"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

I don't know why everyone has such a 'downer' on Bose products.

Because many of them are crap. This wouldn't normally be a problem -- lots
of companies make crap products -- but for the fact that Bose products
aren't cheap, and the company makes exaggerated claims for them. I owned
Bose 901s, and it took me a year to finally get through my head just how
poor they were.


Although I would agree that their products carry a premium sale price,
I would have to say, purely from a service point of view, that they are
well
built, and appear to use quality components and PCBs. They are also
thoughtfully designed from a mechanical dismantling angle, and their
service
info and backup, if you are fortunate enough to have access to it, is
second
to none, IMHO. What other manufacturer these days, for instance, has a
proper paper manual, with a full text description of how every sub-circuit
in the item works, full-sized fold out schematics which follow proper
schematic drawing principles and are thus a breeze to read, and have full
sized board layout diagrams from both sides, that are actually legible?

No argument, but who cares how well-built or easy-to-service a product is,
if it's not a very good product in the first place?


I would also dispute that the Wave Radio is a "profoundly mediocre
product". Compared to any other portable or semi-portable that I have
come across in recent years, I think that the sound this little unit
produces, is perfectly stunning, both in overall quality, and spatial
definition.

No offense, but you've got to be kidding.

A few years back I went to a Bose-sponsored demo at a local hotel. They had
a demo area where you could play with the radios. Not only was there a
stunning lack of space and definition, but when you lifted the front of the
radio, you could hear a noticebable _reduction_ in coloration. In other
words, there is severe interaction with reflections from the table. (This
ought to occur with just about any table radio, but the Wave seems to be
unique in this regard.)

I have an inexpensive TEAC "executive system" which is my at-work stereo.
It's hardly the greatest system in the world, but it handily beats a Wave.


So much so, in fact, that I have on several occasions had visitors
to my workshop comment on how impressed they've been when
they have listened to one that I've had on soak test.

I have some experience with live recording, and have owned really good
playback equipment for over 30 years. I have little respect for the opinion
of the average listenier.


I don't know how much of it is "emperor's new clothes syndrome", but
most Bose owners that I've spoken to seem to be well pleased with their
systems and what they cost them.

The two might be intimately connected -- if something is expensive, you tend
to like it.


Remember that proper Bose dealers have a listening room where the products
can be fully demonstrated, so it's not as though purchasers of Bose
equipment
have been conned or fooled in any way by clever sales banter.

The consensus is that Bose has a separate demo room precisely to _prevent_ a
full demonstration. The belief is that they don't want their products being
compared with other products.