QUOTE(CharlotteWebb @ Tue 27th October 2009, 11:03am)
QUOTE(Somey @ Tue 27th October 2009, 5:57pm)
Their headphone technology is supposed to be highly innovative too, but I have no personal knowledge of that (i.e., I haven't read anything about it in relevant audiophile publications - I just haven't been into that stuff much since my hearing started to deteriorate).
Of everyone here, I'm pretty sure
EricBarbour would be the one to ask about this.
You rang?
Ooh, baby, I could rant for hours about Bose.
Audiophiles hate them, publications hate them, and even service technicians hate them.
That site is a good beginning summary.
Did you know that Bose was the first company to successfully sue, and win, against
Consumer Reports magazine for a negative review? Amar Bose (who, for your
information, is supposed to be a
very arrogant and aggressive man) was trying
to market his sound systems to General Motors in 1971--he told them that
Consumer
Reports (as well as various hi-fi magazines) had negatively reviewed the 901 speaker,
so they referred him to their favorite defamation lawyers, who specialized in silencing
criticism of consumer products.
The decision was overturned, but the pattern was set. One reason Bose can sell their
crummy, overpriced speakers and compact stereos is very simple: Bose can advertise
like hell, and not worry about being badly reviewed by any audio publication--
because they tend to find Bose products inferior and costly, but don't want to be
sued, so their solution is usually to not review Bose products at all.
Bose did psychoacoustics research, and discovered the little tricks to marketing
sound equipment to elderly people. Old folks usually have significant hearing loss above
5 kHz, so why bother putting tweeters of good quality in the speakers? Or any tweeters,
as in the 901? And old folks don't listen to music with a lot of bass, like rock or R&B, so
one can skimp on the subwoofer too. Plus, distortion up to 5% is acceptable, because
elderly ears have trouble detecting harmonic and especially intermod distortion. (This is
starting to change, as baby boomers replace the WWII generation. They tend to like rock
and not be fond of "elevator music". But Bose is already well-established, so
the company will be around for a long time.)
Major advertising conduits for Bose: magazines that cater to elderly people,
like
Reader's Digest and
AARP.
Plus, Bose uses the Buy American Act to sell specialized audio equipment to the
US government, especially the military. They are among the last audio manufacturers
to have "American made" labels on their products, even though all their parts and
major subassemblies are made overseas. Their speaker drivers have long been
notorious for low cost Chinese manufacturing and, shall we say,
average quality.
Unlike JBL or Polk or other sound-reinforcement manufacturers still in the US,
Bose's managers spent the last 30 years making friends at the Pentagon.
(PS, don't be surprised if it turns out that Bose employees or marketing firms
employed by Bose are editing their WP articles.)