They aren't ugly, this suggests they'd make decent paperwieghts or door stops because they'll serve much better there than hooked up to any audio equipment.

Muddy muddy sound. Irritatingly erratic highs. Ridiculous Price. They make you sad you could have fallen for the death trap that is Bose's marketing machine

These speakers are absolutely horrible. I bought them about 3 years ago due to friends raving about them and I needed speakers for rear surround. Unfortunately in the last 3 years my tastes have matured to the point where I require sound better than a clock radio to be satisfied... sadly, the Bose 161's cannot deliver. I have a pair of Tannoy mX-2's hooked up to my reciever on speaker set A, and the Bose 161's set up on speaker set B. Playing right now is Death on Two Legs by Queen and it frankly punishes my ears to hear it over the pathetic little Bose. Not that I expect any sort of soundstage out of these speakers but the go even farther in the other direction and even manage to make stereo sound like one large muddy squeal. I know these speakers are typically used in 5.1 surround set ups for home theatre and that was their intended purpose for me but the were just too distracting for me too let them remain and ruin the movie for me and any guests. The frequency response obviously doesn't go low (they're attempting to be surround speakers) but what portion of the frequency curve they do cover is shaped sort of like the Appalachians with some frequencies fading out and making you strain to hear just so a slightly higher frequency (say as the car comes closer to the camera on screen) can jump off a monstrous spike in the graph and land harshly on your timpanic membrane. The bottom line is the only reason you would buy these ridiculous speakers is because you're going purchasin with your friends impressions in mind versus the health of your inner ear. Please please please don't make the same mistake I did go out and listen to something, anything else (I'd say compare but Bose doesn't get put in comparison rooms with other actual quality brands) to prevent you making the biggest mistake of your audio life.

Similar Products Used:

JBL Klipsch Tannoy

Great design with their "stereo everywhere" technology. Magnetically sheilded. Can handle up to 100 watts, and they sound great paired up with my "old" Bose towers!

None

When I needed to upgrade my surround speakers, I did alot of homework on what would be the best product for the best price. Since I already own a pair of Bose 10.2 Series 2 tower speakers, I decided to purchase the Bose 161's to serve as my new surrounds. I've used these speakers set at both the large and small settings on my Yahaha HTR 5280 digial receiver. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, the bass response when set to large was fine. Remember though, that these speakers are not to be used as mains, so anyone thinking of using them for that will be disappointed. By the by, the manual states to set the surround setting to small if these speakers are being used as rear surrounds. These speakers are outstanding! I have yet to experience any muddy sound whatsoever from these speakers. Whether playing cds, movies, or most recently dvd audio, these speakers kick butt! I have yet to understand all the Bose haters out there, but I call em like I see em. It's going to take more than a day to set up any surround system properly, and maybe all the negative comments stem from people in a hurry to hook up all of their new toys too fast. The design of the speakers let people sitting to the side of the television appreciate the surround sound just as much as the people sitting directly in front of the screen. This speaker can handle up to 100 watts and it more than struts its stuff when used with 5.1 and 6.1 movies. My receiver pushes 100 watts to all five channels in movie surround modes and these speakers more than hold their own. The 161's are also magnetically sheilded.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood LSK-02B surround speakers

make ok rears.. and have a very nice mounting system. and size

poor sound .. bad conectors ..

i bought these speakers as rear surounds for my growing home theater set up... i have say the these speakers are a over priced... i i didnt wanna buy these originally but when i saw the price i figured that i couldnt go wrong.. well the sound is very poor from them... from what i heard bose had good treble . well i guess that is only for the higher end speakers . these sound very muddy .. have almost no bass .. and the treble seems like a lower tone than it should be.. depending on the movie.. sometimes i turn the rears off just so i dont have to listen to the plastic feel of there sound... my kaboom box has much better over all sound then these.. not just the bass

Similar Products Used:

nothing like this in size.. but def tech .. infinty

Bose is simplpy the best. PERIOD nothing else out there can compare with them! Great highs, great lows, it must be bose!!!

Absolutely nothing!

People can be so stupid!!! I do not understand how people out there can say that bose is the worst thing they have ever heard, & the true saying is "Great highs, great lows, it must be bose" & Another thing that I think is stupid is that people say "I hate Bose, & I own, tons of Bose products" That is really retarded!!! If you are going to buy a speaker, listen to it first, then purchse it. NOT the other way around!

Similar Products Used:

Nothing is even similar

Almost invisible. Great midrange and reasonable highrange. Good Design. Easy to install and mount.

Realy weak to absolutly no bass responce. I'm not a crazy kid that likes my bass booming so that you can hear it a block away. These things have very wear bass reproduction. Doesn't matter if it's Jazz, Rock, or Classic, you're going to have to invest in a sub-woofer.

I wanted some small, unobtrusive speakers for the bedroom. I wanted wall-mount as opposed to floor or book-shelf style. I read the reviews, and went to the various local dealers, listened, and chose the Bose 161's knowing I was going to have to add a sub-woofer (I chose a very small Magnat). My bedroom is not an ideal sound studio; it's about four meters by five meters, masonary construction, and the only sound absorbing bit is the bed. The room is *bright*. The 161's are great. My taste in music runs from Frank Zappa to Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald to Bob Wills with stop overs at Count Basie and Mozart. The 161's deliver the goods with plenty of mid and high range; and as Bose suggests, you get a wall of sound; there is no *sweet spot*. Ok, I'm an old guy, and my hearing isn't what it used to be, but, way back when Dinosaurs used to roam the earth I sold stereo equipment, and my motto was *Buy what sounds good to you, and what's within your price range*.

Similar Products Used:

I have owned: Acoustic Research, JBL, Sony, Kenwood, Sansui, Speaker Lab. Discalimer: My ears ain't what they were at Woodstock '69.

Wide sweet spot. great mounts. small size

not window rattlers

I bought 1 pair of 161's and the vcs30 package of center(vcs10)and surrounds (161). I added a 150 watt sub by sony. I listen to movies loud and music semi-loud and in 5 channel stereo. The 12 drivers from bose do a great job and the mounting hardware is perfect. However if you want loud buy big. 161 do the job they were designed for.

Perfect for surround sound. Great for surround music

Not good sound as main speakers, but they're not made that. Feel plasticy, if you like touching speakers - doesnt matter if they sound great though

These speakers are to be used for surround backs, NOT main stereo speakers.This is the reason why there are many 'crap' reviews of them on this site. I have tried them for main stereo, and yes, they do sound crap - no bass. However, using these two speakers with the inclusion of two fronts and a sub (like the bose acoustimass 3), they sound a heck of a lot better, for music, but especially movies. The bass from the sub sounds like they come from the back speakers - they sound incredible at times, especially for the price and the size. These are great value for money, and work best in smaller rooms. The rear effects and voices are natural sounding and go loud. I also use them for surround music, pro logic 2. At times they are more subtle than the acoustimass 3 speakers, not quite so high pitched. As I said earlier, dont use these for main speakers, use them for surround - as they're made for!

Similar Products Used:

Bose acoustimass 3, Sony AV Receiver

Small enough to hide

Sound like crap; overpriced

Rotten! My boom box sounds better. I was ignorant enough to buy these because they were Bose, and Bose is the best, right? Wrong! I'm gonna sell these on eBay and get some real speakers pronto.

mounting bracket looked nice, but it was missing a screw.

Highs and Lows.

If it has no highs or lows it must be a Bose. Well I had to find out for myself and I got what I paid for. Cheap mushy sound. Bad sound field production. Hookups that don't except quality connectors.

Similar Products Used:

None. Everything out classed these expensive ripoffs. Energy products make these look like cheap computer speakers.

sound and price.

Bass. Only because of the size.

I really took my time looking in to these speakers before I bought them. Several salespeople told me they would be good for surround applications but not for main speakers. I found that this was true because of the lack of decent bass. A speaker this size is not going to have good bass response but the mid's and high's are pure Bose. After doing some investigating and talking to technical support at Bose I found that the drivers in the 161's are almost identical to the drivers in the Acoustimass cubes. I purchased the 161's and put them on the wall in my den. I added a 12" subwoofer and could not believe it. My den measures 14x21 and it was full of clear sound.