I think they are wonderful! The placement of the speakers, especially the bass module is important however. You can't put the bass module "anywhere," but as long as it is on the same side of the room as the stereo speakers it works quite well.
I bought this because the layout of the room left me with no choice, but I am quite satisfied. The bass is very deep and accurate; the highs and separation are excellent.

Bose is the BEST! Their warranty support is great as well.

Very good sound, bass, everything is good.

It is a very nice system. Good price and very reliable system. I recommend to all users.

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Energy Take 5.. they are horrible.. big, bulky and bad quality.

All of the experiences that I have had with bose, and there is a lot of them, has told me that they are alright for most listeners. The reason people are impressed is because of sound you here coming out of small speakers. But, With the thing about small speakers covered up by the subwoofer, is that it doesn't work very well. They have decent bass at lower levels, but at upper levels, it just sucks. My parents have a Yukon Denali, and it has the bose system. The imaging is nice and it sounds very clear. But crank it up a little, and it sucks. I Pulled off a grill, and found that they were very light paper cones, and foam surrounds. It pissed me off because the name is so good. Yeah they have good research and Dr Bose, but that doesn't mean sqaut if your product sucks.

size

price (should be a third of what it is)

These speakers are - if you do not consider the price - suited well for background music. That is, low volume and e.g. jazz. They are definitely NOT suited well if you actually LISTEN to the music. I had these for a month because I needed small speakers for the kitchen (music while having breakfast), but I soon sold them to somebody who did not know better and bought a different satellite/subwoofer system for half the price.

When I bought my speakers for my living room, I had the opportunity of hearing these side-by-side with other speakers. You maybe won't believe me, but these were definitely the WORST of all. Other (shelf) speakers for a third of the price absolutely DESTROYED the Bose ones. These speakers have muddy bass, no real high frequency respons (what do you expect from a broad range speaker ?) and I absolutely cannot find anything justifying the price.

Stay away unless you get them for, say, $200. For about $300 you get good shelf speakers which sound better and also do not take away that much space.

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Other subwoofer/satellite combos

Inconspicuous Satelites, great flexibility in bass module placement, Very good sound

Due to small sats, speakers 50 times their size can deliver better performance, have somehow spawned a cult following of Bose haters

I have used my AM5II's for many years and have been very pleased with their overall performance.I must say, I can't believe the abundance of one star reviews for this product.First, I think that it is important that any comparisons of this speaker system be with other sub-sat systems. One of the big attractions of the AM5 is the lack of physical intrusion in the listening environment. I love the fact I can place the small cubes on a mantle, the other on a piece of furniture and hide the bass module in the corner behind my 35in Mitsubishi tv. No conventional speaker system offers the great flexibility of sub-sat systems, and though now there may be other sub-sats that might arguably outperform Bose, an objective review of the Bose would have to give the Bose high marks. I would urge anyone who wants to have a good sounding music or home theater system without sacrificing large amounts of space to large speakers to give the Bose or other sub-sat systems a fair evaluation. It seems strange to me that so many of the people giving these one star reviews would have bought speakers before listening to them? If they sounded so poorly why in the world did you buy them? All in all, though there certainly are speakers that outperform the Bose, there are not many in the same category that substantially outperform them. They are a good speaker system and I recommend them. Of course, as with any audio component, let your own ears be the judge. Don't buy any audio product before you audition its sonic charateristics.

None that I know of. Maybe size if you're really, really desperate for that extra square inch of space you gain over a smallbookshelf speaker of just about any kind.

Poor frequency response (both on the high frequencies and low frequencies), really bad effeciency, dynamic range similar to that of your local AM radio station...The list goes on.

I'll first explain to those who may care to deflate me as a simple-minded Bose-hater that I am above all else an audio professional who owns a mastering studio worth more than my home. I am not posting this to simply hurt a company's or product's reputation, but rather to give a professional's advice to anyone considering the purchase of these speakers.

I do not own a set of these, because in large part I know better. Today while helping a friend pick out a set of "5.1" home theater speakers, I was surprised to see the Bose Acoustimass 5's still for sale. I had naturally figured someone would have had the sense to have discontinued such a product by now. I guess not...but then, I didn't have the sense to not buy the '95 Camaro with a proprietary, 32 ohm Bose system already installed. Had I been paying attention and found out that the system was proprietary I'd have asked the dealership to have removed the stereo prior to my purchase. I would've been relieved just knowing that I'd never have to pay someone to remove it. I am unhappy to say that I now own a Bose though. I'd feel even worse if I had bought a set of Acoustimass'!

I have listened and compared hundreds (if not thousands) of complete speaker systems since around 1985. When I first stumbled onto the Acoustimass 5 system I was extremely impressed by its small size. That's where the positive impression ended! Having already heard so many speaker systems in that price range (and relying on speakers to feed me every day), I actually dropped to a professional low by laughing out loud when I first heard the Acoustimass 5's. Believe me--they were set up properly, but one only needed to listen to the JBLs, Yamahas, or Boston Acoustics in the same room to realize the fast one that Bose was pulling. Someone below described them as being comparable to a clock radio. I'm not sure they deserve that much credit. To Bose's credit, at least their own clock radio (The wave radio), while over-priced actually sounds dozens of times better than these speakers. I'd recommend that if you must have music and you must have Bose, then drop $349 on a wave-radio/CD player instead. Less space, better sound, lower cost, same company...

Today on a whim I took another listen--hoping that perhaps Bose had recognized the immorality of charging $750(+) wholesale for something that costs (giving generous consideration) perhaps $50-$60 to produce, and hoped that they had at least improved the product by now. They haven't. If nothing, they're making them even cheaper, because to my ears they actually sounded worse than the ones I listened to four or so years ago. (I really hope that someone from Bose who is in a position to change things has the opportunity to read this post and put an end to this line of speakers before they damage their reputation any further as a respected speaker designer and manufacturer). Believe it or not, I do still respect the company on a scientific research level. I have no respect for the disservice they serve their customers. That's the reputation they now have with me and most of my professional recording and performing colleagues. These are the people who KNOW how things should sound--otherwise they'd have starved to death years ago.

There are in fact similar systems costing hundreds of dollars less that are manufactured of better materials and sound far superior to the Acoustimass 5's. I would recommend that anyone considering the purchase of these speakers actually do themselves a big favor and stop by your local Radio Shack store on the way and listen to some Optimus bookshelf speakers. They're a slight bit larger, but cost approximately 1/10th the price and sound by far superior. I'm not sure if they still do, but they used to come with a 5 year warranty too. If you prefer to have your nose up in the air and/or are too insecure to make a logical purchase based upon features, price, and sound reproduction (the ONLY real purpose of a speaker system), then find some JBLs or anything with a fancy German name that will make you the envy of the crowd when it comes to impressing your colleagues with the amount of money you've spent (and perhaps wasted). At least with these speakers you will receive some quality sound to go along with the quality sight. With the Acoustimass 5's you will only be fooling yourself as your colleagues knod and smile in approval to how your system sounds--until they drive home, laughing at you as soon as they turn on their car radio and realize that it sounds better (unless they were also suckered into buying a car with a Bose system). It is your choice though.

My professional advice, stop trying to impress people by buying a name and seek professional. Bose has enough money. Invest your money on yourself instead and buy something nice. If you actually buy these speakers, you've either been duped, are EXTREMELY DESPERATE for saving micro-sized pieces of space (seeing as new bookshelf speakers that sound a lot better are coming in 4"x3"x5" sizes now), or you are so insecure with yourself that you feel that owning a Bose system will make you more of a man/woman. I can promise you that these speakers will not help you in any way with this problem. I can also assure you that anyone in the know will not be impressed--so you might as well spend the money on sound and not on satisfying your own insecurities.

One last note: Please don't be fooled by anyone--especially those out there talking of "proper placement" of these speakers. I know from professional experience that you can take something that sounds horrible and put it anywhere in the room. Guess what? It still sounds horrible. Take 3 or 4 things that sound horrible, and now it even sounds worse. As the friend I was helping today so crudely but delicately likes to put it, "You can't polish a turd." Moral of the story: Start with a speaker system that sounds good, THEN place them properly. You'll be extremely surprised to find how much better they sound and how much less they cost. If it "has to be Bose," because they cost a lot, then you need psychological help from the brainwashing you've received (or for the insecurities you harvest). If you're considering a used set, don't pay more than $100 for them, as a $100 set of mini-bookshelf speakers (KLH, Optimus, etc.) sound much better and can even handle more power if you need it. They'll also come with the warranty that a new set of speakers provide. I'd have given zero stars in both categories if it were possible.

Sincerely and regrets,
Dan

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Professional monitors and subwoofers from JBL, Alesis, Roland, Fostex, Mackie, Boston Acoustics, Event, and the current line-up of non-professional Canadian and German speakers of similar size. Also very versed and familiar with "generic" systems such as Optimus and KLH (which are by far superior to these speakers, only costing several times less!)

Great sound for all types of audio. DVD Movie, CD's, and VHS.

None.

Try A/B comparisons with the others out there. Go to Best Buy or Circuit City and try. Keep all things constant except the speaker switchout. Let the ears decide and not the spec's. I purchased the Bose center speaker (4 single cube array) along with my doubles and connected them to my Harmon Kardon receiver. If you want to crank them, they stay very tight and sound GREAT. While watching movies where phones ring and car horns sound, our dogs start to flip out because they think it's really happening. My wife too sometimes.

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Electrovoice, Cerwin Vega, Infinity

UUHH......Size?

Sound Quality.......etc.

I use the AM-5's as the surround channels in my 5.1 system. The small size and big sound make it a good choice for people wanting rear effecs but may be limited on space. The cube's can be positioned in a pseudo bi-pole position with the top and bottoms cubes facing opposite directions. Plus, the passive sub helps to give some low end in the effects channels. Most importantly, the AM-5 really help with the WAF (wife acceptance factor)..enough said.

My System:
Yamaha RX-V1000
Yamaha CDC-775
Parasound HCA-855 5 Channel Amp
Sony DVD
NHT 2.9
NHT Center
NHT sub one
Bose AM-5
Monster Power HTS-2500 Line Conditioner
Toshiba 36" T.V.
Tara Labs interconnect and Spkr cable

Size, Sound, Clarity

Could use a little more bass

I bought both these Bose and Polk RT600 at the same time to compare. I noticed that with some music the Polk's were a little crisper. (probably because of the tweets) But I also noticed that on some movies the Bose made it sound more real. Overall very little difference so I decided to save 200 bucks and a lot of space and go with the Bose. I don't know why so many people write bad reviews about these speakers because I have not found anything wrong with them. In my car I have all Infinity Kappas so I kinda know good sound when I hear it and these little things sound like floor standing speakers. Very clear and natural with a good amount of bass (although I am buying a sony powered sub to help them out). I would definetly recommend them to anybody who wants good clean sound from fairly tiny speakers.

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Pioneers, Polk RT600