Horrific Confession and Question

Bose sells alot of product and while it may not be the absolute best performing, nor even a particularly good value, Bose is a popular choice for many people. I also believe it is an appropriate choice for most of the consumers who purchase them. As I see it there are two types of audio consumers in this world -- those who buy 18" x 15" x 30" 150 lb. monobloc amps attached by short lengths of $5,000 cables suspended above the floor to coffin sized speakers and those who buyers who want something that "sounds good", doesn't take up too much space and looks nice. I don't believe either group can lay claim to loving or enjoying music more than the other. If we audiophile want the average listener to respect our choices, then we must do them the honor by respecting theirs.

Go with your gut. Personally I don't care for Bose. My best advise is, if you can't here the difference then don't buy it. What does your main system consist of? Will it integrate with bose?

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...