Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System
by BOSE
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List Price: Our Price: $89.00 You Save: $10.00 (10%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $75.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System
Customer Review: Fine, but not without problems.
Summary: 4 Stars
There are an awful lot of people fawning over any Bose product. Do Bose employ people to give their products uncritical reviews? I sense a conspiracy.
There are also a large amount of reviews panning Bose products out of hand. Do rival companies employ people to rubbish Bose's name? Again, perhaps a conspiracy surrounds these pages.
Anyway, I am just someone who is obsessive about music, on too tight a budget to call themselves an 'audiophile', but I nethertheless aim for the the best sound I can afford. Essentially I am very satisfied with these speakers (which I use with an emac or an iPod Mini), and I think the price Amazon sells them for is a fair price. I paid perhaps twice that amount, and do suspect I have paid for a name.
No matter, I am generally pleased, and in my small room they do, to my ears, sound very good indeed. I think the term is 'live' - they have a nice, open sound, crisp with good range. They are also very well built - sturdy and quite heavy.
One trouble: bass. It's not that there is not enough bass - there is, for a non-sub woofer system, plenty of the stuff. It is the fact that, with certain songs, they distort at even low volumes. For instance, try, say, Massive Attack on these and you'll see what I mean. It's not, perhaps, a distortion as such, but it is certainly muddy and ill-defined. I suspect this is a problem for a lot of speakers without a sub, so I don't feel like I made the wrong choice. It is simply an annoyance.
The other thing is, like other people say, the lack of an 'on/off' switch is a bit silly. I don't really like the idea of these things constantly guzzling power, but I'm simply too lazy to keep unplugging them. I know that makes me a bad person, but couldn't Bose have prevented my laziness?
Customer Review: I like these speakers a lot!
Summary: 5 Stars
I got these speakers for my computer. I planned to use my computer as a sound system instead of buying a stereo. So, I got what I could afford to be a "good" set of speakers. They work wonderfully. I really don't need a stereo with them.
I'm now buying another set for my television set\laptop connection. There's such a better quality to movies and shows with these speakers.
I can never hear what they're mumbling in some movies so I have to use the subtitles to understand what's going on. With Netflix instant movies from online, they don't offer subtitles and watching any movies instantly became very frustrating for me. I'd have my tv turned all up the way up it could go and I sat very close to the tv speakers but I still couldn't make out what the actors were saying.
One night I decided to grab my Bose speakers from my computer and hook them up to my tv to see if that would help... oh boy did it! But for some reason they can't hook directly up to the tv but through my cable box and when I went to play movies on my dvd player, I'd plug them into there. And finally, I would hook them up to my computer when I was watching a netflix movie on my tv through my laptop. It sounds tiresome but I think it's worth it although if being able to hook it up directly to the tv would be fabulous, the speakers are only $100 so, I can't really complain.
But it was wonderful to be able just to sit back and relax and listen to, instead of reading, what the actors were saying.
So, that's why I'm here. I'm getting myself another set so I can enjoy them on both my desktop and my laptop and television.
I highly recommend these if you cannot afford more than $100 for a "good" set of speakers. :D
Customer Review: I was skeptical at first but I love it after I got it!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking for speakers for the desktop in my office. I only wanted 2.0 speakers, not those 2.1 (w/ sub), to listen to smooth nice clear cozy ambient music as you would here in a nice restaurant.
I was skeptical at first based on some negative reviews on this product. I went to Bestbuy and tested on all the speakers available on the shelf (around 6-7 brands). I was really impress w/ the outstanding quality from Bose. I understand that Bose has it own kiosk as some other negative reviews claiming that they rigged up the speaker to be over performed. I asked the Bestbuy staffs and they doubt that would be true. The sound is really clean and clear. I could actually feel the music space like I was in the music (doesn't sound flat)
If you compare apple to apple, this is an outstanding speakers. Don't compare this speakers w/ other 2.1 or 5.1 products. That's not quit fare.
But even you do so, this is still really great speakers.
Back to my story, I finally decided to take a risk and bought Bose even thought I had read "some" really negative reviews about this product. I went back home and hooked them up to my laptop and "wow" the sound quality is as good as the one I listened to at the Bose kiosk.
Let's me put this straight. If you like the sound quality you hear at the Bose kiosk, that's the sound quality you will get at home. Buy it!.
But if you don't like what you hear at the kiosk, DON'T buy it!
It's simple, go w/ other brands.
One thing I need to mention. Make sure you have a nice quality sound output device at home.
Of course, if you have a bad quality sound output device, that wouldn't do much, so as other speaker brands.
Customer Review: A great buy for any laptop or desktop computer--unless you're a big-time gamer
Summary: 5 Stars
I read nearly all the reviews; good, bad and "luke warm" ones alike. My responses to the 2 primary "themes" of complaints about this product are as follows:
1.) Yes--compared to many of the other 2.0 systems the price IS on the higher side.
Personally, I did not want a 2.1, 5.1 or 7.1 system in my small home office. I simply don't need it. These speakers will be used for listening to Pandora, iTunes and the occasional web conference on Skype, Gmail Chat, etc. If I really want to "rock the Casbah", I'll use my Bose Sounddock or my home stereo. I wanted relatively small speakers which would fit on my desk without taking up tons of room--AND I did not want the tinny, small sound which you get every other speaker this size--at least all the makes/models I've listened to anyway.
2.) Yes--the bass does tend to be more pronounced on these speakers.
In my experience, this has been true of every Bose product I've ever listened to. Incredible bass is one of Bose's "claims to fame". The good news is, unless you're planning on using these speakers with an '80s-style Sony Walkman with no tone equalization, it is very easy to drop the bass levels and boost the treble levels in iTunes, Windows Media Player, your computer's sound card software--or even on your iPod/MP3 player itself. Problem solved.
Don't just believe me; bring your MP3 player to your local audio store and try a few 2.0 or 2.1 computer speakers.....then go try the Bose. Under $100 has never sounded so good! And if for some reason you decide later than you don't like them, the demand for used Bose products is very high, so you'll have no trouble selling them for almost full retail on ebay, etc.
Customer Review: White elephant gift
Summary: 2 Stars
Do not waste your money and time buying these or putting this on your wish list for your friends and family to see. My brother bought these for me for Christmas but now I feel bad. Before receiving these as a gift I noticed that at Best Buy there were several boxes of Bose Companion 2 speakers behind the return counter one day but ignored seeing this handwriting-on-the-wall omen. Now I know why - My first set of speakers arrived low in volume so that you have to turn them way up before you hear anything. I learned from Bose that even under warranty, they make you pay for sending their speakers to them (which is now costly with the high gas prices affecting ground delivery). They sent me a replacement set of speakers, they work but now the right one emits a burning car engine smell. I read in one usergroup's review of Bose that they are NOT to be trusted as they intentionally market their products as superior but are only way overpriced.
These are actually supposed to be used at the school's computer lab where I work/teach but will need to buy another set for my other classroom. Will try out the Logitech Z-4I 2.1 speaker system since I will be sometimes be using them for movies and gaming there. It appears that there is no such thing as a perfect two-speaker unit for the laptop/desktop but that speaker systems that work with a minimum of 3 speakers work best for the money and sound quality. Right now I have a SONY 3-speaker system at home that is no longer made (it's at least 7 years old - the SRS-D300) and it is AMAZING sound quality and portable. There's real strength to be found in 3's ... architecture, engineering, the Trinity...!