Audio Systems: Home Music System, bose wave music system, bose systems

Question
Hi Kevin,

My wife and I (we're both retired) are researching to purchase our first home, surround sound music system. We have a DVD, TV and Dell Computer. We would like to get a real good quality all-around system to possibly hook everything up to. The latest craze we always here about is the Bose Music System-how it's the best and can replace any other system. We don't know if it has the capability to hook up to our DVD. Summarizing, we are totally green and afraid to commit. What is you objective opinion of the Bose and what would you get as your first system? We are retired and don't want to waste money. Thank you very much.

Answer
Dear Dan,

If you are writing about the Bose Wave Music System, it does not have the capability of accepting an outboard sound source like your DVD player--assuming you want to watch a DVD on your TV and listen to surround sound through a sound system.

Other Bose systems have built-in DVD players and produce surround sound well. However, IMHO, they are overpriced. You can get the same, if not better, sound from less expensive components. I suggest:

Sony STR-D597 receiver - $199.99
PSB Alpha Speakers - B - $249/pr. for front channel/stereo
                  - C - $229 for center channel
                  - S - $399 pr. for the surround channels
                  - Sub Zero Subwoofer - $329

That's $1,406 for a better than decent system. The least expensive Bose system costs $1,000, and has only two speakers and a subwoofer. In fact all the Bose "systems", even the $1,400 model, have only two speakers. Bose claims that you get "much of" the sound as a true surround system, but "much of" doesn't mean "the same". Now, the Bose systems include a DVD player, but you already have one of those.

Bose has a good reputation among retirees because their systems are very easy to put together and they advertise heavily in seniors-oriented publications (Parade, AARP Magazine, among many). However, you only put a system together once, it's not that difficult, and I'm here to help you through that if need be.

The final point I would emphasize is that the Bose systems are "closed". By that I mean they're self-contained, so if you want to upgrade one thing or another later on, it will be very difficult even with other Bose components. The components I've recommended can be incrementally upgraded without having to be limited to one manufacturer or having to replace the whole shebang.

Good luck. Always write back if you have any questions. And thanks for choosing allexperts.com!

Kindest regards,

Kevin