Customer Reviews

Bose Acoustimass 6 Home Entertainment Speaker System - Black

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't own one of these Bose systems, but as a sound engineer of 30 years plus, I have to defend Bose, when I see some of the terrible reviews they sometimes get. It seems that people either love 'em or hate 'em... After hearing these at a friend's house, (a guy who has good ear's, and can set up a system), I was very impressed. He does "concert night" at his home, and we listen to great music video concerts, (mostly jazz rock), such as Steely Dan,Sting,Lee Ritenour, Jeff Beck,etc...These videos have great sound, and they sound wonderful on his system! They also sound wonderful on my own huge JBL system, but in some ways, I actually like his better! My system will go louder,(and we like full scale concert volume),but his is loud enough to hurt,in his moderately sized 15x15 living room, and that's with very clean, full, sound...One reviewer mentioned that his bass module produced "farting" sounds. I never heard anything like that on my friend's system, and we like concert level bass. I have to wonder what size room it would take to cause these things to sound like that, and at what volume levels. Our listening levels are well above anything you would hear at a movie theater, and louder than most rock concerts we have been to! It makes me wonder if the reviewers are setting these things up properly.One reviewer mentioned that his ears were drawn to the bass unit, due to a high crossover point. I do not hear anything like that at my friend's house, nor did I hear that at any of the demos that you can see at BJ's and other places. In fact, I marveled at the stereo sound field, and how articulate and spacious these things sounded.(I might suggest that keeping the bass mod near the center of the stereo field, with the satellites slightly out in front should cure this problem)..Nor were any of these systems lacking in voice articulation, if anything, just the opposite. One thing that is great about these sytems is their size, (or lack of it), which enables many men to have a good, loud system without being served divorce papers. Also, I do not hear a lack of mids, as some reviewers have stated. If anything, to my ears, the upper mids, say 2 to 7khz, are forcefully but pleasantly stated, while the lower mids are just a bit understated (250 to 500 hz).This type of sound does give a very clean, crisp, clear perception, though. To my ears, Bose gets away with small bass drivers by emphasising 50 to 90 hz in its bass mods, with increasingly less sound at the lower freqs.(I think they also use processing that synthesizes low freq information by turning very low freqs into a combination of two or more higher freqs, which the human ear combines, and perceives to be the original lower freq, but don't quote me on that one.)However, there isn't that much musical information down lower than 40hz anyway, (contrary to popular opinion), and I can still feel the kick drum punching me pleasantly in the chest, and hear very well defined bass guitar notes. On my friends system, I love the way the kick and bass combine smoothly, and yet you can hear each instrument clearly in it's own space... Now, I'm not going to tell you that these are the absolute ultimate sound, (in fact, I don't care at all for the Bose wave radios, for the price),but I will say, that, especially for their size, many of these Bose systems are really nice. If they were sold at a lower price point, I think almost everyone would have them, at least in one room of their home. Like most people, I feel that price is their biggest downfall. But I don't hear BIG sound coming from anyone else's tiny speakers, so they kind of have the market cornered,if you need loud,full,and clean without taking up hardly any space. If these things are set up properly in a moderately sized, (say a maximum 15x20 foot room), and they don't sound good, then probably nothing else will either, and the next step would be to acoustically treat the room, by deadening hard surfaces with rugs, furniture, curtains, etc, or installing bass traps, (which actually increase bass, by not allowing low freqs to bounce around the room),causing room modes (dead and hot spots.)If you have the money but not the space, these will make you happy. If they don't, get some help setting them up before you send them back. I like 'em!

I had a passive subwoofer previously on a patched together system. I was surprised how dramatic an improvement an actively powered subwoofer (at least one this big) can make. When the Rohan horses go thundering through in Lord of the Rings, I couldn't believe the difference. The satellites provide really crisp sound and are quite unobtrusive (makes the wife happy). I think you have to be more careful about placing the speakers, though, to make a seamless sound field since they are so small.

Hook up was the easiest I've ever had, with all speaker cables factory labeled. One big cord runs to the amp outputs from the bass module, and simple plugs run from the bass module to your speakers.

One caution- you'll need Bose wall brackets to hang these from your walls since the back of the satellites are threaded for a screw. I used to hang my previous speakers from heavy-duty picture hangers!

I purchased the Acoustimass 6 (Amazon) in November to replace a Panasonic SC-PT960 home theater system. The Panasonic provided adequate sound but was quite strident sounding. To upgrade my system, I bought the Bose Acoustimass 6 with speaker stands, an Onkyo TX-SR508 (Amazon) receiver (Defective, replacement took 2 days, no charge) and a Samsung BD-C5500 (Amazon) blu-ray disc player which included the apps for TV@Internet (the Pandora radio and Netflix apps are great). Set-up was straight-forward and positive with the color-coded wiring. After adjusting the receiver and fine-tuning the Acoustimass module (bass setting), I was very pleased with the total sound, particularly the ability of the small speakers to create the feeling of "presence", especially individual voices and musical instruments. The musical reproduction is excellent. The surround effect with DVDs was seamless and accurate where 'point source' was intended. I would recommend this relatively inexpensive system to anyone. The sound is a vast improvement over the TV speaker sound. I have never purchased a Bose product that didn't provide total satisfaction.

NOTE: a large amount of reviews fall under the "Bose Bashing" category. While I don't particularly like Bose products, this review was written from an objective viewpoint based off experience with this product.

These speakers are great for watching movies- especially "special effects" heavy movies, where surround sound is particularly important (such as "transformers"). The subwoofer is amazing. I have heard many woofers that sound "sloppy", only good for music with a heavy, and distinct bass part (such as hip-hop, or techno). The Bose "Lower Frequency Effects" module is different, in that it is controlled and smooth, not overbearing. The "surround sound" effect is greatly enhanced by the small satellites- because of their size they don't "overcrowd" the room with sound. Watching movies is a pleasure with this system.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about listening to music. The main problem is that there is no substitute for diaphragm size. Sound is produced by moving air. Small speakers simply aren't able to move enough air to accurately produce instrumental music. Listening to a Santana CD, the sound seems distant, not immersive: The sound is not rich.

So, if you want a minimally intrusive speaker system for you home theater, this is the product for you. If you enjoy listening to music, I would suggest looking at tower speakers.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them.

I bought a similar system in 1996. After 8 years of heavy use one of the speakers was sounding a little off. I contacted Bose just to see if I could have it repaired. They sent me a brand new speaker free of charge via fed ex. If you don't believe me check the ratings/reviews on the better business bureau website. There are similar stories there. I am a loyal Bose customer for life!

I ditched my AM6 speakers through eBay and bought some good speakers instead. Anyone who likes Bose must only have their clock radio as a point of reference. I was able to sucker some chump into paying $400 for my Bose AM6 speakers, which I turned around into a set of Athena .5 speakers and a 10" Velodyne sub. All running from the same Pioneer VSX-D711 AV receiver as the Bose. My new speakers set me back about $350, leaving money left over for speaker wire and stands.
So, why am I so harsh on the Bose AM6 speakers? Well, they do look nice, but... they use proprietary speaker wires with speacial plugs. So, you have to use their wiring which really reduces the options for running wiring for the back surrounds. The small size is nice, but having speaker wire hanging out in plain site pretty much sucks.
Speaking of sucking, let's adress the major shortcoming of almost ALL Bose products, they just don't sound good. My budget Athena .5 speakers have a 1" tweeter and a 4" driver. This combo does a pretty good job of covering down to around 80Hz where the sub fills in. Not completely flat, but really nice for the price and signficantly better than what the Bose AM6 can do with its single 2.5" driver per speaker. The Velodyne sub can hit 30Hz and really fill in the low end, while the bass module (I refuse to call that Bose thingy a sub) doesn't get any where near that. And, since all 5 speakers are cabled through the bass module, you're really stuck finding a good place to hide it in your room.
So, what does all this mean? When watching a Dolby Digital or DTS movie, I can now actually notice the low frequency effects, and even feel them. with the Bose, you get muddled farting from the bass module (and, I suspect the cross over on the bass module is set pretty high in an attempt to compensate for the Bose Cubes' misserable low to mid range response, so you know where the sound is coming from, sort of distracting).
The overall sound stage is now much better with the new speakers, too. The Bose cubes were too easily localized, and didn't fill in the room very well. But... most important: when watching a movie, we can now actually hear the dialog! With the Bose AM6, it seemed like the music sound track and other ambiant sounds were constantly overwhelming the dialog. Turns out, this was due to the fact that crappy little cube speakers aren't able to effectively produce sound in that low to mid frequency range, where most dialog lives. Take a look at all the traditional center channel speakers everyone else sells, they usually feature a single tweeter and two or more mid-range drivers of decent size (4" to 6" depending on cost). Now, compare that to the single 2.5" driver found in the Bose cube "center channel". Which one do you think will do a better job of reproducing the full frequency of sound needed to enjoy a movie?
Sorry to ramble a bit, but I was a chump when I fell for the Bose marketing hype/BS. Now that I've learned that I can get significantly better sound for 1/2 the cost (and I'm sure there are scores of other options), I'd hate to see someone else get suckered in by the hype. So, go back to Amazon's speaker section and try something else; Athena is a great brand;) and I'm sure there are lots of other choices...

I heard this set at my Grandfather's friend's house. I think the fella spent like $750.00 on it from a local outlet mall. What a waste of well earned retirement money! He had a higher end Marantz receiver firing these puppies, and let me tell you the receiver was being shamefully wasted on these speakers. The lower end frequencies were o.k. and the highs were sufficient. What I felt was missing was the solid mids and voice presence. Don't get me wrong, music sounded good. But, trying to watch a movie was like riding in a car with huge subs and tweeters in the front door pillars. The lack of mid-bass was a huge downfall with these speakers.
I spent $200.00 less on a set of Dahlquist 5.1A and feel like they sound like $1000.00 speakers. They have an even frequency response all the way across. In my opinion they look a whole lot better mounted too. I'm running them with a Marantz SR6200 DTS receiver and they perform flawlessly. I would totally recommend anyone that's considering a BOOOSE system to reconsider and shop around. GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH, DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!

I am so excited to own the Bose Acoustimass 6 speakers. I combined it with an Onkyo 308 receiver. The sound output is excellent. I am not one of those music buffs but I can definitely say the sound quality is music to my ears. You can actually feel the sound. I had requested a demo in the Bose retail store for the AM6 and AM10. AM10 was better, but expensive that the AM6, but finally decided on the AM6. I will definitely recommend Bose AM

Don't let the one star people fool you. I don't know a whole lot about speakers but I know what sounds good. When it comes to speakers. I did some research and read my Bose book. If you set these up properly they will blow you away. For tiny speakers these pump out as much as the 12 inch Cerwins I have as my front channels. These should sound great on any 5.1 system. The base is plenty powerful it will shake my windows in a fairly big room. I would recommend this speaker set to anyone and my mom is looking into buying one for her house after hearing them. I listen to classic rock of all kinds 24/7. This is the best system I have heard in the price range. If you know anyone with this speaker set give it a listen. You will love it. Just for your info. I have this set up with a harman/kardon avr 1600 system. Harman/kardon makes amazing systems.

Bought these refurbished at a bose outlet store. Hooked up to a Marantz NR1402, 250 watt, 5.1 surround receiver using the included bose speaker wires and patch cords. I was suspicious about buying refurbished but they had a 30 day money back guarantee plus original warranty and i couldnt pass up on the great discounted price. out of the box it looked in good cosmetic shape with a couple tiny scuff marks on the very heavy bass module. the satellite speakers looked brand new. after hooking up everything i let it warm up for a few hours then tested it out using the telarc disc of tchaikovsky's 1812 overture (the low freq on their live recordings of cannon fire go down to 6 cycles!! a great test disc to bring to any speaker store --i rattled the windows at the bose store listening to the acoustimass 10 series). i have to say i was quite pleased with the bass response. not too boomy and the initial crack of the cannon fire was handled very well. some expensive speaker systems i've tested in an audio hifi store actually clip and distort the sound when they get to cannon fire on the disc. the refurbished bose acoustimass speakers didn't. now most speakers will never put out the very low frequencies recorded on the telarc disc and when comparing to my Linn AV51 speakers which i love the bose was actually pretty good considering i paid thousands of dollars more for the Linn's (the Keilidh's i use as rear surround speakers alone cost 5 times more than what i paid for these bose).

While i'm certainly not going to replace the Linn setup in my living room, i will be using it in the much smaller bedroom with my sony PS3 which is where i intended and be more than adequate especially with the marantz receiver which isnt very powerful (only 50 watts per channel of a 5 channel receiver). if you plan on purchasing these speakers i recommend a receiver that puts out a minimum 100 watts per channel. the specs for these bose speakers say 10 to 150 watts per channel rated 4 to 8 ohms, so i really am underpowering these wonderful little speakers.