Horrific Confession and Question

onhwy61: as is usually the case, your post is well-written, tho i find your reasoning and conclusion somewhat disturbing. first, the so-called "audiophile community" is not close to being as monolithic as you describe. witness this site. witness the disagreements, often heated, more often super-heated. second, bose has the market share it enjoys because it is a master of marketing, not because its products are now any "better" in any sense than those you might buy at much lower prices. bose began by marketing to the folks who read "audio" and "stereo review" (sadly, i'm old enough to remember when it was called "hifi review," and i had a subscription). do you recall that there was a whole quasi-hippie subculture back in the early to mid-70's that sold macrome nets that allowed you to hang your pentagonal bose boxes from the ceiling? ( coincidentally, i met dr. omar bose around 1979-80, when i worked for the ftc and enforced the old "audio output rule". his company ran a national ad that was blatantly violative of the rule, which was pulled after i made my usual big brother threats.) when bose was "outed" by the likes of j. gordan holt, it switched its marketing to a wider audiance, still playing on dr. bose's "connections" to mit (the univ., not the dreaded wire). later it went "direct" with ads in "parade" and "readers digest," etc. now, bose has its own stores in damn near every shopping center of note in the usa. it has well-trained salesfolk, as is perfectly described by tubegroover. bose is a marketing paradigm that is likely emulated in the "practical" exercises required of mba candidates from wharton to stanford. that ought not make it any more admirable than a political candidate who runs on the looks of his wife and carefully selected soundbites that have nothing whatever to do with important political issues. i'm sorry, onhwy61, but i simply cannot agree that we must "honor" bose because it is the predominant choice of the great unwashed any more than we should honor those scoudrels in congress who got there, to paraphrase h.l. menkin, 'cause noone's ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the american voter.

Cornfedboy, let me clarify. I do not mean that we as audiophiles should respect or honor Bose (the person or the company), but instead the consumers who purchase Bose. These people are not dumb, they're motivated people who are trying to satisfy their perceived needs. Have these people made the "right" descision? I believe that each individual Bose buyer is the only person who can correctly answer that question. I suspect most will answer affirmatively.

I think Constantin is on to something with his suggestion of parametric equalizers--does anybody remember the Fletcher-Munson loudness curves? The "Loudness" button that used to be standard equipment, which boosted bass and treble at low volumes to compensate for the ear's roll-off of sensitivity? It worked. I suspect that the Bose system you heard, and the other background systems that seem to sound good, have boosted bass and treble. You might not want it in your pristine listening room, but it works in a distracting environment where your hearing is effectively hampered. Y'know, if I may question orthodoxy for a moment, sometimes I feel that we, with our rejection of tone controls and equalization, are kind of like the old joke of the foolish person who screws in a light bulb by having several associates rotate the ladder while he holds the bulb. Instead of accepting a little extra circuitry in the amp to facilitate flat response, we tune the *room* ;>) Of course, my preamp with two knobs does look kinda cool...

Try Playing The Who Who Are You ( or Ella if thats your thing) at realistic sould levels on the Bose ..... Then play them on a real audio system , any decent seperates with $ 1,200.00 & up loudspeakers. If you dont hear the difference... get a nice Yamaha mini system for $ 500.00

I think that just because Bose lies in there advertisment or have a huge markup because of reasearch and development doesnt mean it is a bad product. They may abuse there mark up but no more then any other mass market auddio product. I also think that most people would be suprised on how much of a mark up our high end gear has. All product are guilty of this regardless of weather it is a pair of $200 Nike shoes or a high end amplifier.

Few products dont lie or try to pusuade through specs in advertisement. Just open up to any high fi ad. I think watts is a bogus spec because every company measures it differently, it doesnt dictate quality, and is more dependent on the ohms of your speakers then the amplifier yet every company uses it. High end or not. At one time the FCC considered making it illegal to use this spec in advertising (I think) yet every high end company pushes this spec in reveiws and advertising.

Marketing is the most important part of a business and who can blame a cmpany for being great at it. We are all seceptable to it. How many times will you read an ad for a product you are interested in? Its unfortunate they lie but all companies do it. Isnt a hot women in a car commercial lying? Thay are trying to get you to relate that car with status and sex. Different but still a lie. Unfortunately it works but who is to blame? The company or the ignorant and influentual consumer. Im not saying its right but I try to take respnsibility for my own actions. If I get ripprd off I blame myself for not researching it.

I think Onkwy is right in that we should respect other people choice in Bose and also agree that if asked most people would be happy with their purchase. They are designed more to impress with the wow factor of intial listening like a new tv with the bightness turned up but thats what some people want. Its unfortunate that they dont know how to listen or that they dont understand the difference between intial impresion and living with it but ignorance is bliss.

So what if the bass and treble are exagerated. I make purchase based on what sounds the best. Not neutrality or what sounds like a live concert. I feel they are one in the same for myself but would recommend to anyone to buy what sounds best to them. Our high end systems dont need a boost in the bass or treble but I have mine cranked up in my car. If anything it makes cheap systems sound more like our high end systems.

Thank god everyone doesnt like the same thing. It would make product buying easier but I like the variety. I like that being an audiophile is unique.

To each his own.