Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 It does sounds good for its price. October 18, 2007
Choppy (now in Singapore)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
It seems like the first step to be an audiophile is to criticize Bose. I got lost on that path a little bit. I spent six months going around to listen to many others speakers (included Polk and Klipsch). Of course, I heard some decent speakers that sound better than Bose, but they usually cost at least $3,000 each. But, for the similar price range Bose is hard to be beaten. I decided to buy it because it always make me smile our of my poker face at Bose showroom (not because of the funny sale guy).
I decided to adopt a set of AM6. People at the store told me that I may have to wait for 45 days. I think, that's OK. But, I can't live without some nice music for 45 days. Then, I placed my order for the AM6 and also brought home a pair of an inexpensive Bose 161. The 161 alone sounds very OK for music. Anyway, my receiver is Onkyo TX-SR605S. And my audio sort is the Mac mini optically connected to the Onkyo receiver. I could make my neighbors dance with this set. However, the 161 alone is no good for movies.
45 days later, I got the AM6. So, the pair 161 are now the back surround speakers. With the AM6, I got a 7.1 system. The first Onkyo automatic setup was great for the movies the floor and the walls were shaking. for some reasons, the floor and the walls were still shaking for music too. That is a little too much for me. The bass wasn't like a strong punch. It was more like a really annoying subwoofer effect from the next room. I was a bit disappointed. However, a month later when I was playing around with the Onkyo remote control, I found that the Onkyo set volume level of subwoofer to -3. I manually changed it to +3. Now, it is a lot better for music. It does sound like what I heard in Bose showroom. The movie sound effect is still cool. I think, the reason that make Onkyo receiver set the volume level very low for Bose speakers, because Bose bass module is not exactly a subwoofer. It also produces some midrange sound, which could mess up Onkyo automatic speakers calibration. One more good thing that I like about the AM6 is, speaker cables are included. I don't have to worry about what cabel should I use or how much do I have to pay more. But please note that, the center speaker of AM6 is identical with the satellite speakers. So, it could be better of a system that has a real center speaker.
 Very disappointed April 26, 2007
Remo Soldaini (APO, AE United States)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'm no Audiophile as it were but I know quality when I hear it. I purchased the Acoustimass 6 (gen IV) on my belief and word on the street that Bose is the best. I'm sad to say don't believe the hype. They are good but not $899 good. The Bass is lame and the treble on the center channel drowns out the rest of the action if anyone is talking in the foreground. I'm running a Pioneer vsx2016 which is an awesome product. Anyway I plan to stay within this price range but take my business elsewhere, any suggestions? They are going to go back next week.
 I'm soooo glad I unloaded these on someone else June 1, 2006
montana_nick (Boise, ID)
82 out of 99 found this review helpful
I ditched my AM6 speakers through eBay and bought some good speakers instead. Anyone who likes Bose must only have their clock radio as a point of reference. I was able to sucker some chump into paying $400 for my Bose AM6 speakers, which I turned around into a set of Athena .5 speakers and a 10" Velodyne sub. All running from the same Pioneer VSX-D711 AV receiver as the Bose. My new speakers set me back about $350, leaving money left over for speaker wire and stands.
So, why am I so harsh on the Bose AM6 speakers? Well, they do look nice, but... they use proprietary speaker wires with speacial plugs. So, you have to use their wiring which really reduces the options for running wiring for the back surrounds. The small size is nice, but having speaker wire hanging out in plain site pretty much sucks.
Speaking of sucking, let's adress the major shortcoming of almost ALL Bose products, they just don't sound good. My budget Athena .5 speakers have a 1" tweeter and a 4" driver. This combo does a pretty good job of covering down to around 80Hz where the sub fills in. Not completely flat, but really nice for the price and signficantly better than what the Bose AM6 can do with its single 2.5" driver per speaker. The Velodyne sub can hit 30Hz and really fill in the low end, while the bass module (I refuse to call that Bose thingy a sub) doesn't get any where near that. And, since all 5 speakers are cabled through the bass module, you're really stuck finding a good place to hide it in your room.
So, what does all this mean? When watching a Dolby Digital or DTS movie, I can now actually notice the low frequency effects, and even feel them. with the Bose, you get muddled farting from the bass module (and, I suspect the cross over on the bass module is set pretty high in an attempt to compensate for the Bose Cubes' misserable low to mid range response, so you know where the sound is coming from, sort of distracting).
The overall sound stage is now much better with the new speakers, too. The Bose cubes were too easily localized, and didn't fill in the room very well. But... most important: when watching a movie, we can now actually hear the dialog! With the Bose AM6, it seemed like the music sound track and other ambiant sounds were constantly overwhelming the dialog. Turns out, this was due to the fact that crappy little cube speakers aren't able to effectively produce sound in that low to mid frequency range, where most dialog lives. Take a look at all the traditional center channel speakers everyone else sells, they usually feature a single tweeter and two or more mid-range drivers of decent size (4" to 6" depending on cost). Now, compare that to the single 2.5" driver found in the Bose cube "center channel". Which one do you think will do a better job of reproducing the full frequency of sound needed to enjoy a movie?
Sorry to ramble a bit, but I was a chump when I fell for the Bose marketing hype/BS. Now that I've learned that I can get significantly better sound for 1/2 the cost (and I'm sure there are scores of other options), I'd hate to see someone else get suckered in by the hype. So, go back to Amazon's speaker section and try something else; Athena is a great brand;) and I'm sure there are lots of other choices...
 sounds like a theatre February 2, 2006
Louis Zwernemann (ridgefield park, nj United States)
1 out of 14 found this review helpful
thanx for a great system...my living room now sounds like a full theatre...it's hard to believe so much sound comes out of speakers so small I got a great b-day present..thanx
Not worth the money or hype! October 30, 2005
AudioDreamer (Bend, OR)
43 out of 49 found this review helpful
I heard this set at my Grandfather's friend's house. I think the fella spent like $750.00 on it from a local outlet mall. What a waste of well earned retirement money! He had a higher end Marantz receiver firing these puppies, and let me tell you the receiver was being shamefully wasted on these speakers. The lower end frequencies were o.k. and the highs were sufficient. What I felt was missing was the solid mids and voice presence. Don't get me wrong, music sounded good. But, trying to watch a movie was like riding in a car with huge subs and tweeters in the front door pillars. The lack of mid-bass was a huge downfall with these speakers.
I spent $200.00 less on a set of Dahlquist 5.1A and feel like they sound like $1000.00 speakers. They have an even frequency response all the way across. In my opinion they look a whole lot better mounted too. I'm running them with a Marantz SR6200 DTS receiver and they perform flawlessly. I would totally recommend anyone that's considering a BOOOSE system to reconsider and shop around. GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH, DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!
|
