Home Cinema - Bose Acoustimass?

[K50 DEL]

I'm shortly moving into a new house which has a room that (I think) is going to lend itself to being used for a home cinema.

For budget reasons I can't afford to buy "the newest and greatest" most of the kit will need to be second-hand from Ebay but I'm still hoping to put together something that will allow me to enjoy movies and the odd box set, along with some live TV (NFL games, WRC, F1, Snooker perhaps)

Initial thoughts are a projector and screen which is fine but where I really get a little lost is the audio side of things.

I remember a few years ago being in a high-end home theatre store in the US and being utterly blown away by the quality of the sound from Bose Acoustimass series 6 home cinema speakers and they seem pretty reasonable price-wise nowadays

Does anybody on here use them / have any other thoughts, comments or suggestions... I'll listen to all gratefully as I really don't have vast levels of cash to throw at this project and would love to get it right first time!

[Howard-]

If you were blown away by that junk, go into a Richer Sounds store and tell them you want to spend the same amount of money on a receiver and set of speakers. You'll be even more blown away by how much better they'll be .

[jas xjr]

take a look at some av forums (fora?). for advice and kit

[B17NNS]

What's your budget for sound OP?

Do you want satellite speakers or are small bookshelves okay?

Here's your projector...

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/project...

I've demo'd this and it's brilliant for the price...

http://creative-audio.co.uk/HD.php?_DEN_X2400H_QAC...

Edited by B17NNS on Friday 8th December 13:29

[Emeye]

If you want wife friendly tiny satellite speakers and a huge sub hidden away there are plenty of options.

https://www.cnet.com/news/six-5-1-speaker-systems-...

Personally I was happiest building a budget home cinema system using decent sized front, centre and rear speakers, with a huge sub for the proper low end, if you really think you need it.

Depends on the size of your room and whether you need to keep the missus happy.

[K50 DEL]

Howard- said:

If you were blown away by that junk, go into a Richer Sounds store and tell them you want to spend the same amount of money on a receiver and set of speakers. You'll be even more blown away by how much better they'll be .

Why do you say they're junk?
At the time I heard that system in the states, I had a Yamaha 5.1 speaker system hooked up to a Yamaha AV amp in my house in the UK and the Bose knocked spots off it.

B17NNS said:

What's your budget for sound OP?

Do you want satellite speakers or are small bookshelves okay?

Here's your projector...

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/project...

I've demo'd this and it's brilliant for the price...

http://creative-audio.co.uk/HD.php?_DEN_X2400H_QAC...

Edited by B17NNS on Friday 8th December 13:29

I'd spotted that projector on Richer earlier on, good to know it's a good one, will keep an eye on the bay and see if I can grab a used one.

Ideally I'd like to get the whole job done for under £1200 or so, impossible with new kit, but used should be doable for that price I think

Either type of speaker is fine with me, it's an almost square room, about 10' X 12' and as it'll be a dedicated room I can put speakers wherever they'll sound best.
The room already has thick carpet and curtains and dark walls (all of which are good for dedicated viewing I understand)

Emeye said:

If you want wife friendly tiny satellite speakers and a huge sub hidden away there are plenty of options.

https://www.cnet.com/news/six-5-1-speaker-systems-...

Personally I was happiest building a budget home cinema system using decent sized front, centre and rear speakers, with a huge sub for the proper low end, if you really think you need it.

Depends on the size of your room and whether you need to keep the missus happy.

No Mrs to keep happy here, free to have whatever I like, sadly it's the budget that will constrain me, nothing else.
In a previous house I had an amp/speaker set up in the front room, it was OK but I was never bowled over by it.

[Anthony Micallef]

I've had the Acoustimass 3 Series IV as my audio speakers for a few years now and they are superb, certainly not junk.

I only recently went in to Richer Sounds to listen to some more dedicated audio speakers namely the £500 Q Acoustic 3050 floor standers and they were no better than to Bose.

I had to listen to the £800 Tannoy Revolutions to hear an improvment in sound.

I bought these in the end so my Bose are up for sale.

[RobXjcoupe]

I’ve bought a few second hand bits and bobs and found a pioneer lx60 av amplifier with mordant short speakers works and sounds good. The amplifier allows equaliser settings per channel/speaker rather than a single setting for everything.
I’ve actually got enough bass, low end output without an additional active subwoofer.
Just a thought

[Red 5]

Howard- said:

If you were blown away by that junk, go into a Richer Sounds store and tell them you want to spend the same amount of money on a receiver and set of speakers. You'll be even more blown away by how much better they'll be .

I agree with you regarding the Bose AV offering. They’re from a bygone era and should be considered a quality solution, in the same way as VHS should be favoured as a premium source these days.
I remember being blown away by Speed on video

The problem that Bose can’t really admit to, is that their systems can only deal with Pro-Logic soundtracks. Once we had 5.1 DD the whole ‘Acoustimass’ AV premise was bankrupt.
The tiny cubes are their usp though, which they have never updated.

Bose buy and display the 5.1 licences, then it all goes down hill fast. The soundtrack is read from the disk ok, (in any player you use)
The signal can then be processed properly in a 3rd party AV receiver/amp....

Once it ends up in those speakers though, you’re just hearing “Bose Logic”
The correctly processes info all goes to the sub like box they have, which then re-manages the audio with analog filters, so the insufficient plastic cubes are not destroyed.
So, you actually don’t get the ‘5’ or the ‘.1’ you thought you were getting.

5.1 full range discrete channels of sound require exactly that. Full range speakers!
Even if you cross over your small speakers higher than 80hz, you’re still going to fundamentally experience the soundtrack, that the studio intended you to hear.

If I had to have Bose or nothing, then I guess I’d have it, but there are always better options.



Please take care recommending people wander into Richer with their wallet in hand!
Richer are a business 1st and an audio company very much 2nd.

They do and will always try to railroad you into the most commission rich own brand items.
Bait and switch is illegal, but is alive and well in Richer Sounds.
They have very well practiced little routines for customers, that are only partially clued up.
They work so well too!

They do have bargains, but you need to be sure of what you’re doing and stick to your guns.


To the OP.....
There are loads of second hand bargains from enthusiast, that will get you a great system within your budget

[K50 DEL]

Thanks for that, in fact, thanks to all who've responded to this thread, the knowledge I've gained will hopefully help me end up with a system that won't break the bank (or my ears!)

So, where's the best place to look for used equipment then, I assume not ebay!

[B17NNS]

Red 5 said:

in the same way as VHS should be favoured as a premium source these days

I give it five years, hipsters will be collecting by then

[benz0]

K50 DEL said:

Thanks for that, in fact, thanks to all who've responded to this thread, the knowledge I've gained will hopefully help me end up with a system that won't break the bank (or my ears!)

So, where's the best place to look for used equipment then, I assume not ebay!

AV Forums Classifieds if you are prepared to travel and collect (I would personally not risk bank transfer and postage to someone without a contract like through ebay).

[counterofbeans]

If it's any use to you (and reading the above it probably isn't) I'm selling an Arcam AVR200 for £99 and a set of Acoustimass 10 Series II for £199. I also have a couple of stands and a couple of wall brackets I could throw in.

It's always sounded pretty good to me but I've just used it less and less recently. Also the mrs doesn't really like all the kit.

Also probably not helpful is that I'm in Milton Keynes...in fact I'm not sure why I've bothered to type this out, I'll just get back in my box!

[Red 5]

K50 DEL said:

Thanks for that, in fact, thanks to all who've responded to this thread, the knowledge I've gained will hopefully help me end up with a system that won't break the bank (or my ears!)

So, where's the best place to look for used equipment then, I assume not ebay!

No worries!

Post up anything here that looks interesting.

I think a 2/3yo Denon receiver AVR-X3xxx would be a good start.
You’ll want some speakers from a good brand, but not so good they hold their money too well from new!
Think KEF rather that B&W then, as they’ve made a range of small (but proper) speakers, going back years. They all start with the prefix KHT.....

Start there and see what crops up
As mentioned, AV forums are ok, but everyone is an enthusiast and thinks their kit is still worth loads second hand. (A lot of the time anyway)

The best bargains are on eBay, but need to be more wary obviously.

Try for an Epson projector. Some of them (domestic models only) have 5 year warranties, so a couple of years old model could be a safe bet.

[Madness60]

Red 5 said:

Please take care recommending people wander into Richer with their wallet in hand!
Richer are a business 1st and an audio company very much 2nd.

They do and will always try to railroad you into the most commission rich own brand items.
Bait and switch is illegal, but is alive and well in Richer Sounds.
They have very well practiced little routines for customers, that are only partially clued up.
They work so well too!

They do have bargains, but you need to be sure of what you’re doing and stick to your guns.

Really??? Do tell?

I've just bought a 50' TV and a wireless speaker from Richer Sounds, if they always try and railroad me to commission rich own brands which brands did they recommend to me?

[crossy67]

I have the Bose Acoustimass 3 in the camper, well it was all I had knocking round. I think they sounded ok for audio. A friend has the Bose AC 10 system, must admit, it sounds quite good but strangely never as good as it did in the demo

I bought a Dennon AVR3200 (possibly wrong) some 10 years ago and a Kef egg system. Never really happy with anything about the set up, except in Monsters ink there's a bit where a light switch goes click wight next to where our switch was so it always got everyone. Other than that it was at best average. After 11 months the KEF sub blew up one night, the dealer wouldn't get it repaired without a £35 contribution from us. The eggs are quite poorly made, when you hang them on the wall they always sag on their mountings.

Earlier this year I bought a new/used set of Mission 753's having decided to bin off the Kef set up. Whilst wiring up the Dennon some how I created a short that blew the amp. Best thing I've ever done. I plugged in my old Yamaha AV amp. The sound difference was amazing. I've since bought a used newish model Sony amp, it's really good, does AV really well and music great. Something the Dennon never managed to do.

[Tony1963]

I heard a few Bose Acoustimass systems in the 90s and 00s, and they all failed miserably.

Firstly, a bass unit and those tiny speakers just can't reproduce the whole range of frequencies properly. Demos in shops use very carefully chosen material to try and hide this.

Then there's the complete lack of data from the manufacturer. All decent manufacturers are very quick to inform potential customers, Bose never were.

There used to be an anti-Bose website that I'd show to friends thinking about buying it. Bose had the site taken down, such a shame.

They claim all sorts of 'firsts' in audio, but they just take the inventions of others, introduce small changes, and acquire the patents for their invention. Cheats!

Bose have very good lawyers. Enough said.

[TheGuru]

Howard- said:

If you were blown away by that junk, go into a Richer Sounds store and tell them you want to spend the same amount of money on a receiver and set of speakers. You'll be even more blown away by how much better they'll be .

Will also be blown away by how much space that takes over the Bose

The Bose are not junk, they are/were just expensive for what they were. Similar to B&O ‘junk’

Also question whether you need surround sound, I really can’t be bothered and prefer 2.1 or even just a decent pair of stereo speakers if the bass is good enough

Edited by TheGuru on Wednesday 13th December 20:25

[Tony1963]

TheGuru said:

Will also be blown away by how much space that takes over the Bose

The Bose are not junk, they are/were just expensive for what they were. Similar to B&O ‘junk’

Take some Bose apart. You'll see that the term 'junk' isn't that wide of the mark.

[Red 5]

Madness60 said:

Really??? Do tell?

I've just bought a 50' TV and a wireless speaker from Richer Sounds, if they always try and railroad me to commission rich own brands which brands did they recommend to me?

If they have an appropriate product, then it will always be Cambridge Audio.
“Hold on a min, I’ve just realised we’ve got one of those special bargains left! Phew that was close Sir, you nearly missed out on a maga deal”

I hope this didn’t happen to you, but I hear it all the time. If you have a commission structure that pays £0 for the lure products, but rea££y high for the Cambridge stuff, this will always happen. You still get a product that works I guess, but it’s sharp practice!

The same situation doesn’t really crop up for the TV. Most people will only consider one from the big four, so not really easy to get traction selling some sort of ‘Shamsonic’ made up brand.