New Desk Speakers: Bose Companion 5s
Almost ten years ago I bought some Bose MediaMate. Thankfully Bose have got their online act together since then and buying the new pair you see below was quite a bit easier.
I've replaced the MediaMates with a set of Companion 5s. They're a bit pricey, but I listen to music 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The speakers I use are arguably as important a choice as the monitor. Well, that's the argument I made to my wife anyway.
The MediaMate's (which are on ebay if you want them) were always good speakers, but the Companions have blown me away (almost literally until I turned the "bass compensation" knob down). I can't believe the difference. Probably made by the subwoofer - sorry, "AcoustiMass Module" - under my desk.
I'm not an expert in acoustics but have an appreciation for what - to me - seems like a decent sound. If you read in the forums, which I don't, then you'll hear a lot of bad stuff about Bose. Over-priced and cleverly marketed, apparently, which may be true but they've got me. I get "brand blindness". Once I've bought something I like then I'll only ever buy another of them from the same company.
If you want to test out your speakers here's a good track. If they can't handle that you need a new pair.
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This past Christmas I wanted to get my parents a gift, but struggled since they are picky. I finally settled on speakers because they spend a lot of time listening to music on computer. I considered Bose, but thought they were very pricey and was not sure it would be worth the extra cost. I settled on the Harmon Kardon Soundsticks III, which sound amazing and look like a piece of art.
I would be interested to see if anyone has had the chance to compare the two side by side.
http://amzn.to/zG85iG
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As part of my "research" I think I googled "bose companion 3 compared to companion 5" to see which to get. I ended up reading a thread where a guy had upgraded from the Soundsticks to the Companion 5s and had no regrets.
As important as the sound fidelity is there's also the important matter of appearance. If they're in my line of site for 40 hours a week I want to like looking at them too. I can't say I like the look of the Soundsticks. Bit cheesy and over-designed. The Bose are a bit classier IMHO.
I think Bose are bit like the Microsoft of the audio world. Generally derided but without a solid reason.
Jake
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=soundsticks+versus+companion+5
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I'm the same way, when I find something that works why change?
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30 years ago, my first pair of speakers were Bose 301's. Of course I wanted the 901's but couldn't afford them, but then who could?
The reason I bring this up is that your new Companion 5's look like a minature version of the 901's. I'm sure that's not a coincidence.
For the past decade I have routed the output of my laptop audio to a input of my Onkyo receiver which in turn feeds a pair of Mission 732's.
One thing you might consider if you're a sports fan but hate TV announcers:
I've run line-level wiring to the Yamaha receiver in the family room that feeds the Monitor Audio Bronze series. That allows me to watch an Atlanta Braves baseball game on TV while listening to the radio play-by-play via an internet feed, using a DVR to sync up the audio with the video.
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I'd never a seen a pair of 901s but you're right they're very similar.
I used to have a pair of Mission 760i speakers until I got fed up with lugging them around (in my nomadic days before settling down) and swapped them for a Bose Acoustic Wave system about 12 years ago and still use it to this day.
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The main complaint I have with Bose is that they are weak in the mid-range, and as such make them pretty bad if you listen to things like classical music.
I have some Teufel speakers which I am fond of, but I regularly lust over powererd professional monitor speakers, but cannot for the life of me manage to persuade myself that this is a part of the IT budget.
Enjoy the music!
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Have a listen to the track I linked to above and see if you think the mid range matters to me ;-)
Classical it ain't!
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Morning Jake,
I think you are exactly right.
I spent 14 years as a professional Sound Engineer/music programmer before changing full time to programming in the late 90's
Strangely, most of the music you listen to is mixed on pretty horrible cheap speakers, Yamaha NS 10's about UKL 150 in my day I think, or Auratones for especially nasty sound. - might have changed now, but I doubt it.
In saying that I am very fussy about the sound of my home speakers.
I have Bose Companion 2's on my computer, and use Bose Companion 3's as the sound system for my Audio Visual set up.
I got tired of looking at big speakers, and the Bose system sounds huge.
One of the most important things is that the amp matches the speakers, and with the Bose all in one systems they obviously do.
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