Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dilema.... what would you do???

Another vote for "leave it alone".

i think this is one of the VERY few threads, where almost everyone is of the same opinion....

why don't you offer to help him set them up, so at least you can help him with positioning? hell you could get him to feed you some BBQ and beer if your lucky

Yea, and don't forget to bring the calibration disc and the SPL meter.

Awesome suggestion Dakkon. Help him be happy with what he has. In time he will figure out there is better to be had, or not... As long as he is happy.

Well, I absolutely would never, not to my best friend nor worst enemy, ever say anything like, "awe you bought some crap speakers". I do have more couth than that. As I said in my post, when he sent me the picture all I said was 'the look very nice'. Now I have a policy to try as hard as I can not to lie to my good friends. But that wasn't a lie, they do look nice... I didn't say anything about the way they sound.

But here's where my dillema begins... I'm by no means a bible thumper, however I do firmly believe in the old biblical saying, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". So if I were 'ignorant' (ignorance being the absence of knowledge, where as stupidity is ignoring knowledge) about Bose and their misleading marketing, and had either bought some myself or had a set given to me... I feel like a true friend of mine would at least inform me about the misinformation Bose circulates in order to sell their products. Then leave the decission up to me once I was in the 'know'.

I'm not talking about ridiculing their speaker choice. I just have a desire to let them know, somehow, that they may have made their choice based on questionable information at best. Like I said, if they really do like the sound of Bose, as many people do, then I'd be very happy for them. My friend pulls down $250,000 dollars a year, so he could very easily afford Axioms or any other brand speaker for that matter. I just think they're both under the Bose spell where they don't think there is a competitor out there that can touch the sound quality of the Bose system.

So my idea was to have them over for a comparison and tell them that I was curious to know just how good the Bose system really was. During such a comparison I would never make comments such as, "wow, my Axioms really blow those little cube thingy's away don't they"!!! I would agree with you Dakkon, that would come off as rather pompus, and I wouldn't appreciate that sort of atmosphere either.

That's why if I were to have them over for such an event, I would leave any and all conclusions about the two speaker systems up to them to make. If they seemed to like the Bose then I would tell them that they did very well for themselves and congratulate them again on their purchase. But if after hearing the two systems they were to make comments like, "wow I never realized how much different movies/music sound over the Bose, it sounded a lot more natural over your speakers". Then I might explain that Bose speakers really color the sound of the audio signal, and if they prefered a more authentic sound reproduction, they might want to look into another speaker system. But even then I would never word it in such a way that I was looking down on the Bose. Because if they didn't trade it in on something else I wouldn't want them to feel I didn't like their surround sound set-up at their house. I guess it just comes down to me not liking the fact that I feel they've been duped.

I honestly wouldn't care at all if they did prefer the Bose over my speakers. I want them to be happy with what they have reguardless of which brand they own. Maybe I will just leave them alone about it since they do seem happy about the purchase and everything. I don't want to cause any hard feelings over something so silly.

the only problem i see with you having him over, is your providing the BBQ and Beer, rather than getting free BBQ and Beer.. Always go for the Free option!!!!!



let us know what you do decide to do, and how it goes, i know i would be interested...

Funny timing here. I visited a very good friend of mine and his wife this weekend. I had previously given them a pair of Axiom M3Tis and a JBL subwoofer after hearing their very unsatisfctory sound system. Last time I visited, he asked me to listen to his system after a home remodel. At first I thought it sounded OK, then deeper into a symphonic piece I shuddered because it sounded terrible. I told him something was wrong with his system. He blanched and then told me that what I had heard was his new Bose system but that he had left the Axioms in the bookshelf. I showed up this weekend with a TAmp, speaker cables ready to do a comparison. I did not properly appreciate the level of tension I had aroused in my friends. First, they were very concerned that if I unplugged something we would not be able to properly reconnect and they would be without sound. I assured them there was nothing to worry about, but they worried.

Oblivious to their discomfort I pressed on grabbed another CD player, hooked up the M3s without subwoofer and played the same disc in the M3 system as the Bose. They unanimously preferred the sound of the Bose system. Now, this was no blind test and I was very quick to agree with them in order to reduce the level of tension I had inadvertantly created.

Nevertheless, I must say that the Verve CD of the Getz Jobim Bosa Nova album sounded better through the $2,000 Bose Lifestyle system with a sub than the M3Tis played by a battery powered T-Amp without a sub. I was surprised, and truth be told, I would have said the Bose sounded better than the M3s even if they did not because I realized that I had trespassed some invisible line that all the other participants in this thread seem to be aware of.

Anyway, not everyone gets a kick out of resolving audio quality questions.

I agree with dakkon. There will be people that will interpret your action of trying to help inviting them to the A/B comparison as snobbery. I would not and would not be offended if you gave me the suggestion, but people are different in many ways and think differently too.

That's the same story of the guy that sees the most ugly girl in the world as being the most beautiful. If for him she is the most beautiful doesn't matter what other will tell him, because he has his mind already set up on that, so it that makes him happy let him be happy with what he got. Although I personally don't believe we should look for beauty as a major thing when going into a relationship I might add.

You could invite him over *JUST* to invite him over. W/o mentioning "hey, let's compare..." It will inevitably turn into a pissing contest - however slight.

I owned a Bose system. They serve their purpose because they are quite small. Yes, you can get much better sounding speakers, but sometimes, size and convenience do matter.

I've never really understood all the "BB - Bose Bashing" threads, if someone likes them, let them enjoy it. I'm glad to see this thread didn't turn into YABBT (yet another bose bashing thread)

And yes, there's no comparison between my M80's and the Bose system. On the other hand, M80's were much more expensive.