The Bose Hype

I recently upgraded my home theater system’s receiver to a Harmon-Kardon AVR445, which is an awesome multi-input multi-output receiver capable of doing everything. Seriously. It’ll bake cakes under one of the set-ups. And to be able to properly hear all the sound that it pushes out, I figured I’d better upgrade my surround-sound speaker system. So I went out and bought a Bose Acoustimass 10 system. It’s very cool, comes with four tiny double-speaker cubes, a center speaker and a powered sub-woofer. And it cranks out some great sound.

And, like every good little tech-geek, I did a mass of research on speakers and speaker systems before I purchased anything. Then I did the usual check-out-eighteen-different-places for pricing, so I’d get the best deal. (By the way — don’t waste your time with pricing Bose — they have effectively done the same thing Apple has been able to do — make everyone charge the same price no matter where you buy it, although you can get it from some online vendors with no tax and free shipping, so it is a little cheaper that way.)

But it was while I was researching Bose that I came across a small but real undercurrent of dislike for that company and their speakers. Now, don’t get me wrong, I really like their products and am really happy with the new system. And most other people do, too. But it was surprising reading some of the really negative stuff out there. Most reviews were good but some were absolutely caustic. I’m not sure what drives that — obviously some people feel they were misled or are unhappy about the sound… but Bose goes out of their way to let you try out the sound both in their stores (always be careful about that, since they set up the place to sound fantastic and it’s always under ideal conditions there) and in your home (you can return Bose products for refunds if you’re unhappy with them).

I think it boils down to someone thinking — hey, it’s some metal and cardboard and a little wood sometimes, how dare they charge so much money! But you know what? They build a great product (now stop complaining, you audiophiles) and they charge a pretty penny for it. That’s their right and you don’t have to buy it…

But you also know what? I bought the Acoustimass 10 system, I love it and I paid a pretty penny for it. It’s OK… I’m worth it!

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