BOSE(R) AM16-WH - Acoustimass 16 Speaker System ? White

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Product Details

Product Manual [368kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 75.2 pounds
• ASIN: B00007AJ8E
• Item model number: 15 Series II 6.1 upgrade kit
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #107,817 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 3, 2006

Product Description

Product Description
Surround yourself with riveting movie sound and superb musical performances with the Bose's best 6.1-channel home entertainment speaker system. The Acoustimass 16 speaker system pairs with your 6.1-channel components to place you in the middle of the action - without bulky equipment overpowering your d?cor.Standard surround sound provides five channels for surround effects. But with 6.1-channel surround sound, the Acoustimass 16 speaker system increases the impact of home theater listening with a rear center speaker for even greater drama and realism.This heightened experience in music and motion picture listening is the result of a newly engineered powered Acoustimass module. This innovative module uses proprietary Bose technology to move low tones into the room on a column of air, bringing depth to the rumble of a passing train, or the resonance of a baritone's voice. Free from the audible distortion that betrays its location, the module can be hidden nearly anywhere in the room. You enjoy rich, colorful sound that appears to come only from the small speaker arrays.Imagine your favorite movie with Bose 6.1-channel surround sound. Footsteps click on the sidewalk behind you. A flute plays to your left. Such surround sound effects are even more enveloping with six Bose Direct/Reflecting cube speaker arrays. Just 6 inches tall, these arrays deliver high and midrange frequencies so you enjoy crisp, clear reproduction of dialogue and music.And even though you're enveloped by 6.1-channel surround sound, your room isn't overwhelmed with equipment. The small Direct/Reflecting cube speaker arrays can attach to your walls or sit stylishly on an end table with Bose's accessory speaker mounting options.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Full sound without a full room, August 2, 2007

By	John Biddle (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have a reasonably small "Home Entertainment Room" that houses a sofa, a few chairs and the entertainment center. After buying a 42" plasma TV (subsequently traded in for a 40" LCD), I began to realize the limitations of my former sound system. But I needed something compact with a small visual footprint. After extensive research and listening demos, I built my new system. I use the Bose AM16 (series 1) in a somewhat unconventional way, but the results are staggering. I power the system with an Onkyo TX-SR804 receiver, a 7.1 surround system. The AM16 provides the 2 front channels, 2 surround channels and the 2 rear channels. Bose requires in its sound engineering that the speakers are run through the AM module so that the impedance remains low. Therefore, all of the "surround" channels are indeed run through it. The idea came from a salesman at Circuit City to use the channels in this way. However, the AM16 is designed for 6.1 use (only 6 speaker channels). The output from the receiver is sent through the front channels and surround channels as labeled, but the 2 rear surrounds are sent through the center channel and rear center surround channel input /output on the AM module. But what about the all important center channel? When setting up a system like this, a 2 driver center speaker just seemed underwhelming. Because the impedance is compatible with that of the receiver, I use a Bose VCS-10 center channel run directly from the receiver. All of the surround sound decoding is occurring in the receiver, so it doesn't matter what the labels on the AM module say - they are used for book-keeping to connect from the receiver, to the AM module, to the surrounding speakers. The center doesn't need to run through the AM module because it doesn't need the impedance shift. Let me reiterate - the results are staggering. Sound quality is unbelievable after you take the time to "tune" the system to your listening position (some receivers can do this automatically for you, as the SR804 can, but do it yourself - you'll ultimately be the judge anyway). Using the dipole speakers to have one driver directed at the listening position and the other on "room filling duty", either directed away into the room or by wall reflection, you gain a sense of surround sound that is not limited to a "sweet spot" in the room. Listening to a classical station on XM (Classical Pops 110, an XMHD station) with the Dolby EX running the decoding, you honestly feel as though you are in the middle of the orchestra, hearing specific instruments around you. It is a different experience than using the All Channels Stereo feature, which basically splits 2 channels into 7.1. Nice, but not Dolby. A word about the AM module - it is huge. It's damn near 3 feet long. It has 3 drivers in it, which pack a punch that a single driver (most subwoofers) or 2 driver module (most Bose AM modules) can approach, but not duplicate. It is stashed behind a chair in the room, not completely out of sight, but sufficiently out of sight to not create an eye-sore. When setting up the system, I researched different configurations, and by trial, found that the AM module is best in the front of the room. Don't worry, you'll still feel it. Lastly, the room is painted white. The speakers, module, cables and speaker mounts (after-market, not Bose) are all white and really camouflage (I won't say disappear) nicely into the room. And by the way, after I bought the system and subsequently visited a Bose store, they were demonstrating their AM16 powered by an Onkyo SR804 - if that's not an endorsement by the speaker company, I'm not sure what is. Amazon had the best price at the time. Bose is impossible to find on sale more than 10%, but I found one through Amazon. Best of luck - try Bose, you'll like it.