Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Gomboman on January 06, 2007, 01:57:00 pm
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I don't have a stereo in my HS Envoy but I sure wish I did. I would like to build my own system but I don't know where to start. Any recommendations from dealers or owners who have built their own?
I'm not looking to spend a ton of money but want something that sounds decent. Can someone provide a list of components I could look at?
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To start with I'd put most of your money in the speakers. I like the outdoor Bose. Then I would go with something at Sam's to juice them with.
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X2
Buy a good Quality Speaker... You won't need an extremely powerful AMplifier unless you are planning on throwing alot of outdoor parties. Bose makes great outdoor Speakers!
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Well I've been thinking of an el cheapo way is an MP3 player and a set of computer speakers. You can up that to an IPOD and one of their speaker accessories. If it's for personal listening ... a MP3 player and headphones.
Getting fancier, a cheap stereo and some water resistant speakers. Picking up a $100 stereo and some Bose or other outdoor speaker may sound great. Put the stereo into something waterproof and you got something there. I've also thought of wireless speakers.
Next would be a marine stereo and enclosure with marine speakers or outdoor speakers. You might be able to mount the stereo inside the cabinet (there may be some extra voltage) coming out of the controller and if there were marine speakers ... put them into the cabinet as well.
I guess ultimately the best would be running speakers from the home stereo. I know my stereo will accept an auxillary IR recptor for controlling the sound from another room (or outdoors).
Quite honestly, I doubt I would listen to much music anyway since it would have to be fairly loud when al the pumps are on especially with air ... it would definately disturb the neighbors.
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I don't recall if your tub has the option for a Spaudio or not - does it have four buttons on the Aux panel?
If so, you might consider buying a set of transducers from a reputable, good-looking HotSpring dealer. That will give you lots of bottom end, and you will never have to worry about the speakers succumbing to weather or water damage.
To get that real crisp, clear high-range sound, you can add a set of outdoor speakers. If you go speakers only, then do as has been suggested and spend most of your budget on the speakers. But if you are adding them to a system with the Transducers in the tub, you can go with almost any outdoor speaker and get great results.
BTW - I have a couple of Spaudio amps (the first ones, not the new digital ones) which I would sell at cost - but be warned that they are heavy beasts, so the shipping would be a few bucks.
8-)
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We offer outdoor speakers, The best value I know of are the Wave Audio, they are designed by the engineer who was with Klipsch and also Polk audio, the only speaker I know that are par with them for sound are the Klipsch but for more dollars. Yamaha has very nice sounding speakers that are very reasonable. We also carry both entry level and high end rock speakers as well those made by TIC that are nice and blend into a flower bed or garden.
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We offer outdoor speakers, The best value I know of are the Wave Audio, they are designed by the engineer who was with Klipsch and also Polk audio, the only speaker I know that are par with them for sound are the Klipsch but for more dollars. Yamaha has very nice sounding speakers that are very reasonable. We also carry both entry level and high end rock speakers as well those made by TIC that are nice and blend into a flower bed or garden.
Thanks 101. Is this what you sell?
http://www.waveaudio.com/Outdoor_Speakers.html
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Gomboman,
How do you like your HS Envoy. I looked at one at my local dealer today. The lounge seat is real comfortable. How long have you had yours. They want 9K complete with delivery and set-up for an '06 floor model dry.(premium steps, cover, lifter and starter chem kit)
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Thanks 101. Is this what you sell?
http://www.waveaudio.com/Outdoor_Speakers.html
Yes and if you want to drive up to hear them let me know. I understand their are some Bose fans here but I think most would agree that if you can see the $399.00 speakers at Best Buy and A/B the Bose and Klipsch there is no comparison. The wave Audio can be bought for under $300.00
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Funny, when I was building my home theater system I was looking at the Klipsh Quintet series speakers and I know that Klipsh was a name that was good back in the 70's as was Advent. But I hadn't been into stereo systems for quite a while and thought that Klipsh may have gone the way of Advent. The last pair of speakers I bought before the home theater was a pair of Polks and they sounded great. I keep hearing a lot of positives about Klipsh.
I realized how far speakers have come in design so I opted to buy smaller speakers, hence the Quintets, but couldn't find a center channel for them at the time. I bought BIC DV-32's instead and they sound very good. I have the BIC DV-52 for outside and they sound good as well. I was a little sorry that I didn't buy a better speaker system but as I get older I relize that I can't hear the higher frequencies anyway.
I used to have a graphic equalizer on my stereo system that I planned on using but unfortunately my HT reciever can't accept it and it's a Yamaha ( I always wanted a Yamaha) - shows you where the mind set is these days - it'll produce 6 different sound fields BUT I can't taylor the sound of the speakers for music to offset where they are placed.
Oh, BTW the cost of my BIC speakers were $10 a piece + shipping - perhaps the greatest find I ever had!
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I can't speak on how the Bose compares to the Klipsh or Polks, but I do have a pair of the Bose 251 enviromental speakers out on my deck and they are fantastic. I have a large yard, (the back "area" where I entertain is about 100' x 250') and they can fill the place nicley during a cookout with quality sound without a problem, as well as provide nice background music while I have a quiet dinner on my deck. (keep in mind, outdoor acoustics are significantly different than indoors ) They've been mouted out on my deck for 3 years now and perform flawlessly.
A close friend has the Bose 151's and while decent, I don't think the sound quality can compare. The drivers in the 251 are angled to provided greater range than drivers mounted in a conventional speaker.
If you are considering outdoors speakers, you should at least listen and compare the Bose 251.
The only thing I'd give a heads up on, is to get quality sound in the hot tub, the speakers really need to be close to the tub, and angled towards the tub. I honestly don't get great sound in the tub with the jets on full, and my outdoor speakers are off to the side, near the dining area.
Anyhow, I like them, would compare them to any other outdoor speaker, and would suggest you listen for youself.
(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j61/GodlikeMoron/251.jpg)
Yup. I'm a bit biased towards Bose, as they are a local company here in MA, and have a great reputation. My lovely wife just gave me a pair of these for our living room. Once again, I am beyond pleased with them. :)
(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j61/GodlikeMoron/201.jpg)
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Drewstar....I have the same Bose set in my den....and love them.
Do you know if those speakers that are encased in the fake rocks are any good?
I saw some recently at a really upscale Dallas hotel atrium and they sounded pretty good.
(http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-5323690727015_1929_1219599)
(http://site.outdoorspeakerdepot.com/lib/wateronrock.gif)
http://www.outdoorspeakerdepot.com/rockspeaker.html
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Drewstar....I have the same Bose set in my den....and love them.
Do you know if those speakers that are encased in the fake rocks are any good?
I saw some recently at a really upscale Dallas hotel atrium and they sounded pretty good.
(http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-5323690727015_1929_1219599)
(http://site.outdoorspeakerdepot.com/lib/wateronrock.gif)
http://www.outdoorspeakerdepot.com/rockspeaker.html
I don't know. I've seen some rock speakers at some discount stores for around $50. I don't know of any who has a pair either. I thnk there are several manufaturers of them as well.
???
The Bose 201 are nice. I have a small formal living room that opens to the kitchen and the 201's really sound nice. I wanted to free up some floor space and got rid of my wife's old, very larg technics speakers (Circa 1985. They still sounded nice, but I didn't care for the size/apperance.)
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For you Bose guys, I know you love your speakers and they are very pleasant sounding. lol....now don't pick up any rocks to chuck at me but if you happen to know any audio guys ask them about the saying no highs and no lows than they must be Bose.... ;)......They are very warm and nice sounding but do not have the dynamic range of say a Klipsch but if you like the sound than thats what matters if you get a chance to a/b them sometime do a blind test and just listen and see what you pick..... :)
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BOSE......buy other speakers eventually..........seriously tho, any real audiophile hates Bose for what they really are, a speaker that is cheaply made, and not full spectrum range...look at comparably priced speakers at any big box store and you will be happier with them in the long run.
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Meno and Detroit.....
Maybe I am lucky because I don't have a very
picky ear.....
whenever I have been at the audio
stores and the guy compares the real high end
to the mid levels and has that look of
"see how much better these sound?"....
I am always like "ummm I guess".
I usually can't tell much difference.
So the Bose should be fine for me
but I have always heard the Klipsch
are wonderfeul speakers.
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Zep,
Bose are nice but they have a lot of mid range which is pleasant sounding if you heard something with a lot dynamics to it, you can than really tell a difference. All that matters is that they sound good to you..... ;D
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We offer outdoor speakers, The best value I know of are the Wave Audio, they are designed by the engineer who was with Klipsch and also Polk audio, the only speaker I know that are par with them for sound are the Klipsch but for more dollars. Yamaha has very nice sounding speakers that are very reasonable. We also carry both entry level and high end rock speakers as well those made by TIC that are nice and blend into a flower bed or garden.
Thanks for all the replies.
101, what receiver do you recommend for your spa systems? Do you sell receivers at your store?
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A few years ago I upgraded my home theater and spent about 9 months researching things. I'd say you need to think about 2 things, and those will drive the rest of your decisions.
First, you want to make it as dead simple easy as possible to use your system. This would generally lead me to suggest the overpriced and lower quality built in systems. If you're just listening to the radio or CD's then that's probabally your best bet. If you want something better, or are intereste din other sourced then just pay attention to the amount of work you need to use it. Try to make sure you don't have to do much at all to use it. As an example, I believed I would bring my portable XM boombox out and plug it in to the 110v outlet I had installed near my tub. It's not happened yet. :(
Second, I think you need to pay attention to your sources. Are you listening to radio? HD Radio? CD? MP3 player? Sat Radio? Only one of those, or multiple sources? This will drive the scope of your system: do you need a receiver or just an amp and source? A receiver will drive up your cost quite a bit.
From those two decisions I think the rest follow pretty easily. If you do go the receiver route you might check out the Panasonic SA-XR line. The older SA-XR10 (check ebay, ~$70?) will be inexpensive, small in size, and give great sound. The newer SA-XR57 is a state of the art modern receiver for about $300. Both are Class-D and will sound better than receivers costing 6x more.
As far as speakers, the ones mentioned so far would not be considered mid-range; most mentioned are now considered bargain brands, with the associated sound quality. Doing a search on 'outdoor' in the speaker section at avsforum reveals quite a few different choices and opinions in all proce ranges: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/search.php?searchid=731268
Consensus seems to be: get a big woofer, and check out Niles and Mirage.
As for me; I think I'm going to build a small cedar box near my outlet and plug in a portable XM station and a small Sonic Impact amp, along with some Mirage outdoors.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact/t.html
http://www.tweeter.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2475591&cp=1303927.1999265&parentPage=family
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http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/search.php?searchid=731268
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact/t.html
http://www.tweeter.com
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sigh.
Most of the Bose bashing I hear is around thier suround system, which I feel is a different horse than talking about an outdoor 2 speaker system, and I always enjoy the Kloss-Wave debates. (don't get me started)
Anyhow, for a pair of OUTDOOR stereo speakers Listen to the 251's. Decide for yourself. Ideally listen outside. If someone bashes bose, try to find out what series they're talking about. I doubt it's the 251 . ::)
The omni v's intrigue me, as it looks like they are trying to adress the low end frequencies that usually is an issue with outdoor speakers.
Regardless of what brand you go with, don't overlook where they are mounted. You're going to get a significant difference in sound quality if you mount the speakers against the house, rather than say on a fence railing or post. The bass reflected off the house makes a significant difference.
Also, as I mentioned earler, if you want to enjoy the speakers while in the tub, you're going to need to turn them up a bit to overcome the sound of the pumps and water. For the best sound while in the tub, they should be close to the tub, and angled towards the seating area, this may prove to be a challange if you're thinking on using the speakers for double duty; listening while the tub, but also for use while just outside; cook outs and what not.
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For you Bose guys, I know you love your speakers and they are very pleasant sounding. lol....now don't pick up any rocks to chuck at me but if you happen to know any audio guys ask them about the saying no highs and no lows than they must be Bose.... ;)......They are very warm and nice sounding but do not have the dynamic range of say a Klipsch but if you like the sound than thats what matters if you get a chance to a/b them sometime do a blind test and just listen and see what you pick..... :)
Bose are the most over hyped, over priced speakers out there. Bose spends huge amounts of money to advertise and very little into quality sound. They have been known to use cheap paper cone speakers with foam surrounds that do not stand up to the test of time never mind poor sound quality with a narrow reproduction range.
People who do not have trained audiophile ears are sucked in by Bose advertising and Women like their small foot print, but I must remind you that no three to four inch speaker can reproduce a full range sound.
In recent years we have suffered from the dumbing down of sound quality, ie MP3 which has one tenth the sampling rate of a CD, which sounds fine with ear buds, but a lot of the sound is missing when one listens on a good sound system. Incredibly XM and Sirus digital radio delivers narrow compressed sound, like MP3, so much for faithful high fidelity sound reproduction. Todays digital technology can deliver high quality sound, ie dolby true sound, HD sound, but manufactures are too busy trying to separate us from our money and maximize profits over delivering quality uncompressed sound.
The statement "No highs no lows, must be Bose", is no understatement.
It amazes me how many people will choose style over Sound and Build quality.
You can do much better for good Sound and Quality build, ie Klipsch, Paradigm, Mirage, Polk.
Sorry for the rant;
Regards, Zz
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My Polks are in a box in the basement and I haven't really had a great sounding (ok a good sounding) system in years. My BIC's are good enough as unfortunately music isn't a priority in my household anymore.
I come from the era where speakers needed to be fairly large to sound decent. I am surprised at how well some little speakers sound as my polks were middle size but as I said at 47 my hearing is not what it used to be and I'm sure most 40 somethings have some hearing loss (frequency related). I also am a believer of a graphic equalizer to taylor the sound of the system. I was amazed that it made such a difference in the sound coming from the speakers ... I would equilize them for a "flat" response with a pink noise generator and the Polks sounded awsome ... I miss the good old days. The graphic equilazer has 4 memory slots on it to get 4 different sounds. My Yamaha receiver does NOT accept the equilizer (I may have figured a way) and I agree with ZZ as far as the state of music with MP3, WMA and satillite radio. I was looking into a satillite radio system and I thought it would be CD quality but unfortunately it's not, personally if I had $1500 set of speakers and had crap going in ... crap would be coming out and I would be upset.
Over the years, I've heard a few impressive home speakers - Infinity, B&W, Kef, Polk and a few others. I wanted to buy the Polk floor standing speakers back when I bought mine but unfortunately my wife nixed it - probably for the best. I'm not in the music business nor do I have the money for those types of speakers ... it's more of background music.
Outdoor listening is probably background listening at it's best. Speakers are't going to give the 20 to 20Khz frequency response and that airplane, dog barking, kids screaming or hot tub on will cut the sound even more.
My advice is to buy what sounds good enough for you - spending $2000 or $20 doesn't matter, IF you like the sound buy the speaker. My $10 speakers may be considered junk to an audiophile ( I was one once) but when I'm sitting outside and have a beer and watching the kids in the pool I'm not absorbed in the music ... the days of smoking doobies and listening to the music is LONG GONE! ;) ;D
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Vinny, did you inhale? :)
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I would think a sound system for outside would be vastly different than inside. In my living room I have a full 7.1 Energy Veritas speaker setup with an energy 1500 watt sub, all powered by a Pioneer Elite 59Txi receiver. The receiver actually has a microphone that it usess to automatically balance the sound field. It is really fun for movies and dvd-audio discs and HD-tv.
But do I want/need this outside? Not at all. I got a Dolphin waterproof universal remote for my D1 Sarena Bay. It controls the spa functions AND it can be programmed to control an audio system. My intention is to get an inexpensive receiver and some outdoor speakers -- maybe the Bose 251's mentioned earlier, or the larger Yamaha outdoor speakers, or the Mirage outdoor speakers (marketed by the same people that sell my Energy Veritas speakers), and I'll look into the Wave Audio speakers mentioned as well...).
I have VERY picky ears (more a curse than a blessing sometimes), but outside, here in LA, with the neighbor's dogs barking, the planes from LAX flying overhead, the sirens going off -- not to mention the noise of the spa! -- the outdoor speakers will be fine for me, I think.
Larry
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ZZ said, "In recent years we have suffered from the dumbing down of sound quality, ie MP3 which has one tenth the sampling rate of a CD, which sounds fine with ear buds, but a lot of the sound is missing when one listens on a good sound system. Incredibly XM and Sirus digital radio delivers narrow compressed sound, like MP3, so much for faithful high fidelity sound reproduction. Todays digital technology can deliver high quality sound, ie dolby true sound, HD sound, but manufactures are too busy trying to separate us from our money and maximize profits over delivering quality uncompressed sound."
I agree. I just got my first iPod Nano. I call it my "Nono" because it has no quality. I can't believe Apple is going to help me retire by selling these things - who in their right mind can listen to that garbage? I spent one whole day importing my rather sizable CD library, and in the ear buds it was so-so. I took it out on the boat - but I had to connect via a Cassette Adapter, so I figured the crummy sound was due to that and the medium-quality marine speakers.
But I brought it along for this trip to San Francisco I am on, and with my 'Mach' system in my Ford product car - not a bad system actually - I could just about have cried. It was OK if I was just covering up coversation or playing it for background noise, but I went back to the 6-disc CD changer as soon as I wanted to crank it up. I have downloaded my wife's language lessons onto it, and it is hers from this moment on. She is in the other room listening to it as I type this, and it's fine for the spoken word.
I don't even want to think about what it would do to a fine-sounding system like Sundance has, much less the new all-digital Spaudio II system in a HotSpring.
Wow. Sorry for the rant, but I really like clean audio - I agree with the posts above that you need to get what sounds good to you, and that may not be what sounds good to me, but I just can't get over how really BAD Mp3 has turned out to be.
8-)
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Arrrgh....over lunch trying to correct my spelling, I hit the delete post. Sorry to bump this to the top. It wasn't intended.
Paper cones? It's not really the material, but the coils, magnets and spacing than the cone media. You can get great sound off a paper cone. I think it's a non issue. What happend to the mantra "how it sounds?". Oh, we toss that out, if someone says, the Bose bookshelves sound better than just two others speakers of the same size.
Oh...they have paper cones you know.... Grin
As far as the price? Yup. Bose is expsensive.
I think were Bose really offers a great product is maximizing sound, with minimal space. That's the whole theroy behind their surround sound systems. I don't want to get into suround sound here, but iIdo apprecaiate some one who is trying to get a fuller, richer sound for thier TV with a minimal foot print and stylish looks.
Women like thier small foot print? I'm not sure how to take that...It strikes me as odd.
I think alot of auddioiphiles get tripped up that they refuse to accept that someone wants to put something small, and stylish in the home, without a lot of wires and such. The sound quality is good enough for many many people. (Now they turn to the price arguement). It's not so much about the price...I dont want a f#king sub woofer in my darn living room. I don't want friggin tower speakers that look like I am living in a dorm. I don't want to run wires to 5 speakers all over th room. I want 2 small stylish speakers that by themselves can provide a full rich sound.
If your'e looking for a minial speaker system and want to have a full rich sound, bose has some products for you.They're able to provide a richer fuller sound from smaller boxes. True, the lows and highs are cut, but overall
as i said, for someone who wants to put up two speakers and wants decent sound, the Bose products fit the bill for a lot of people. They "screw" with the acosutics but it gives and illusion of a larger system. In the right application, it fits nicely. Price? Eh.
Sometimes I think some "adiophiles" are worse than wine snobs. They don't see the whole picture. On the other side of the coin, folks who bought bose thinking they are the top end sound wise , are ignorant or fooling themselves. But the whole "Bose Sucks" mantra that has come into style I see is not fully understood by many folks, and in many cases misused. But hey, dising the #1 maker of speakers lets others know you're ultra cool. Wink I want somehting nice in my living room. I don't care if you think I spent and extra $100. I really don't.
Anyhow as far outdoor sound, Larry has hit the nail on the head.
I think with all the conventional small drivers mounted to a single plane, are going to let you down in some area.
But yea, sitting outside having a beer, with some tunes, I think I could sell you on the 251s.
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Arrrgh....over lunch trying to correct my spelling, I hit the delete post. Sorry to bump this to the top. It wasn't intended.
Paper cones? It's not really the material, but the coils, magnets and spacing than the cone media. You can get great sound off a paper cone. I think it's a non issue. What happend to the mantra "how it sounds?". Oh, we toss that out, if someone says, the Bose bookshelves sound better than just two others speakers of the same size.
Oh...they have paper cones you know.... Grin
As far as the price? Yup. Bose is expsensive.
I think were Bose really offers a great product is maximizing sound, with minimal space. That's the whole theroy behind their surround sound systems. I don't want to get into suround sound here, but iIdo apprecaiate some one who is trying to get a fuller, richer sound for thier TV with a minimal foot print and stylish looks.
Women like thier small foot print? I'm not sure how to take that...It strikes me as odd.
I think alot of auddioiphiles get tripped up that they refuse to accept that someone wants to put something small, and stylish in the home, without a lot of wires and such. The sound quality is good enough for many many people. (Now they turn to the price arguement). It's not so much about the price...I dont want a f#king sub woofer in my darn living room. I don't want friggin tower speakers that look like I am living in a dorm. I don't want to run wires to 5 speakers all over th room. I want 2 small stylish speakers that by themselves can provide a full rich sound.
If your'e looking for a minial speaker system and want to have a full rich sound, bose has some products for you.They're able to provide a richer fuller sound from smaller boxes. True, the lows and highs are cut, but overall
as i said, for someone who wants to put up two speakers and wants decent sound, the Bose products fit the bill for a lot of people. They "screw" with the acosutics but it gives and illusion of a larger system. In the right application, it fits nicely. Price? Eh.
Sometimes I think some "adiophiles" are worse than wine snobs. They don't see the whole picture. On the other side of the coin, folks who bought bose thinking they are the top end sound wise , are ignorant or fooling themselves. But the whole "Bose Sucks" mantra that has come into style I see is not fully understood by many folks, and in many cases misused. But hey, dising the #1 maker of speakers lets others know you're ultra cool. Wink I want somehting nice in my living room. I don't care if you think I spent and extra $100. I really don't.
Anyhow as far outdoor sound, Larry has hit the nail on the head.
I think with all the conventional small drivers mounted to a single plane, are going to let you down in some area.
But yea, sitting outside having a beer, with some tunes, I think I could sell you on the 251s.
Drewstar buddy,
Bose flagship speaker, the 901's have 9 - 4" speakers with paper cones and foam surrounds, Owners have suffered the fate of having the foam turn to dust within five years of use, requiring every speaker to have new foam surrounds installed .
When you buy a speaker you expect it to last 10 - 15 years or more without material failure, especially at the nose bleed prices Bose charges.
There are lots of mid range speakers out there that will do the job without breaking the bank which have rubber surrounds and quality build..
My interest is getting the best quality sounding speakers at the best price and I don't see Bose meeting that criteria.
Monster cables are another Company that is really big on advertising which results in an extremely overpriced product. ie 6' HDMI cables costing $100 cdn compared to www.monoprice selling for $5.00 usd. What is the difference, Advertising, packaging and markup!
The only way a small footprint speaker can achieve a full range is by being supplimenting them with a sub woofer.
I concede the fact the market is fixated on small foot print and fewer wires, however rear speakers that are wireless, using infrared technology give a very compromised sound. Poor sound quality, narrow range, and no dynamics, very poor bass performance, is the price you pay.
Perhaps what you do not hear you do not miss, however once you know what you are missing that is not so easy. Of course if the speakers are just for back ground elevator music I guess it does not matter.
In places where there is lots of ambient noice, kids, traffic, pump noise, wind etc it is even more important that the sound resolution of the speaker is good.
As many have stated it all has to do with how educated your ear is. The more you listen to a good speaker system, the more difficult it is to go back to an inferior sound. The difference between a transister radio and a stereo or surround system.
I often wonder how our kids hearing is being impaired by listening to close coupled earphones for long periods of time at high volume on ipods which have the potential to do long term damage to their hearing, especially in the higher frequency ranges.
This is not an argument, just a discussion, and I certainly respect your opionion.
Regards, Zz
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So... back to spa audio systems...
I live in a suburb in LA (Hawthorne) and my neighbors are really close to me (proximity wise, anyway). Some I know pretty well, others not so much. I really don't hear any of them playing music in their back yards, and I'm QUITE SURE they wouldn't appreciate me playing a lot of loud music in my spa. I even feel guilty when my spa goes into its automatic filtering mode for an hour at night (1 am right now). So, in my situation I'm envisioning really limited use out of an outdoor music system.
One of my favorite times to hit the spa is when I'm done with meetings and reading tv and so on -- often between 11 pm and midnight is when I get in. I'm sure I couldn't use music then without disturbing someone.
Anyone else live in close quarters and use music much?
Larry
(PS - I agree that the whole mp3 thing is awful. The ONLY thing it does for people is make their music easily accessable (IMHO). When I do download mp3's to my pocket pc/phone, I sample at the highest rate I can and use a big memory card to hold the music. It makes me sad that the whole mp3 craze pretty much killed multi-channel DVD-Audio and SACD discs. Although I just bought a new one last week -- the new Beatles LOVE cd/dvd-audio disc. 8-) )
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Drewstar buddy,
Bose flagship speaker, the 901's have 9 - 4" speakers with paper cones and foam surrounds, Owners have suffered the fate of having the foam turn to dust within five years of use, requiring every speaker to have new foam surrounds installed .
When you buy a speaker you expect it to last 10 - 15 years or more without material failure, especially at the nose bleed prices Bose charges.
There are lots of mid range speakers out there that will do the job without breaking the bank which have rubber surrounds and quality build..
My interest is getting the best quality sounding speakers at the best price and I don't see Bose meeting that criteria.
Monster cables are another Company that is really big on advertising which results in an extremely overpriced product. ie 6' HDMI cables costing $100 cdn compared to www.monoprice selling for $5.00 usd. What is the difference, Advertising and markup!
The only way a small footprint speaker can achieve a full range is by being supplimenting them with a sub woofer.
I concede the fact the market is fixated on small foot print and fewer wires, however rear speakers that are wireless, using infrared technology give a very compromised sound. Poor sound quality is the price you pay.
Perhaps what you do not hear you do not miss, however once you know what you are missing that is not so easy. Of course if the speakers are just for back ground elevator music I guess it does not matter.
In places where there is lots of ambient noice, kids, traffic, pump noise, wind etc it is even more important that the sound resolution of the speaker is good.
As many have stated it all has to do with how educated your ear is. The more you listen to a good speaker system, the more difficult it is to go back to an inferior sound. The difference between a transister radio and a stereo or surround system.
This is not an argument, just a discussion, and I certainly respect your opionion.
Regards, Zz
Well were all over the place here. What started out as speakers for outdoors is now morphed into a psuedo audiophile debate....arrrgh.
Anyhow, the 901's are really considered the flagship of Bose, and you can find some after 30 years still available and for sale. Go ahead and trash em. I understand were you are comming from now. After all, BOSE sucks, right?
But I'm not here to defend the whole Bose product line.
Yes, a small footprint cabinet/speaker can't achieve low frequiencies. That's exactly my point. So what are you going to do? You can go with a subwoofer, or stay with thin tinny sounds or go with the bose.
Go sit on your deck with your 2 bookshelf polks, Hey, they're thin and shallow, but hey, that's what you get without a sub. I'll listen to the bose. BecauseI don't care what the a-philes say. ;)
I need to go write my dad and tell him the wave cd player in his office sucks. It doesn't sound as good as he thinks. (What a fool!).
Bose is able to give the illuison and sense of a larger system via postioning the driver and wave ports. It works pretty damn good, and in some circumstances, it's a great choice. Is it true, full fideltity ? No. But we've been around that.
Ahhh. Never mind....we're going around in cirles.
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I think I qualify pretty well as a "pseudo audiophile" (I think I like that!), but (despite my wife's opinion) I try not to go overboard on it. Sure, in my home theater/main music listening space, I have the best I could afford, all carefully purchased as floor models at the dearly departed Good Guys store out here -- at HUGE discount, I might add... (something like 60% off of list).
But when I went shopping for a new clock radio/ cd player for my bedroom, I went with a Boston Acoustic CD/clock radio model. It uses some similar acoustic tricks that Bose does, and has some electronic gadgetry to boost the bass performance, but I really like it! Don't need surround sound to wake up to.
Not sure I need it in my spa, either. HOWEVER, I did hear some Sundance spa speakers that really sounded nice.
D1 has, I guess, a nice speaker/transducer system that somehow picks up audio from your main stereo. It's about a grand for just the speaker/wireless music receiver system. It wasn't on my floor model spa (yes, that's how I often buy stuff) and they said they couldn't retrofit. I don't believe I've heard a D1 spa sound system.
SO... to beat the last bit of life out of this already dead horse, for the spa sound application, given my close neighbors, I'm not sure I could use it much anyway.
Larry
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The Boston Acoustic radio is the same price as the wave. But folks wont bash that. ;)
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The Boston Acoustic radio is the same price as the wave. But folks wont bash that. ;)
That's kind of my point... they're basically the same thing -- small boxes using acoustic "tricks" to create a big, sound -- and sometimes that's ok, or even preferred!
I also considered the $599 Polk Audio I-Sonic dvd/cd/HD radio/XM satellite redio device... but I just wanted a nice clock radio with cd player, so and even the $425 I spent on the Boston Acoustic unit (yes, I'm a good haggler) seemed over the top.
More on topic... I need to figure out what kind of receiver or maybe amplified cd player to use that can be controlled by my Dolphin learning remote. Best Buy and Circuit City sometimes have floor models pretty cheap...
Larry
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That's kind of my point... they're basically the same thing -- small boxes using acoustic "tricks" to create a big, sound -- and sometimes that's ok, or even preferred!
Larry
Once agian Larry, if i were a nail, you'd be hitting me on the head. ;)
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That's kind of my point... they're basically the same thing -- small boxes using acoustic "tricks" to create a big, sound -- and sometimes that's ok, or even preferred!
Amen! 8-)
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More on topic... I need to figure out what kind of receiver or maybe amplified cd player to use that can be controlled by my Dolphin learning remote. Best Buy and Circuit City sometimes have floor models pretty cheap...
Larry
If you get the chance to listen to the wave audio, do so. You will hear crisp clean highs and great low end, Here at our store we offer the Sherwood 4105 a simple 2 channel receiver 100 watts x 2 .....As for the Bose if you like them great but the 251 which I believe are carried at Best Buy A/B them next to the Klipsch or the JBL both are comparably priced and you hear a big difference, the wave audio will perform as good as either but for about 100.oo dollars less. One more thing yes if you like the small footprint than the Bose are fine but in the outdoor line they are of similar size to the others.
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Vinny, did you inhale? :)
Yes I did!!! 8-) We all did!
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That's kind of my point... they're basically the same thing -- small boxes using acoustic "tricks" to create a big, sound -- and sometimes that's ok, or even preferred!
I also considered the $599 Polk Audio I-Sonic dvd/cd/HD radio/XM satellite redio device... but I just wanted a nice clock radio with cd player, so and even the $425 I spent on the Boston Acoustic unit (yes, I'm a good haggler) seemed over the top.
More on topic... I need to figure out what kind of receiver or maybe amplified cd player to use that can be controlled by my Dolphin learning remote. Best Buy and Circuit City sometimes have floor models pretty cheap...
Larry
$425 for a freakin clock radio - I thought you were a minister. Where the heck do you get that type of money? Divine intervention?
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"Divine intervention..." Something like that...
"Freaking clock radio..." Have you been talking to my wife?????
No... it is a cd music system that also is a clock radio, and a really nice one.
As far as where I get the money... same as anyone, I guess, but in this case, it was some Christmas money I had received, as well as some additional money I came into... I've been shopping off and on for about 6 months for this, and kind of setting a little money aside from time to time (weddings, etc). I saw this one at a Magnolia store and they knocked $75 off it, so I jumped. Circuit City stuck to the list $499 price.
I looked at several Sony radios and the typical stuff at Circuit City/Best Buy... ick. I'd rather wait and get something good than impulse buy the first thing I see. I also considered the Bose radio, but this one was better. My last clock radio lasted 25 years. I'm hopeful of at least 10 out of this one. You could buy several crappy radios or whatever and not ever be happy and always have something failing, or you can try to get something of quality and save a little longer for it. In my experience, the money often works out about the same, but I'm happier with what ever I do end up buying. I really appreciate and use quality stuff -- tools, musical instruments, computers, stereo equipment, spas... whatever. If I'm going to buy something, I won't waste my money on junk, but I will try to get a good deal or something on sale.
See, I mentioned spas in the post so it's on topic...
Larry
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Back to topic...Sundance uses a subwoofer in the equipment compartment. Has anyone tried that in a DIY application?
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I suspect that would take care of the difficulty with lows outside, but I'd be nervous about the rattle: might it shake something loose? My HT sub can rattle my window glass pretty well from 20 feet away.
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There are outdoor subs available, I am unsure as to how effective they would really be, it depends on what your expectations are.