Between all this bickering over who’s peniphone is the largest best, it’s always nice to be able to post a positive story, a story which shows that for every abusive company, there’s one that shows the world just how it’s done. This time, it’s Bose. Founder and primary stockholder of Bose, Amar G. Bose, has donated a large number of non-voting shares of the company to MIT, where he spent his university career. Dividends over these shares will be paid each year to MIT, which will use it for research and educational purposes.
I think my appreciation for Bose comes from how Amar Bose approaches audio. He doesn’t believe in objective measurements of audio quality, instead opting for a subjectivist approach; the only thing that matters is the audio quality as perceived by the listener – objective measurement be damned. This has paid off, since the company’s audio equipment is used just about anywhere; even NASA uses Bose equipment.
Amar Bose completed both his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and today, he showed his gratitude by handing over the majority of the stock of Bose to MIT. The shares are of a non-voting nature, and MIT will, hence, not partake in the management of the company. MIT also cannot sell the shares. However, MIT will receive dividend over these shares every year, which they will invest in research and education.
“Amar Bose gives us a great gift today, but he also serves as a superb example for MIT graduates who yearn to cut their own path,” said MIT President Susan Hockfield, “Dr. Bose set the highest teaching standards, for which he is still admired and loved by his faculty colleagues and the many students he taught. His insatiable curiosity propelled remarkable research, both at MIT and within the company he founded. Dr. Bose has always been more concerned about the next two decades than about the next two quarters.^aEUR
Dr. Bose doesn’t want the spotlight shone on him about this though, so let me finish by saying that I deeply respect this move. This, dear readers, is what sets decent and good companies apart from the others that are just in it for the money. While I’m personally a fan of Bose’s competitor Harman/Kardon (I find Bose lacking in the design department compared to H/K), they’re both examples of truly posh companies, companies that truly care about their customers.
That is a great move. I hope that MIT makes the most of it.
I am reminded of a time several years ago when we powered a pair of Bose 901 speakers with 5,400 watts each off of a bridged four channel amp. Amazingly nothing blew and all of the drivers in the speakers still worked great. I think I still hear AC/DC ringing in my ears…
Bose just makes great audio stuff. I have a wave radio and headphones and they have lasted me years.
A bit off topic, but what ever came of the Bose Suspension project?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSi6J-QK1lw&feature=player_detailpag…
I think it became a seat instead of a full suspension: http://www.bose.com/bose_ride_system/index.jsp
Although I agree there is more to the customer satisfaction than just objective audio quality (e.g. design, functionality, reliability, package, customer support, low price, high price) I simply can’t trust people saying the above.
Good quality audio equipment should also excel in objective measurements. Anyone saying otherwise is in business of selling dreams not the equipment (which is fine as long as he/she is honest about it).
Have you been into a Bose store? I saw a surround sound demo at one (Woodbury Common) where you sit in a small theater with large speakers and listen to the way the sound fills the room. At the end of the demo they lift up the speakers which are just a hollow cover over some tiny cube speakers.
As far as small form factors go they seem to deliver.
I have a Yamaha home theater receiver (HTR-5940) with large (45 lb) 3 channel floor speakers and while it is loud and probably posts some big numbers the audio quality is total crap because there are 40 themed settings for the digital processor and they all sound horrible. Even the “straight” setting badly messes with the audio so bad I can’t tolerate using it for TV at any volume and I’m not picky.
In reality, the tiny BOSE speakers can’t move enough air to deliver actual bass, so instead they ramp up harmonic distortion to give the illusion of the sound being there. That might impress in certain situations, but at the cost of subtlety. Good speakers are always better, but they cost more and take far more space.
So I guess BOSE audio doesn’t exist in reality? What does exist in reality is one’s ability to appreciate what they experience. There is no definitive way that you or any other person can tell another person what they like. BOSE products appeal to people that don’t want to be bogged down with numbers and measurements, they just want what sounds good to them.
There is a science to hearing and Bose does good middle range speakers…. that is all they can do because, given the choices in product engineering, they have scarified good highs and good lows. This is not stuff an audiophile only notices, if you were placed in a room with correct sound dampening and you heard a Bose speaker system against something higher end, the Bose would feel hollow.
That’s exactly the point. Who has a room with correct sound dampening at home?
I’d like my audio equipment to sound good *in practice*. Not in some theoretical perfectly sound-proofed room.
It isn’t hard to do… you really just need to stop first reflection and you’re good. In practice, Bose still sounds awful. the only thing they do well is making it easy to set up.
Anyone who is setting up a home theater room would want to avoid Bose speakers. Buy their headphones (those are very good) buy their radios… again… good based on the market it is in…. but for home theater….avoid avoid avoid if you have any AV abilities at all.
you’re right and wrong there Thom (-not picking a fight especially as Music and Audio appreciation are both massively subjective as has been noted already)
however yes, what you can hear *in practice*, and which might contribute to your increased enjoyment is rightly what matters. An example if I may: A friend of mine has a nice little music listening room furnished with lots of nice trinkets and little light etc, and more to the point, about 99% of the floor,walls and ceiling are covered with a variety of fabrics, drapes, soft furnishings etc – it’s basically an acoustically dead room(ish) and he has 4 small speakers – a pair of jpw gold monitors and a pair of old b&o beovox 600s (or maybe 60.2’s -something like that anyways) all set up at 2 stereopairs through a decent but low end hifi amp and I can honestly say that at low to medium volumes it sounds almost perfect in there!
I on the other hand have some (I’m not going to say higher-end, but higher power handling) Acoustic Energy speakers, a higher power decent amp plus 2 quality 600W subs, L +R. If they were installed in a slightly scaled up version of my friends listening room, I don’t doubt they would sound equally amazing to his set up at low and medium volume albeit with a bit more scale and bass depth added perhaps – however I’m in a modern city centre flat with high ceilings, lots of hard bare walls and a hard laminate floor: acoustic nightmare- it really does sound ten times worse at normal vols, even though equipment is really good. At ‘club’ volumes it’s ^Alb$%^ing great however! except for the neighbours. My meandering point is that (and I have tried and owned bose gear in the past): yes it can flatter both acoustically poor environments and flatter average recordings – but you do lose a lot of highs and lows, and overall clarity vs even mid-fi competition, with the caveat that yes, carpets, curtains, ?tapestries in your listening room help a lot.
But yes, well done Mr Bose!! A good gesture – I do hope at least a portion will go towards at least for scholarship for someone who deserves a place but can’t afford it though!!
I’m not sure what you think you’re objecting to, but I’m pretty sure you’re not objecting to what you think you’re objecting to.
“In reality, the tiny BOSE speakers can’t move enough air to deliver actual bass”
The cube speakers are not used for bass, they are surround sound speakers, bass is produced by the subwoofer which is pretty effective.
Audio wise, Bose is in the middle of the pack… about two rungs above the “Home Theater in a Box” speakers. For the money, you can get much better sound elsewhere.
Engineering wise, they are amazing. They have figured out how to bring OK sound to everyone with out needing an AV installer to do the work.
“No highs?
No lows?
Must be Bose.”
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Bose’s greatest accomplishment is selling the perception of value, regardless of the actual product’s merits. The only company I can think of that comes close to that level of marketing brilliance is Apple.
I can’t agree with the above statement more. I guess you could say that bose was always on the cutting edge of making speakers that looked distinctly different from everyone else’s. I had a pair of 301’s for a while (pure junk) and knew of folks with other bose stuff.
I guess you could say that bose tends (or tended) to do things first, but usually not best.
This is an incredibly kind gesture from Bose.
I do not use any Bose equipment anymore, but they do have a knack of making average sources sound great. Excellent sources expose flaws, but thats not really their target audience anyways.
I am sure that the big universities have billions and billions of dollars in vested in all sorts of things. UT is buying physical gold and storing it for some reason.
Why don’t they offer cheaper or free degrees so that any qualified individual could attend?
a place like Harvard offers tuition rates that are indexed against parental income… 10% of the parents income is the cap for tuition per year up to 160K per year in income, after that standard rates apply.
That is thanks to their endowment. MIT, being the best school in the nation for science and tech should certainly follow Harvard’s lead on that as there are many people who have the grades and talent but can’t get a scholarship so they end up at the local Community Collage and transfer to a 3rd tier university.
Many large institutions are hoarding physical gold and silver to hedge against a default by the US gov’t, and the crash in the dollar that would result. (Check out the tickers “GLD” or “SLV” on Google Finance, to see their huge run-up the last several months.)
I can’t seem to find any evidence of any indexed tuition for any major school.
I’d like to know that link to some bonafide web page.
Cornell has a policy that families with incomes below $60k/yr pay nothing ( http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2009/02/17/financial-aid… ). I believe this was partially in response to other Ivy League schools having better financial aid.
Here is an article on Harvard supporting the 10% claim: http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/12/11/har…
Personally I feel that there is no good reason to buy gold for an investment. Any product that is being bought and sold for intrinsic value is bound to fail. Last time gold was up many people lost a lot. Buying gold is not a productive investment. Spending Billions by a US university not only furthers this faux sense of value it undermines the currency it is trying to base it’s existence on. It is unpatriotic and foolish. How many Americans are being helped by their purchase. Almost none versus the millions that are suffering by inflation caused by commodity speculators. To make it worse, why by high? Isn’t the saying buy low and sell high?
Have to agree with this. Gold is okay to add to your portfolio for long term speculation but not good in general. I’ve just been fortunate in that I bought some before the last presidential election. The value’s just about doubled since then.
And if you’re worried SHTF scenarios you’d be better served investing in cigarettes and cans of beans.
Saying that for every abusive company there’s one to show how it’s done.
I think that for 100 bad guys there’s only one good guy. Amongst the rich guys who made substantial donations for education, science or charity I can only mention Bill Gates, and now Amar Bose.
Paul Allen gave 9 million to MIT few years ago. Also did you know Bose sued Consumer magazine in 70’s because they didn’t like Bose products, this took ages and up Bose settling it. Or that Bose sued several smaller makers in 80’s and 90’s for patent stuff, some of them went bust. You don’t win trophies for been nice and you don’t make millions either.
[OFF TOPIC]
Well, I’ve read many of the comments and the sentiment about Bose is, contrary to what I would’ve thought, rather lukewarm.
The irony is that two days ago, I considered buying Bose speakers while in a tech shop, window shopping.
I’ve known of Koss via word-of-mouth about 7-8 years ago and I have loved some (discontinued) fantastic headphones I’ve bought from them (KSC55 or 50, don’t remember) but I’ve been disappointed with the rest of my purchases from them.
Now, I am wondering… if Bose isn’t that much of a reliable maker to buy high quality loudspeakers from… what brand would you guys advise?
I think Bose is the king of getting decent sound from small sources, e.g. car speakers or the Wave Radio.
But, if you have space, you can get better sound for the same price. Several years ago I bought a Boston Acoustic speaker set over the Bose alternative for my home theater, though the Bose set was somewhat physically smaller.
My audiophile-quality headphones are Klipsch isolating in-ear.
Wharfedale.
Make sure you get wood cabinets. Plastic or composites doesn’t cut the mustard.
I’m quite in love with my speakers from KEF. I’m no audiophile but they sound great to me (and look good to boot – black wood (real wood) in a simple, non-nonsense design. Very stylish).
3 different posts, and 3 different answers. You’re probably not going to get a consensus or fantastic audio advice at OSAlert (unsurprising, given the name).
My sincere recommendation is to post this question in an on-topic forum. I recommend avsforum.com. They have a large user base, and their members subscribe to less “audiophile hokum” than do members of other forums. Seriously, this is a great question that deserves a great answer from people who care about the topic, so don’t ask it here. When you do ask your question, make sure to do the following:
1) Post it in the proper section (probably one dedicated to Speakers and Subwoofers). The speakers themselves ought to account for the majority of money you spend. Good receivers, by comparison, can be had cheaply.
2) Be fairly specific about your requirements – size, price, aesthetics, and typical use case (music, movies, video games, etc).
3) Don’t mention Bose. You’ll get laughed at and people might not take your question seriously.
My personal recommendation for speakers is Ascend Acoustics. They are an internet only company that makes fantastic stuff. The owner is very knowledgeable and accessible. But seriously, don’t take my word for it – post in the appropriate forum and see what kind of feedback you get.
Maybe that’s why you SHOULDNT ask those people. It’s like asking Rolls-Royce owners what car to buy.
The gear I buy is actually cheaper than Bose, and outperforms it in almost every way. In fact, this is the experience of almost everybody who has cared to legitimately test Bose against its competition. Laughing might not be an appropriate reaction, but they would be wise to warn the OP against Bose.
Some of the people in audio forums have expensive gear, and some (like me) don’t. Regardless, they do (on average) know what they’re talking about. It would behoove you (and the OP) to listen to people who have expertise in a field, rather than scorning them and implying they’re all elitists.
Rather than listening to the people, why not go listen to the speakers themselves? see what you like.
(ok, listen to people too).
I’d say that it’s all subjective, and if you like how they sound, then they’re right for you.
Some people might tell you that you don’t know what sounds good, which might also be true. I think that critical listening is not natural.
That’s a first-class reply you gave me there. Thanks!