None.

Sound is average at best. Way way overpriced. Shame on Bose.

I was one of the suckers who got suckered into buying this after watching the informercial. This is my first Bose product and my last. My $150 JVC mini system that I brought 10 years ago sounds better, but for Bose to charge over a $1000 for this crap using fancy audio vocab. like acoustic wave is just plain wrong. Nothing acoustic sounding about this system. Sorry son but you'll stuck with this system now.

Looks, portability

Bose is rightfully hated by all those people in this world that know more than average about audio--they overcharge like no other company even dreams of, they use cheap materials, and most importantly, the sound SUCKS!

N0, I have never this system, but I just wanted to serve as that painful, realistic conscience figure. I own a Harman Kardon AVR 110 receiver, an HDCD player from Harman Kardon (FL 8370), 3-way Wharfedale tower speakers with wood cabinets (exceptional reviews everywhere--look em'up on this site--search under Wharfedale emerald 97 speakers), and all Monster cables--ALL OF THIS GOOD-QUALITY EQUIPMENT TO MAKE UP A FABULOUS-SOUNDING STEREO SYSTEM COST LESS THAN $1000 with a bit of audio knowledge and research. Need I say more? Those of you who have seriously considered buying this need to realize you are just the brainwashed victims of a company famous for it's amazingly sucessful advertising, but infamous crap quality build materials and sound. Sure, this plastic "wave" system will sound good for it's size! Sure, it's portable too! BUT IT COSTS MORE THAN THE PRICE FOR AN ENTIRE HOME STEREO SET-UP! Are you people insane, or just ridiculously rich? As one reviewer said below, this product it only for those people who have tons of money and want a decent-at-best system to make their office look cool. OTHER THAN THAT, YOU ARE BEING, WELL...SCREWED. YOU COULD GET USED THIEL, NEW PARADIGM, WHARFEDALE, ATHENA, ENERGY, JBL, ETC. speakers for this price if you already have the amplification and player, and if you don't, like I didn't, get high-quality speakers, but used, and then buy your receiver (or whatever you decide on components wise) and player, and you're set, with MUCH, MUCH, INCOMPARABLY BETTER SOUND THAN THIS TINY BOSE SYSTEM COULD EVER DREAM OF HAVING, all for less money. Those speakers that I have have 3 drivers for mids, lows, and highs, are made of solid wood, have a retail price of over $1000, and I got them used for $400! Do you really think a system as small as the Bose, with tiny speakers shoved so closely together in a little plastic box could produce the bass, the volume, the vocals that the CHEAPER speakers can produce? WAKE UP! Don't buy this, that's really all I can say.

Sound Quality Size Clean Look

None

I was, and to some degree still am, a Bose Basher. I hate everything they make, except the Acoustic Wave Music System. My Yamaha 2Ce speakers and Yamaha components were filling up the room and looking dated. I took my wife to check it out and she loved it! Oh, no! I spent the next three months agonizing over competitors prices, sizes, and quality. We were back at Bose to test some 701s, and wow, they suck. Christine grabbed one of our test CDs and fired up an AWMS. Thank Goodness she did, our search was at long last over. I swallowed hard at the price, but now do not regret it. Nothing this small sounds this good. Anything that approaches this sound quality is substantially larger, even though claiming to be a mini system. Car systems used base tubes before it became acceptable to sacrifice the cargo area to giant cones. Base tubes work, end of story. I have listened long and hard for the colorization defects in the AWMS and cannot detect any. I hear the colorization defects on everything else Bose makes, loud and uh, unclear. Go on, hate Bose, but don''t hate the AWMS. It rocks beyond all reason.

Came with free Next Day Air Shipping, and a free Pedestal. The pedestal lets you connect four different sources — like your VCR, CD changer, TV or cassette deck — to create a versatile entertainment center.

Price, LED read out is not visible from a sitting position.

Let me start by saying the AWMS does sound better than the unit it replaced a Sony 510, but it cost six times as much. Below are my dislikes of the Bose AWMS 1. You can’t see the LED read out from your chair. When playing a CD or trying to find a radio station you must get up and physically look at the top of the AWMS. 2. The AM/FM tuner is a little weak. My Sony 510 and a friends stereo that was purchased at a garage sale for $20 gets better reception the AWMS under identical conditions. I can only get the strongest radio stations, and it does not separate the weak stations very well. 3. The CD player has a hard time playing mixed CD’s burned to CD-R from my PC. The same CD-R will play flawlessly in my CD-RW drive, PC-DVD, Home DVD, car CD, Home Stereo, and portable CD players that are several years old. I have recorded these CD’s using the highest-grade CD-R media available. 4. On some commercial music CD’s I can hear a squeaking sound coming from the CD player at low volume levels which is very annoying. 5. The user cannot tell if the unit is on simply from looking at it from a distance. 6. I understand that the AWMS has an Integrated Signal Processing that takes care of the tonal balance at different levels, but it still lacks the ability to clearly reproduce the higher range voices if the person is singing with little or no music. I do like the product somewhat, but not as well as I thought. I also like the compact design, but cannot see how at $1165.33 the AWMS can be a value added product. At this point there are several other systems that give more value for the dollar.

Loud, clear, portable, conversation piece

Price, weight (very heavy with battery pack)

The price I paid included the big carrying case (with the pockets on the side) and the battery pack. The battery pack is mandatory for listening for more than 1 hour. I love the AWMS...I bought a Nomad Jukebox 20 gig and paired with the Bose, I am a walking DJ. The thing I noticed the most is that it is actually louder outdoors. At the beach, I constantly have people coming over to "hang out", and I have not gone to a party in the last 2 years where I am not TOLD to bring it with me. It is always a conversation piece. It is what it is, in my opinion, the Grandaddy of all boomboxes. It is not a home theater by any stretch of the imagination. If you want a kickin'' portable party buy the bose, if you entertain outdoors, or travel alot you''ll love it. If not its alot of money... Dont buy this if you are looking for a home stereo system...its not one even though the folks at bose will lead you to believe it is.

Sound & Bass

CD Player and Digital Controls

Thank God this thing was a gift.-1997, I was happy with the sound quality and running my video equip through it for additional sound. My living room isn't that large so the sound it produces is very nice. However one of the RCA jacks went on the Auxiliary input--now I am in need of a fix.
I want to run a cd changer through it due to the fact of the crappy cd player which has less features than a cd -walkman. Can't program anything and worst of all you cant pick the track you want with the remote unless you scan through the disc. Crap! Bose should stick to speakers only...the sound is good. Like I said it was a gift. And it may end up on ebay soon...so i can get a receiver and speakers. Overall 3stars because its does sound good and still plays cd's and radio.

soooo small yet decent sound

weak on midranges, big bucks compared to similar, end up paying extra for sleek compact package.

My daughter killed my old Class "A" Amplifier with a dripping water bottle when she was three. Needless to say the devastated feeling I felt couldn't be consoled by comforting music. I remember the original "Stereo Review" magazine article when the Acoustic Wave first came out in the 80's with a cassette only, and it always intrigued me. At the time they called it an "Urban Blaster" and rightly so. The benchmarks were fantastic at the time. Now-a-days it seems electronic "fiddling" and enhancing is more commonplace and Bose needs to boost their value offered somehow. Anyways, when the old amp died, I lived VERY remotly in Canada's Arctic on the Arctic Ocean, so spending a few months checking other systems (and reviews) out was not an option. Internet was available via long distance at about a buck a minute! When I phoned Bose to enquire they were only to (very) happy to inform me about the GAUERANTEED 30 money back free trial (including return shipping!)

At first I was quite impressed with the design, and somewhat disappointed with the sound. It took a considerable amount of experimentation, but once I found the correct placement, WOW! The sound is incredible! (Unlike the guy who lucked out with it in the garage that I read above, it took me a few days...) Now I wouldn't be without it. The sound is VERY impressive for such a small box, and my family is MUCH more active (non-hotel rooms that is) (read: spending more time away from the house) than I was pre-marriage. I even lent it out to the local organizer of this years Traveling Waterwalker Film Festival for showing projected kayak movies to an audience of just under 100. He loved it too! Especially the mike.

All in all it's just hard to beat that much sound in such a small and so easily portable package. Bose cust. service is fantastic too. Just that dammed placement is soooooo important! Otherwise you can so easily loose so much depth and quality. Even though the price is still a little heavy, the 6 month interest free credit card payment make it quite a bit easier to choke down.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Marantz

Bass response, portability, decently neutral sound

Lack of stereo separation, somewhat overpriced

My folks recently bought a pair of Bose speakers to replace the Paradigms I bought them (which were damaged in a flood) and I was *appalled* at how bad they sounded. Just aghast. I really wonder if *all* of the negative reviews of the AWMS were by people who had already had a similar experience and expected the AWMS to be as bad . . . or perhaps they've cheapened up the drivers since I bought my model c. 1994 (the last before they introduced the remote).

In any case, I've always been delighted with the AWMS. Botton line: after moving to my townhouse I left my Vandersteen 2C's in boxes for *three years* and listened to the AWMS for half my listening (the other half with Sennheiser HD 650 phones). I'm pretty sensitive to speaker inaccuracy -- remember, I just jumped out my seat when I heard the Bose bookshelf babies -- and it says here that the AWMS is as neutral and plays as loud as a component system you'd put together for, what, $600? Maybe $800. So you're paying a hundred or two hundred bucks for the portability and the same towards Bose's ad budget.

If you're looking for a portable system you should certainly check this out, despite the vitriol it's received here. I think it probably was once the best you could do, and I suspect it's still a contender.

My five star rating represents my original experience -- it might be four stars relative to today's market.

Could actually tell type of piano playing. Nice remote. Nice package. Simple controls. Good overall sound.

Could have more flexibility Lack ot tone controls may bother some.

This is a nice unit for someone who isn't a purist and who likes things simple. It has suprisingly good sound and the single unit makes placement possible in most rooms. I have not done a side by side comparison with the seperates, but if you can avoid that you will find it superior to boom boxes and intergrated systens I have seen to date. Its simplicity makes it almost seem preferable to going to all the trouble to actually get my good stero set up and usable in the new house with speakers placed right and such.

Similar Products Used:

Various boom boxes. Stero seperates.

Lifelike sound quality, even at extremely low and extremely high volume levels. This system is teriffic for the price and for the size. This is the best portable system I've encountered.

It would be nice to see Bose incorporate a CD changer into this product.

Some people have a genetic hatred of all things Bose. I love anything that sounds good, no matter what the name brand, and this is good. Bose has a terrific, well-deserved reputation within the industry.

My wife and I use this system almost everyday, and have even taken it camping, on picnics, on the boat--everyone who hears it believes that it sounds better than the expensive component system some knucklehead at some audio-shack recommended to them.

Needless to say, we recommend this product highly.

Similar Products Used:

This is in an upperleague all by itself. Nothing else sounds this good at this package size.