I bought a 1992 Bose a-mass at a yard sale for $2 dollars in October of 2016. I thought damn that's cheap I bet it won't work when I get it home but it did I also bought a 1997 model pioneer SX-255R receiver for $5 and it looked brand new and spotless inside and out. Hooked them up and sounds great I don't see what the bad reviews are about they must not know where to place the sub and surround speakers and don't know how to tune them (if the receiver/amp has tuning) mine does and it makes a huge difference it rattles the pictures off the wall the $2 dollar setup came with 3 surround cube speakers which sound very good sound coming from all over in all ranges which all have they're own distinct sound I mainly listen to psychedelic stoner type music with a full array of sound and these sure bring it out, check out the damnation album by Opeth if you want to hear a beautiful range of sound with amazing production. BUT I WOULD NEVER PAY $1000 FOR THIS SETUP... shame on Bose for such high prices but I DEFINITELY got my 2 dollars worth already!

If space and room size is an issue! Then these can work for you! A nice high quality amp is a must... Proper adjustment of the amp is also important.... Speaker placement and postion is also very important... And quality wire... Under these circumstances they arnt as bad as some of the reviews I have read here.... I have heard a lot worse trust me....

Authentic reproduction.
Placement flexibility.
Amperage flexibility.
Broad range.
Durability.

Not forgiing of bad accoustics.
Not forgiving of bad placement (phase).

Don't believe the nbegative reviews you see here. These speakers are among the best matched and best configured speakers ever made, period.

The thing is, you haver to be able to phase them properly, and you have to have a good amplifier and accoustically designed environment. If you try them in an echo chamber you will get echo. If you rtry them in an over deadened room, you will get deadened sound.

Believe me, these things reproduce sound fantastically. The tweeters are designed to be reflected off a hard surface, as all good high-end should be, and the Bas notes are made to have enough space to complete an entire bass wave (20'-200'). If you are really into sound and you give them a chance, they will out perform any other reproductive system you put them up against.

If they soud bad, it's because you don't understand sound dynamica or you have a bad amp. I have RTR towers, klipch, Infinity, and alot more. These things rock hard!!

DD

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 801, Bosae 501, Audio Technica B-504

A spacial sound (like the spacial or incredible sound on philips ghettoblasters)
A warm sound (like high low migrange)

overall sound quality

On my 25th birthday I decided that I was going to spoil myself and upgrade my current Yamaha/B&W rack system which sounded great but was slowly looking more and more outdated so I decided to take a trip to a reputable looking hifi store to see what has changed over the years.
The salesman asked about what kind of music I listen to and if i watched movies then he suggested a Bose Acoustimass system - I remembered seeing Bose in alot of my magazines and they always had a upperclass look and style to them so I thought "this is exactly what im looking for!" - The salesman put on a jazz type CD and it sounded ok, I noticed the difference between the quiet and loud ranges sounded good (dynamic range) and the subwoofer had a warm midrange sound to it (I had never owned a subwoofer before).
So after spending alot of money and taking it home and setting it up it seemed like there was no high treble on my CDs so I called the shop thinking the tweeters might have been damaged but was told there were none?? and it had patented technology midranges that also did the treble.
The bass sounded unnatural and boomy to me, male vocals were distant while female vocals were dynamic but harsh sounding - I could get the same effect by covering the tweeters on my old system - It did sound more filling but maybe because I upgraded (?) from a 2 channel system.
I started blaming myself - maybe I was used to listing to a low quality system for so long I had gotten used to it? I didn't question the system as for the cost I had no doubts that I had purchased nothing but quality.
Then my friend came around and confirmed my worst thoughts, hes a Paradigm/Denon lover and I did ask about those in the shop but was told I needed american quality - My friend couldn't believe what I had done, he went home and grabbed a set of titans? and a subwoofer both Paradigm and set it up exactly where I had the Bose system and WOW - the music shot out to my ears so clearly and so powerfully - I heard every instrument exactly where it should be and the sound enveloped the room and had such a high level of emotion that I had to do something about what I just did.
I looked up at the small bose speakers and they seemed to be smiling at me as if to say "Its too late now" so I did what any sane person would do and I took them back.
Now that wasn't easy! I was abused verbally by the salesman and told I was making a mistake, he said they needed to be run in first and offered me a pair of noise cancelling headphones if I kept the system.
I never returned there again.

Customer Service

Never tryed bose customer service so cannot comment.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha component system
Paradigm speakers (now)
Denon Amplifier

Better Sales through Marketing.

The treble is unrefined, raspy, and undetailed . The midrange sounded muddy and bloated. The bass is smeared.

I bought my Bose Acoustimass 7 speakers more than 10 years ago along with a Yamaha receiver. They sounded great at a local electronic store. As a matter of fact, I could not tell the difference between Bose and other brands. All my CD's which I bought at that time were "value CD"'s which were priced at $4.99 or below. That was the year 1992. I was just out of college. Fast forward to 2003. I am much more financially stable now. No more "value CD". Most of my CD's now are either SACD and DVD-A. My Bose speakers no longer satisfy my thirst for accurate reproduction of high-resolution recorded music. Thanks to the internet and its vast sources of free info, I have found out that, to my surprise, there are speakers which cost less than Bose and sound much better (such as Paradigm.) While waiting to upgrading to my stereo system, I bought a pair of headphone Sennheiser HD 600. After listening to the HD 600, my Bose speakers were put into retirement. Through the HD 600, I learned the difference between noise which was produced by the Bose speakers and real music. Now I understand why I usually got a headache after listening to the Bose speakers for half an hour. Now I understand why I hated Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" or Mozart's "Requiem" which were supposed to be masterpieces; the treble coming out of the Bose is very unrefined and undetailed, and the bass all sounded similiarly. With the Sennheiser HD 600, I can now listen to music for hours without fatigue and begin to like the CD's which I hated before. Life is good with the HD 600. Of course, life will be much better once I upgrade my speakers to the Martin Logan Odyssey's and my Yamaha receivers to the Krell monoblocks. My recommendation to all non-audiophiles is to do your research on the Internet and audition the products before wasting your hard-earned money on a mediocre product. If you cannot tell the difference between different brands, buy the cheapest one. And one more thing: please stay away from Bose.

Good for a college kid.

Not cost effective, for the money DefTech would be my recommendation.

My father recently upgraded all of his speakers. He was using an new Yamaha Rv-1000 amp, polk audio center and fronts, bose a-mass 7 for rears, and a Definitive PF12 powered sub. The whole setup sounded good, the Bose were hung high and far from each other, so they provided pretty clear rear sound, and the DefTech sub did the trick for bass. He has now upgraded to all DefTech gear, and gave me the A-mass 7. I have a Yamaha powering the system and it sounds good, not great. Bose is mostly marketing and too high in price compared to the DefTecah stuff, but not as bad as the reviews, placement is important. However, you shouldn't have to spend too much time placing speakers that cost that much.

Similar Products Used:

Polk Audio(original) before the Circuit City days, Definitive Technologies, Yamaha.

Easy to place

uses zip cord for speaker wire. Hollow non-dynamic sound.

Well, just my two cents worth. My father was a victim of the Bose advertising machine and bought a Bose 901 series III in 1977. Powered by a lower end Sony receiver, then a decent Harman Kardon amp (100w) the sound was presentable but not great. I think we always thought it was the hardwood floors, the parallel walls, anything else but the speakers. Fast forward to 1991. Dad bought one of the Acoustimass systems for surround sound. Not bad but it needed a subwoofer to plumb anything less than 70hz or so. Then THX arrived. I think we got a cheap ($400) THX spec'ed Atlantic Technology Center channel. Whoa, so this is what a speaker should actually sound like. Anyway, after upgrading to KEF Uni-Qs and B&W's the Bosers are retired to quasi-Bonus room duties. Like Tide detergent and Coca Cola, often the least distinctive products survive by advertising the hell out of them.

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustics, KEF, M&K, B&W, Yamaha, Integra Research

all around great system A++ Great Value

the am-7 likes power

I bought the Am-7 in 99 to replace the KLH spearkers in use at the time.The speaker system was a demo the store had setup the new model came out and I could get a deal I put them on a Onkyo TX SV535 reciever and they sound great. so i bought a Am 5 syatem in 2003 to run as the mains and WOW you talk talk about a great sound

Similar Products Used:

Sony ,KLH,Cerwin vega, JBL

the size

ha, every thing about them!!!!

I bought a set of AM 5 speakers, after a week I was not happy with them. Salesman talked me into getting the AM 7 because of my room size. The bass is WEAK, so I bought a M&K sub, that filled the bass. I bought some CHEAP (69 dollar) Yamaha 636 speakers for the garage. I hooked them up nexted to the Bose. The Yamaha's (with the sub)sounded better than the Bose hands down! NO HIGHS, NO LOWS, IT MUST BE BOSE!!! JUNK, over rated, piece of crap. I sold them for half what I gave for them to a member of the family that did not care how they sounded, she thought they was cute!!

Similar Products Used:

NHT VS/VT-2, Aura LSW628M, Yamaha 636

Size, Sound Quality (Once set up Correctly

Centre Speaker, price (New), Need for accurate set up and matching

The bose were purchased due to a requirement for small speakers. At first when I tried them the sound quality was at best poor, no midrange and the bass weak. After much trial and error, I have managed to achieve an excellent sound quality by placing an 50 ohm variable resistor (high Quality) on the +ve output of the passive sub unit for the left and right channel. By adjusting this you can reduce the lack of midrange and produce a more balanced sound. The centre speaker I have wired up directly to the amp (these units are bomb proof), the sound quality is still only adequate for this arrangement, and I would recommend dumping it for a better unit. I am using a Yamaha AV-592 amp and a CDX-870 CD player and the sound is excellent. The passive sub unit is built into a partition wall and this has helped to tighten the bass.
Overall their are better speakers on the market, but with carefull set up they can produce a Quality sound. Well worth $275.00 but not $700+.

Similar Products Used:

None