BOSE SUCKS! IT'S NOT MUSIC - IT CUTS UP MUSIC AND GIVE IT TO ME NOT AS A WHOLE BUT BIT BY BIT . . . AND I HEAR IT AS NOISE!
I'll give it zero stars if there was such a rating. For people who are interested in the Bose, listen to a pair of NHT Super Zero or Paradigm Atoms first before you buy. You'd thank all the people who slam dunked Bose in this page . . .

Like many folks, I started my serious interest in music buying Bose speakers. Fifteen years ago, Bose seemed like a pretty good buy compared to what else was available. But then twenty-five years ago, when I was in high school, I thought Ripple was pretty good wine, and I couldn't even get a glass of "dry" wine down. Sometime over the last twenty-five years, my taste in wine and music changed.
I have listened often to the AM5's often. They are always playing at the mass market stores, and in the homes of some of my friends. Frankly, with the availability of good speakers from the likes of PSB or NHT in the same price range as the AM5, it was an anathema to me that anyone would buy these speakers, until I talked one of my non-audiophile friends into hearing NHT speakers. He found the presence of actual treble to be unpleasant. There are a lot of people who simply do not want to hear music which sounds live, but want to hear music which is "smooth", undetailed and which does not distract them from whatever else is going on. If that is your preference, these may be your speakers, provided you don't care about value for the money. To me, buying AM5's is like paying $30.00 for a bottle of Ripple. It is not worth $30.00, even if you prefer Ripple. (Do they still make Ripple?)

I first saw these audio atrocities at Sharper Image some years back. Thesalesdweeb had the temerity to tell me that the two little sats were IT,
that there was NO SUBWOOFER! Of course, I promptly located the subwoofer,
concealed behind a display for some other overpriced rich-guy toy. :-)
Were someone to ask, I'd encourage purchasing ANYTHING else, down to and
including a pair of Radio Shack Minimus-7s (or whatever its current
designation is, Optimus-something-or-other) - worlds better sound for 1/5
the cost.

From my brother's long-ago misadventure with the original 901s to today,
Bose remains a producer of overadvertised junk that survives solely on
advertising and consumer (mis)perception.

The Bose Acoustimass speaker sounds as good as playing a sledge hammer along with an 2 Atwater Kent radios. As a matter of fact, the Atwater Kents havemore midrange.
This is the power of marketing, folks. And, by the way, that Bose Wave radio is the biggest marketing crap job next to the pet rock. For one-fifth the price, you can buy an Aiwa boom box that sounds better. Their performance claims remind me of what "crap-fi" manufacturers used to say about "music power" vs. "RMS" power. They did it until the FTC came along. Where are you FTC when we need you???? Bose is headed down the same path as its former Massachussetts neighbor, Wang Labs -- Oblivion Way. The rating below says one star, but the system
won't let me go into double digit minus territory where I want to be.

The AM-5 speakers are probably the most sold speakers around the world. A lot of people think this is hi-fi! Unfortunately!!!

BOSE LOUDSPEAKERS !! On a scale of 1-10 I would give them a - 3.
Proof again how mega advertising gets results. The AM - 5 ( and any other Bose Speaker for that matter) does exactly what a loudspeaker should not do i.e - Produce sound in a Direct / Reflected manner.

Whilst the AM- 5 might give John your neighbour an envy pang , any self respecting audiophile would probably shun this companys products like the plague.

What are loudspeakers supposed to do ? Recreate a live performance as closely as possible.

Does any Bose loudspeaker do this ? Nope , not to my ears at least.

( Last but not the least , for the price they command , there could be no bigger rip off loudspeaker company in the States.)

Buy at your peril

I used to think Bose was really good until I heard other speakers such asNHT, Paradigm, B&W just to name a few. Better Sound through Research....I
don't think so!!!! For value/$$$ Bose would rate down at the bottom of
the pile. No high no low...it must be Bose. I just don't know how Dr.
Amar Bose and company has survived for so long on this terrible product
line. I have to give a lot of credit to the marketing department to be able
to sell this stuff to the mass market. Do yourself a favor and spend your
hard-earned cash on other products that can deliver the goods.

Unfortunately I can't give a big fat "ZERO" but that's what it deserves.

I have listened to these small speakers in a bose outlet store on my way to the airport.
They should be sold as a "high end" PC multimedia speaker, not for music.

For the really audiophile there are much better speakers on the market, e.g.
the "MMGs" by Magnepan, which sell for $500 a pair.

I was born listening to music.I love it to "hear it all".But not with that Bose Acoustimass thing.I'm not that rich to afford any "esoteric" brands so I've tried to squeeze the best bang out a $2000 budget.I've shopped around and I had a chance to hear how an Bose Acoustimass sounds hooked up to an Onkyo system (receiver/CD changer).It sounded harsh and unnatural like an solid state radio with powerfull bass.The dealer did everything to try to make it sound better. Finally he told me "You know, you buy Bose for looks not for sound".Not me pal. Finally I've bought a pair of Polk RT3's and a Polk powered subwoofer for about the same price.The sound is (ohhh!) so much better.Sorry but the only good Bose speaker is the 901. Don't spend your hard earn bucks on something that should sell for $400 less !

I own a pair of AM-7. I got them RIDICULOUSLY cheap (<$500). I thought, heck, such a good deal, I cant go wrong right? Well, now that I've heard some good speakers (not Sony, Pioneer, technics) I wouldn't pay $300 for the AM-7. Do yourself a favor and at least listen to something else.