Old Bose speakers and lossless audio - Blu-ray Forum

mogumbo · 02-21-2008, 10:32 PM

I'm think of getting a new amp such as a Sony DG910 or Onkyo TS-SR605 so that I can hear the lossless audio on blu-ray. I have a 7-year-old Acoustimass 6 series II speaker set from Bose. It's their 5.1 system with 5 single-cube speakers and a base unit.

Would these speakers be high enough quality for me to hear the difference with lossless audio? If PCM still sounds the same as DTS or Dolby Pro Logic then I might have to think about upgrading speakers too.

gearyt · 02-22-2008, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogumbo

I'm think of getting a new amp such as a Sony DG910 or Onkyo TS-SR605 so that I can hear the lossless audio on blu-ray. I have a 7-year-old Acoustimass 6 series II speaker set from Bose. It's their 5.1 system with 5 single-cube speakers and a base unit.

Would these speakers be high enough quality for me to hear the difference with lossless audio? If PCM still sounds the same as DTS or Dolby Pro Logic then I might have to think about upgrading speakers too.

You're going to love the improvement.. but it will cause you to want to upgrade the speakers next

Clark Kent · 02-22-2008, 03:12 AM

Yeah once you go lossless you'll want to upgrade your speakers. It's a vicious cycle like that.

mogumbo · 02-22-2008, 06:02 AM

Oh yeah, I know I'll *want* to upgrade them

I just don't know if I'll *need* to upgrade them. If a new amp that handles PCM gives me a noticeable improvement then I'll be able to wait for a while before upgrading speakers.

Canada · 02-22-2008, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Yeah once you go lossless you'll want to upgrade your speakers. It's a vicious cycle like that.

Technology is just a big pain in the butt huh. I want to upgrade my Sony's and get some Paradigms.

Apparently Sony makes really good visual stuff ie TV's but there audio stuff especially speakers leaves somthing to be desired.

hoogoosedmoose41 · 02-22-2008, 07:03 AM

no offense but those bose cubes arent good for much other than paperweights... upgrading to something other than bose will net you a tremendous difference in sound quality.
then again they might not be good as paperweights because they have no weight to them.
that being said upgradeitus does suck... id live with them until i can afford something decent.

beakergeek · 03-02-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogumbo

Oh yeah, I know I'll *want* to upgrade them

I just don't know if I'll *need* to upgrade them. If a new amp that handles PCM gives me a noticeable improvement then I'll be able to wait for a while before upgrading speakers.

I would upgrade your speakers ASAP, you will notice a bigger difference upgrading your speakers than you will going to PCM. Bose speakers are the biggest rip off in sound today! They make the drivers out of paper and the cube plus sub setup misses most of the midrange frequencies because neither can reproduce sound in that range, so you are not hearing all the sound!

"Bose, better sales through marketing"

dave-137 · 03-02-2008, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoogoosedmoose41

no offense but those bose cubes arent good for much other than paperweights... upgrading to something other than bose will net you a tremendous difference in sound quality.
then again they might not be good as paperweights because they have no weight to them.
that being said upgradeitus does suck... id live with them until i can afford something decent.

So true bose is over rated No highs no lows must be bose please no offense

red_5ive · 03-02-2008, 05:13 PM

I'm not here to rag on Bose, but I do agree with the others that you'd do better investing your money into a better speaker system. Apart from the lack of midrange that was mentioned, the bass module really isn't a subwoofer in that it is intended as a full range bass driver so that it can also drive mid-bass frequencies that the cubes could never reproduce. In that regard it doesn't properly isolate LFE signals of movie soundtracks. I think you'd definitely notice more of a difference upgrading your speakers vs. keeping the acoustimass and upgrading to a receiver with lossless capability.

Tyler2106 · 03-02-2008, 05:51 PM

I would upgrade the speakers first...then get the receiver...you going to hear a much bigger difference with new speakers...speakers first, room treatment second and then electronics last...

crackinhedz · 03-02-2008, 06:00 PM

Quote:

...speakers first, room treatment second and then electronics last...

I think thats a little beyond the OP intentions.

gregory · 03-02-2008, 06:40 PM

Check out the speakers at www.ascendacoustics.com Very reasonably priced and very high quality.

tracy · 03-02-2008, 06:47 PM

For what it's worth, in my recent experience what I did first was upgrade my sony receiver to the Onkyo 705. Then I proceeded to upgrade my Bose with new Polks all the way around. The difference in sound is simply incredible. You really don't realize what you're missing until you upgrade from the Bose. My Polks are not top of the line by any means, but they definately blow the Bose away.

un4gvn94538 · 03-02-2008, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by red_5ive

I'm not here to rag on Bose, but I do agree with the others that you'd do better investing your money into a better speaker system. Apart from the lack of midrange that was mentioned, the bass module really isn't a subwoofer in that it is intended as a full range bass driver so that it can also drive mid-bass frequencies that the cubes could never reproduce. In that regard it doesn't properly isolate LFE signals of movie soundtracks. I think you'd definitely notice more of a difference upgrading your speakers vs. keeping the acoustimass and upgrading to a receiver with lossless capability.

big reason why i didnt like my old bose speakers and sold them. very big difference

Tyler2106 · 03-02-2008, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

I think thats a little beyond the OP intentions.

what are you talking about? I take it you don't treat your room for reflections which if you do does make a big difference...

Oh and I was just saying that room treatment is more important then spending $500-700 on a reciever...people don't realize how important calibrating your speakers and how important room treatments are...if people would calibrate and treat their rooms they would be surprised how good their speakers really are...

mogumbo · 03-02-2008, 07:54 PM

Thanks for all the good comments guys. I just tried out PCM for myself at a friend's house the other day on a Sony STR-DA5300ES with some old Energy Take 5 speakers. It was pretty impressive. I could tell the most difference watching At World's End, and some difference with Hellboy and 300. We did the whole blind test thing, very scientific

Looks like my plan now is to grab a Sony STR-DG920 after they come out in June (I like its feature set a lot) and upgrade speakers once I get a larger room for my entertainment system (hopefully in the not-too-distant-future). I figure I won't think too hard about speakers until I know what space I'll be putting them into.

Having never compared the Bose speakers side-by-side with anything else, I can't say anything about quality. But they've served me well and the form factor is great. They'll make good hand-me-downs for my parents or someone.

musicman1999 · 03-02-2008, 10:03 PM

I don't think you will notice much difference with those speakers, i would change them first.Your buddy's Energy speakers are much better than yours, if you can take your speakers to his place and try them out with his Sony.I don't think you will be impressed.

bill

crackinhedz · 03-02-2008, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Oh and I was just saying that room treatment is more important then spending $500-700 on a reciever...people don't realize how important calibrating your speakers and how important room treatments are...

no, I agree.

Just when you said room treatment, i'm thinking carpetting vs. woodfloors, room pressure, drapes on walls...etc

But I agree, trying to get your room in as good a listening environment as possible is important. I just read it differently.

Tyler2106 · 03-03-2008, 12:41 AM

There is a lot to room treatments...what I was referring to is sound absorbers...treat the reflections from your speakers so the sound doesn't reflect and make it sound distorted...I wasn't happy with my speakers until I calibrated them and put some sound absorbers up and what a difference that made...I speaker probably $150 and materials for the sound absorbers and for the sound pressure level...after everything was done I couldn't be happier with my speakers...I was goign to spend $1000 on fronts until I did these things...

02-21-2008, 10:32 PM	#1
mogumbo Member Member since:Jan 2008	Old Bose speakers and lossless audio I'm think of getting a new amp such as a Sony DG910 or Onkyo TS-SR605 so that I can hear the lossless audio on blu-ray. I have a 7-year-old Acoustimass 6 series II speaker set from Bose. It's their 5.1 system with 5 single-cube speakers and a base unit. Would these speakers be high enough quality for me to hear the difference with lossless audio? If PCM still sounds the same as DTS or Dolby Pro Logic then I might have to think about upgrading speakers too.

03-02-2008, 06:40 PM	#12
gregory Junior Member Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jun 2007 Home Theater Gallery:6 Trading Score:1	Definately upgrade! Check out the speakers at www.ascendacoustics.com Very reasonably priced and very high quality.

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02-22-2008, 03:12 AM	#3
Clark Kent Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Oct 2007 Location:Metropolis Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:184	Yeah once you go lossless you'll want to upgrade your speakers. It's a vicious cycle like that.

02-22-2008, 06:02 AM	#4
mogumbo Member Member since:Jan 2008	Oh yeah, I know I'll want to upgrade them I just don't know if I'll need to upgrade them. If a new amp that handles PCM gives me a noticeable improvement then I'll be able to wait for a while before upgrading speakers.

02-22-2008, 07:03 AM	#6
hoogoosedmoose41 Senior Member Member since:Feb 2008 Blu-ray collection:308 DVD collection:103	no offense but those bose cubes arent good for much other than paperweights... upgrading to something other than bose will net you a tremendous difference in sound quality. then again they might not be good as paperweights because they have no weight to them. that being said upgradeitus does suck... id live with them until i can afford something decent.

03-02-2008, 05:13 PM	#9
red_5ive Blu-ray Champion Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 Location:The 'state' of Southern California Home Theater Gallery:18 4K collection:364 Blu-ray collection:996 DVD collection:4 Blu-ray reviews: 2 Trading Score:1	I'm not here to rag on Bose, but I do agree with the others that you'd do better investing your money into a better speaker system. Apart from the lack of midrange that was mentioned, the bass module really isn't a subwoofer in that it is intended as a full range bass driver so that it can also drive mid-bass frequencies that the cubes could never reproduce. In that regard it doesn't properly isolate LFE signals of movie soundtracks. I think you'd definitely notice more of a difference upgrading your speakers vs. keeping the acoustimass and upgrading to a receiver with lossless capability.

03-02-2008, 05:51 PM	#10
Tyler2106 Active Member Member since:Mar 2008 Location:Nebraska	I would upgrade the speakers first...then get the receiver...you going to hear a much bigger difference with new speakers...speakers first, room treatment second and then electronics last...

03-02-2008, 06:47 PM	#13
tracy Active Member Member since:Oct 2007 Location:In a quiet burb.. 4K collection:13 Blu-ray collection:68	For what it's worth, in my recent experience what I did first was upgrade my sony receiver to the Onkyo 705. Then I proceeded to upgrade my Bose with new Polks all the way around. The difference in sound is simply incredible. You really don't realize what you're missing until you upgrade from the Bose. My Polks are not top of the line by any means, but they definately blow the Bose away.

03-02-2008, 07:54 PM	#16
mogumbo Member Member since:Jan 2008	Thanks for all the good comments guys. I just tried out PCM for myself at a friend's house the other day on a Sony STR-DA5300ES with some old Energy Take 5 speakers. It was pretty impressive. I could tell the most difference watching At World's End, and some difference with Hellboy and 300. We did the whole blind test thing, very scientific Looks like my plan now is to grab a Sony STR-DG920 after they come out in June (I like its feature set a lot) and upgrade speakers once I get a larger room for my entertainment system (hopefully in the not-too-distant-future). I figure I won't think too hard about speakers until I know what space I'll be putting them into. Having never compared the Bose speakers side-by-side with anything else, I can't say anything about quality. But they've served me well and the form factor is great. They'll make good hand-me-downs for my parents or someone.

03-02-2008, 10:03 PM	#17
musicman1999 Active Member Member since:Nov 2007	I don't think you will notice much difference with those speakers, i would change them first.Your buddy's Energy speakers are much better than yours, if you can take your speakers to his place and try them out with his Sony.I don't think you will be impressed. bill

03-03-2008, 12:41 AM	#19
Tyler2106 Active Member Member since:Mar 2008 Location:Nebraska	There is a lot to room treatments...what I was referring to is sound absorbers...treat the reflections from your speakers so the sound doesn't reflect and make it sound distorted...I wasn't happy with my speakers until I calibrated them and put some sound absorbers up and what a difference that made...I speaker probably $150 and materials for the sound absorbers and for the sound pressure level...after everything was done I couldn't be happier with my speakers...I was goign to spend $1000 on fronts until I did these things...

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