Customer Reviews

Bose Acoustic Wave Music System II - Platinum White

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A couple years ago I was wandering around Philipsburg, on the Dutch side of St. Martin, just out enjoying a hot Caribbean day, when I spied a stereo shop. I wandered in and saw an American tourist bartering with a sales clerk, trying to get him to come down on the price for this funny looking, all in one stereo system.

Who'd want that? I thought. I watched fascinated while they haggled. The salesman didn't come down and in the end the tourist bought the stereo that looked more like a model for a hotel. The salesman took his name and made arrangement to have it delivered to the cruise ship the tourist had arrived on.

"You interested?" the clerk told me.

"Nah, not really," I said, but I was interested and the clerk knew it. He turned it on, not loud, and it sounded oh so sweet. He was playing Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like a Wheel" and I've always been a sucker for Linda.

He told me he could have it delivered to my cruise ship duty free. I asked him how it sounded played loud. He cranked it up and I opened my wallet.

Now I find myself writing a review about this odd looking stereo. First off, I have to say I love the sound for the most part and have since purchased a wave radio and a couple wave radios with CD players, both the latter for work.

The good: This machine will fill your room with gorgeous sound and if you're playing a CD that was professionally produced or if you have ripped one and are playing it back from your iPod thorough the unit's aux in jacks, you'll probably be very satisfied, more than satisfied with the sound you get.

The bad: What if you're not playing a professionally produced CD? What if you have some of those early, almost illegal Beatle tapes, which have almost no bass on them? Or a tape of a Springsteen concert, which has too much bass? What if you've ripped these to iTunes? What if you want to play them through your Bose Acoustic Wave Music System II? You're SOL if you want to do that.

I have stereos in every room and they all have bass and treble controls. Still, regarding the Bose, I can equalize the sound coming out of my iPod Touch, but I shouldn't have too. At the very least Bose should have included a bass and treble control. Heck, my dad had those in the fifteen dollar radio in his Fifty-Two Chevy.

In conclusion, if you are going to use this as your main stereo and you have a hours and hours of concert tapes as I do, then this might not be the stereo for you, but if, on the other hand, you have only professionally recorded CDs from the major record companies or if you want to run your television sound though this machine via the auxiliary inputs, you'll probably be very happy with this unit.

After a few years - say, five - it doesn't play some CDs - and Bose has a very casual view of my complaints. To send it to Bose and have it repaired, including S&H from here to there,is, as I recall, more than $250. So again and after three years - or so - it is choicy about what it wants to play. I was asked if I play copied disks - sure, sometimes. But it too often doesn't play the Real Stuff.

I have a boom box from Walmart,for cryin' out loud, that'll play anything. DO NOT BUY BOSE - and I did buy from Bose twice. Bose does not support its buyers except to argue with them - okay, me - and charges so much that there's no point in buying what they're offering.

An addendum: I NOW HAVE A STACK OF CDs - MAYBE 8" HIGH - ALL OF THEM COMMERCIALLY SOLD THAT I SHALL HAVE TO PLAY ON THE CHEAPY BECAUSE I'M TOO IMPECUNIOUS TO PLAY THE BOSE GAME YET AGAIN.

I WOULDN'T TRUST ANY BOSE PRODUCT AT THIS POINT INCLUDING WHAT USED TO BE (AND STILL ARE?)EXCELLENT SPEAKERS.

If you want to fill a big room (or two or more) with great music without having equipment, speakers, wires, etc. scattered all over the house, than this is the system you want.

The clarity of the sound coming from this very attractive small(ish) system blew my mind. I never realized how "muddy" my other sound systems were until I bought this one. If you have never heard a Bose Wave Sound System II then I strongly suggest that you find a store and check it out. The stores are listed on the Bose website link below.

I bought an additional 5 cd attachment that gave me a total of 6 CD's, enough for lots of listening. There are also attachments for other devices. The Bose replace a much larger component system with large Yamaha speakers, etc. It sounds better than the more expensive system does.

The only negative I can think of is that if you want to shake the rafters with lots of bass and very loud volume you will have to get a different system with a bigger amp, speakers, and a woofer. The Bose gives good loud base-treble balance but it will never equal a heavy amped system's throbbing bass sound. However I don't think the average Bose buyer is looking for that much sound.

This system is expensive but as long a radios and CD's are around it will last a very long time. It is very well built and yet can be portable with an accessory case and power supply. I'll write another review about it in twenty years.

[...]

I bought a Bose Acoustic Wave ten years ago -- right after Bose upgraded the unit by replacing the old slider controls on top with electronic ones and included a remote. The single tray CD player on top was perfect for what I wanted it for -- a simple to operate, decent sounding stereo for my wife. She is not comfortable operating the main stereo in our house, so for when I'm not at home and she wants to play her swami-candle-chime-hippie CD's, she can easily do so. We use it as, basically, a kitchen radio. It excels at that. Easy to turn on and off, get the news and traffic while gulping down the morning coffee, play in the background when eating at the table etc.

As far as its sonic quality, you know what they say: "No highs, no lows -- it must be Bose."

Don't get me wrong -- it's the greatest portable radio ever built. If you ever have to listen to radio for a long time, you'll be a lot happier listening on this than any other self-contained radio on the market. Too bad Bose can't keep up with the world and put an HD radio in it -- the Acoustic Wave hasn't changed in 11 years. If you don't need the radio, you might be better off with the $600 Bose Sound Dock -- the one with the woofer built in. It'd be a lot cleaner looking sitting on your shelf than the not-so-small Acoustic Wave, and you wouldn't have to have a separate iPod dock sitting next to it. Besides the news and traffic, why would anybody listen to a radio anymore?

All in all, the Acoustic Wave is OK if you need to play music loud at a party. For a kitchen radio, it's overkill. For an audiophile, it's water torture.

I have had the Bose Acoustic Wave Music System 2 for about 2 years and find it amazingly versatile and with rich true sound and clarity. If you want sound that is true to life as in natural instrumentation and natural voice this system can't be beaten. If you are looking for the electronically "enhanced" bass that shakes your neighbors three doors "or cars" down this is not your boom box. If you like your music to sound as if the orchestra or vocalist is in the room or outdoors with you this system is perfect. Whether it is radio, CD, MP3, or your Ipod, your music will sound great. With the optional case and battery pack you will have a great system by the pool or to accompany your gardening, etc. The only improvement, in my opinion, would be a display in front as in the Wave Radio instead of on top.. but you are usually too far away from this system to be able to read it anyway. Put on an MP3 or a favorite playlist on your Ipod and enjoy the incredible sound.

I bought one of these units several years ago and sent it back. It sounded pretty good but my $120 boombox ( I think it was a Magnavox ) sounded just about as good as this. I was really disappointed after all the hype in the Bose AD. I had a couple of friends listen to it before I sent it back just to make sure I was giving it a fair chance. Like me they thought it sounded slightly better than my old boom box but not worth the $1,064 I paid at that time. That was several years ago so maybe they have improved ( but so have the $120 systems ) I would say go listen to one of these in person before you spend this kind of money. I think the Wave radio sounds good as well but it should be about $100 to $150 not $500!

Let's face it: this is not an audiophile system, nor was it intended to be. It's an all in one system that beats the boom boxes but can't compare with an audiophile component system. As a radio or to put out party music in the backyard, it's great... but rather pricey. Not much highs or lows, this system was marketed for the masses. Fine... but you have to pay up for quality mediocrity. Thus... only three stars.

I bought this 3 years ago, I like classical music. This has an exellent sound for its small body when you play it very loud. For our 1500 square foot condo, this is away too much. I regret I didn't buy the wave 1.....
Now, bose has many features to accomodate the trends, please check their HP to learn before you order at Amazon.