Team-BHP - The Home Theater thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuvc

A friend of mine is nuts about Bose and is planning to purchase either a Lifestyle series HT or maybe he could also go for one of the HT speaker sets. I'm, by no stretch of imagination, knowledgeable about the subtleties of audio systems .. however .. I'm trying to talk him out of it.

BOSE is compact agreed, and the sound you get from such a smaill unit is something amazing.But BOSE to me felt like poor audio reproduction..It simply acnnot match the bigger units in sound quality, depth etc etc. I was using a Bose lifestyle cube speakers..later moved to their 501 series and later to the legendary 901..but everything failed to impress.

home theater setup (New York):

Denon DHT-485DV 6.1 Home Theater System:
1. Denon AVR-1505/485 AV Surround Receiver
2. Denon DVD-555 DVD Video Player
3. Denon SYS-65HT Speaker System Pack including 6xSC-A65 Satellite speakers, 1x SC-C65 Center speaker, 1x DSW-65 Active subwoofer
Pioneer DV-588A-S DVD Player
Panasonic PV-DF2704 Tau Flat, 27" Combo-TV (includes Hi-Fi Stereo VHS & DVD Player

home theater setup (Mumbai):

Bose Acoustimass 10 Series II Home Entertainment Speaker System (5.1 Channel)
Pioneer VSX Reciever (do not recollect model number)
Pioneer DVD Player (do not recollect model number)
Sony 25" CRT TV (FST)

Denon AVR 5805 would scream like hell and play u just about anythin in

'STYLE'. its adorned with truly impressive features which includes ten fully

configurable amplifier channels. high resolution movie playing and terrific dual

5.1 powered output are show stealers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

lol now you've gone and opened a can of worms shuvc. Trust me on this one.

It's taking all my self restraint Sam! Shuvc we wont need another thread for this we'd need a whole new forum!

about 25 years ago my cousin had a pair of 301. one day he called me to tell me that the woofers are making noises. anyway i took a look and the woofer surrounds had disintegrated. Found replacement woofers for $7 per pc. and while I was at it found replacement tweeters for $1.50 per pc. All told $10 per speaker, $20 per pair and this was retail. My cousing spent $300 on his pair of 301 then. He dropped the Bose and uses Vandersteen now.

I got dozens of stories like this one.

Did you know that Bose restricts retaillers from allowing customers to compare Bose systems with other brands. This is part of their marketing policy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by navin

All told $10 per speaker, $20 per pair and this was retail. My cousing spent $300 on his pair of 301 then.

The replacements were Bose spares ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by navin

Did you know that Bose restricts retaillers from allowing customers to compare Bose systems with other brands. This is part of their marketing policy.

I asked for a brochure .. there were none .. I was asked to visit the website !
I recall hearing somewhere they do not publish the tech specs of their products. So how do customers match AV receivers with Bose speakers ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuvc

or maybe I'm mistaking crisp sound for being too bright

Another thing I noted. They were playing the 301s through a Yamaha AVR (forgot the model no) and a Philips DVD player (Taal CD). It was soo loud .. I checked the AVR .. Bass and Treble was set to MAX .. Volume knob was at 90% !!!!!

Then I noted they were doing the same for the Lifestyle sets too. Bass and Treble controls on the Subs were all set to max !

SPL over SQ, eh ?

All ye audio guru's, help me out here...budget is around 50-60k & need to buy a home theater. Also, where in bombay can I get wharfdale & marantz? Get your suggestions in fast as I need to buy it before Sunday.
Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuvc

The replacements were Bose spares ?

Then I noted they were doing the same for the Lifestyle sets too. Bass and Treble controls on the Subs were all set to max !...SPL over SQ, eh ?

1. yes I managed to get Bose spares. In those days (i dont kow about today) there were places one could buy this stuff from. They advertised it "famous manufacturer that sounds like Nose" spares. A&S Speakers, Just Speakers, Madisound, Solen, Zalytron etc.. The catalogs were all direct mail. Some of these guys still survive others like North Creek and Audio Concepts sell their own stuff today.

2. No not SPL over SQ. They take advantage of the Fletcher Munsson curves. Bose is big in psychoacoustics. I believe they focus a bit too much in psycho stuff and make a few too many compromises. But then they've made a success out of their business.

bose is good and they are a pioneer in miniature stuff/ concealed speakers
they are known for their revolutionary technology of placing speakers in discreet places and ask you to guess where the sound comes from.
they are definetly overpriced as they charge you for the brand name. if you are planning to buy a big setup with big speakers i suggest you look at some other brand like wharfedale/ def tech/ harman kardon/ yamaha etc

I think Bose puts too much emphasis on psychoacoustics. They feel they can decide what the listener can hear and what he cant and hence discard that part. Minuature speakers have been around since before Bose. Bose just marketed it right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by muni

A snap of the setup wud definitely help the visualisation :p

Ok, here i have attached the layout diagram and also the speaker pics
The Front rear surrounds would ideally come behind the Front Left and Front right..

Rear surrounds

Surrounds

Center Channel

Front Rear Surrounds

Sub Woofer

Front Main Speakers

Yamaha 1500 rxv Processor/ Ampli tuner

43" Rear Projection TV