All right then. I've said it many times before, and I will now say it again.
The UK and America, are two nations separated by a common language. And by
that, I mean that sometimes, no matter how much either side of the pond
understands the individual words, the composite meaning of them somehow goes
west ...

Honestly, I am not attacking you, either personally, or as a sound
reproduction aficionado. Nor am I attacking your views on Bose as such. They
are your views and opinions, and if that's what you believe, then fair
enough.

My only real interest in all of this is that I hear a lot of different gear,
including just about all of Bose's range - that is whole systems, not just
speakers - and many of the items that I see, and which also cost a lot of
money, seem to have mediocre performance for their cost, but I don't see
anyone ever giving the companies which make this stuff, the same kind of
kicking that Bose always seem to get. On numerous occasions, I have seen
questions from posters on s.e.r. involving simple problems on Bose kit.
Nothing to do with the sound or anything audio related at all. As soon as
such a post like this appears, I can absolutely guarantee that someone like
you (and again, I don't mean that in any personally offensive way) will jump
on the post immediately, telling them that they have bought rubbish and have
been lied to and that they should expect nothing but trouble and so on.

Well, ok. The stuff is expensive. I don't dispute that. Maybe their claims
are exagerated in the way that they are worded, but I really don't think
that they can be accused of deliberately lying in this age of litigation. As
far as their integrity as a company goes, I can only judge them from a
service point of view, and I have to say that I have always found them
helpful, and technically competent, which is a lot more than can be said for
many other mainstream companies. I would also reiterate the point that I
made before about them staying in business. If you are in business yourself,
as I am, then you will know that no matter how good a company's marketing
hype is, if they really are producing products that are no good at all, they
will surely not survive in today's highly competitive market place. The fact
that they have stayed in business for so long so far, must say something for
their products. And before you say that it's just down to generation after
generation of people stupid enough to be taken in by their hype, I really
don't believe that washes over that period of time.

I'm really not defending Bose as a company just because they are Bose. I
neither particularly like nor dislike their products - I just fix 'em up
until they match their quoted specs. I am merely acting as an advocate for
them, because I am interested in this 'devil incarnate' image that some
people seem intent on thrusting on them.

However, that said, I still think that the little Wave Radio - which for
lack of a carrying handle, is still really only a portable in size, concept
and general construction - sounds a great deal better than similarly sized
items from other manufacturers, designed to fulfil a similar purpose. I
don't necessarily believe that the elevated cost of a Wave Radio is
justified by this. It's just my opinion that it sounds better than those
others. Nothing technical. Nothing clever. It just sounds better to my
uneducated service engineer's ear.

As for Quad and Peter Walker, it would indeed be strange if I did not know
their products, as they were manufactured not far from where I live. I have
no problem with the sound reproduction of their equipment, although Peter
Walker did have a few odd design ideas that were less than mainstream. As
far as the kit itself goes, I have never been particularly impressed with
the standard of construction, nor the quality of components employed. They
are adequate, nothing more. The internal construction of the electrostatic
panels, borders on sloppy in many cases. And this is expensive gear too, in
its day.

And that now really really is all that I've got the time and inclination to
say on the matter. It honestly isn't that important in my otherwise
busy-enough life. Either you understand what I'm trying to say, or you
don't. Either way, I'm not that bothered.

Have a good weekend ;-)

Arfa