Bose speakers in lieu of studio monitors

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pugu

New member
Hello. I'm outside the US trying to set up my studio--and was hoping to pick up some studio monitors here, but they are very expensive (over $500 for what would be less than $100 in the states) (Mine were too big to bring with me). So I was looking for alternatives. I came across a Bose store--where they sell computer speakers for $170 ($100 in the US). These are them:

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=...stems/computer_speakers/companion_2/index.jsp

They are computer speakers and not the 'pro' equipment that bose also makes.

So instead of running studio monitors out of my audio interface (Presonsus Firebox), I will run the speakers out of the headphone jack on my computer.

Has anyone done this? Will the sounds be reasonablely accurate to do mixing or do I have to shell out $500 or so? If it makes any difference, I'm running Logic.

Thanks for your help and insights!
 
Depends

It depends on what you intend to do with your music. If just for your own pleasure and you aren't real picky save your money. Now for the big BUT, if you are giving other people access to your music or you are going to listen to it on other sources( your car, boombox etc.) then you're going to need monitors to get a proper translation of your mix.:)
 
Thanks Bluebird. Anyone know just how bad they are? I do plan to mix and burn a cd to be played in all sorts of machines, like probably most folks here...
 
How does that old saying go? All highs, no lows, gotta be Bose. Something like that. Anyway, I would never think about using any B"l"ose for mixing. There has to be another reasonable option for you. Keep looking around. Perhaps you can find some cheap M-audio or Mackie's or something similar. I'd bet there are other options, unless you're in the middle of the dessert.
 
bryantx512 said:
Anyway, I would never think about using any B"l"ose for mixing.
Click to expand...

Forget mixing; I would never consider Bose for listening to music!

I think the saying used to be "No highs, no lows", but I'd say thats now changed in the opposite direction - hand over a suitable lump of cash and you get a lovely integrated mega-awesome super- expensive smiley-face frequency response built in as standard on every product! Lovely hyped highs and boomy lows... well, lots of low-mids from a highly-tuned, small-driver sub to give the impression of a strong low-end. All of this adds up to a set of speakers which sound, err, awesome... worth every penny! :p

The only Bose products I have an ounce of respect for are the 802s, and the active noise canceling headphones intended for comms on light aircraft and helicopters - I was pleasantly surprised about the effectiveness of the noise cancellation in a really noisy location, though only for speech... I would never want to listen to music through them!


Seriously, you've given some rough figures, but what's the realistic top-end of your budget? And where about in the world are you?
 
I agree with most of the posters. Contemporary Bose products have very exaggerated frequency response curves and simply cannot be counted on to give you a mix that will translate on to other speakers.

That being said, I have a pair of Series III 601's from the early 80s in my media room for listening and as the foward 2 drivers in a 5.1 system. This was the last pair of speakers that Bose built that was worth a damn, and they are a joy to listen to...very honest, without the hyped bottom end but capable of some serious low end action.
 
If you are handy at assembling speaker kits, Parts Express has a pair of monitor speakers in kit form for about $160.00. I purchased a pair and assembled them in less then a day. They sound reasonably well for their price - not pro but better then any Bose speaker i have heard.
Geoley
 
Thanks

Thanks everyone for your insights. That was my gut--which is why i guess i didn't just buy them outright....i'll find an alternative!
 
easiest/cheapest alternative is just to keep watching craigslist free. I mean REALLY keep watching it, as it setup an RSS reader with the free section with the search term SPEAKERS and setup the rss reader to update at LEAST as often as every minute.

That's how I've gotten so many great speakers for free (energy ESM (2 pairs), infinity RS-6B (HOLY MOLY, shockingly amazing speakers with planar/ribbon tweeters, dome mids and poly cone woofers from the 80s), denon three way speakers (meh - better than your bose). koss model 60 dyna-mite wood enclosured mini speakers (hell, also better than bose). mirage speakers (nice, like energy's stuff, accurate and smooth, good for cheapo monitors). erm, what else... some small yamaha speakers (smooth but a little rolled off in highs and lows with this pair), oh so many others.

Also free amps/receivers (yamaha, technics, all very accurate studio quality stuff but geared for home use in the 70s/80s).

So if you play your cards right and spend some time you can score big time deals.

PEople unload "big old speakers, old school" on craigslist all the time no realizing that they're downgrading considerably to their modern crappy bose mini systems or whatever.

Take advantage of the situation.

I don't use these speakers for most of my monitoring duties, more for a/b stuff and for my surround mixing setup. I own some E/V studio monitors for mixing. but hell, you could do way worse.
 
Dkelley!! Great info. Just getting into the home recording bit...my brother and I figured all the money we have dumped into studio time could have more than funded a small but effective home studio. Thanks to everyone for the info...I'm sure this is another thread but was looking at a refurbished Mac...the Roland 880 has bitten the dust so many times, figured it was time to move up.....yes...we are the one of the few that avoided computer set ups...just a lot of crap with wires and cables everywhere seemed like it looked more important and professional (alright...stop laughing already :-\ )
 
Bose employs too much acoustic trickery in their speaker designs. You'd want a more conventional speaker design if you wanted to try to get away with using them as monitors.
 
diggy_dude said:
Bose employs too much acoustic trickery in their speaker designs. You'd want a more conventional speaker design if you wanted to try to get away with using them as monitors.
Click to expand...

True. What was that old saying .... All highs and no lows ... must be Bose. :D







:cool:
 
Studio monitors are just that, otherwise they would be called computer speakers.

Kinda like asking if a screwdriver can be used to pound nails?
 
You could also look for 2nd hand higher end Hifi speakers from IMF, B&W, JBL, Tannoy, Celestion... Some of those are quite decent as monitors.
 
Uhdinator said:
Studio monitors are just that, otherwise they would be called computer speakers.
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well, no they're not.
Most of the 'monitors' at low prices are just box speakers with the word 'monitor' added to the marketing. VERY many decent stereo speakers are just as flat.

Having said that though, Bose sucks for pretty much anything. VERY hyped .... the very definition of hyped home audio speakers.
I'd MUCH rather mix on a good set of cans than anything Bose currently makes.
 
Bose hype... so true. Currently, there is a cable TV shopping channel that is all Bose, all the time- pretty much the height of hype.
 
i was at a crown amp tedhs seminar once where they put up on the screen a picture of the filter response they had put in one of their pip cards for running bose 802's... shoulda heard the gasp/laugh...
 
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