I am after something to play CD's in the living room. Nothing too expensive (up to £500) and was looking at the Bose. Not being familiar with what is good in the world of Hifi, would this be a decent purchase or am I just paying for the name? Can anyone recommend an alternative system for playing CD's?

cheers,
doughboy

The general consensus on avforums seems to be you are paying for 'lifestyle' rather than sound quality.

Got a soundock and a Wave for different rooms, imo ticks the box for playing music well and look smart

By no means an expert and got a free port dvd player for the kids with the wave

It's laughably bad.

Denon mini hifi is the way to go

BOSE:

Buy
Other
Sound
Equipment

😉

LOL @ Futureboy77! Very good.

For £500 I'd much rather cobble together a cheap seperates system with bits from somewhere like Richer Sounds.

Their Cambridge Audio own-brand of amps and CD players are not at all bad for the cash…couple with some modest Tannoy bookshelf speakers and you're sorted.

Clicky, HIFI SYSTEM 4 looks good for the wonga..

I guess the BOSE is OK if you value style over pure sound quality (it is just stuffed with bog standard Phillips electronics and has the wavetubey thing to resonate certain bass frequencies in order to make it seem a " bigger" sound).

Triumph of form over function, Speakers are tuned to be quite toppy( ie biased towards the higher frequencies), so they sound really exciting in the shop, the transmission line (wave tube) is to give a bit more bottom end and mid range, but to listen for any length of time they begin to grate quite quickly. And as pointed out above, they are just filled with bog standard Phillips guts anyway.

Get a Denon or go to Richer Sounds for that sort of money

Great advice guys, thanks very much for your input. Think I will steer clear of the Bose.

We did a conference for the institute of acoustics recently. They wanted lighting and projection equipment from us but naturally brought along their own PA and engineer. We were rather surprised to see the guy using a Bose system with some modified Ramsas to handle the lower frequencies. But then this guy is just an expert on acoustics and hasn't necessarily attended all the prejudice classes that is the mainstay of AV tech training. 🙂

For iPods only this little fella. Costs less than £100 fills a medim sized room with bright, fruity sound.

Klipsch I Groove SXT

Yeah but ipods don't play CDs 😉

There's not an app for that? Impossible

I asked a mate who has a recording studio.

He told me to get Bose

I asked a mate who has a recording studio.

He told me to get Bose

not a good mate then ? 😉

I asked a mate who had a stable. He told me to get a dog.

I'd second RRR's comments. £500 would get you either decent separates or a really nice mini system from Richer Sounds. The Onkyo stuff is particularly good value at the moment (I'm considering one myself), or they also had a Denon system in there for that price point a while back.

Perhaps not exactly what you're looking for, but also worth taking a look at the Brennan hard disk system if you're looking to reduce clutter.

I've got a Bose Wave. It sits on my dresser, looks nice and sounds good – as much as i care anyway – too. Good job i don't know any audio snobs or judging from the above they would all be clawing at their ears or laughing hysterically if they were ever subjected to listening to it.

Here we go… (Lalalalalala I'm not etc). 🙄

Remember those that tell you whether something sounds good or not can only do this if they can see the unit and the badge on it.

I've got a reasonably decent separates set up in the lounge (Arcam CD, Rega Planar 3 turntable, Audiolab amp, Monitor Audio speakers etc).

I bought a set of Bose speakers that I use in the Dining room, driven by the above on 'channel B'. They sound great.

On the strength of them, I bought a Bose sound dock thingy for the ipod and shoved it in the kitchen. It also sounds great.

However, neither the dining room or the kitchen are used as locations for specific audiophile enjoyment; the music in there is purely background. As such, I find my Bose kit to be more than adequate.

Horses for courses.

I used one while stopping with friends in the states thought it sounded very good and was quite portable – if you just wanted to put it in another room.
It gave plenty of level and actually sounded nice. Bose do (sometimes) make some nice kit!

You can get alot better for the same money
including if you looked at the B&O equipment.

Correct me if wrong but Creative made one for
about £ 300.00p some while back.

For the living room where you are more likely to want a bigger sound or better quality then the suggestions above about auditioning some separates would get you a muich better quality sound and one that you can upgrade over time. We have a Wave system in the kitchen because I wanted a DAB radio and something that plays CDs and makes them sound good (considering the environment) but that doesn't take up much space. The Wave does a great job. I tried a Denon and thought it was one of the workst things I have ever heard – nowhere near as good as the Bose. Yes, the audiophile snobs will tell you they are gash, but for the purpose I wanted it for it sounds more than acceptable – and was streets ahead of anything else at that price point. Yes, if you sit down and listen to it closely it is not perfect but for casual listening where you get at least some depth of sound I have yet to find anything that comes close.

i use a bose wave cd in the bedroom,great alarm clock, great for watching films(audio substitute),great at lower volumes,but i would not use as the main hi-fi at home.

We have just got a Bose Sounddock portable unit. It is awesome, the sound is fantastic and it is so easily moved around the house. It is really changing how we use our ipod.
I would highly recommend this unit.

Listen to one with a good mini system with decent speakers back to back, in the same room preferably. Make sure the speakers are set up properly so you get a decent stereo image.

Buy whatever one sounds best to you.

we like our bose wave radio but aren't snobby/techy about audio,just wanted something that didn't look a mess which I think seperates with wires and big speakers are

depends what you want it for,we have ours in the front room

I got an Onkyo CR515 system and some Q Acoustics 1010 speakers for 300 quid from Superfi.

vita R4

BOSE? It's OK. You are paying a lot for the style & convenience. I thought the RRPs were high in a BOSE brochure they sent me recently on the back of my sounddock purchase a few years back.

If the sound is more important then some separates or the Denon system suggested will give you more for your money. If it's for the living room, you'd probably fare better buying a surround sound system that'd do stereo for your CDs & also serve you up 5.1 for the TV. Sony & the like do DVD/Receiver combos with speakers that are cheap but of comparable quality to the drivers in BOSE stuff.

The pro brought BOSE? Was that an iPod sounddock or a Wave system?

Onkyo CR525 with a pair of wharfedale diamond 9.1's here. Tryed it next to a denon, but this sounded better to me. Personal preferance and all.

Sounds like music tech is not a hobby for you & convenience is more important. The BOSE one-box machines are convenient. They sound OK. Check out other similar things by Philips & the like as you might find something neater & possibly cheaper.

I trialled the Bose Wave while ago, wasnt impressed. I wasnt expecting it to be super hifi quality sound, and I'm not being "elitist", snobby or techy about it, it just didnt impress me. Sound seemed to lack a lot of presence, considering what they charge for them!

Price vs. sound. vs. convenience… not an easy balance.

In my opinion paying a lot for convenience is a waste, better of using a higher price to get a sound you are happier with.

Interesting that someone said that their mate works in a studio and recommends BOSE…

I'm not being funny but the average studio engineer doesn’t necessarily have a comprehensive understanding of acoustics or electronics.

I studied one of the less common BSc degrees in Audio technology – all the wannabe studio engineers / managers dropped out and transferred to BA Audio Tech degrees which predominately have a creative slant.

…having said that I'd probably consider something like a BOSE system for the bedroom or somewhere where you're not likely to be worried about overall quality etc.. they are quite neat looking

for arounds 500 quid for a system in your living room you can get

camridge audio CD player and amp + some reasonable speakers from richer sounds (+ some reasonable speaker cable/ connectors)

argos for some stands for your speakers/ a stand for your amp and CD player

in no hifi enthusiast – but I think anyone can tell on listening that even this fairly basic set-up is better than any mini system/ compact type thing you could buy for similar money

I used to be a proper hifi geek, though the kit I have is old and not particularly exciting*.

I don't have the hifi in the living room – other than the finish on the speaker cabinets, it looks gash, and doesn't fit in with our lifestyle.

A decent hifi is a wonderful thing, just like a fabulous 6" travel wunderbike, but you wouldn't use said bike for going down the shops. It's horses for courses, and if something that looks reasonable, doesn't take up too much space and sounds fine for what you want it for, then that's what you *need*, rather than a roomful of mismatched and unattractive boxes.

*I do, however, possess an LP12. That is all. 😀

RopeyReignRider – Standing up for Sound Engineers here they have a good idea what sounds nice rather than what sounds correct.
Most acoustics or electronics people have absolutely no idea what sounds nice just what looks correct on the FFT analysis

RopeyReignRider Bose seems good enough for the Institute of Acoustics to use maybe you need to join and put them right. 🙂