Bose accoustimass 10.

Hearing in humans run the gamut from lousy (tin eared) to very fine acute hearing. It may be that your friend has a tin ear (not making fun here) and cannot hear what you hear when listening to audio equipment.

Then you have the suckers who think those ads they see must be true - after all they heard it on tv - and a what the F*** do you know about it anyway kind of attitude.

If your buddy is a sucker there ain't much you can do about it. What you can do is try to set up a time with him to go out and listen to some nice setups in the same range of the budget of the acoustimass 10. Then go listen to the Bose setup - if he just doesn't hear the differences then let him buy the Bose - you've done what you can and much more than that might stretch your friendship.

I have a friend that has the bucks (~90 million! Really!) to buy whatever audio system he wants - he's got a Bose speaker setup in his HT room - because Bose is what he's heard all his life was the best. The sub can barely be heard - there are no highs or lows. Sadly - my friend has a tin ear. Lots of money and a tin ear. How sad is that?

Why would you want the same performance?

If you're trying to dissuade a friend, the 'twice the performance for half the price' threads rage seemingly daily around here.

Is it the price that attracts him or the name?
Is it the size of the speakers? I find that to be what everyone thinks is "amazing"

What do you have in your home? Something to have him take a listen to?

If your friend is requiring tiny speakers then it will be harder to make a definitive comparison, but something like this Dayton HTP-3 5.1 Home Theater Package will be far more impressive simply because it has a real sub...

If he is open to "real speakers" then something like 3 of these Dayton Audio UA711 monitors for the LCR, with a pair of Dayton Audio B652's for surround and this Allison AL10 sub would crush the Acoustimass in every way.

jay has it right...the Bose sattelites sound like almost every small satelitte with 2.5 inch drivers (not close to full range)...but the lack of bass from the bass module will be noticable when compared to a real subwoofer!

Off the top of my head, the Energy Take Classic 5.1 and Mirage Nanosat 5.1. Of course if he's open to larger speakers, that changes the field a bit.

DefTech ProMonitor800x4 and ProCenter1000

add any real sub that remains in budget

I steered my friend to the Klipsch HD 500 system--under $500 at Amazon--and he seems pretty happy with it. I had a Bose Accoustimass system once upon a time--IMO, almost any of the other 5.1 system in a box solutions would be far superior.

I also had the Def Tech 600 5.1 system and it was a fine system but I tired of it quickly and decided to stop messing around and upgraded to something that I am happy with--and covers the sound spectrum superbly from 16hz up. The Def Tech system served its purpose just fine while I assembled the system I have now.

Tell him you'd like to go for a walk with him. While on that walk, the first time you see any dog sh!t on the sidewalk, scoop it up and shove it into both of his ears. Then scream "Welcome to the BOSE family! That would cost him nothing and maybe he would get the idea before he spent any real money.

But seriously, as I'm sure has been discussed here ad nauseum, Bose is a brilliant marketing company that has created the illusion they are the Ferrari of audio to those who's only transportation reference is a rusty old Huffy bicycle. Anyone else can see through this illusion.

Take him to any department or audio store and have him listen to something that cost less. If he doesn't get it then he is obviously the demographic that Bose loves to prey upon. Sorry, but you can't live your friends life for him, sometimes people need to learn by expensive mistakes.

There is nothing wrong with Buying Overpriced Sorry Equipment.

Seriously though, I will say I heard a Bose ipod dock that sounds pretty good. If it was 100 or 200 I might get one but for 600 it was crazy. I could by a receiver, 2 decent speakers and Apple TV for that. I just think it's funny that people associate Bose with high end equipment. You would think the secret would be out by now. I always laugh when people walk up to the displays at Best Buy and go wow, that's sound really good. They do a great job of picking out scenes that sound good on them and don't show you their problems. I just don't understand why people don't bring them back after they get them home. That's what makes no sense to me. Even if they tricked me at the store and I took home some bose I would return them after 2 hours of "what the hell is this."

Paradigm cinema 90 (or 70). nuff said.lol the satellites have a dedicated tweeter and midrange, yet are the same size as the bose dual cube speakers. And the paradigms have a real subwoofer. The "Bose Acoustimass Module" is NOT a subwoofer, far from it actually.

The cinema 70's are $699
The cinema 90's are $899

look them up on paradigms website. they are pretty nice.

For low-price small lightweight satellite speakers, the Energy Take Classic set is awesome. It works better than most people think and the sub is quite nice. Like was mentioned earlier, the bass factor improves sound systems tremendously

Why 2x the performance for 1/2 the price when you can have 10x the performance for about the same ?
The Acoustimass costs $1000 so sticking with name brands, keeping it compact, and getting it all from the same place this comes in under $1k.
Not saying you couldn't do better with more effort, but at $1k I would much rather have this than the Bose.
Definitive Technology Pro Monitor 800 $145 each x 5 = $725
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...promonitor-800
Klipsch SUb 10 $250
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it.../klipsch-sub10

Maybe your friend is the same as me...

Look into my thread (Bose Acoustimass 10 Series IV). Lots of great insight there...

What I liked about Bose before seeing the light from this forum.

What attracted me is the "promise" of delivering big sound from their stylish speakers. Their speakers are small, and quite frankly eye candies. Many people will have their heads turned and since Bose has impacted the world wide audience, the mindset of the people is that Bose is an elite company speaker wise.

I didn't listen first. In fact, during my research I've searched countless threads and info regarding Bose. I even went to Bose showrooms to audition the speakers without trying the others. Honestly, I was impressed... because the sound coming from my HTIB is far, far superior than the Acoustimass.

But then the past few days were eye-openers. I've listened to others such as the Klipsch Quintet, Atlantic Technology (2001 model) E70 Sat Pack, the Onkyo HTIB, and they all blow Bose away in comparison.

So maybe accompany your friend

If you want something that LOOKS like the Acoustimas, probably sounds the same and you get the receiver...for less money. Get quality, get Pyle pro...
http://pylepro.com/store/el.asp?imag...28&sku=PT598AS