I like Bose (acoustimass series) for their looks, but never for their sound quality. A friend of mine way back in the early 90's use to brag about his Bose speakers (AM-5 ?? I already forgot the model) saying it is the best sounding audio gear hes ever have....I was quite excited at that time in hearing one of those out of its showroom and requested an audition on his place...after listening so some of his cd's mainly jazz, rock, and pop music...I was not impressed at all, true it looks gorgeous and smart looking...
After a while I ask him if its okay with him if I bring our old Pioneer Integrated Amp and its two big 3-way speakers to his house just to compare with his Bose, since I've told him that we want to upgrade our old Pioneers to a newer stereo gear provided that the newer one should sound much better... He happily obliged telling me that in no time we will be hurrying to buy a Bose acoustimass system.. I brought my older brother with me, since it is him who bought that Pioneer way back in 1981.. we use my friends cd player w/c at that time was a mid price sony player....
Our pioneer stays with us until early 2001, (20 yrs of service!!) even though we already acquired a Denon and a Roger set of speakers in 97.... My friend, after that audio showdown stop bragging about his Bose, and buy himself a Pioneer AVR and an Infinity speakers in 95, after being so happy with his Bose for few months and hating it for almost 2 yrs after hearing our old and heavy pioneer.....hehehehe The time when he invited me to hear his pioneer/infinity setup, he told me that after we left with our gears that night, he want to swap his bose to our old pioneers, he told me that he felt sorry that he spend a fortune to buy those things while at that price he can even buy a Sansui integrated amp with a matching JBL speakers with some more money to spare.....hahahaha I've told him no way...we loved that one since it is my brother's very first audio acquisition with his own money.... and we miss that hefty pioneer, a very simple good sounding amp, no dsp, no tantalizing leds that flickers through a dim litted nights, no gimmicks, just a pure stereo sounding amp that will accompany us on those sleepless nights where playing music is our only companion, to relax and appreciate those talented artist who produce a good piece....
just my share..... peace...