Very enjoyable, hi-fi sounds. This speaker set looks great, is very small and produces pretty big sounds. It's not a high-end speaker set and of course while being compared to such equipment, it won't perform as detailed. But for a typical home usage they are just great. Have spent many hours listening to this soundsystem. Note: I first connected them to some pioneer home video integrated amplifier/receiver. And i was completely disappointed with the sounds. I returned the amplifier first and by accident had a chance to get NAD D7050 (not a cheap amp, it's price range is 500-1000 EUR I guess) before I returned the speakers. And was astonished. Those small boxes sound really good, but you need to get a nice amp to drive them. For experimenting I connected them later to Classe CA2300 (which is a *huge* thing) and it was able to drive them even better. I don't believe that anyone will use Classe amp with Bose speakers however...

Bass is big, but might be inaccurate. The mid-bass lacks power and punch, so the sub produces more lower end to "compensate". This is not something you want in recording studio, but actually can sound pretty "enjoyable" when listening to rap/pop/rock/electronic music.

Got these for my Aunt. I BEGGED her not to get them but of course people want their space inside a room... Got them for her on Amazon and had it shipped to my house so i can get a thorough review before installing them. The packaging and overall appearance of the product SEEMED nice... Initial listening gave the impression of decent highs and mids, a lack of lower end, but an overall flat sound. Listening to them for awhile made my eyes used to them and "think" it sounded good until i switched back to my Paradigm 5SE Mk3s. It just lacks the depth, detail, and imaging that the larger speakers deliver. I also discovered that one cube was not working properly... At louder volumes it's fine but turn it lower on songs with lots of mid-range and the sound that comes out is nasty and distorted... it's not slight either... it almost screams like it's dying. If it werent for this snag i'd rate it overall a 3 but this just shows the quality control of BOSE. Honestly for 200 dollars it's really not too shabby... any more though and i'd be dissapointed.

I have been using PSB Alpha MIni for almost ten years now and my next upgrade is Totem Model 1 which I have enjoyed listening for about 3 years now. One day while I was at BJ's in Norfolk,VA I saw this Bose System for $210.00 as floor sample and I have been thinking of buying a good sounding computer speaker but I always get discouraged because I am used to listening to good sound from current sets of speakers, then I saw this Bose System which is really cheap(which includes the remarkable Onkyo receiver and two nice stands), for the price this system did not disappoint me at all and all these years that I have been reading bad reviews about Bose I wondered if they have really listened and played quality CD recording with Bose System. If you can afford this brand of speaker system buy it because only people with hearing impairment and bad judgment will not fully appreciate this wonderful system. My PSB and Totem are powered by NAD amplifier.

Bose acoustimass 3 is capable of handling Mid range amplifiers of 6-16 ohms, with approximately less than 5% sound distortion.

All bose series are quiet expensive but of worth.

I think that bose acoustimass 3 seems to be a good one in terms of sound clarity, power absorption & durability.

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Previously I was using Kenwood superwoofer of 2000 model, Japan.
It was good but when I bought M3, it really made me relaxed from changing the speaker models frequently

clear sound specially mid and bass.
room filling sound
your friends and family members can impress guaranteed

bose bashers dun like it so please do not listen to them
if you are bose hater please buy something else u wont like it
and do not write useless and fake review....

Sounds goods overall even at very low volume it produce all the frequencies.
I Wonder y people hate bose and dey just write ridculous review please ignore all of them... only consider good reviews and just believe on your ears and i can bet u wont be disappoint when u listen these tiny speakers with such a HI-FI sound
dey are power hungry the more power u give them better they sounds.
i have tried them on 55 to 100 watts amp @ 8 ohms and they sound much more better with very gud detail and soundstaging on 80 to 100 watt amplifier.

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B&W, Polkaudio, Kef, Jbl, and many more

SIZE!!!!

Not for those who like to get a H/A with loud bass.

I was at Circuit City and just by chance walked by a sales tag that said the price of the bose was 123.96 clearence. I asked the sale guy, and he confirmed. So needless to say, I picked up a pair, I mean bose speakers for that price, why wouldnt I? I own an am5 series 3 and love it. I use it in a up stairs bedroom in my home that is my ht room and it does deliver. My Dad has always wanted a bose system so, I thought, why not get them for a gift for him to start him off. I didnt want to give him something that sounded bad, so I need to test them in my home first, but of course I didnt want to give him an opened package, what did I do, I bought two pair, The last two CC had. I figured, if they suck, I'll just take them back, If there good, I can take back the opened pair, and give him the new set. Thank goodnees, no open box fee at CC. Well, I wasnt about to connect them to my ht room reciever, I know that would be too powerful, so I decided to connect them to a panasonic micro dvd system I've had for about 4 years that I still use in my family room downstairs. My downstairs livingroom is about 20x20 with a 25ft open to below sealing with tile floor. needlees to say, my micro system with an added polk sub fills the whole area up with great sound. Anyways, I connected the am3s and they really impressed me. No they dont sound as good as a full blown floorstand speakers with a 15'' sub, but for the size and ability to hide them, they really do sound good. The bass is enough to play music at a decent level, and speaker and sub placement are must figure out to get the best sound. They sound even better in a room smaller with carpet, I also tried them in my bedroom. So, I decided to keep one set, and I will give the second to my dad. For 123.96, not a bad deal.

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Bose am5 series 3

Look sexy maybe?. But there are other new ones out now that look just as good

Poor build quality, Cheap and nasty materials, over priced. Sloppy sound.

Rubbish, Rubish, Rubbish.........
After getting back from oversea and needing a set of speakers, I bought these after seeing them at a show in 1998.
Two years of using them and then discovering jazz changed my opinion of these speakers completely. Hideous mid-range and sloppy, wish washy bass, as well as harsh cheap treble. Not to mention the poor build quality and poor materials made in a third world country with low or no quality controls.
So...........if you live in a shoe box apartment, or are one those tossers who just likes to look at pretty things, the go ahead and knock yourself out.
Any one that calls these speakers great needs serious counseling.
I saw the light and since moved on. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. Stay away from Bose. The are very good at marketing.................trust me, what they sell, you don't need.
Where are they now? Hiding in my back room connected to a computer.........what an embarassment. So start REALLY listening to music and get yourself a descent pair of speakers and stay away from these toys.

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No way

Overall sound, placement optons, size

None if used in small to medium sized rooms.

The reason for my Bose Acoustimass purchase was because my wife and I wanted a space saving speaker option that hopefully would not present too much of a drop-off in sound quality compared to my large bookshelf units.
Fortunately, a timely trip to Circuit City provided me with the Acoustimass 3 Series IV system on sale for $177.
Even at that price, I entered this situation with serious concerns. First of all there’s no direct-reflecting action as part of the design. What were these two little cube speakers going to sound like when powered by a non-Bose receiver? What about that passive bass module? With these thoughts in mind, I really wasn't expecting much from the demo.
The stereo soundstage was surprisingly wide, a factor that belied the small size of the cubes. Even the passive bass module with its small 5.25 inch driver gave a modest but not exaggerated depth to the music; a pretty impressive feat considering the fact that this system was playing out in the open in an acoustically hard, big box store!
Bass satisfaction will depend upon the size and acoustics of your listening area and where you place your bass module. I recommend calling Bose for help in this area. I’m happy to report that in our listening area at home, the bass reproduction qualities improved significantly over what I heard during the store demo.
What I appreciate about the bass module is that when a recording contains bass material, it gets reproduced cleanly. When there is no bass, you don't hear any. In other words, it does what it's supposed to do without the constant, throbbing drone of many amplified subwoofers.
Being a part of the radio broadcasting community for many years has taught me to listen for details. From that perspective I can say that the Acoustimass system reproduces the audio spectrum quite well, particularly in areas such as vocals, piano and acoustic guitar. Therefore don’t be surprised if you here subtleties and nuances from your music that you didn’t hear before. For example, I discovered what appeared to be an overmodulation problem on one song from a live performance CD. Simple tests indicated that this wasn’t a cone breakup problem. A failure to achieve similar results while experimenting with another stereo system convinced me that the Bose cubes are very accurate in their reproduction. In other words, don't assume that if you hear distortion that it's the fault of the cubes. The cubes may actually be exposing problems elsewhere in the audio chain.
On the issue of listing frequency response specifications, speaker manufacturers realize that even when graphed, these numbers don’t tell the whole story. For example, I am not aware of an agreed upon, industry-wide test procedure that’s been established for this purpose. Assuming there is no such standard, any speaker manufacturer or testing facility could produce a variety of response values depending upon the test conditions that they’ve selected. Until I’m made aware of such a standard, I don't feel response comparisons between brands and/or the test results of Internet consumer critics are worth much.
If you’re going to rely heavily on specifications, there are others that must also be considered. Polar response curve tests will show dispersion characteristics. Photographs of oscilloscope traces from tone burst tests help determine speaker transient response. If you can find a brand that offers this information, great; but be prepared to pay the price. I'm more interested in performance-per-dollar; that's why in the end, I'll trust my own two ears.
I'm very happy with my Bose purchase because I didn't end up compromising sound quality. This was originally supposed to be a space saving system that would merely tie us over until we could buy an entirely new audio/video system. Instead, it has turned out to be a product that, if necessary, I could live with as a main stereo speaker system for many years to come. If you have a small to medium sized listening area, don't overlook this system because even at a much higher price, this is truly a great value in high quality audio.

Customer Service

Excellent

Clarity Small footprint

Not suitable for medium/large sized rooms

I recently purchased the AM3's along with the Onkyo TX-LR552 receiver for my computer..needless to say, they have performed nearly flawlessly. Previously, I had my Cambridge New Ensembles connected to a small powered sub..sounded pretty good, but the the speakers were rather large and took up a lot of space on my desk. With the addition of the AM3's, I have gained desk space, but more importantly, have better sound. I will caution, however, that my office is only 10x10. If I ever move them to my living room, they'll be used as surrounds instead. In any event, they are great performers in a small room - and at less than $200, you can't go wrong.

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Axiom Cambridge Soundworks

Sounds great when properly powered.(they are power hungry) Ample Bass & midrange.

Treble lacks (no tweeter). Expensive.

I bought these on a whim. Did not listen to them befor i bought them. At first I thought they were very good speakers. Then as time went on I started to find them to be pretty mediocre. I moved about a year later and this time I used an amp with alot more power (much more power than my bose were rated to handle).This made a big difference 250% better. Then I fooled around with placement, another 100% better. I moved the bass module into a corner (not corner loaded). Well these speakers came alive. My purchase finally was woth it's money. Lots of deep bass and pretty good midrange. Not sharp or tinny, and very little muddyness form the bass module. Bose do have their own sound, as does any speaker. If you like the sound then who cares what the bose bashers say ! Yes they were expensive and I am not justifieing the price. They are over priced.