Hey gang. I am wondering something about these small speakers. I know ALL the reasons not to buy Bose speakers and I hate what they stand for as much as the rest of you. (I never thought they sounded AWFUL, but at that price, I want something that sounds better)

So I'm getting two double cube things and I am wondering if there is anything I can do to them to get better sound. Like different drivers, or whatever. I'm not a total n00b to audio, but I'm not an expert either. I would like to use these to upgrade the crap I have in my bedroom at present.

I guess what I want to now is are the cube housings anything to write home about? Can anything worthwhile be put in these?

I'm going to get them either way. The price is too good to ignore. If I can't upgrade them, they'll wind up in the warehouse where I work, or in the garage to provide mainly talk radio and compressed music playback.

Thanks guys!

Are you also getting one of their 'bass modules?' You need to use one of those because it contains the crossover for the cubes. The cubes are not full-range speakers, you should not send them a full range signal, and the xover point for the is quite high.

I have access to an Acoustimass 3 Sub. But in the event I don't use the speakers themselves with the AM module, can the housings be used some how to create some full range speakers?

I, as many of the uninformed, am attracted to their looks. I would't ever pay full price for them, but they do look sexy!

No way are those tiny cubed enclosures big enough to get anywhere near 'full range' performance, regardless of driver.

No way are those tiny cubed enclosures big enough to get anywhere near 'full range' performance, regardless of driver.

I got 'em in my garage with a cheap onkyo 2 channel receiver, an old 19" tv and a $30 DVD player. Great for car wash Saturday's.....Neighbors think I'm nuts.....

I'd say you'd be wasting $20 bucks.

I'd say you'd be wasting $20 bucks.


Zing! :D

You can get cheap small bookshelf speakers used on ebay for the same, and not need a sub.
screw Bose.

You bought some cool looking $20 paper weights.

Wait a minute, they're probably not even heavy enough for that. :p

Oh come on now...maybe they'd be good for listening to talk radio or um..NPR while he's cutting wood in the garage :D

Seriously though for $20 why not stuff them up in some room where acoustics don't matter. They may not be audiophile speakers...but they will transmit sound...I have a 7inch tv in my kitchen that I listen to the morning news on and I'd probably set two tiny bose spks unde the cabinet if they'd hook up and only cost me 20 bucks...they would in fact beat the tiny little radio speaker that's in the TV.

See, there's a bright side to everything

Talk radio has too much low frequency info for these little boxes, er Boses. If he pays $20 for them he would pay $20 too much. Besides, the original poster, being a "rockstar" deserves better for his $20.
they would in fact beat the tiny little radio speaker that's in the TV. I doubt that. :D

You can get cheap small bookshelf speakers used on ebay for the same, and not need a sub.
screw Bose.

But then you have to ship the speakers.

I mean, honestly, I think the cubes are pretty terrible, but they are small little speakers, that are plenty fine for a garage or whatnot just to have something to listen to.

To the OP, no I don't think you could really do anything with the enclosures that would be worth your time. At the very best you're going to spend time and money and effort figuring out how to replace the little drivers in the cubes with other little drivers that are gonna basically sound the same. If you get them for almost nothing, just use the cubes. Try to use them with their acoustimass sub that contains the crossovers for the cubes. If not, try to cross them over as high as possible if you have a receiver that can do this. If you're just using some old plain-jane stereo receiver, I'd say maybe turn down the bass a bit(experiment) and not play much bass-heavy stuff. I mean, worst possible outcome if you can't properly cross them over high enough: you end up frying the cube speakers which didn't cost you much in the first place.

Thanks for everyone's input. The original idea is to use them outside somewhere, or at the warehouse I work at, which has an Acusticrap sub already in place with a set of real bad Bose 161 speakers. BTW, even though SOME effort went into making the 161 series, they are TERRIBLE. I wouldn't pay five bucks for them at a church garage sale. Id try talking the nun down a bit!

And Im not spending cash per se. I am trading some crap I was going to throw out anyway. I feel like I kinda win there.

I was just thinking if I could make a better setup, even if I needed to use a crossover, I might try it.

Id try talking the nun down a bit!

The nun!? We have someone trading some stuff to a nun for bose cube speakers? Heck of a short story we've got brewing here... ;)

LOL. Quite the story indeed. I really wish these little buggers could be useful somehow.. But I think they'll wind up in the garage, hooked into a cheap stereo receiver via an Acusticrap module I might bump into for free. Its just for background noise while I work on the cars, or cut wood to make a real set of speakers!

I dont know if they'll spend any time in the house in use though. You know, all this talk of drivers and such, I wonder if I can take the guts of the Bose, add a decent sub to the acoutimass, and change out at least one of the drivers in the cubes to a nice tweeter. Hmmm.. I can never stop thinking about anything, lol.. I ALWAYS look for ways to improve what I already have!