These speakers look good, are cheap and are probably OK for the casual listener.

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First, a tip of the hat to Bose. I bought a pair of 501's when the war was still on in the 70's and they were sold at the PX with a "lifetime warranty" for service members. When I retired, I dragged them out of storage and they were ruined. I called in my S/N and long story short, they mailed me a new pair of 301's (501's are not made anymore) in spite of the fact they no longer offer this type of warranty! Today I got a pair of Bose 2.2 speakers for TWO DOLLARS at a yard sale! I wired 'em up and they perform beautifully. They could use a bit more base but my den's furniture won't permit an exact set up. But if you see an older pair of Bose speakers, fear not. They are always worth the money.

Here's my background in short: I have made electronic music for about 15 years and have, in that time, used some nice high-end monitors. I mention the monitors only to demonstrate that I do have *some* experience with high-end audio equipment and know what nice speakers sound like.

That being said, I must also admit that it's possible that, although I have used nice audio equipment, I don't know if I can pick out the differences between good speakers and excellent speakers in the absence of a side-by-side comparison.

On with the review...
I've owned my 2.2's since maybe 1992, so I have 17 years of listening time clocked with these speakers. As far as I can tell, they are very good. People here have complained about the highs, but I find them to be quite clear and not tinny or distorted. The speakers certainly excel in the mid-range, and suffer slightly when trying to deal with heavy bass. I think, though, that in the low to moderate volume range, these speakers perform quite well, if not exceptionally well. The only time I ever feel that the speaker's sound becomes muddled is at very high volume levels (which I almost never use because my ears feel as if they are going to start bleeding). I know that the kind of amplifier you are using makes a difference, so I will also include the model I am using:

It is a Pioneer Model SX-650. I think that it's probably 30 years old, but it's powerful and does the trick.

I really don't honestly know how these speakers compare to truly high-end speakers, but I've never really been disappointed with them. I listen to everything from classical to electronic music and am satisfied with the sound I get. Hope this helps someone!

These speakers look good, are cheap and are probably OK for the casual listener.

Lack of sonic range.

I had been using the BOSE 2.2s (leftovers from an old system) as the rear surrounds in my home theater. I was using vintage EPI T/E 100s for my fronts and a Klipsch KSC C-1 center channel. Long story short, the sound from the front was tremendous but from the rear it was weak and tinny. I had to keep getting up to check if there was any sound at all from the rears. I recently purchased Klipsch KSB 1.1s to replace the BOSE 2.2s and the difference is overwhelming. I am now enveloped by the full range of sound as home theater was meant to be. Do yourself a favor, instead of using old speakers, that were an original mistake, spend the extra money. You'll be happy that you did.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch KSB 1.1s

They do produce a unique soundstage that some may consider good

No mids and the highs are not clean and crisp.

I purchased these speakers while in college. Based on what I knew then, they sounded pretty good. I later decided to purchase the passive sub that can be used with these speakers. It did improve the sound a little, but the mids are where these speakers have problems.

Bose has not kept up with the industry. Even though these speakers are cheap, they aren't worth it.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 302, Bose cubes (not good at all)

Cheap, sound ok.

Weak mids. Base sounded "fake".

I picked these up a few years ago and was pretty happy with them. My wife bought me a pair of Infinity RS-200.1's to use as surrounds a few months later and after listening to them, the Bose speakers were relegated to that task. They're not bad at all for $100 a pair, but I don't think I would have bought them if I had looked around a bit more.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity RS-2000.1

so-so hi's, but the sound is sooooooooo flat. (bass is barley noticeable unless you crank the bass up. and the hi's are better than cerwin vega, yamaha, sony, JBL and some others but dont compare to brands like polk, DCM, and infinity.

everything that is not a strength.

Hmmm, I wanted to throw these speakers out the window when I brought home my set of DCM KX-12 and KX-6! The hi's and lo's are so week on these speakers I could proboly take the mid out of my DCM's and would'nt be able to tell the diference. But, for the price, ill give it a 4.

Similar Products Used:

DCM KX-6*****, Sony 2 way Bookshelf speaker**, JBL 500***,
Bose 901****

Excellent sound, Extremely dourable

Not easy to mount as rear channel surround speakers

These speakers have been great performers for me for nearly 10 years... I bought them new in 1992, and haven't found anything in the same price range that even comes close to the sound quality of these. Last year my wife bought me a new surround sound system, so I haven't been using them, and I just Auctioned them off for $70... not too bad for having only paid $175 and having used them for 10 years. I'd definately reccomend these speakers to anyone looking for some inexpensive speakers for thier system.

Good for surround

Weak treb-mid driver

Well I use these for my surrounds and they work fine. The problem with these speakers is that, like the AM5 cubes, the treble/mid driver is just too small. if I'm not mistaken, the 2.2 uses the same drivers as the AM5, (6 1/2" bass driver, and a tiny 2 1/2" treb/mid that I think is in the cubes)

Considering the space taken up by the bass chambers in the 2.2s is roughly the same space as the bass module in the AM5, shouldn't these be able to put out equal bass? Well they don't. Not even close, which tells me that Bose didn't put much thought into the design. But to it's credit, these are equal to a lot of the "surround" speakers that sell for more. I'd say at about $60-80 a pair these would be a good buy for some surrounds in a mid-level system, or for mains in a small room like a bedroom.

Similar Products Used:

Bose AM5 II, Bose 101, Yamaha, Warfdale

soundstage, size,
bass considering it is a small bookshelf speaker

highs are not as clear as they could be
lower mids sound exaggerated
ugly
they are very wide (physically), so they take up more room than other bookshelf speakers

I purchased these speakers in the late 80's while in highschool. They definitely sounded better than the other bookshelf speakers that the store carried. I have been quite happy with them, especially with the soundstage that they provide when properly set up. The main problem I have had is with an apparent exaggeration in the lower mids, which I have always had to "fix" with an equalizer. I have used the speakers with multiple amplifiers so the speakers are to blame. I didn't realize how bad the problem was until I got married and listened to the speakers that my wife had from an old Sanyo rack system. They had really terrible highs and boomy bass, but the lower mids were far superior to the Bose 2.2; it was not necessary to use an equalizer to try and fix the irritating sounds I was getting.

Recently I have been shopping for a mini system for our bedroom, and ran across a nice little system by Denon with Mission speakers (D-M30S). The little Missions that come with that system definitely outperform the Bose 2.2, although the bass seems deeper on the Bose. Considering this entire minisystem with receiver/CD + Missions can be found online for < $350 (including shipping), I have to conclude that the Bose 2.2s are not a very good value.

Summary: the Bose 2.2s are average speakers with an above average price. If you are a casual music listener you will probably be reasonably happy with them, although my recent shopping suggests that there are better speakers for the money.

Similar Products Used:

speakers that came with a Sanyo rack system
auditioned mini-systems with Mission speakers