# Forgive me, but I was a little dumbfounded



## DougMac (Jan 24, 2008)

I went by Fresh Market Friday evening to pick up some nice wine for a movie party we were hosting. There's a new Home Theater store in the same shopping center. I noticed the "Open" sign was in the front door and I thought I'd peek in for a few minutes just to see what they had. 

There were three or four gentlemen in the reception area, which was clean but a little sparse. The reception area had a couple of LCD's, nothing really big or special, but evidently calibrated. The proprieter welcomed me and explained that their business was custom home theater installations. 

I asked him what lines they carried. He replied that they sold Onkyo and Denon receivers. Hmm. I was thinking a custom shop would sell something a little different than what I could buy at Best Buy or Amazon. Then he said: "As for speakers, we carry Bose." I replied "Bose?!?" He replied: "Of course" and before I could catch myself I said "You're kidding [edit] me!". He responded, a little defensively: "Bose speakers are the largest selling home theater speakers in the United States." to which I responded: "So! That doesn't mean they're necessarily any good!"

After a short silence I thanked them for their time and left. It was obvious I wasn't in his target market.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

DougMac said:


> Then he said: "As for speakers, we carry Bose." I replied "Bose?!?" He replied: "Of course" and before I could catch myself I said "You're kidding me!". He responded, a little defensively: "Bose speakers are the largest selling home theater speakers in the United States." to which I responded: "So! That doesn't mean they're necessarily any good!"
> 
> After a short silence I thanked them for their time and left. It was obvious I wasn't in his target market.


Well I wish them luck I doubt they will be in business for very long. "_Bose speakers are the largest selling home theater speakers in the United States_" I would love to know where they get those numbers from? Most likely directly from Bose:whistling:


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

So you gave him the HTS universal reply, eh?:rofl2:


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## DougMac (Jan 24, 2008)

tonyvdb said:


> Well I wish them luck I doubt they will be in business for very long.


Tony, would you do me a favor? I forgot where I was and used a no no word that you picked up when quoting me. I've fixed my post. Would you be so kind as to edit yours? 

I apologize to all for my lapse of forum etiquette.

I'm a big supporter of locally owned businesses and I wish them success. Their business plan may actually be more successful than if they offered high end equipment like Rotel and B&W. Mention Martin Logan to the average consumer and they'll say "Huh?". Mention Bose and they'll say "Oh yeah, I've heard of them!" I just wonder if they sell the Onkyo's and Bose at the same price point as the big box stores.


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## JerryLove (Dec 5, 2009)

I suspect that the best selling speakers in America will indeed be something like Logitec, or Bose. Consider the number of cars that come equipped with it (Infiniti for example), and the success of the wave radio, and their headphone line, and computer speaker line (Bowers and Wilkins seems to be missing that  ).

The point is: despite being far from the best, they might be the most popular.

Go to WalMart (the most successful retail store in the world) and see what they sell. I bet they have Bose. I doubt they have much else besides some logitec computer speakers. Bose sells enough to have it's own mall stores. I think Sony is the only other non-computer electronics chain with stores. 

That suggests high volume.


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## the_rookie (Sep 30, 2008)

Haha, thats funny. I would have said the same thing.

And I think I have...


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## DougMac (Jan 24, 2008)

My father-in-law asked me for some advice when I saw him over the weekend. He's thinking about getting a 42" flat panel and blu-ray player.

He wanted to know how he can hook up his new blu ray player to his Bose 3-2-1 system. :unbelievable:

He told me he's sent his Bose unit back three times for repair.  He wants to keep it because he likes the fact that the speakers are tiny and unobtrusive. Poor thing, he wears hearing aids and even with that he has to crank the system to understand dialog. In the past, I've tried to explain to him that quality speakers would help intelligability, but he doesn' have the room in his built in wall unit, much less the interest, to put in proper speakers. 

He's also not interested in rewiring. Since the Bose uses proprietary plugs, that's pretty much what it would take. 

Money is not a problem. I'm seriously considering taking my Ascend HTM-200 compact speakers plus an amp and CD player and doing an A/B test for him. If he can hear the difference, then I'd try to convince him to ditch the Bose, get a $300 or $400 5.1 A/V receiver and three Ascend HTM-200's and a small sub (perhaps an Outlaw). I'd set it up for him. I think think an L/C/R setup would really help him, especially if he ran the center a little hot.

I did a little research on the Bose 3-2-1 system. User reviews indicate breakage is a common problem. It's a shame Bose sells such poorly designed, shoddily made products. It's too bad that people like my father-in-law fall for their marketing and buy this junk.


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## glaufman (Nov 25, 2007)

Well, truth be told, I don't have first hand knowledge about hearing aids, but that being said I wouldn't be surprised if they were the limiting factor to quality sound in any playback chain...

That being said, I'm not sure what you're asking for help with.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

DougMac said:


> My father-in-law asked me for some advice when I saw him over the weekend. He's thinking about getting a 42" flat panel and blu-ray player.
> 
> He wanted to know how he can hook up his new blu ray player to his Bose 3-2-1 system. :unbelievable:
> 
> ...


I am no Bose fan, but they are not unique in selling products that are poor in terms of reliability. The practice is driven by the sustained desire for cheap, yet complex electronics. Similar products from other vendors are not that different.


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