Small footprint, decent sound

Price

I agree with the previous post. While a speaker's main purpose is sound, there are other things to factor in. If I can use a car as an analogy. Is it fair to compare a Chevy Cavalier, to a Lexus, to a Ferrari. You can argue that the main goal of all of them is transportation. With that said, the Cavalier should handle that task just fine, with the Lexus and certainly the Ferrari providing a little overkill. When you start adding in features like luxury and performance (speed, handling, etc.), and price being less of an issue, the Chevy begins to lose points, quickly. My point is that you have to factor it all in, purpose, performance, price and cost. You need to compare proverbial apples to apples.

Now with that said, when I purchased these five years ago I had an old Pioneer powering them. I would get bass that would shake the ground. I was extrememly disappointed with the bass output when I upgraded to a Yamaha Pro-Logic unit about a year later. I later found out that it was more an issue with the Yamaha being a little bright. Last December I upgraded to Dolby Digital (Yamaha RX-V595A)and noticed a big improvement. The sound is always clear and true. That, along with the fact that they don't monopolize my family room, which is why I bought them in the first place, means that I've been pretty satisfied with my purchase. They serve the purpose I intended for them. I recently added a powered sub so the bass output has become less of an issue, although I heard that the sub on the newer models of the AM5 is powered.

Now if I was starting from scratch, and money was no object, and I was willing to give up plenty of real estate for larger speakers would I make the same purchase? Probably not. But then again, it's a different set of parameters.

Overall I'm very staisfied, but feel that the cost hurts the value a bit.

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None

looks..

am5 is generally a decent product if you don't care that much for the sound. even if you are, i think these speaker sounds good to some people. i thought it did it's job quite a well 2.5 years ago..

the only thing i have to say, using the car as an anology, is that you wouldn't pay for a cavelier w/ a sticker price of a lexus! you can find a lot of good looking, desent size speakers for a lot less. save the money for a kick ass sub!

Size, the speakers can be posioned in any direction.

Lack of bass, also the subwoofer lack of power. Drains your
amplifier to produce the necessary sound. Too bad they cannot give your money back. Please don't listen to all salesclerk, probably the manufcturer pay them high commission to sell their products.

I will give a 1.9, it is overpriced, and do not perform
the sound you looking for.
Look for Klipsh speakers or Polk Audio. Too bad the manufacturer don;t give a 90 days warranty if you don;t like it returned it for a full refund. I will be the first in line.

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Klipsh Heresy II, excellent sound quality, your room comes alive.

Sound quality, build quality, the best in the business.

None!

Bose does it again! They are the best and nothing else comes close!! Nobody can match their quality or their value.

This speaker produces the best, fullest, richest sound. The only thing that might even match it is a few other products made by none other than BOSE!

I have noticed a few kids submitting bad reviews for BOSE products. Sorry kids...nobody is buying it. Just because your daddy won't buy you Bose doesn't mean others can't enjoy them.

Hats off to all the audiophile scientists at BOSE!

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Polk, Infinity, JBL, and many others

Cristal clear sound, tiny speakers

quite difficult to setup properly

I bought the Bose Acoustimass 5 MK III about four months ago. Fortunately without having read product descriptions in this forum because if I had believed what people wrote here I wouldn't have bought them which would have been a terrible mistake.
I can't say anything about former Acoustimass 5 series, but Acoustimass 5 MK III sounds perfect once you figured out how to set up the satellites and especially the subwoofer. The high frequencies are crystal clear, the mids are equally balanced. The Bass could be a little stronger for the very "bassy" kind of music like techno for example. For listening to DVD and "real" music it is perfect.
My Acoustimass 5 MK III is connected to a Harman/Kardon AVR300 RDS which seems to be a perfect combination.
In my opinion those speakers are really worth their money, especially if you don't have a lot of space in your room where you could put bookshelf speakers.
Of course, if you want to spend more than $ 1000 you will find speakers that sound better, but I didn't find a subwoofer-satellite-system in the price region of up to $ 1000 that could compete with the Bose. Period.
It seems to be very popular to hate bose in this forum. I don't know why, Bose certainly doesn't deserve this. If people are too stupid or too lazy to experiment with different positions of their speakers they shouldn't blame the manufacturer. Have you ever tried closing your eyes while you are listening to Acoustimass? Not thinking something like: Those small speakers just can't sound good. It is an awesome experience - instead of having two point sources of music the entire room seems to be filled with music just like a live concert.

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JBL, Magnat, Elac

Sound quality, size, styling, need I say more?

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The Acoustimass 5 Series III is a speaker system that looks small but outputs very big sound. I bought these speakers about a week age from Circut City and teamed them up with an Onkyo receiver and CD player with Monster Cable. The Sound that I got out of these speakers was crystal clear and next to reality. For the $500+ I paid for them I got a lot more. Ever since I was a kid I wanted a great stereo system and now I've got it. The two "double" cube speakers produce the clearest highs and mids while the bass module delivers clean tight bass and mid-bass. I am really glad I bought them. Overall I spent about $1100 on my system but got a whole lot more.

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Sony ES, Polk, Infinity, JBL

Open, spacious, and punchy sound. Very easy to blend into small room, yet still be heard loud and clear.

Bass module is not a subwoofer, so it does not hit that low.

I am quite stunned about the "Bose Hater" cult that seems to have formed over these speakers. Some of the reviews I read against them are very valuable, but some are just down right meant to be insults. I must admit, I had no knowledge of audioreview.com when I bought these speakers. I am now shopping for a receiver, and I am strongly debating even using this site for help, based on the information on this board. I bought the AM5 as my first set of speakers, and I think they're great. I feel their sound is not distorted at all. The reflected sound idea seems so great to me, because it really gives you open and enveloping sound. I live most of my year in a dorm room, and these speakers have the capability to make it sound like a concert hall or club. They definately play loudly enough for me too. As far as the durability, I have tranported them across the state a few times (so obviously they have been bumped a few times), yet they continue to play well. Despite my positive setaments towards them, I feel there are negatives. The bass module doesn't have the deep bass or impact of a powered subwoofer (although I wouldn't expect it to). I personally have this covered in my system with a Polk PSW120 (another great product). This gives my music full range sound and good impact. I would not be able to give these a five in value had I paid $600 for them retail. I got them off of eBay for $350, and for that price I feel they are great quality. Some (and I do mean SOME) of the posts on this board are from very educated people who have bad things to say about these (people more educated and with more experience than me; I'll easily admit that), but in my personal experience I feel these are great speakers. I love 'em.

superb sound, real lifelike sound, no phoney baloney bass.

a bit pricy

I can't understand what idiot DOESN'T like these speakers.
I am a musician and an avid listener. I have never heard speakers which produced as clear a sound as these. Of course, some of the 'now' generation guys won't like them becuase the bass is distortion-free and realistic - not boomy. These are high-tech speakers for people who listen to music - not noise.
And by the way, if you don't wire them properly + and - you won't hear them properly.

I also have a pair of Bose Free-style book-end style speakers. They are superb as well. I believe in Bose and will always have Bose in my home.

Small, lightweight, easy to transport between school and home,

flexibility, compatibility, price, watts capability per speaker (200 max) ....

I like these for their size ... and for small speakers they do fairly well.

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great detail. clear sound

low bass

In fairness to bose - ac-5, its not really that bad.
I have this speaker for moe than three years now, and
while I'm still looking for a new large front speakers,
I'm using this one right now. Together with the Bose VCS-10
center, Klipsch ss-1 rear, and klipch Ksw12 sub, they sound
great for home theatre as well as for stereo sound.
But I'm still shopping for a large front.

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jbl