 Incredible sound from a small space, highly recommended! |
| Review Date: August 6, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Stephan Anderson, Grapevine, Texas USA |
I highly recommend the Bose Wave Radio II after having one for a month, here are the pros and cons:
PROS:
* Excellent sound quality and volume. Plays the full sound spectrum well - from deep bass notes to high octave soprano. Can turn the volume up to "very loud" before sound distortion is audible, so it's easy to listen to the radio from one room while working in another or while cleaning the house.
* Small space requirements. Easily fits on top of a bedside cabinet along with the bedside lamp. Remote control is right-sized too, only slightly larger than a credit card.
* Good features. The alarm clock works well and the input jack comes in handy if you want to listen to a CD or XM satellite radio through a portable external player.
* Ease of use. Very intuitive and easy-to-use design on the remote control and the radio, was able to use everything without referencing the product manual.
* Esthetics and envy. This radio looks great, people ask about it when they see it.
* Resale value. You won't find a used Bose Wave radio for cheap on eBay or the Amazon marketplace, Bose radios tend to hold their resale value well over time.
* Made in America. You may feel more patriotic after buying it.
CONS:
* Cost. Definitely more expensive than other radios, but considering the quality and resale value, it's probably a good value overall. If you have a rewards credit card, the radio might be obtained (for "free") by using accumulated credit card points -- many credit card points catalogs (i.e., Diners Club Rewards catalog) have the Wave Radio.
Overall, an excellent product and highly recommended. Keep up the good work Bose!
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Amazing sound...
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| Review Date: May 13, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Lightbearer, Lakewood, WA USA |
First of all, I want to clarify that any reference here to "bass" is not a reference to rumbling, booming low ends of sound, but to the sound made by instruments such as bass drums, bass guitar, classic bass, etc. It's the sound, not the vibration. This system does it, and does it amazingly. It sounds like the deepest tone- from outside and from a distance, and it's from such a small unit. It's confusing to go right up to the system and notice that it isn't vibrating in the least, nor shaking the platform it is set on. Bose also created a system that lowers the octave for lower tones, and that doesn't just include bass sound, but bass percussion, so that these sounds are more easily noticeable from quieter volumes. As for clarity, well, status-quo for Bose. My mom owns the larger Wave system, and the clarity is amazing, and this system follows suit completely. To illustrate, I placed my Wave Radio on a TV stand I wasn't using and played an acoustic song- guitar and singing only, and it was as if the singer was knelt right there singing! You can hear every breath taken, from the beginning of the note sang to the end of it.
What enabled Bose to create such full, melodic bass in such a small unit was the patented waveguides. This principal is similar to a port system- bass production through the movement of air, which means there may be a lot of dead space or "standing wave." This may account for the number of people who've gone unimpressed with this system. To the untrained ear it may seem like only average sound, and it certainly can be if you're concentrating on listening to it up close only. I once owned a 540W ported system, so I knew that all I had to do with this one is shove (not literally) it into a corner, and listen to it from an adjacent vantage point, as close to the wall as possible. When this is done, the intended sound will come to life for you! Like I said, it isn't boomy, but completely melodic, and indistinct in its direction, which means it "fills the room with sound," as has been claimed.
I used to be obsessed with boomy bass being a pop listener, but I've also evolved into an audiophile, and so far, this system is all that Bose claims for it to be. One error for them, though, may be in relying on people to become educated on superior acoustics and adopt a taste for practical sound, rather than popular sound. I don't care, though. I'm smart enough to know that this system is far ahead of its time...
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Bose Radio
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| Review Date: March 27, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Richard A. Neider, Motley, MN USA |
| Excellent radio and reception in this mostly rural area. The sound is the best. The radio is pricey but well worth it. |
Pricey, But Exceptional sound and performance
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| Review Date: January 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ace, East Coast |
This is a solid performer. Great sound, great fidelity, great speakers.
My mornings are all the better because of this one mainstay -- my Bose -- no matter how rotten my morning mood may be, my Bose mellows out my morning long before I am able to mellow out myself.
I have no complaints about the reception -- it sure beats fiddling with an antenna -- or in the case of the system (NON Bose) that I have in my bedroom -- fiddling with the electric cord, or, of all things, a loong skinny wire -- to get better reception.
My Bose is a happy little self-contained unit that just keeps going and going and going......
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Keeps Me Singing Along
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| Review Date: July 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Sophie Cacique Gaul, Austin, Tejas |
When my family, husband, twin daughters and me, decided to move from Montreal to Austin, we had some major decisions to make. What to take, what to sell. We had a couple top flight stereo systems, a 5.1 surround sound system to beat the band, my camera gear, -- I had "L" everything, three bodies and lots of other terrific lenses -- and a decade's worth of pretty nice stuff that we'd accumulated. We were pretty well off, but not rich, not even upper middle class. This move was a big deal for us. My husband had a new job, but what about me? I was losing a pretty good income.
But Austin, what a wonderful city. And it's warm. We decided to go for it, so we sold everything we could, reaped a small fortune on eBay. So bye bye, beautiful sounding music, bye bye my cameras and the gear I loved.
That was a couple years ago and we're doing okay now, better than okay. We have back a new big screen TV, a new surround sound system, but we still have beaucoup de rooms that need good music and on a THELMA AND LOUISE type driving trip with my friend Katie I discovered the Bose Wave Radio System. We stopped at the outlet stores at Woodburn, a city south of Portland, Oregon and when I walked into the Bose store I was blown away. I listened to everything and when I got back to Houston I made some major purchases, it's nice to have some money again.
I have this radio in my dark room. Usually when I go in there to work, it's dark, duh. Okay, so I've got this red light in there, but you know what I mean, you can't exactly read the labels on your CDs, so I opted for the Wave Radio instead of the Wave Music System with the CD player. There's an audio input on the back of the machine and I plug my iPod into it with the music set on random play and then I thoroughly enjoy the hours I spend in there. Music courses through the room, runs through me as I sing along while I work. I love the bass, not too much, not too little. I love the highs. I love this radio. |
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(4.00 out of 5)