can't handle extreme bass levels

This is about the Bose 802-II, folks, not Lifestyle or any other consumer stuff. We have used 802's for 4 years in small to medium-size (up to 1000 people) music reinforcement jobs and they are very reliable performers. I personally don't use the 802C controller; I equalize with a regular graphic and RTA, and once you get them equalized they sound great over a wide angle, unlike most woofer/horn speakers which have a high-frequency "hot spot" on axis. Feedback is minimal and fairly high levels are possible.

Nothing magic about these speakers but they really work.

Similar Products Used:

EV, JBL

Perfect for small to medium venues

Sub woofer required for large venues

I have been using 802s for about 15 years. After 10 years, the foam suspension rings disintegrated. I sent them back to Bose with $235 and they sent me an upgraded 802 series II pair that has supposedly rectified that problem.

I simply love these speakers. Ears are a nice test of speakers but I have electronically characterized them with pink, white, square, triangle and sine wave generators and a spectrum analyzer. These speakers are the closest to perfect for reproduction of original program that I have tested.

I run an entire band through a PA system. Bass, drums, everything. In a small venue, the sound is great with no bottoming in the low frequencies. For medium to large venues, a sub woofer must be used to handle the bass drum and bass guitar transients.

Yes, they are expensive, but I have beat these things up for years. When they finally failed, Bose was right there with the solution. Performance and support. That is hard to beat.

Compact/Light, Sounds Good

Soaks up power!

I use the 802s with a 302 sub running off a Carver 2x600 watt power amp. Used mainly for sequenced duo/trio work, the system performs well giving a nice clear vocal sound and decent bass. The dispersion of the speakers is pretty good too.

I should add it's not the best system I've used - certainly systems like Nexa outperform it and are much more compact (though much more expensive). But for the size and what I paid for it (purchased second hand) I'm very happy.

My only real complaint is the amount of power that the 802's soak up when run without the sub. Their natural frequency response (i.e. without the controller) is not too good, so when run without the sub the controller adds an awful lot of boost in the bass frequencies and this soaks up a lot of headroom.

However, for smaller rooms this isn't usually a problem and it's not a problem when running with the sub in larger rooms. You just need to make sure you've go plenty of power to spare - if you're only running (say) 200-300 watts total you might be disappointed with the results.

Not sure if I'd pay full retail price for them, otherwise a great system and definately worth hunting around for a good deal.

Similar Products Used:

Nexa, ARX

For a mobile DJ: size, weight, sound!

Amount of bass response dependent on venue, installation.

Portability cannot be beat! A single pair of these will work great for a small to medium sized dance. Would work well for a large corporate event if serious BASS were not required. Speakers sound clear and undistorted, even up close - unlike the horn driven units I've had over the years. Only caution I wish to point out: When putting covers back on, be sure to seat them EVENLY before latching the clasps. The enclosure is plastic - DO NOT force the clasp as it may, over time, weaken the seat area and break. For a one-man DJ with no roadie, these are the lightest and most powerful around. For large school dances or club gigs, I would bring subwoofers, as any DJ would to complement any 15" two-way system. Units also stack, should you buy two pair - this also allows more bass without a sub.

Similar Products Used:

Any single 15" two-way loudspeaker with horn (JBL, Crate, Community)

WARNING!!!
If you are not an ardent BOSE proponent, and you have posted a negative review of a bose product, you may be subjected to the wrath of an individual who goes by the moniker "Mr. Bose". He will come to you in stealth, with a foul tongue and an equally lacking vocabulary totally void of any degree of usefull coherency. This person is evidently either retarted or perhaps a crack adict.

Mr. BOSE: We know your out there, however your cowardice is evident in the fact that you don't give anyone the opportunity to respond to you maniacal ravings. This will not be tolerated. At least When I write a to reviewer I give them a chance to retort. Mr. Bose, it is well that you are devoted to your cause, nevertheless, it is unfortunate that you lack the intelligence to convey your ignorant beliefs. It is advisable that you consult a dictionary which, just in case you weren't aware, is a book which may bestow upon you startling revalations about the mechanics of intelligent expression. I await your response.

As a director of a sound crew i must say that the reviews about some of the best public address speakers on the market are badly researched at best. A pair of Bose 802's and the accoustimass subwoofer were quite adequate for a quite demandin prject we just undertook.Plenty of low mid and high, the bose were so sensitive that we had to severly cut back on several frequencies to stop complants of the sound being to high pitched. Also the gut ruimbliung base created was amazing.

Great Hi's!!!!, Great Bass respose, DAMN they're loud!!!

uhhh.....

Wow, these arent bad speakers, they are a lot better than most of the other bose, but not quite as good as my DCM's. I used 2 of the bose 802's at a swimming party(at a camp) and at full blast you could hear them over a mile away!!! Oh and folks this is in the open land of north texas.

Similar Products Used:

DCM KX-12

High quality trebble

Very low quality bass

These were here before I started going to the church, I became the sound man. They were fine, until we went contempary, and it couldn't handle the bassness. The 502-B Bass module is worthless; you could buy two EV Eliminator Doubles for that price!! (Which we are going to do)

Similar Products Used:

JBL TR Crapness line.

clear mids and highs, can produce a tremendous amount of noise even with relatively low-powered amps!!

can't handle extreme bass levels (but these are no bass speakers anyway)

Well, I bought these babies two days ago from a friend of mine, and each of them is hooked up to a Stanford 200 watt amplifier which were originally made for these speakers. An equalizer, also from Stanford and a bass-filter for filtering out the bass-frequencies. And they do make one helluvan amount of noise!! These speakers are made for playing loud and they do that like no other speakers I've used.
In the near future I'm planning to buy a large acoustimass sub for the bose 802 and then me, my housemates and probably the rest of the neighborhood can enjoy these speakers :)
Okay they cost something but you get a high amount of value for the price!!

Similar Products Used:

none

I just got a pair of Bose 802 series 2 Dj speakers. They are amazing. At their incredibly small size, they sound better than a pair of JBL SR 4735's that i have! I would recommend them to anyone who wants any kind of good sound for DJ ing or just plain music listening. You wouldn't believe how much bass you could get out of 8-4" speakers. In a recent gig, in a gym, just 4 of them shook the whole building. They run about $1000/pair , plus the system controller, for about an extra $200. (and you cant use them without it either- they sound like crap!)