Bose Companion 5

Summary: <p>I use to have Logitech Z-560 400 watt 4.1 speakers before I spent the big bucks on these Bose Companion 5's. Yeah, $399 plus tax. ...

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Summary: <p>I use to have Logitech Z-560 400 watt 4.1 speakers before I spent the big bucks on these Bose Companion 5's. Yeah, $399 plus tax. It was just time for a change. I have an enormous 70GB digital music collection and about 500 DVD's that I wanted to treat better on my 24" iMac. I was also done with all the wires involved with 4.1 and 5.1 PC Speaker systems. </p>

<p>What 2.1 speaker systems was a I looking at before purchasing these gems? I looked, read reviews for, and listened to the Logitech Z-2300, Klipsch 2.1, and Altec Lansing FX6021. At first I was concerned with wattage until I listened to the Altec Lansing FX6021 with only 75 watts total RMS. When I heard these I realized that wattage really meant nothing. 200 watts was bull. I really wanted speakers that made my movies sound crisp, clear, and realistic even at low volumes. I kept myself away from Bose just because of the prices. I was really close to ordering the FX6021's at $175 on Amazon, but I decided that I should really listen to the Bose Companion 3 Series ll, and the Companion 5's. The Bose store was close by, so I went. The Companion 3 Series ll were incredible. But I can afford to spend more, so I went with the Companion 5's. I was sold within a few minutes and within 10 minutes walked out with my new speakers. I'm so happy with me that I can't describe it in words.</p>

<p>I've never listened to speakers like these in my life. There really isn't much to say. They are insane. Don't listen to all this hype about the "Bose" name bringing the price up. Just go to a Bose store and listen for yourself. If you like, and can afford them, then buy them, you won't be sorry. You'll probably keep them forever. Good luck in your speaker search! I found mine after looking long and hard!!</p>

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Summary: One, is HIGH END AUDIO is not sold at the Wal-Mart of Electronics. Two, Listen to others before you buy, not that because Paul Harvey Owns One, being paid to ...

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Summary: One, is HIGH END AUDIO is not sold at the Wal-Mart of Electronics. Two, Listen to others before you buy, not that because Paul Harvey Owns One, being paid to get marketing by. I have listened to Bose Home speakers for awhile, and the home products they sell can be worthwhile, to worthless. The companion 5 has a nice presentable soundstage to offer with games and movies, as the two areas this system really feels good with. Musically I found trouble to find a presetable sound stage that was not all over the place. But again, These speakers are intended for movies and games to give surround feel for less wires and two speakers. Reason I give this system a 7. If you like music try the BIG Three THX certified speakers from Logitech, Creative, and Klipsch, and you can at least get some sound differences to listen to. Hey, you might even like the Bose Better. All I am saying is , I was a victim of marketing from Bose, buying on the spot. But when I listened to other comapanies and finally got the Bose rythym out of my head I say theres a vast world of speakers, and its technology out there. Just give all a fair try without comming to the conclusion, that This is the best. Check out the editors pick and TONS of reviews on the the Big Three. I have the Klipsch Promedia THX and I rate them better than the Bose, so does the editors, same goes with the Logitechs and the Creatives, which the editors rank those better than the Klispch. Price versus Performance. The pro Medias at Best Buy are $169.99 I bought mine the day after thanksgiving for $92.00 out the door. But if you are looking to pay $400.00 look at all your options because in this technological world Price does not mean everything.

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Summary: I got these computer speakers as a birthday gift after having them on my list for two years. As an acoustical engineer, I can say that the Bose crew did ...

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Summary: I got these computer speakers as a birthday gift after having them on my list for two years. As an acoustical engineer, I can say that the Bose crew did their research on this model. If you set the speakers up in the configuration as per the instruction manual, the sound field is very wide and crisp. However, the "hideaway" bass speaker is actually quite chunky and will be difficult for most people to actually hide. And the satellite speakers are quite attached to their (slightly awkward) 6" tall stands and don't allow for wall mounting. So expect to see some wires.

I'm not going to delve into the sound. If you've heard Bose, you know it's crisp, clean and even. You can pump the bass if that's your style, but don't expect to use this system for MC'ing/dance parties/other loud functions because it just isn't that loud. The surround emulation is very good, but make sure you have a DVD decoder with 5.1 decoding otherwise you won't get the full effect! (Try NVidia Purevideo)

My favorite part of this system is the USB connection. It completely bypasses the need for a high-end sound card, so you can use this with your laptop and it still sounds fantastic! You'll need a 3.5 to 3.5 mm cable to play an ipod or CD player, but it sounds just as good as the USB connection.

My least favorite part about the system is the control pod. The "tap" surface sometimes requires several taps to activate, and you can't mount it sideways. I wish instead of muting the system with a tap, you could customize it to skip to the next track on your playlist (or whatever you choose). However, the circular volume is beautifully articulated and the pod is heavy enough to stay in one place even on a mildly slanted keyboard tray.

Overall, these expensive speakers are worth their weight in the sound quality alone. If they were slightly more customizable, I might give them a 10. P.S.- these speakers are $50 off at Bose outlet stores!

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Summary: Having now heard these speakers in several different venues...Bose Store, Best Buy/Circut City, and of course some of the more pricey electronic stores, I'm truly impressed by ...

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Summary: Having now heard these speakers in several different venues...Bose Store, Best Buy/Circut City, and of course some of the more pricey electronic stores, I'm truly impressed by the sound. At first glance the speakers are a visual feast for the eyes and the sound quality matches it!

Playing off of their fantastically popular 3.2.1. home-theatre packages, the companion 5's use Bose's proprietary True-Space technology to give the listener a very realistic (though sometimes slightly tinny if you don't adjust the tones out of the box) simulated surround sound.

IF that was all it came with I'd be happy but the Companion 5's also come with an all-in-one pod for volume control, single-touch mute (an especially nice touch), headphone jack and an auxiliary input.

Obviously this setup is not for those who want true surround sound (who has that much time?) and the price is typical Bose, which will turn people off, but overall the speakers are great. Change the settings and you'll have a great surround set-up for movies, video games etc.

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Summary: I'm not sure I like these as much as my old Companion 3s, but they do offer a convincing surround sound. They do work, but you have to forget ...

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Summary: I'm not sure I like these as much as my old Companion 3s, but they do offer a convincing surround sound. They do work, but you have to forget about the expereince of a full 5 speaker system, no two speaker system can do that. I will say these are the best 2 speaker computer speakers on the market.. maybe overpriced a little... but thats the same with any high end brand.

They do not distort, how that user got them to distort I dont know? Mine dont at all?

They provide a clear sound, bass is not heavy, but more balanced... it's pretty loud but the bass is a little weak at times. However, the acoustimass is very tuneful and offers a nice bass tone to music.

The speakers are nicely designed, and from past experience Bose tech support is second to none - but I've never had to return a Bose product so reliability seems good.

I wouldnt expect any less at this price, but I think the sound is decent... not the best, not the worst.. for computer speakers they are good.

The control pod is nice too.. overall I like the system.

For true movie watching.. I'd get a proper home cinema system - not the Companion 5s.

For stereo I'm pretty sure the Companion 3s would be all you need.

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Summary: Keep in mind that with the Companion 5's you are not getting "computer speakers" - for that I recommend the Companion 3. What you are buying here is a ...

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Summary: Keep in mind that with the Companion 5's you are not getting "computer speakers" - for that I recommend the Companion 3. What you are buying here is a digital signal processor (DSP) with speakers. Your enjoyment will depend heavily on what your primary use of this system will be. If you play a lot of games and watch movies, and don't listen to music that much, the Companion 5 cannot be beat. But if you are like me, and spend a lot of time listening to music from iTunes while you work on your computer, the DSP, while attempting to give depth to the music alters the sound and makes it muddy. I had to crank the high frequencies to even hear them, but they still lacked clarity. I returned the system to Bose. If there was a way to turn off the DSP when desired, I would still own these.

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Summary: I was tired of dealing with large speaker components and wires, so I thought I would try the bose companion 5. The sound is excellent when playing games, but lacks ...

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Summary: I was tired of dealing with large speaker components and wires, so I thought I would try the bose companion 5. The sound is excellent when playing games, but lacks in all other areas.
The control module is great, they look fantastic, but they are not the quality sound of the Klipsch speakers I was using before. Having to set the sound card to just basics also leaves no room for customizing the sound as I had been able to do before.
Considering the price, I think they are average and not quite worth the money.

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Summary: The Bose Companion 5's are an interesting product, the attempt to solve a very tricky problem of desktop sound. As far as mids, highs, and lows go, the bose ...

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Summary: The Bose Companion 5's are an interesting product, the attempt to solve a very tricky problem of desktop sound. As far as mids, highs, and lows go, the bose reproduce them all very well. The sound however (as is the nature with speakers) tends to blend into a not so satisfactory cacophony. With high end headphones or speakers with the minimalist amount of focus one should be able to "dissect" what is being presented from the resonance of the string section or the chime of symbols. This however is not the case with the Bose, creating a "non-expansive" soundstage. That aside, the music is warm and cohesive.

My main gripes with this system are the inability to run an offboard dac or preamp. This is a problem because if one has a dedicated dac (digital to analog converter) that also upsamples and has asynchronous clocking( such as some of the headroom dac's), the resultant analog wave would be supreme in comparison to the wave created by the Bose onboard dac. This is also a problem because having the dac and amplifier in close vacinity to one another is comparative to holding a magnet near a hard-drive, the electical pulses (1's and 0's) being "translated" are actually lost before they change phase into their analog counter parts, making a lesser sound. The other issues I have are with the reluctance of Bose to discuss what sampling rates, opamps, preamps, dac chip, capacitors, and etc etc they are using. For half of a thousand dollars i'd atleast like to know what kind of parts i am getting =). The other issue is the lack of both analog (thats the dac argument above) and digital inputs. Different digital inputs such as coaxial (for longer runs) or my preference, optical inputs. This would be nice because usb is not line-level and has both bus timing issues and hits a bus capacity for data throughput.
All in all the bose accomplish what they were meant to do, but are not perfect. My opinion would be to invest in a pair of nice headphones (AKG 701's or Shure 530's or Sennheisers 650's are all highly recommended, headphone.com is an interesting site if you pick this route) and an ampstack (such as the microstack from headroom) for desktop listening, but for all those would be speaker afficionados out there, the bose companion 5 is a nice system that has a pleasant tonal quality and a few minor setbacks. (remember encode in lossless or WAV, or use CD's =D).

7 out of 10

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Summary: Well,Its my 2cond Pair of Multimedia Bose and i realy pleased whit it, it realy fills my living room i must said its better Home theather Than anyone on ...

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Summary: Well,Its my 2cond Pair of Multimedia Bose and i realy pleased whit it, it realy fills my living room i must said its better Home theather Than anyone on the market for less than 250usd,i was realy surprised of that 5.1effect.
As far of music goes instrumental music will have a great sound,but for vocals you can hear a small echo,
A Nice wirless remote would have add good value...
I will recomend it, also check the new JBL Encounter if you want Music Only....

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Summary: So, I have been wanting these speakers for a while now. Any review concerning Bose products are vastly mixed on the internet. So, I thought I should post a little ...

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Summary: So, I have been wanting these speakers for a while now. Any review concerning Bose products are vastly mixed on the internet. So, I thought I should post a little review, for those considering this system

I have had the Harmon Kardon Soundsticks 2, for about 2 years. I thought they were great. So, I was hesitant for a long time before considering getting another speaker system. Recently, I got a multimedia laptop (HP HDX) which has a huge 20" screen and HD capabilities. I thought this is the time to invest in a surround sound system.

The Logitech Z5500 seems to be the most highly recommended surround system on the PC. I think they cost around £200. My friend has it, and personally, I thought they were very boomy, and the sound not incredibly detailed. They were good in games and movies, but I didnt like the music sound. I am a passionate classical music listener, and it didnt sound too great.

Back to Bose. Surround sound from 2 speakers, really? Does it work? I was skeptical for sure. I expected them to sound good, but not really sure about how the surround would work.

First off, the sound quality is fantastic. The sound is detailed, rich, and not too boomy. I have read reports that its not loud enough. I cant get anywhere near full volume without the room shaking. The bose volume wheel does not control the output sound from windows. Make sure you set that to 100 volume, or I suppose it could be quiet.

All music sounds brilliant, especially classical and opera.

As with the issue of surround sound, it does work very well if you are at your computer. You need a good source, so watch a film with lots of surround effects. Black Hawk Down, Superman Returns, Armageddon, all have scenes with great effects. You also get a Bose demo disc, which is great. The scene from Hero will have you stunned!

Are these speakers worth £279? Are they more than twice better than the soundsticks which cost £100? I dont know. They are better in terms of sound quality for sure. The quality of the craftsmenship here though is exquisite. Brushed metal speakers, the control unit, the nice sub. It all adds to the value. And Bose customer service is superb. If these break anytime in your warranty (2yrs), they'll be fixed/replaced quickly and efficiently.

If your interested in these, and can afford it, I say go ahead and buy. Remember, you get a 30 day trial, and if you dont like them, you get a full refund. I wish other companies would offer that. Demo'ing in a store, is no comparison to extensive listening in your own environment.

Personally, I have 16days left in my trial, but I fully plan on keeping them. It brings a whole level of depth in my favourite music and films, which I didnt know existed.

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