My mother is selling her piano, and is about to get sucked in to a Bose system. Now, be they good or bad, I'm quite certain she can get something equally as nice sounding for a lot less money. Any recommendations, anyone? She wants to put it under the counter, and she lives in Canada.
Any help is appreciated.
Under-the-conter Bose Alternative?
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Evil Gnomes
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 12:40 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
While it appears that better equipment can be had for less amounts of money, a really good sounding under-the-counter CD player cannot be had for any amount of money, lest it be Bose.
I think I'll recommend a slightly-more-expensive bookshelf system and just tell her to get dad to drill it to the bottom of the kitchen cabinets.
While I appreciate the fact that audiophile forums contain a wealth of information about the exact level of suck attained by Bose, advising me to send my mother there to wade through thousands of posts by people with more time, money, and knowledge than the average university trained physicist is perhaps not the best course of action.
I think I'll recommend a slightly-more-expensive bookshelf system and just tell her to get dad to drill it to the bottom of the kitchen cabinets.
While I appreciate the fact that audiophile forums contain a wealth of information about the exact level of suck attained by Bose, advising me to send my mother there to wade through thousands of posts by people with more time, money, and knowledge than the average university trained physicist is perhaps not the best course of action.
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Devonavar
- SPCR Reviewer
- Posts: 1850
- Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 11:23 am
- Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Yes, indeed, listen to it before you buy it.
But learn what to listen for? Why? What does that gain you except a need for more expensive audio gear and ears that pick out the flaws in the music rather than the feeling behind it? Your enjoyment of the system should be the guiding factor, not someone else's idea of what constitutes "good" music reproduction. The only time you need to learn what to listen for is if you're producing music so you can distinguish between the music, the recording system, and the playback system.
If you can't tell the difference between various systems, the correct response is to buy the one that's cheapest, or looks the best, or has more features. The wrong response is to decide your ears aren't "good enough" to hear the difference that is obviously there and go hunting for "training" so you can tell the difference.
Just remember: It's the music that's important, not the sound system.
But learn what to listen for? Why? What does that gain you except a need for more expensive audio gear and ears that pick out the flaws in the music rather than the feeling behind it? Your enjoyment of the system should be the guiding factor, not someone else's idea of what constitutes "good" music reproduction. The only time you need to learn what to listen for is if you're producing music so you can distinguish between the music, the recording system, and the playback system.
If you can't tell the difference between various systems, the correct response is to buy the one that's cheapest, or looks the best, or has more features. The wrong response is to decide your ears aren't "good enough" to hear the difference that is obviously there and go hunting for "training" so you can tell the difference.
Just remember: It's the music that's important, not the sound system.
Test with music you know well, if it sounds good to you then its perfect 
A good system and hearing will enable you to hear flaws, but it also makes it possible to hear the small details on good records.. Boombox to entry-level hifi is a pretty big difference, hifi to high-end not so much unless you have "golden ears"
My mom can't hear a difference between extremely cheap boombox and hifi though, or maybe she doesn't care. Ignorance is bliss i suppose.
As a kid i always disliked my el-cheapo boombox for serious lack of "balls", when i was thirteen i built some kit speakers for 700marks(115€), used my dads old amp from the seventies(free), connected the old boombox from headphone out to tape-in, and was perfectly happy with the much improved ballsiness of the sound
Now i use those old speakers as speaker stands.
At that time i was also perfectly happy playing online FPS games with mono sound, and did pretty good. Imagine that. Most current gamers will probably ask what mono is...
A good system and hearing will enable you to hear flaws, but it also makes it possible to hear the small details on good records.. Boombox to entry-level hifi is a pretty big difference, hifi to high-end not so much unless you have "golden ears"
My mom can't hear a difference between extremely cheap boombox and hifi though, or maybe she doesn't care. Ignorance is bliss i suppose.As a kid i always disliked my el-cheapo boombox for serious lack of "balls", when i was thirteen i built some kit speakers for 700marks(115€), used my dads old amp from the seventies(free), connected the old boombox from headphone out to tape-in, and was perfectly happy with the much improved ballsiness of the sound
Now i use those old speakers as speaker stands. At that time i was also perfectly happy playing online FPS games with mono sound, and did pretty good. Imagine that. Most current gamers will probably ask what mono is...
When I first played Dune 2 with an AdLib sound card I was amazed at the quality. But I don't like ignorance.