raman

I am still surprised that Porsche fits Bose into their cars. Porsche is supposed to be about high quality, so this is also what you would expect from the more expensive radio system.

Bose is known for its very overpriced but only medium quality products. Their reputation with the general public is the result of a massive publicity budget. Unfortunately, their research budget seems to be minimal. Every Bose speaker which I heard has a boomy bass, lacking low mid and high frequencies which have no definition. Never trust a company which calls a 13 cm loudspeaker a subwoofer.

mbodo

I'm not so sure having reference series speakers in a convertable would be the wisest of decisions, which seems to be where a lot of folks want to have their car audio at. For simple folks like myself, the Bose system does a pretty good job.

Now, I've read all sorts of negative sidebars on Bose products, and have seen the rantings and ravings about how "poor" these systems are. I'd ask, compared to what, exactly? Are we comparing these systems to reference series speakers, costing thousands of dollars each? Or, are we comparing to something like the Mark Levinson (sp?) speakers in, say, the Lexus vehicles (which will get the same rantings & ravings as the Bose speakers draw).

Call me simple, but I have had no complaints with my Bose system installed OEM in my MB M Class, my 987S, my 5.1 home theater, or my Aviation X headsets. Granted, the heatset volume ***** are a bit too easy to throw out of whack, but the light weight and noise reduction more than componsates for this minor annoyance.

I find these systems to be a good value. Much better sound quality than a lot of the stock systems that are on the market (so far as vehicles are concerned), a nice discrete installation when it comes to home theater, and a very comfotable set of headphones when it comes to aviation. Is it all worth the $$ for the moniker it carries? ...
...

Could I have spent half as much on a car that goes just as fast and handles almost as good?

Personal preference, I suppose ;-)

raman

I compared last week a Bose system in a Nissan 350Z with a 125 Euro JVC radio in a Honda Jazz with the factory supplied speakers. The Honda system sounded much more natural...

In general you could say that, in Hifi systems, one will find better sounding loudspeakers than a Bose at about one third of the price. I once participated in a comparative test for a consumer magazine of 26 similary priced loudspeakers. The Bose 301 was the very worst.

A couple of years ago, they sold a 4.000 Euro Home Theatre system which was supplied with a CD instead of a DVD player, and put a homebuild imitation of Dolby Surround in it, instead of paying the licence for the real thing.

In short, the only thing for which I can admire this company is for the way they are able to sell crappy stuff with an enormous profit margin.

By the way, I am a professional sound recording engineer.

mbodo

.. and I'm partially deaf in my left ear.

I guess I scoff at folks when they can't quantify or qualify terms like "crappy" and "sounds natrual". Thats what I do for a living.

BradS(IN)

Geez, and all this time I was really diggin' my Bose systems, in the cars, in the house, in the home theatre, even on my PC I have the Bose satellites and sub...I thought it sounded awesome! Now, you've blown it for me, and I will be searching around for some alternate products for the same price range. Tee Hee, actually, I don't have time for all of that, Bose works for me.

type987s

Bose equals no highs and no lows. I previously owned a Mazda Miata and replaced the .5ohm Bose speakers with units manufactured by Clearwater Audio. Upon removing the Bose speakers I was amazed at how cheap and light they were. The base speaker was a real piece of crap. The whole system came to life with the Clearwater speakers. It sounded so much better there was no need to replace the factory amp or head unit.

I wish Clearwater would produce a set of replacement speakers for Porsche. They could make a lot of money. Does anyone know if the Porsche Bose system is .5ohm? What about the standard system? If it has normal 4 or 8ohm amp and speakers it maybe a better choice for owners looking for better sound and upgradeability.

raman

BradS,
You must be the ideal Bose customer. Somebody who is prepared to spend a lot of money on a sound system and does not bother to compare different systems. That's how they like it.

Type987s,
I am not surprised that they us a 0.5 Ohm speaker. This allows them to use a much smaller (and cheaper) amplifier. If properly designed, an ampifier can double its output power if the impedance is halved. A 1 W / 8 Ohm amp would then deliver 16 W / 0.5 Ohm. Which is probably the maximum what this speaker can handle.

If you ever wondered why Bose does not publicise technical specifications you now know why. It would simply be to embarrassing..

mbodo

Umm. compare to what, the stock system?
To who, an audiophile? C'mon .. spare me the cynicism, I provide enough of that on the other boards. You, Mr. Sound Engineer, need to learn how to seperate work and fun. Work = reference series high quality (non-bose in your case) stuff. Fun = whatever sound system is in the car + THE CAR.

Not all of us want 10' tall reference series speakers in our living rooms. Our wives would kill us as they prefer the neat little cubies that are delicately out of sight and can be covered with some dainty little doily (ok, I made that last part up) Other than the wives not liking monster bacholer speakers, hell yeah, bring it on!

ltc

Actually that is not the reason why a 0.5 ohm transducer is used.

mach-hog

Moogle,

I tried your setup, went a little further with fader backward to +6... it's WAY better. Thanks!

BradS(IN)

WELL DONE!

designman

Exactly my impression. I want mid-range clarity and I find it impossible to achieve with the Bose. I had a Bose-laden Carrera for five days and felt like a hostage to the muffled bass. The speakers were thoroughly annoying... totally out of focus. It's amazing how Porsche gets away with providing that sound system.