Bose® Wave® - good buy?

I have one for sale if anyone is interested

i used to go out with a girl who's father worked 'in IT'. He was big into his music and I recall walking (funnily enough) into his study one day to be greeted by this wall of sound in a seemingly empty room (aside from a PC). When he showed me where the sound was coming from I had to do a double take as it was being ommited by a unit, far too small to be producing that kind of sound. That unit was actually a Creative Soundworks CD 740 which was pretty much, a copy of the similiar Bose systems that were available at the time (I'm not sure what the price comparison was). I obviously showed some interest in it as he bought me one for Christmas of that year (which unlike his daughter,I still have lol). Still to this day it sounds great and although I've never heard a Bose system, I can only imagine it sounding similair (if slightly better) to the Creative unit I have (which now serves as an alarm clock in our bedroom).

That does indeed sound like an amazing device - especially for it's time. You said that it seemed to lack tone controls for the high frequencies? Hmm. You also mentioned that it seemed to widen the stereo image. And you mentioned that you appreciated the dynamic range of the demo. All these things considered - perhaps you should consider visiting my semi-private demo channel & playing some of the demo tracks through it (loudly like you did the demo). I'd like to get your feedback regarding how this genre of Bose hardware handles Spectrelayer post-processing: https://www.youtube.com/@spectrelayer

Mad Magazine's parody of the Bose Wave Radio ads: https://www.madcoversite.com/ads-bose.html "It's changed the way I listen to music. I stopped listening to CDs and audio cassettes. I had to! It's just a damn radio!"

Local boy makes good.

The music center's definitely the one of the highlights of the Bose product history! It gets the basics not just right, but in such a clever, compact, and approachable design. It's interesting having watched your Last Boomboxes video before this, seeing that both are about old tech being forced to morph into newer, less inventive applications or fade out into sepia-tinted memories that live on on AliExpress. If you're interested, Paul McGowan at PS Audio, a very well-respected Hi-Fi audio company, does these breezy, off-the-cuff, Q&A videos about various topics and this one he did being asked about his being negative and disdainful about Bose products is very enlightening, hearing from a insider's POV. Personally, I find Paul incredibly down-to-earth and pleasant, especially compared to the humorless killjoys and cynics one stumbles onto with discovering niches. ☹️ Hard disagree about the price, bought as new and undiscounted, though 😥 Side note, your video has given me a thought about trying their QC headphones. I'm very happy with my audiophile-approved ones, but I've been finding that noise cancellation would be of great benefit in my life right now. 😮‍💨

The BOSE stores in the 1980s had demo theatres with I think nine slide projectors in three stacks of three, all projecting in sync with the audio system. They did all the things we're used to seeing in PowerPoint, but analog. The new Acoustic Wave Music System (AWMS) demo had a surprise. When you sat down in the theatre you saw a pair of 901 speakers on their stands. The demo began with Fanfare for the Common Man, then at some point the demo paused, spotlights lit up the two 901 speakers, and a person came in and lifted the "901" speakers - that turned out to be covers over a AWMS on each side. Writing this all from memory - but I watched the show lots of times and eventually joined a pilot direct sales program for the AWMS and got to take a demo unit home to try to sell door to door, etc. One of the most interesting aspects was we all went through a training - and I'm pretty sure we met Dr. Amar Bose himself and learned about some of the psychoacoustics work that went into the product. Tip - there was no Aux input, but were told it was safe to feed line level input into the tape output connectors. Useful because the original had a Phillips cassette player and around this time the Discman came out, or we also hooked the Betamax Hi-fi up this way to get sound.

Now that you mention it... I do recall seeing Bose ads in Parade, the tabloidy supplement that came on Sundays back when we took a tangible newspaper. I always assumed Bose was for a "certain generation." But now I'm think I AM that certain generation! (Americans in their 40s, early 50s... is it just me or is CBS Sunday Morning featuring more segments geared to our demographic?) I have a portable Bose SoundLink portable speaker that I purchased a couple of years ago. Impressive sound quality for it's size! I looks (perhaps purposely) like those waterproof transistor radio from the 70s/80s that were meant to hang in the shower. You COULD do that with the SoundLink but I found that it has better utility as a replacement for the factory speakers in my car!

Similar to a few people here, my QC headphones were also a revelation, still use them to this day. Had my first set for years and other than the pads which needed to be replaced they still work great. Never owned a Bose Hi-Fi though, I've always been Sony where I can afford it. Probably brand snobbery but again, my Sony equipment all still works to this day and is still used.

Apparently the Bose Acoustic Wave sounded even better and the 1st version has a cassette player.

Bose, one of those companies like B&O. You can tell who made them from across the room just by their unique looks. I fear we have lost the golden age of unique design and entered the worldof the mundane and banal, soulless digital landscape. Companies like B&O and Bose should be celebrated for actually putting some thought into what a product looks like on the outside in addition to what the product sounds like. Very interesting video Mat. I do hope you manage to find one of those speakers.

Around 2017 I wandered into that Bose Store in Liverpool and bought my first ever noise cancelling headphones, the QC35s. What a revelation! I've got them on now, barely a scratch.

Classic techmoan reviewing good stuff after it gets pulled. So my dad bought one of these and it was a revelation...but then we listened to some Metallica. It seemed like it had clarity but it didn't sound like Metallica. It sounded like, well, for lack of a better term, if you turned "tone" on your boombox all the way up, but also your boombox sounded reasonably good. My dad ultimately wanted a sound that sounded more correct to him. He returned the Bose and got a Sony product at half the price. I thought it didn't sound as good or as big, but listening to Active Rock or high energy classic rock, it sounded more correct. He then decided he didn't like Bose for whatever reason, and then sold his noise cancelling headphones to his coworker and bought Sonys. I don't know why because those Bose headphones were great. I think me and my dad kinda heard the criticism that the audiophiles were making, but didn't know the words for it. So he got muddier speakers but with a greater range I think. Ultimately though, audiophiles aren't buying a clock radio. Or a mini system. They buy the big shit. It wasn't for them.

About electronic stores, it really no longer exists in the UK? Here in Czechia they're still common, stores like Planeo or Datart still exist. I saw them also in France.

For the big Acoustic Wave model you could get an optional soft carrying pouch with an integrated battery compartment that takes many many D cells, plus it has holes in it allowing the machine to still be operated and the speakers to be unmuffled, with the overall combo becoming the world's most upper middle class boombox.

In the days when my employer provided private health insurance, I remember visiting a doctor who had one of these in the waiting room. I sat amazed listening to it and almost missed my call! We have a Bose Soundink Mini which I used to carry around to play sound through for PowerPoint presentations with video. I lost count of the dozens of people who waited to ask "Did all that sound come from that tiny thing?" :-) I'm a bit of a Bose fan and wish I'd bought a Wave, too!

I might have been tempted but used examples cost £635-£725 on Amazon. I’ll confess to being a little cynical about the included CD. Have the music samples been picked or processed specifically to sound good on the Bose?

I cant talk about home audio, because Bose dont provide any specs so theres no way to compare to another company, but I have had Bose in 2 cars so far, and neither have been impressive. Adequate, but nothing that impresses you.

I have a Soundlink speaker that’s been dragged around all over the place and still works and sounds pretty good. I had some computer speakers which weren’t great. Both my cars have Bose labels on the speakers and they’re not bad. If it works for you, it’s fine. Just look at how many shop sound systems have the label on, a couple of snarky people on the internet won’t destroy them.

BOSE products aren't for ME... because they're not FOR me. There are many valid criticisms heaped upon Bose but I'm for anything that gets laypersons aware of and interested in hifi. My mother never had a conversation about sound with her audio engineer son until she was gifted a Wave Radio from a client. Maybe she listened to that CD? A lot of internet warriors revel in pulling the ladder up behind them. I'd like to see their first systems. I'm certain any BOSE would eat it's lunch. People clown Sam Adams but it was many people's gateway to craft beer. A VW Fox can lead to Porsche, a band's cover song can lead to the discovery of a prior artist's entire catalog, a Peavey Bandit can lead to a 1965 Fender Bassman, etc. BOSE's apparent mission was simple, user-friendly "hifi" and (as evidenced by Mat's review) they accomplished that in spades with the Wave Radio. (my apologies for all the edits but this shit+enter line-break is messing me up. ;))

I was never a Bose person but the people who I know that were have all gone to Sonos

I had a few friends with Bose stuff and they raved about the sound. What put me off was in their shops, most of the display stuff was broken. I only have their QC headphones and computer speakers now.

Thanks for the video! I noticed a typo in the little bubble at 17:32: it's "Any flicker is the result of by my camera settings" with an extra "by". Hope it helps.

My grandparents had the CD portion of the soundwave and they just put it in a corner of the kitchen. And it was loud enough that you could hear it in the living room area, which was right next to the kitchen. And it sounded excellent. I don't know if they still have it because it's been a while since I visited them (I just haven't had the time) But honestly, if they ever planned to get rid of it, I wouldn't mind taking it off of their hands.

Mat, this seems like just the system you might have got for your parents a few years ago when you bought them that Ruark FM/DAB radio. Actually, after seeing this, I'd kind of like to get one for myself, but even though the Techmoan Effect has yet to kick in, the eBay prices I see after a quick search are more than I care for, but in time--who knows?😃

When I rented a room for a while I had little space and so got a basic cd soundwave. It was perfect for me. The sound was exceptional for the size of the unit. I haven't used it in a while as either listen to my records or stream through my speakers. I got a cocteau twins at the BBC cd yesterday so had to get the Bose out, still impressed with it. Then got a notification for this video.

I bought a Wave Radio off eBay for £60 a couple of years ago and apart from the display starting to fade, it works really well and sounds great. It's now being used as a soundbar as our tv is 12 years old and lacks HDMI Arc. There used to be a Bose shop in Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, but I was always too scared to enter incase a silver tongued salesman sold me a Bose Accoustimass surround system before I could escape.

Weird coincidence you should upload this now, as I saw, presumably, an earlier version of one of these in a charity shop in Northallerton only on Saturday. Still rather much out of my price range sadly! Yorkshire Cancer Research shop if you're quick! The York Designer Outlet branch is now Pro Cook. Very few non-clothes shops in there now. I used to like the That's Entertainment shop.

I have a Bose Wave, which I've always called a Bose Wave Radio. I think that's what they called the model that had the flip up toploading CD player that also had buttons on the top. I use it instead of a soundbar. I love that it's just an 1/8" input and easy for the entire household to use if I don't insist on turning on the full surround sound system. Overall, I don't think there's any all-in-one speaker for the home that sounds as good as this thing. It's very surprising. Something interesting I read about is it's not perfectly stereo. They vary the frequencies sent to the 2 speakers with the left one covering more of the bass. This apparently helps increase the soundstage. I too very much miss the retail stores because they were so interactive, had rooms to test out the Bose surround sound system and even a fake outdoor area where they displayed the outdoor speakers. I think their downfall is that of many "luxury" stores. They're too uppity. I won't go into a Louis Vuitton store because they're all going to stare at me like I couldn't possibly afford a handbag. I think Bose got that reputation too.

Somewhere there's a title pun involving "wave" and "good bye".

Excellent video. Crikey! Now I want one!

I wonder if your Sony HAP-S1 supports DLNA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLNA) and that is how the Bose found it so easily - if so, it's a protocol that makes it super-easy for media players to find and interact with media servers on your network. Much easier with that than the old way of having to arrange for your player(s) to point to the server and get access to music.

You've done it to me again! I now desperately want something I don't in any way need.

Oh man, I am surprised that Bose discontinued this. I was planning to pick up one a few years ago but I got rid of my CD’s in which I had a collection of rare out of print now anime soundtracks which are now uber expensive to get. But life goes on I guess.

Back in 2001 I spent about 10x the cost of those awful (when new) cheap bedside clock radios on a Bose Wave CD/Radio/Clock. Considering I still dose off and wake to its lovely sound daily consider it a worthwhile spend. I mostly aux input phone but the CD player and radio still works fine. It does have control buttons on the top load CD player lid, a couple of them were a bit flaky for a few years, so just used the remote, but seem to have fixed themselves (maybe some contact resistance sorted itself out). Also have a similar experience with QC Headphones, got them in the US in 2004 and when the side arm fractured in 2008 they were replaced without question by Bose NZ! Still use them, have once replaced the ear cushions as the foam degraded but otherwise still going strong. https://rcd.typepad.com/personal/2008/10/bose-exceptional-service-maintains-the-peace.html

We went into Bournemouth town centre on Saturday. I doubt if you could buy a new radio of any kind there now. Go back twenty years and you would have had a choice from The Sony Centre, Dixons, Maplin, and a couple of Department stores.

Lack of buttons is the reason why I don't wanna have this device. I would expect at least basic controls (CD eject button, play/pause, track skip, stop button) and volume control. With this you need remote for everything. But it happens the same way with DVD and Blu-ray players, my new LG BP250 has only power button, eject button and one LED. That's why I still use an old SONY CDP-415 for playing CDs

Still got my original Wave Radio (no CD). From ‘85 it still works well, but it did need its capacitors changed!

I bought a Bose Wave off eBay. CD wasn't working and even though it was supposed to be white it had been in a house where the occupants had smoked so was a lovely shade of yellow. The CD was fixed within about 10 mins of getting it, the previous owner had loaded 2 disks in at once and it had jammed up. Long nosed pliers and a good tug fixed that, and the yellow surround was washed in sugar soap and sprayed matt black. Looks almost perfect now.

DAB (+) uses Band III (174–240 MHz) (old TV channel 12) while FM of course is 88-108 Mhz, so I for one need separate antennas for DAB & FM radio

The Bose Wave was one of those products you hoped would be switched on to have a listen when you went I to a Hi-Fi shop because of its curiosity shape - hardly ever was for some reason.. Always fancied one but could never afford (or justify) spending that much on one. However...fast forward 10 years and when I watch your video's Mat they are through a Bose sound bar which both sound pretty good to me.

• I'm glad you tested this because I've been curious about it - well done. • Although the Bose stores have closed, you can always rely on finding 🌊Wave® on eBay. • A study room created by you would be an awesome place to hang out, methinks. • The Wheel + The 🌊Wave® look really good together. • I spy Cuba Baion 🩷 • Way to go getting an audio item that the Mrs enjoys - I reckon she'll 'borrow' it permanently for her conservatory. • Loved your story about wearing Bose headphones on the train to keep your sanity; quite understandable. • I'm fond of a bass that I can feel in my music, so I may appreciate one of these. Nicely done video about an item everyone has seen but may have overlooked due to the cost - or the impression the small size can't perform as advertised. Take care 🤍

Looking forward to watching this later on. Just had a quick look at some of their other older products. A few with apple connectors. I remember going to a Christening and at the party the music was played on a B&W zeppelin. What do people have to do to adapt those to modern phones?

Interesting... I've heard all the bashing of Bose, but never heard the systems themselves, maybe I should give it a go once... It is so hard to find good systems for a reasonable price these days...

Brill. Back in the 90s my dad (an avid reader of the Sunday papers) really wanted to buy a Bose Wave. He wrote off to request more details, and never heard back. This meant Bose were permanently added to his blacklist of unreliable companies, and we got a Goodmans hi-fi instead.

"It's very clear." - Techmoan's Missus. Had they used that as a pull quote in the ads, maybe Bose would still be making it.

This admittedly overlong video from "This Does Not Compute" put me off Bose. What I took away from it was that Bose basically make cheap equipment (rather than properly engineering it) and then fix the audio electronically afterwards. Does any of that matter? I'm not sure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ6RM3XMfKg

I have one of their soundtouch portables second hand that I mainly use as a speaker for my smart home, it's quite nice, although stops responding sometimes

I love mine. One of the few examples we're something I bought off the TV lived up to all the height of the infomercial.

Oh wow, this takes me back. Looking forward...

I avoid anything from Bose like the plague. They sue reviewers of their stuff, so beware. "Audio industry professionals have described Bose as a litigious company"