Hi Skradtim. I agree with all of the above.
Regarding BOSE: Quality sound is a very subjective thing. Audiophiles have their definition of "scientifically" what it should be, but put the majority of them in a room together to evaluate a speaker and you will get hostile disagreement.
I think BOSE came into life as a legitimate speaker company, as some early models seem to garner respect from the critics, but I think they very quickly grasped the concept in the paragraph above and realized that they didn't really have to build good sounding speakers, they just had to SELL speakers.
They do a very good job of targeting the level of consumer who want to feel as if they bought a high end piece of gear but aren't one of those crazy audiophiles who foolishly spend thousands.
Marketing aside, we all have to admit to going to a store to pick up a product that we know little or nothing about and when presented with three or more price ranges, we choose the middle priced brand, (most probably in the higher range of the mid priced.) Simply because if we buy the cheapest, we think it will be inferior but we don't want to buy the really expensive one and feel like a sucker when we go to the counter.
There are many companies who price themselves into the upper-mid market for just this reason. BOSE just takes it a step up a notch to the point where you can question their ethics.
Last edited by Murph; 10/14/11 12:00 PM. Reason: clarity
