Talk:Bose Corporation

Why was the material regarding opinions of Bose removed? Given how vitriolic discussions about Bose products can become, a person could concievably come to this page trying to find some perspective on the issue.

--Johnkarp 20:51, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I honestly have heard a discussion regarding Bose become vitriolic. (Note: I work for Bose.) Do the opinions of a company belong in an encyclopedia article? Surely there are people with opinions regarding all companies. I'd rather see a "Controversy" section added (Take "Microsoft" wikipedia entry as an example.)

The FAQ that was linked to provided no references and was loaded with almost pure opinion; not the type of material I'd like to see in an encyclopedia.

--siliconwafer 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Well, some examples of controversy.

If you look at the first google groups search result page for 'bose', you get: 'Why some people claim Bose Systems suck' 'Re: Why shouldn't someone buy Bose?' 'Re: Bose and name recognition Like many of you I have gritted my teeth when I heard people brag abut Bose. I am not a Bose lover...' 'Re: Bose Acoustimass® 15 Home Theater Speaker System Heh. I don't think you COULD find another speaker as bad a value as Bose and also as miserable sounding to MAKE an apple-to-apple comparison.'

Or the arstechnica.com forum, usually a sedate bunch: 'No Highs, No Lows, Must be BOSE!!!' 'What's with all the Bose threads?' 'Please save my girlfriend from spending $2400 on a BOSE system...' 'bose? dems fight'n words' 'Yeah, reccomend a bose product. That will go over well...' 'I think the major problem isn't that Bose sucks, it's that people are fucking stupid.'

Judging from the commentary, you'd think Bose were a tobacco company. Worth a brief mention at least, perhaps in a controversy section as you say.

--Johnkarp 05:16, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Interesting...

Hasn't anyone heard of Bose's infamous "Wave Radios," like the ones with big nice buttons on top and credit-card size remotes that no one can ever find the batteries for? (Actually, they're pretty nice machines, my relatives have one...)

Controversy

The many heated opinions about the Bose loudspeaker technology are best resolved by each listener for himself or herself. Dr. Bose himself says, and I have heard him say this repeatedly, let your own ears be the judge. Whichever technology appeals to you is the technology you should purchase. There are no absolutes when it to comes to the appreciation of sound quality, only personal value judgments. What Bose DOES assure you is that his designs more closely reproduce in homes the SPATIAL qualities of the incident sound fields experienced typically in live performances, namely that the preponderance of the sound arrives at ones head omnidirectionally, and the high frequencies in particular do so. Whether or not that improves ones appreciation of the music, let your own ears be the judge.

As for the "criticism" of BOSE products which follows this comment, it is quite correct that Bose Corporation does not publish the "specs" so beloved by the audio aficianado, not that Bose doesn't know what they are, their research labs are better equipped than most, with a staff of Masters and PhD level graduates from MIT and elsewhere. The problem is that the relevance of the measureable data to perceived audio quality is, by and large, indeterminate -- except in the mind of audiophiles who CAN detect and describe the differences, and to those folks, and to everyone else, the Bose position is: let your ears be your guide. Frank Ferguson, Lexington, Massachusetts

counterpoint:

Speaker system specifications are not universally loved by audiophiles. In fact, specifications are more highly valued by audio engineers than anyone else. Companies that withhold specifications for certain products do so because they can't measure them, because the specifications in question are not meaningful, or because the specifications look awful. Basic speaker measurement technology has existed for over half a century now, and many speaker measurements (especially frequency response) say a great deal about the speaker.

As for the the "Bose position": while working at a certain retail store, I was told that the Bose systems were always to be kept on their own display, far separate from the rest of the systems. Upon inquiring as to why this was so, I was told that Bose has very strict guidelines for any store that will stock their products, and one of them is something to the effect that their products can not be placed in an area where they can easily be A/Bed with competing products. (You can easily find out why if you do an A/B yourself.)

"Let your ears be your guide" is good advice for speaker buyers, but it does not appear to be what Bose advocates in practice. In fact, the opposite is true; if stores want to carry Bose products, they must set things up to make a normal comparison difficult and inconvenient for the consumer. At the very least, the fact that Bose fail to provide specifications for their products AND actively attempt to prevent direct comparisons between their and competitors' products should be seen as a major, obvious source of controversy.

---

The only meaningful kind of A/B is one where the listener cannot see the speakers. Anyone who has performed A/Bs knows that if the listener can see the size of the speakers, they will make preconceptions about how they sound. A huge part of accoustics is psychological. A customer in a store cannot do this type of A/B, and therefore, Bose is very justified in seperating their products.

Criticism

At the very least there should be facts included. Bose publishes no technical data on any of their speaker line (check their website). Try visiting Sennheiser, Onkyo, DALI or any other major audio equipment vendor and you'll find information such as impedence, frequency response and THD listed on their specifications page. The drivers of the Bose Acoustimass system, which retails for around $1300, are sold for $35 a pair here. The speakers in question contain paper cones in a thin plastic casing.

This article contains a number of problems with their system backed up by facts and test results. Until this article becomes balanced rather than PR speak I'm adding a disupted neutrality tag. Defsac 06:11, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

I see nothing about the article in its current form that makes it "imbalanced". The article states FACTS about the company, contains no opinion about the products, lists a few products, and links to its website. I see no reason to have a neutrality disputed tag on the article, therefore, I am removing it. Every company out there is criticized or disliked by someone, not just bose.