On Oct 18, 9:54 am, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
wrote in message

oups.com...

Do I like Bose products? Not hardly, never did, never
understood the appeal.

They're small and easy to operatire.

Do they do a super marketing job? You bet. Are they garbage?
Relative to what? To ReVox? You bet! For an elderly woman
living alone who wants to treat herself and feel warm-and-fuzzy
doing it? Nope. They fill that need very well.

Of course, there's cheaper stuff that would meet her need. Of course, most
mini systems have -- for the average user -- relatively complex controls.

William:

I am trying to be gentle on Bose for Arfa's sake so he might relax a
bit and understand that the service person's point of view is quite
limited - nearly as limited as that of the audiophile.

It is my opinion that Bose stuff is pretty much the functional
equivalent of a polished turd as compared to its peers. But even
polished turds have their place in the world, the pleasure our
neighbor derives from her Bose - both because of the name and its very
real cachet and that it does actually meet her needs - forgives much.
I do not think she would have felt the same pleasure from a WalMart
Philips $69 special such as we have on the kitchen shelf.

Further, few individuals I know are put in as much harm's way as I am
when it comes to audio. I have two local dealers that shove their junk
my way (the source of the Revox and the Yamaha aforementioned), and I
have a reputation in the neighborhood and two radio clubs for bad
habits in audio. We do not have the space for Maggies or ML speakers
(my brother has my pair of Maggies) (although that will change in the
foreseeable future), I have an admitted habitual preference for
vintage stuff, and it sticks to me like lint. Through all of that, I
have never succumbed to the need to purchase a pair of Bose speakers.
And I have never been in a situation where such a pair has 'gotten my
attention' on a walk-by. And I did walk by a pair of 901s (with
equalizer) just the other day - asking $250. It is just not gonna
happen.

It's all in accordance with. Those who have purchased Bose will
necessarily defend their purchase against Bose detractors. Those who
purchase median-annual-income-for-family-of-four systems will
necessarily defend their purchase against "audiophool" detractors. As
far as I am concerned, I purchase what I like or what makes me curious
or both. That is enough and requires no defense. And the price I might
pay is irrelevant. We are kept by two Maine Coon cats, we keep a
Scottie and a Golden, we drive European cars and live in a Victorian
house, we mostly cook our own food each day and maintain a small
vegetable garden... these are choices we make and work to support.
Others make different choices and why it is that Baskin-Robbins has 32-
or-more flavors.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA