Bose Companion 5

• Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 83 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 10 stars

  Quality and design

  by hchavez on January 10, 2007

  Pros: Crisp clean sound

  Cons: None so far

  Summary: These are the best desktop speakers I have ever listened too. Compared to the speakers I shopped for at COMPUSA these surpassed all of them in design, sound, quality and ...

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  Summary: These are the best desktop speakers I have ever listened too. Compared to the speakers I shopped for at COMPUSA these surpassed all of them in design, sound, quality and easy installation.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Typical BOSE, loud, powerful, nice design

  by georgesycip on December 31, 2006

  Pros: Phenomenal, Loud, Clean, Crisp sound,

  Cons: Pricey and a lil Boomy, Tinny.

  Summary: Coming in from UPS, these things are pretty heavy.
  
  Setup was a piece of cake. All the wires go into the Acoustimass module and all you need to do is
  
  ...

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  Summary: Coming in from UPS, these things are pretty heavy.
  
  Setup was a piece of cake. All the wires go into the Acoustimass module and all you need to do is give it power and plug it into the computer via USB.
  
  So how do these sound? Just a disclaimer.. so I laid out ~$450 (w/tax) for these things so I will nitpick. But don’t misunderstand… they are phenomenal speakers. I’m not an acoustics engineer, (I’m a Civil Engineer ) or anything like that, so I probably couldn’t tell the difference between a $1500 KEF KHT-3005, CNET’s Editor’s Choice 6/6/06 or these Companion 5s… but I can tell you that the Apple iPOD headphones are crapola.
  
  So how do they sound?! They sound just like they did at the store. Clean, Crisp, Powerful; great for something this small. Sort of reminds me of a GAIN commercial. The Acoustimass is a little boomy and the speakers themselves are a bit tinny. I say boomy because your really not suppose to know with your ear where the bass is coming from.. that’s why they tell you to hide it somewhere. I can tell you it is under my desk in the corner of the room.
  
  Since these bad boys connect via USB, it completely bypasses the soundcard and all the wonderful tuning my card was able to do directly. I wish that Windows had a built in EQ or BOSE made some kind of driver utility, something to tune them to compensate for the tinnyness. From the manual, Apple OSX lets you adjust each channel’s volume.. go Apple!
  
  What these speakers definitely made me notice is how bad some of my MP3s really are. Now I know that they had some compression, but these speakers definitely let you know that some of my MP3s are crapola; you hear everything, a little ripple, the gargle of the compression or a quick skip in the file. After a while your head just tunes it out. More importantly though, is watching a movie like Black Hawk Down, now that’s a good movie to judge speakers. Just amazing.
  
  Something that really bothers me about these things is that when I power up the computer from off or standby, the stupid thing goes to mute. I called BOSE and checked the manual and they are designed for this. The control pod has a light that puts out 3 colors. Muted (amber), Active (green), Standby (red). The specialist told me that since these speakers are really loud, they want to make sure that they don’t surprise another user when they power up the computer.
  
  Check this out page 13 from the manual,
  “When both the USB connection from your computer and the input signal of a connected audio source are inactive for several minutes, the system mutes the speakers and switches to Standby. The system returns to the Muted mode when the USB connection becomes active again.”
  
  I have a Media Center PC and I usually power it up from bed or from across the room with the remote. I’ll see if I really hate this auto-mute and return them or can live with them. Yes I know, they’re PC speakers and to get the true surround effect you need to sit front and center… but if I’m listening to music getting dressed or reading…. I really don’t care about how 5.1 sounds.
  
  Otherwise, if you know someone who has everything, the BOSE Companion 5 is a nice gift, though pricey.
  
  To help with the price, BOSE online offers a 12 month 0% interest payment plan that just puts about $40 bucks on my AMEX every month. IE, no application for a new card, no validation of credit etc. Just make sure that you call them up and OPT OUT of any marketing because they’ll sell your info. You can’t opt out when your apply. BOSE does have a strong marketing arm.

  Updated
  returned it because i always needed to unmute the thing every time i used it.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  good system

  by yurg42 on December 25, 2006

  Pros: good sound, easy conect to PC, cool design, no sound card required

  Cons: connection only by USB, bypass sound CARD

  Summary: Good speakers, and sound. Not happy for limited connectivity, only by USB,play only through Window Media Player,if you have good sound card and all fancy features on it, ...

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  Summary: Good speakers, and sound. Not happy for limited connectivity, only by USB,play only through Window Media Player,if you have good sound card and all fancy features on it, you are not to be able to use it. Have this great system for 3 weeks, and going to be returned to store only for that reason, DONT HAVE INPUT from PC sound card.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  I am 50% percent satisfied

  by karl-76 on December 9, 2007

  Pros: Great sound quality for half the music!

  Cons: depending on what song is played, vocal are way too low

  Summary: Well, before buying these speakers, I had regular speakers that had pretty good sound. All my music played back the way it was supposed to. I upgraded to the bose ...

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  Summary: Well, before buying these speakers, I had regular speakers that had pretty good sound. All my music played back the way it was supposed to. I upgraded to the bose companion 5 and now half my music sounds really bad. The problem is that the vocals mainly the main vocal, sounds way too low, while the background instruments overpower eveything. And NO it is not the way the music was mixed originally because with my old speakers I did not have this problem. I called bose and they could not understand why half my music sounded great and the other half sounded crappy. What I think the problem might be is (one) the speakers are meant to play back as a 5.1 virtual sound and it is affecting a lot of the music by bringing out sounds that should be lower or (two)the audio files that I have were downloaded in different file formats and so the speakers dont sound good in those formats. Either way, I spent almost $500.00 with tax and insurance protection and I am not getting my money's worth. Spendin that much, I expect perfection on everything that has great audio quality from the begining. If anybody knows what the problem might be, please comment on it or emaiil me at karl-76 @excite.com

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  2 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 5 stars

  Good But Overpriced

  by MidwestMacGuy on January 23, 2010

  Pros: Nice design. Overall good sound.

  Cons: PRICE!! How much for a COMPUTER speaker system? Don't be hosed by Bose. There are other options that sound almost as good or even better for a lot less money.

  Summary: I am a perfectionist and went to several stores and listened to all the computer speaker systems. The Bose is good, but there are several others that sound almost as ...

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  Summary: I am a perfectionist and went to several stores and listened to all the computer speaker systems. The Bose is good, but there are several others that sound almost as good for less than half the price, and a few that sound just as good or better for a lot less. Bose spends a lot of money for fancy displays for demoing their speakers at the retail stores and they want you to think their stuff is worth the extra money, but if you really listen to the competition, you'll find computer speakers that will be really good and your wallet won't be nearly as empty.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Yes, the sound is engineered, but boy, it is *darn* good engineering!

  by unsocialized1 on January 3, 2007

  Pros: Amazing, ubelievable soundstate and 5.1 processing w/ such small speakers

  Cons: Mac support is occasionally flaky (Bose speakers drop out from sound output options)

  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  If wou want great sound, invest 400 dollars/euros!

  by Mindfreek on May 10, 2012

  Pros: - amazing sound
  - small speakers, loud and big subwoofer
  - easy set up

  Cons: - no multiple sound input

  Summary: In short: These speakers are amazing for normal use. Music, movies, games, they all sound perfect! But, if you want studio sound you better buy some speakers from B&...

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  Summary: In short: These speakers are amazing for normal use. Music, movies, games, they all sound perfect! But, if you want studio sound you better buy some speakers from B&W. Bose has his own equalizer to let it sound better, but because of that it is not studio quality. You have to like it, highs and lows are bit louder.
  I find them amazing. Best investment yet!

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• 8 stars

  Great sound quality
  Perfect for Laptops & Desktops

  by sunclep on May 9, 2012

  Pros: Nice Treble & Base
  Easy to install
  Sleek looking tweeters

  Cons: - Expensive

• 6 stars

  Best used for Gaming/Movies not Music

  by ajtrek on May 1, 2012

  Pros: Attractive Design
  Small Footprint
  Well Built
  Easy Setup
  Good for Games and Movies with 5.1 encoding

  Cons: Over priced
  Not a good choice for listeninig to music
  Volume controller could use an LED to indicate level

  Summary: Purcahsed the Bose Companion 5 system to go with my Late 2009 iMac. Easy setup with decent instructions for the novice. Sonic reproduction for games and moives (for simulated surround)...

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  Summary: Purcahsed the Bose Companion 5 system to go with my Late 2009 iMac. Easy setup with decent instructions for the novice. Sonic reproduction for games and moives (for simulated surround)is good. Although the astute listener won't be fooled into thinking that there are speakers behind him or her.
  
  When listening to music the system fails by adding coloration to a two-channel source. Vocals have too much reverb and sometimes sound hollow with an echo effect. Music listeninig in general is mediocre. Highs and mid-range tend to mell and sound shallow. Bass is booming and lacks punch and tightness. Would easily recommend this system to someome looking for a good gaming speaker setup or watching movies with 5.1 encoding on their computer.
  
  A better choice for music listening are the BX5D2's by M-Audio. They are somewhat bulky at 7 x 7.5 x 10 (W x D x H). However they do an excellent job when playing music and produce a studio quality flat response. They also perform quite well with games and moives but not as well as the Bose Companion 5's. However, they don't do anything poorly enough to make me look elsewhere. Did I mention they cost $100 less than the Bose Companion 5 system.

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• 10 stars

  3 years of musical bliss from these incredible speakers

  by arkangel_3 on January 3, 2012

  Pros: Fantastic highs, mid range, and bass. Crisp and clean sound for movies, music and games. If you set these up correctly according to manufacturers instructions and find the "sweet spot" by your computer the reproduce 5.1 faithfully.

  Cons: If you don't set these up correctly, they will not give you the incredible sound you may have heard when you bought them in the store. Bose is VERY serious about distance between speakers, placement, and listener positioning.

  Summary: As i said, once you set these up correctly you will hear sounds coming from above you and behind you. I listened to Wendy Carlos' "Sonic Seasonings", and that was ...

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  Summary: As i said, once you set these up correctly you will hear sounds coming from above you and behind you. I listened to Wendy Carlos' "Sonic Seasonings", and that was what I used to calibrate the correct positioning of the speakers. Once that was done I sat back and was absolutely floored at the imaging. They sound excellent with any kind of music. I'm not a big time gamer, but they sound very good in that regard; certainly better than any set of speakers I ever had. As far as movies go, they are amazing; and you WILL get a 5.1 experience provided your computer can decode 5.1 (or external DVD Player) and you set the speakers up correctly. It is not difficult to do that; just follow Bose's instructions to the letter and make a tweak here and there and you'll have yourself the most amazing set of computer speakers imaginable. I listen to so much music on these that they are starting to give my "A" System serious competition.
  
  By all means, spend the money. They are worth every single penny I paid for them three years ago.

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