>> www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10181107/Amar-Bose.html
>>
>> Is his stuff any good, or over hyped junk?
Expensive for no good reason.
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Zeddo
You recommended Bose to me back in January when I asked about noise cancelling headphones.
They were expensive..the QC15 model or summat, but by heck they are reet good.
These are expensive. For a very good reason, and I highly recommend them despite the price.
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>> Zeddo
>>
>> You recommended Bose to me back in January when I asked about noise cancelling headphones.
>>
>> They were expensive..the QC15 model or summat, but by heck they are reet good.
>> These are expensive. For a very good reason, and I highly recommend them despite the
>> price.
Very true, but in my defence, headphones are different. There are plenty of headphones around that sound as good as the bose, but few that are as well designed, do the job and are well made.
And those last three things are important in headphones. For comfort, fit, size, durability. All things that are unique (in hifi terms) to headphones. They are the BK's at any price. Got to admit there is a huge profit margin on them tho!
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I am used to be 'into' Hi-Fi but, managed to avoid anything from Bose due to the ££&£
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I always lumped Bose in with Bang & Olufsen. Overpriced, "design led" tat which can be thrashed in sonic terms for half the money by a whole range of kit with less "trendy" badges on it.
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I think what they came up with was good quality in the small package, but as others have said, compared to real HiFi stuff is wasn't that great, and very expensive.
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The Telegraph article header says.. made his billion-dollar fortune transforming the experience of listening to music by bringing concert hall-quality audio into people’s living rooms.
Other outfits such as Altec Lansing, JBL, Tannoy, Quad and many many more were doing it at the same time.
His designs such as the 301 speaker were OK... stylish but not class leading... and often expensive.
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I never in 40-odd years bought into the Bose hype. IMHO Bose is the Dyson of sound - main achievement is to take more money from people than the stuff is worth. There was genuine engineering and innovation in hifi: I have an attic-full of magnificent Quad stuff, which no doubt my heirs will Ebay one day.
Just as a matter of interest, my pseudo-scientific basis for the above statement is that my wealthy friend has a Bose hi-fi, about the size of a ghetto-blaster, for which she paid 1100 euros and the sound of which gives new meaning to the words 'nothing special'. She also has a Dyson vac that, when I used it, struck me as inefficient, cheaply made and unergonomic. So there you go. RIP anyway.
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I treated myself to a Bose clock radio in around 1998 - it was very expensive at the time. It has a super mellow sound that I love in a radio. A few years later I paid a small fortune for a set of noise cancelling headphones - They worked quite well, apart from an irritating vibe in one speaker which rendered them more or less useless. Their customer service stank in those days. I'd never buy anything else from them based on that experience alone.
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 16 Jul 13 at 15:15
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The Telegraph's obituary appears to lift uncredited chunks from a Bose press release.
By 2010, thanks to Bose technology, eight out of every 10 new cars offered premium sound systems.
...[Bose] launched the Wave Radio, which produced a big, rich bass sound from only two tiny speakers.
Perhaps Bose's achievement is just that: to get mainstream journalists to write about its products and so to make it a household name. That won it sales from people who would never dream of spending a day in a dealer's demo room, then auditioning further at home to make sure they were choosing something that they actually liked. I don't mean it as a criticism, but I'd wager few Bose owners have ever listened critically to anything else.
Bit like OG and his Golfs, I suppose: bought after a test drive barely long enough to get the mirrors set right (or no test drive at all) on the strength of the maker's reputation and never set critically against anything else. But that would be thread hijacking and we don't do that here.
};---)
I've never had - or auditioned - anything by Bose, nor have I driven a Golf in the last ten years, so both may be perfectly capable products for all I know. All I'm saying is that cars are expensive and music is precious, and it's a pity more people don't take more trouble over making their choice.
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A friend of mine used to work in a HiFi shop, and I was able to listen to much of the expensive equipment on offer after closing time. I listened to the Bose 'cube' system where you have two impossibly small speakers on the wall and a subwoofer in the corner of the room. I thought the sound was impressive, but I think I was more impressed by how it was produced.
I'd still have rather had a set of more conventional speakers for less money, producing to my ears anyway an equal, if not better sound.
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Dunno about Bose, its price always put me off. But I do think Dyson Vacs are v. good.
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>> But I do think Dyson Vacs
>> are v. good.
Cant argue with that, but I have found other, cheaper vacs are very good.
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My experience of Dsyon cylinder vacs is that they are vastly over-hyped and the much-vaunted selling-point of high suction being maintained because there's no bag is, frankly, crap. What happens is that the various filters clog up, requiring constant washing or renewal, otherwise the suction gets no better than a bag vac.
The rotating brush attachment frequently jams, requiring dismantling and cleaning.
I would never, ever have a Dyson again.
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'er indoors loves Dyson. If I could get away with it I would shoot the ruddy thing to bits. It is noisy, over complicated and a pile of shee-i to boot.
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>> My experience of Dsyon cylinder vacs is that they are vastly over-hyped and the much-vaunted
>> selling-point of high suction being maintained because there's no bag is, frankly, crap.
To achieve the vortex effects and constant suction they have to use far more watts than a normal vacuum.
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Dyson will not remove Labrador hair from carpet.
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Strange, because it removes Retriever hair. Perhaps Labrador hair is stickier.
Mind you, I don't find the revolving brush clogs, nor do I find that the filters need cleaning very often. And it is very easy to empty.
Each to their own.
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Dyson is about the only thing that removes German Spitz hair from a carpet.
You should have looked up the dog compatability on their website before buying!
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>> Dyson will not remove Labrador hair from carpet.
Dont have a labrador and carpet. There is nothing on earth that dyson can invent that is going to remove the labrador hair from the carpet in the lancer boot. Its now part of the weave.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 16 Jul 13 at 20:59
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I wonder if that's what the LEC's first owners had. Blond, certainly, and large, to judge by the number of hairs that survived the Approved Used übervalet treatment; the smell of the chemicals faded eventually but fifteen months in, I'm still finding hairs.
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Dog stink is very hard to remove from a car as is ciggy smell.
I always used to knock a bit off a car's value if either was present.
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Well heeled people who aren't proper hifi buffs and live in small smart minimalist urban flats are quite likely to buy something compact and with svelte styling.
I have two hi-fi buffs among my friends, both of whom tend to scorn anything digital and have a lot of vinyl. One has a Leak setup which he has had for 50 years, the other has assorted valve amps set into the tops of kipper crates and a few damn great speakers set about the (very large, high-ceilinged) room where he has it. Come to think of it the other has a house with high ceilings too.
My youngest daughter has a Richer Sounds cheapo quasi hi-fi setup that we got her years ago. It's upstairs here. Keep wondering if it still works. Needs a new stylus no doubt...
My problem is that I can't really be bothered although I like music. Usually I can listen to CDs or tapes in the car which has a good-enough car system built in. Trouble is the battery got disconnected when being replaced and something went wrong with the AA man's device that's supposed to keep the car awake while that is happening. So the system needs recoding and I'VE LOST THE GODDAM CODE NUMBER to raaaas...
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 17 Jul 13 at 00:52
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My old guvnor, now nearly 90, still has his Leak/Goodmans/Garrard 401 set-up. I thought he was the last!
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Still a very strong trade in this gear. Six or more 401s have sold recently on Ebay between £600 & £1400.
You should see the price of old Dansettes too.
I should support Bose really as every time I go out in the Alfa the music I enjoy so much is through the car's Bose system and that's excellent.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 17 Jul 13 at 10:29
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>>every time I go out in the Alfa the music I enjoy so much is through the car's Bose system
So the sound system is worth more-than the car, Fl.
;-)
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Probably true of my S60 too. Could have had a Dynaudio-based 'Premium Sound' option (my home speakers are Dynaudio and they're fabulous) but the middling system it has is still the best I've heard in an affordable car.
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Bose to be buried in a very small coffin, although you'll be able to see the box where ever you are in the room.
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>> (very large, high-ceilinged) room where he has it. Come to think of it the other has a house with high ceilings too.
I've just remembered two more things about these two cats. One of them (the kipper crate valve-amps one) has, but hardly ever uses, the facility to play in stereo but usually prefers to play everything in mono. And believe me it sounds terrific.
The Leak setup guy doesn't mind stereo. But they both utterly despise Dolby bass boost or filter or whatever it's called.
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D'you reckon these 'cats' stand any chance of making the big time, Sire?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTfDUyUkVYE
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>> reckon these 'cats' stand any chance of making the big time,
Heh heh... I knew them when they were babies... 'Moonshine, washing line...' Loudness, surrealist (=meaningless and empty) lyrics and 'light shows' were pioneered by the Floyd among others before my very eyes. Even then I would have agreed really with Hans Keller's sour and supercilious judgements, although I would have found it hard to admit. I heard a lot of 'psychedelic' music and sort of enjoyed it at the time, but much preferred proper rock and blues.
I am glad the Floyd got rich (mainly from making movie music I believe) because I knew them when they were babies and because one of them is a quite serious vintage and PVT car person. A cat who actually enjoys his bread instead of just sitting on it.
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Pink Floyd are a religion, Sire, my religion ;)
You're from a different era to me though, parts of my brain (frontal region) are still in The Summer of Love.
>>Moonshine, washing line
Arnold Layne, one-of my faves.
>>I am glad the Floyd got rich
50% of the original group are brown bread :(
>>one of them is a quite serious vintage and PVT car person. A cat who actually enjoys his bread instead of just sitting on it.
Old Nick .. Nicholas Berkeley Mason.
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The only reason people bought and listened to Floyd was because they were stoned out of their minds. Its mostly mind numbingly boring soporific merd when you are sober. Music to slit your wrists by.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 17 Jul 13 at 16:03
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>> listened to Floyd was because they were stoned out of their minds
Yeah, that too of course. But it isn't a cure for boredom.
>> Music to slit your wrists by.
Funny, I never thought of that.
'.... far out, man, it's really like red, only more black what with all these UV strobe lights.... aargh...'
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Floyd were just to one side of my core taste... but still excellent I reckon.
I thought of you AC when this years's Glasto was on and I was captivated by the set from a new to me band "Goat". Fela Kuti was named as an influence and I reckon that was the first time I'd ever heard him spoken of on TV.
Here's a bit of Goat... www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkzDxW4l4Ng
Having read above though I guess these are more Dog than AC... or pehaps fall down the cracks between?
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>>Having read above though I guess these are more Dog than AC... or pehaps fall down the cracks between?
Reminds me of Osibisa for some reason, Lud will remember them, I'll wager.
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>>>Osibisa
You're right of course... forgotten them.
Mix Osibisa with a hint of Cream and Floyd about gets you to Goat.
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>> "Goat". Fela Kuti was named as an influence and I reckon that was the first time I'd ever heard him spoken of on TV.
The influence doesn't go very deep though. Goat's sound is very thin, bland and 'white' by comparison with Africa 70. Thank you for the thought though Fenlander.
You might be interested in my longish piece on Fela, a sort of obituary, that was published in New Left Review after his death. I'm not sure whether you can get it free on line but I can email you a copy if you're interested. He was a good friend to me and enabled me to enjoy that generally traumatic place Lagos, where you are quickly submerged unless you have proper contacts or vast amounts of money behind which you can shelter in boring but more or less secure hotels... .
He certainly was mentioned quite a few times on British TV, and appeared there too. But enormous amounts of myth-making balderdash were and are talked about him by uncritical fans and even people who were sort of there and ought to know better. It's one thing if an artist mythologizes himself, quite another when others clumsily do it when he is dead. Drives me up the wall.
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AC you'll remember when I jog your memory that you mailed me the article a couple of years ago after PU hooked us up e.mail wise.
It was well received here as I enjoyed discovering Fela Kuti despite being, like Pink Floyd, off to one side of my core musical interests. You also might remember it had an added interest as during mid to late 70s Mr.F Snr was a UK contractor working with senior Lagos officials so knew of Fela Kuti from the other side of the fence so to speak.
Anyway don't diss the Goat. I think anything would seem thin, bland and white after the experiences you had listening to Kuti's music live.
I've been prompted to play a few of his youtube clips this morning including stuff shot by Ginger Baker. Hoped to catch sight of your dancing... see I did read it.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 18 Jul 13 at 10:32
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>> see I did read it.
Guh... how embarrassing. Going gaga....
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No shame AC when you're posting on a forum where we tell the same stories time and again on a three month cycle....
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>> Music to slit your wrists by.
He be thinking of Cohen, Shirley.
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>> >> Music to slit your wrists by.
>>
>> He be thinking of Cohen, Shirley.
Leonard Cohen - The Stranger Song.
Absolutely mesmerising.
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>>Leonard Cohen - The Stranger Song. Absolutely mesmerising.
Bird gimme a lend of her 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' LP back in the late 60's and I introduced her to Cream
(not that cream!)
Me and me mate Mickey had a good larf about the album at the time, but it sort-of grew on me, like, and I came to be rather fond of it o'er the years - I've even got it on CD now.
So long (Marianne)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEsfsUoUys
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 18 Jul 13 at 13:21
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>>> Music to slit your wrists by.
I'm OK with most stuff at a superficial background level and tend to listen more to see if I want to hear more.
In the 80s I picked up on American artists like Rickie Lee Jones, Rory Block and Suzanne Vega. Mrs F hates Vega's music in particular for its "dreary" sound.
I still like her...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPmSyt6kqCY
Richard Thompson and Loudon Wainwright III playing along as a bonus.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 18 Jul 13 at 13:38
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>>I still like her...www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPmSyt6kqCY
Very nice but, I doubt if I'd play it again, Sam, whereas this song (and the video) really' do something' for me.
I play it more than any other song lately, for some strange reason.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXnxTNIWkc (turn it up!)
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Good image... good song... I'd forgotten about them. Of course Linda Perry is behind many modern stars as songwrite/producer these days.
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>> I play it more than any other song lately, for some strange reason.
>>
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXnxTNIWkc (turn it up!)
Well worth playing again. Brilliant song.
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>> In the 80s I picked up on American artists like ...
>> Suzanne Vega. Mrs F hates Vega's music in particular for its "dreary" sound.
>>
>> I still like her...
Interview tonight on Absolute 80s, 9pm:
www.absoluteradio.co.uk/onair/events/1628-Suzanne+Vega%3A+Interview
I love her eponymous 1st album; saw her at Leeds Uni 1986 (and the only reason I can remember the year is because I've still got the T-shirt!).
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Would that have been one of Andy Kershaw's gigs ?
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>> Would that have been one of Andy Kershaw's gigs ?
Mmm... I think I would have remembered if he'd been there (used to listen to AK followed by John Peel fairly regularly at the time), and I don't.
But that does ring a faint bell - I wonder if he introduced The Long Ryders ('Looking for Lewis & Clark'), who I also saw at the uni around that time and IIRC were his sort of music?
So long ago.. :)
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Damn I missed that... doesn't seem to be any way on their website to listen again??
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I suspect it will be repeated - I'll keep my ears open.
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>>>So the sound system is worth more-than the car, Fl.
In monetary terms a good proportion of it.
Just in from a country ride back from town to buy the last 2 fans in Cambs. 14 miles of B-road either on the throttle or brakes.... Mott the Hoople concert on the sound system... excellent.
>>> utterly despise Dolby bass boost or filter or whatever it's called.
What has been going from the 70s is a Loudness button that boosts frequencies.. bass in particular and meant for quiet listening. I've never been keen on what that does to the sound.
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We had two air con units bought 5 years ago when we lived in a small house with no garden. At the time we didn't know we would be moving a couple of months later.
We only used them once since we moved here and decided to sell them on Ebay this week....what a good decision:)
Pat
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Anyone here any experience of Linn Hi Fi ?
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Well just fleeting and historical.
When I bought my new Thorens deck with Audio Technica arm in the early 80s a used Linn Sondek turntable was about the same price. The slightly shallow clincher for me was the Thorens came in glorious mahogany veneer but the Linns were almost always a beech colour which didn't match our old furniture.
The local dealers would always use a Sondek as the front end for their demos and the sound was consistantly good whatever the rest of the chain.
Speaker wise I auditioned the 80s Linn Kans against competing small speakers and they came in the middle of the bunch, below the ProAcs I bought.
They were so fiercely pro-vinyl in the early days it's funny now to see them selling all sorts including digital networked players.
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I play my vinyl on a lowish-spec Sondek that dates from 1988, although it's had a couple of enhancements since. (The design is a modular one, so it's possible to apply the latest upgrades even to an old turntable like mine.)
I bought it in 1991, having intended to buy a £300 turntable. The dealer had this one for rather more but once I heard it I had to have it. The make-do amplifier that was all what was left of my budget would buy stayed with me for 16 years.
Read the hi-fi forums and you'll find Linn fanboyz and whatever is their diametric opposite. I'm neither - I haven't auditioned another turntable since I bought mine - but I do like the way it presents rhythms and textures in relatively simple music. The Duckworth Lewis Method LP I mentioned the other week sounds fantastic.
No experience of Linn electronics, speakers or any of the digital stuff, but the LP12 Sondek (mine bears both names) is a lovely thing to own and use.
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I have a Fons CQ30 with an SME arm that was, in its era, the big competitor of the Linn. I think there was a long legal battle between Ivor Tiefenbrun (Linn) and Fergus Fons over the type of main bearing they both used. I chose the Fons then because I thought it sounded every bit as good as the Linn, it was much more flexible (and still is) with three speeds, each with variable pitch, and it didn't carry any of the Messianic overtones that always seemed to surround Linn.
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Big party here last night at the other end of the lawn. My funk drummer SiL brought his kit and did a long DJ gig. Of course the sounds were excellent: all vinyl, two turntables, my oldest daughter seeing off all attempts at DJ-bothering, and setting an example by shaking it on the floor... there was this completely barmy mix of the theme tune from 2001, came from some other movie he told me.
I think they shut it off about 5am. I didn't go to the blast for long. I can still move when the spirit moves me but the flesh is weakening. And it was for another age group really.
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Amar Bose, a loss for the Hi Fi geeks? - Zero
