great highs.the clarity is unmatched

no bass...so you think

first let me say this....if you dont like your bose7..your not alone...but you are using them wrong..
the biggist probelm with the a-mss series from bose is there is no bass.......another is it takes to many watts to power it(except a-mass 15 which has a powered sub)
heres what you do..hang the cube speakers high as hell..and away from each other..hang themat ear level or higher.and 6-15 feet away from each other. thats what they are designed for. if you have them 4 feet from each other and 4 feet off the ground then they will suck.hang them high and far..dance club have been useing this method for years.
2nd is the bass subject, heres what you do. turn the sub around facine the wall.(the front hole faceing the wall not you)have 2-5 inchs away from the wall.and most inportant put the sub in the middle of the left and right channel speakers(under the tv if the tv is between the l/r fronts for example).then step back from the sub a few feet. this should be your normal stand point for listening.if you do this you will increase your bass output by 90%.if there is still no bass or you want more then buy a powered sub to add on.i have a c-vega lw-15.3rd is the cost $700-1000 alot of people think thats high(im one of them)but your getting 6 speakers from a great company.i paid 150 because my nieghbor got the cembridge sound works
this should help you and your bose a-mass system
but rmember placing the speakers is everything. for example if you placed a pair of martin-logan monolith III's all the way in the corner they would sound like sh#t to
let me know what you think
email me
illy d

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cambridge sound, jbl, b&w,klipsch,martin logan,c-vega,infinty,and a sh#t load more

Looks

Retail price and setup

First let me say that I did not pay retail for these speakers. They were purchased at 50% off retail on a Bose associates program. If not for this fact, this review would be quite different. Started using them with an old Sony pro-logic surround with the Am-7's for front and center and Am-3's for rear. Was not pleased but oh well what the hell. When I upgraded Sony to Onkyo 575X dd/dts
this improved greatly. Still not the best I have heard but it is enjoyable enough for me and that's what really matters. It is possible to get good results with these speakers but the source feeding them has to be really good and the placement of these speakers is critical. Not a good point. I have found that opposite of most home theater speakers, the sound actually improves when the cubes are placed well above the listening area. About 8 feet in my setup. Buy learning how to use the speaker management settings on the Onkyo the bass produced by these speakers is pretty good. Not awsome, but pretty good. In my situation thes speakers would be 4 stars on both counts, but when purchased for full retail and with the wrong reciever, there are far better options out there (Klipsch, Paradigm, Acoustics Research, and the list goes on). Probably better just stay away from these. This review was submitted not as a warning nor a praise. this was to let those of you who are stuck with these speakers and cannot upgrade at the moment, that there is hope if you will spend some time working on the placement of these speakers.

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Klipsch, Altec Lansing

I have owned these speakers for about 4 years now. originally purchased for my Sony STR-1015 Prologic Receiver I have 0 complaints about them in that particular setup. I did notice a slightly lower bass response from the speakers upon initially purchasing them but for my apartment environment it helped with the granny that lived next door that would beat on my door about 2 seconds upon turning my stereo on. Couldn't have the receiver above '2' on the volume dial or she was pissed.
Recently upgraded my system from the Sony 1015 to the Sony TA-E9000 ES with the Sony TA-N9000 ES as the amplifier.

Theses speakers fall far short for Dolby Digital (AC3) type viewing. NO low frequency response at all. Machine guns in StarShip Troopers on DVD sounded like pop guns, The Bug scenes were distant and tinny. Surround response was great, but without the 'oomph' to back it up it's not there. Possibly purchasing a true powered subwoofer would make a difference but then the muted high end response of these speakers would be exaggerated even more.

I do not recommend them for an AC3 or DTS setup, I'm currently looking to upgrade to the M&K Line.

I got the Bose AM-7 several months ago and for $1,100! What a great package!! It came with a subwoofer and 5 satellite speaker (only the size of a palm) I also brought the speaker wall/ceiling mounts. ($75/pair, I needed 3) Set up was easy. I have a large living room with high ceilings. I drilled the L/R mounts into the sides of my TV stand. (It hides the speakers better) The center I mounted to the center mount to the ceiling directly over the TV. (It's perfectly dead center with the TV and because of the high ceiling, the speaker isn't in my field of view. The ceilings are 12 feet high!) I but the subwoofer behind my couch near the left wall as directed by the manuel. The rears are on the ceiling over the couch aimmed down. How does the AM-7 sound with my Optimus DPL receiver? Amazing! All the tapes I've rented sound better than my local movie theater. I watched 'Twister' the other night and the house shook so much that I thought I better run to the cellar. On the music side, it's like listening to a live concert. I was playing an AC/DC CD and I thought I could feel their sweat. I wanted to offer them some popcorn. I recommend this package for anyone who is serious about true sound reproduction and is willing to put their money into it. If this is too much money then check out the Bose AM-7 or AM-5 mk3. Bose is a great company and I wish I knew where to buy their stock. I give it 6 stars for excellence!

Sad that these could be replaced by a pair of XTS-10 and a SW-14P for $307 (get 4 sats that are almost identical looking and a passive sub that can actually go pretty low and when these are on sale, you can get them for $197) which has a broader frequency range (30-20K hz) and still have enough money to buy a DVD player. Though both setups suffer from high crossover filtering from the sub to sats (close your eyes and you can hear where the sub is in the room, best location is in between the sats to keep from being localized), dynamics, and clean lower midrange/upper bass (which the sub is being used to reproduce). I know that I sound like I am bashing BOSE, but this is my opinion of the entire AM series line of speakers (the only one I like are the 201s, but I also don't care for the 301s or 501s). If you want to buy BOSE, buy the 201s because they do have a cleaner sound and you'll save money. If you want sub/sats try to get some where the sats have a mid-range and a tweeter (heck buy the 201s and but an AIWA sub, it'll be cheaper and sound much better). I assume most of you have replaced your car's OEM speakers (especially if you drive an older car) which was a paper cone and "whizzer" tweeter so now why put them in your home?

After viewing this web site of over a year now. I thought that I should contribute something. I had purchased the bose am-7 about three years age.
When I made this perchase I knew that it was a compromise. Whould I had made
the purchase agin? Probably not. However I made the perchase based on the knowlage that I had at the time. The am-7's sound good for home theater.
But for music I find that the base is to conjested. And the high notes are
too shrill. Especialy with artists like Sarah McLachlan.

No different to any other Bose junk. Poor design, cheap build quality, and it shows in the final product's sound quality. Go buy some Paradigms, PSBs, or NHTs.

AM-7 is one of the best home-theater system speaker. It can provide great sound when you play Ld, DVD,VCD etc.But it's hard sound does not make it a good hi-fi speaker. Even use the Hi-end system, you still feel sad about the piano, vilion and other classice music.

Awesome surround sound capabilities

Bad for music

I just thought I might give my opinion to this thread. I have owned an AM-7 for just over a year now which is a part of my AM-7/AM-5 surround sound combination! I am using a Denon AVR-3200 and a DVL-909 source! I must say that playing Dolby Digital DVD's, I will be hard pressed finding a speaker of this size and price to match! Im sure there are other better speakers out there but I bought my AM-7 for only US$529! Therefore 5 STARS for AM-7!
As far as music is concerned, I have definitely heard better! As a compromise, I will give is a 3 for music! Therefore 4 STARS!

stylish

mid-range clarity; muddiness in bass

The Bose Acoustimass-7 are, quite honestly, a big let down...Taking them home, I listened to them with great enthusiasm, however about six or so months later I started noticing that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get them to sound quite right. I thought perhaps my Pioneer reciever wasn't up to grade. I bought an Onkyo reciever, the problem was still quite obvious. I then noted what it was that sounded wrong, the voices sounded "cupped" and the bass was muddy. Sure, the bass was there and it was strong, but it had no pitch or definition. So I did the only sensible thing...I gave them to my style conscious sister, who doesn't do any real critical listening anyway...

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