best thing you've ever heard (although I think that is quite unlikely).

If you are still convinced that this is the solution for you, I would strongly recommend buying these from a dealer with a 30 day money back policy, and play them over and over with all different types of music and movies. If possible, pick up a pair of speakers from another manufacturer to audition, as well. Let your ears be the judge. I was too late on the draw in taking them back, and pending how much I get for them, it will have been a costly lesson for me.

I gave this package 2 stars for value, because $1100 is a lot of money to pay for the sound you get, in my opinion. I also gave it 2 stars overall, because six months after purchase they are sitting in a box. In my opinion that should be 1 star, but I added another simply because of the engineering feat of getting decent mid-range sound out of speakers so tiny.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck and happy listening!

Doug C

Similar Products Used:

M&K 750THX

Small size, very good sound, ease of set up, strong bass (really!)

While the cubes do an admirable job for their size, the center channel leaves baritone voices sounding a bit thin

I have the Bose Acoustimass 15 coupled with my Sony ES30 receiver and despite such heated criticism of these speakers, I find them to have very satisfying sound qualities (many of you are probably screaming at the screen by now). The consensus is that people either like these speakers (those who actually own them) and those who dislike these speakers (most probably do not own them - or have only hear them at the store). When properly positioned (and that takes some time) and EQ'd (also takes some time), they sound great. Despite the fact that the bass module is not a true "subwoofer", there is a lot of bass (remember, this is the "15" and not the passive "10"). Much of the good sound quality can also be attributed to my smallish room dimensions (about 15x25). I have the EQ on my Sony set generally to: Bass +4db at 300Hz, Mid -2db at 3000 Hz and Treble +4db at 7000 Hz (based on Sound and Vision Magazine, April 1999 lab test results).

None

Sonics

Under "style that best suits you" audio enthusiast isn't really correct. I love music and movies and I'm not so crazy about the hardware. Just to clarify.

Compared to the rack system towers that these speakers were to replace, they held their own. The highs were slightly less dull, the mids just as non-distinct, the bass much less full and less boomy. I tried to like them but I ended up taking them back and bought Paradigms instead. They had much better highs, crisp and clear and the bass, while not as low, was more distinct. The mids were clearly better. At around the same price, the Paradigms were at least 4 times better. At slightly more money, I heard Energy, B&W, and many others that were at least as good as the Paradigms.

I think most of the people that buy Bose aren't careful listeners. To suggest that these sound real is to say that you haven't listened to anything else! These speakers sound about as artificial as anything I've ever heard. To ask why, if Bose is so bad, do the car companies use them is worse than naive. Simply, its because the general, non-discriminating public views them as better due to the killer marketing Bose has employed. The cheapo speakers that came with my 1991 Beretta sound as good as the Bose in those fancy cars.

People, people, people!!!! Use your ears and, arguably more important, use your common sense. Dare to compare. Don't ever buy the first thing you come across and think is great. Lose those biases for awhile. Thankfully, I don't think it's your ears that are suspect; I think it's just the fact that you were in a hurry. I have to then conclude that natural sound reproduction doesn't hold a high priority in your life. And that's fine, but don't then say how great Bose is.

Similar Products Used:

Many

Room shaking base, crisp highs, good sound stage, good looking

Weakness in midrange

I can't believe the negativity on this home theatre system!!! Yes, there are systems that do sound better, but at this price range, I believe that the sound is hard to beat. I compaired BOSE to several other systems including Polk. My wife was with me also. It was without a doubt that the BOSE sounded much better in airness and accuracy. When I brought them home, I was even more impressed because when I watched to some movies in surround sound I was floored. My living room is a moderate size. By the way, I have yet to get a DVD player. Audio is a matter of personal taste. I suggest go ahead and listen to them yourself and then make a conclusion. By the way, all the professional reviews I read are pointing in their favor.

Similar Products Used:

Polk

Unbelievable sound from a speaker small enough to fit in your hand!

Haven't found any and probably won't!

I can't believe that some people will actually say that Bose AM-15's are "crappy". If you hook these speakers up to a "crappy" receiver, of course they will not perform at their best. As for the problems encountered during installation, no problems here. Once I got started with the installation and using the guide chart provided by Bose, I had those babies rocking within 1 hour! And believe me, these babies rock! They really strut their stuff when processing Dolby Digital movie soundtracks. Explosions, aircraft "fly-bys", etc. seem to envelope you. A prime example is during the movie Highlander 2 in the warehouse scene, when the water is dripping from the ceiling, I actually had to pause the movie and look behind me to see if it was really water dripping from MY ceiling! It sounded that real! Before I purchased the Bose AM-15's, I had Klipsch surround speakers for the rear and they pale in comparison to the AM-15's. If you are a first time audio enthusiast or a veteran to the game, I highly recommend this speaker system. To sum this all up, I can honestly say that I spent my money wisely and invested in a
speaker system that will entertain myself and my family for years to come.

Similar Products Used:

Polk

size

size, setup time, price

My first impression of this product right out of the box, is that this would be perfect for people who has limited space or don't like the sight of big, bulky speakers.

Like Ted (from Australia) said, if you want to get the most out of these speakers, they need to be positioned properly. The problem is that it takes a lot of time to set them up (it took me 3.5 hours and a couple of friends to do this). And you need to adjust the equalization on the receiver (in this case, a Sony STR-DA333ES) to smooth out the harshness of the highs and muddiness of the mids and lows.

And please do not compare these with "component speakers" (e.g. tower speaker for mains/rears, center channel-only speakers, etc.) because I have to admit, there is no comparison. But instead compare these to other sub/sat systems, which I think these speakers could hold their own.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch for mains/center Paradigm for rears

Small, attractive

bad sounding, incredibly over priced

My first impression of this product right out of the box, is that this would be perfect for people who has limited space or don't like the sight of big, bulky speakers.

Like Ted (from Australia) said, if you want to get the most out of these speakers, they need to be positioned properly.
That means, away from the listening area.
The good thing is that it takes very little time to set them up. It took me 3.5 minutes and a couple of hearing aids to do this. And you need to adjust the equalization on the receiver to zero. (in this case, a Sony STR-DA333ES) to silence the harshness of the non existant highs and incredible muddiness of the mids and no lows.

And please do not compare these with "Real speakers" (e.g. any speaker form any other company) because I have to admit, there is no comparison. But instead compare these to other Am mono clock radios, which I think these speakers could hold their own.

Similar Products Used:

sub/sat from Boston, Polk, M&K, Paradigm