 Can't beat em |
| Review Date: April 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Carolyn Hassett, Pasadena, California |
If you can't beat em.... then fork over the extra money and buy these. I highly considered the Klipsh speakers for less money, but was turned off by their bulky size. The photos make these tiny speaker look large. The thing I love about Bose is they have style.
Be warned, speakers of this quality deserve a good sound card. If you are going to spend the $250 on these, and you don't have a good quality sound card, forget it. Without a sound card, you will not hear what these awesome speakers have to offer!
Was shocked at how good Sirius online radio sounds. Almost CD quality. My old speakers were a nice pair of Creatives. I am hearing sounds and words in my music I have never heard before.
I consider myself an "advanced listener". I have spent more money on audio gear in the past 20 years than I will admit to. These bose speakers are the best bang for my buck so far. |
Impressive speakers, some will take issue with the price.
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| Review Date: March 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Stratman, Germantown, Maryland United States |
Let me start by saying I'm not the audiophile I used to be. Back in the 70's and 80's I was an audiophile gear junky, always buying the latest and greatest top-end stuff. These days I'm content to have a "very good" system, as opposed to a "high-end" system (many of which don't offer any improvement in sound IMO). I can remember when back in the old days we obsessed over "total harmonic distortion" measures the way some people do over CPU gigahertz today.
Anyway, I'm a longtime amateur musician (guitar, bass) with a pretty well-equipped home recording studio, so quality sound is important to me: I just don't obsess over audio gear like I once did.
I bought these speakers for my office at home, which I work out of about 50% of the time (and spend a lot of time in outside work). I use them with a Mac Pro that has a topnotch sound card (I do scratch pad recording on the machine using Logic Studio and then move it to my home recording setup, which is also Logic-based, on a different Mac). I've got an extensive music collection that includes everything from classical to hip-hop and rap (the influence of having two teen-aged sons and a pre-teen who's into the same stuff as his brothers). Mostly I listen to rock, blues, and country - I'd say they make up 70% of my listening, with classical and jazz comprising most of the rest.
I've probably owned a couple of dozen computer speaker systems since I bought my first desktop in the mid 80's, and virtually all have been mediocre at best. A few later sets from Harmon-Kardon and Altec-Lansing were decent. This Bose system is very good in my estimation, for what it purports to do: provide high quality sound from a computer. No, they don't compete with 5.1 home theatre surround system, and one shouldn't expect them to. But they do provide very good sound in a compact setting. The stereo separation is decent even though the speakers aren't intended to be spaced very far apart. The bass is excellent (and adjustable to taste). The mids and highs are clear and distinct without being shrill, though it would be nice if Bose provide an EQ adjustment for these (and at this price arguably they should). Acoustic music, like acoustic guitar and piano, sounds sublime through these. All in all I'm highly satisfied. After experimenting a bit with these, I'll offer the following suggestions:
- Make sure you have the sub centered beneath your computer desk. Some may try to tuck it to one side or another for space reasons, but it really compromises the stereo field and can make the sound seem really out of balance on some tracks.
- Don't point the satellite speakers toward yourself. I've found that the best stereo field is created by having the speakers facing straight out, and relatively close to the listener. I tend to sit erect or even lean forward a little when I'm typing: I keep the speakers about a foot to 18" in front of me and about 30" -36" apart. If I roll my chair away from my desk the stereo field narrows, so you want to position these relative to how you'll be sitting most of the time. You want to lean more toward having almost to your side than in front of you (figuratively that is).
Nice system. Pricier than most, but better too. |
How much music is there in your life?
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| Review Date: March 16, 2008 |
| Reviewer: G. Camara, Sao Jose dos Campos, SP Brazil |
| How much music do have? If you're like me, a classical music aficionado, it is likely that you have thousands of CD equivalents stored in your computer (in my case, 1500 albums ranging from Hildegard to Henze). And there will be more to come, now that DG, Naxos and BIS have gone digital, with others to follow. A simple calculation tells me my collection has cost me more than 20,000 USD. For that amount of investment, I need at least a decent pair of computer speakers that can provide joie de vivre. Life is too short to listen to good music in bad speakers. So, for those of you that love music, the BOSE Companion 3 II should be your minimal choice. There is no free lunch in life. I owned a Klipsch 2.0 system, that is highly regarding by some. Sorry, Klipsch: Bose wins in all counts. Better sound, form factor, and design. For a serious classical music lover, the BOSE Companion 3 provides spacious, clear sound, and allows you to feel the range of timbres and colours of a large orchestra. To get the most out of the Companion 3, you will need to use an EQ (equalizer) setting in our player. A very good companion to the Companion 3 is a good sound processor, such Izotope Ozone. With the right mix of your media player's EQ, Ozone's settings, and adjustments on the position and acoustic properties of the Bose, you will enjoy computer music as it should be. Don't settle for less. |
Bose Companion 3, great system for apartment and iPod
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| Review Date: March 30, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Esteban Legarreta, Seattle, WA USA |
I just got my Bose Companion 3 Series II speakers and so far so good. I did all the leg work shopped around and listened to different speaker systems. While there are some decent ones out there for a little less money, I settled for the Bose Companion 3.
I live in a high-rise apartment, so getting a high-end amplifier and speakers just means that they would hardly ever be used to their full potential, unless I wanted to have very upset neighbors. Most of my music is now in my iPod and laptop and I needed a way to set it free throughout the house while respecting my neighbors. The Bose speakers are just perfect, I was between the Companion 3 and Companion 5, I finally settled for the Companion 3, given that the 5's added features (Surround sound 5.1 emulation) were really intended for movies, I don't watch many movies on my laptop (about 2 per year) so it seemed like it was not worth spending the extra $150 for me. When it comes to listening to MP3/ACC music I really can't tell the difference between the Companion 3 and 5, so the choice was clear for me the 3.
I have not had any static issues or anything similar with my speakers, they were very easy to setup and I was up and running in about 3 minutes. The control pod/puck is pretty cool also. It does not feel cheap, but rather sturdy and high-end.
So if you live in an apartment and your music is in your iPod and or Laptop, spend a little extra and spoil yourself a little with these speakers, you will not regret it.
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Bose or Bust
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| Review Date: November 21, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Ryan R. Earley, New York |
I serve in the army and since I am single I live in the barracks on post. I am also an audiophile and it incredibly hard to find a speaker system that meets two requirements of a soldier:
1 it must sound good,
2 it cant take up a lot of space.
I got the Companion 3 system because they have an incredibly small footprint and reproduce sound at near studio quality. My own personal demons brought me to test these speakers myself through various means, and i have found them to be faithful in reproducing 20hz through to 18khz, (I don't have anything I can test above that with directly). I have read a few of the other reviews and have to point some things out to prospective buyers;
these speakers are not designed for a living room, outdoors, or large area. They are made for a small space, much like an appartment or office. The cones in the satelites and the woofer do not have the surface area to move air in a room much larger than 125sq ft. The smaller space these speakers are in the better they will sound. Alsothe quality of the audio processor/ device plays a big part on the quality of sound you will experience with any speaker system. If your audio processor cannot faithfully reproduce an audio signal, then that is another issue.
All in all, I will say these are great speakers and if you have it, they are worth the money you'll be set back getting them. But i will say this, if the location you wish to set these up has an area greater than 125sq. ft, get something bigger. |
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