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Rating: 
Summary: Bose- Poor products driven by advertising hype
Review: Bose is a fascinating case study of what the power of advertising can do for products that are acknowledged within the audio industry as being cheaply made and technically outperformed by all of its competiters. Based on audio theories from the 1960's and parts of lower quality than what can be bought at Radio Shack, Bose has built an incredible empire out of poorly designed products driven by a huge advertising budget creating an aura of "Bose".Consumers should do their research before shelling out money for Bose speakers. A google search will bring you to epinions or audioreview websites where you can find review after review, mostly negative, from buyers of Bose products. The commonly accepted wisdom in the audio industry is that Bose makes low audio quality products and sells them at very high prices. In other words those Polk, JBL, Wharfedale or Infinity mid-fi products you can find at Amazon are usually higher quality at much better price points. Compare the sound if you ever get a chance. Make sure you DO NOT depend on volume, in other words volume is a bad indicater of quality. Listen for the high and low notes and to the clarity of the music. Tough to do in a showroom at Circuit City or Best Buy, but even there the differences will show up. Bose attempts to prevent consumers from doing this by segregating their products away from the competition. After this you might look at online audio magazines (do a google search), Audioreview (one word) and Audiogon. You'll find whole NEW world of audio products such as PSB, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Quad, Sonus Faber, ACI and many more who's products will put you on a much higher level of audio than you'd ever imagine. Usually these speakers are SEVERAL times more electronically sophisticated than Bose at the same price! What you won't find in these websites of magazines are Bose articles. Bose just isn't taken seriously by the industry. Good luck and happy hunting!
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully transparent sound, reasonable price
Review: We bought several pairs of these 161 speakers when they were first introduced a little over a year ago. We use one pair for the surround speakers in our theater system, and a pair in each of the other rooms of our home. Although we are longtime Bose fans, we decided to audition these in an audio store as we had been disappointed in a Bose center channel speaker we had purchased previously, (based on reputation, we didn't listen first!). We were favorbly impressed in the store and have been very pleased with them in our home. Regardless of room decor, the speakers produce clean, stereo sound. (Its possible to identify orchestral instruments and their location!) These speakers are very linear above 80-90Hz, to the audible limits. They drop off rapidly below about 80Hz. Bass frequencies are adequately reproduced for orchestral music but will need to be augmented for heavy bass or special cinematic effects. (sub-woofer) These speakers are intended to be wall mounted and are easily installed with the included brackets. They do not sit well on a shelf!
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