Parts are only a small part of the overall cost of most consumer electronics, it is a bit naive to gripe about selling something for a large multiplier of parts cost because that neglects engineering development cost, manufacturing costs, overhead, transportation costs, taxes, benefits, and profit margin which is actually a lot smaller than you would believe.
Inexpensive consumer goods are that way because they are developed and manufactured in environments that have much lower overall costs and often in conditions very exploitative of the people doing the actual work. Have you ever seen the inside of a third world manufacturing company??
In many cases these products use reference designs provided by the semiconductor manufacturers so development costs are minimal. I suspect the tooling for case manufacture in many instances is the biggest individual cost for most consumer products made outside of the first world.
Incidentally in most cases the auto manufacturers set the price they are willing to pay for OEM components, it is up to the supplier to build at the requisite quality level. The supplier has to very carefully manage costs to make a profit in this scenario.
Incidentally Bose automotive sound systems are standard equipment in a lot of relatively inexpensive cars like my Acura RSX, they aren't likely to be making a huge mark up on any oem product.
In terms of schematics and other information, Bose does not generally provide this information to the public. I can tell you that the older oem systems mostly used switching amplifiers driving 1 ohm speakers and produce 50Wrms output. Equalization is specific to the location of the speaker in the car, and to the car itself. (No surprise there.) Older systems used analog EQ, I believe the newer high end ones are dsp based and can do time domain (arrival time corrections) as well in some instance.
A lot of time and effort goes into characterizing the car's acoustics from the driver and passenger positions. Multiple microphone positions are used and the response and time delays measured over a large area of the interior.
My experience relating to this process is more than 5 yrs out of date so I won't bother to go into any further detail as it is likely to be wrong.
Inexpensive consumer goods are that way because they are developed and manufactured in environments that have much lower overall costs and often in conditions very exploitative of the people doing the actual work. Have you ever seen the inside of a third world manufacturing company??
In many cases these products use reference designs provided by the semiconductor manufacturers so development costs are minimal. I suspect the tooling for case manufacture in many instances is the biggest individual cost for most consumer products made outside of the first world.
Incidentally in most cases the auto manufacturers set the price they are willing to pay for OEM components, it is up to the supplier to build at the requisite quality level. The supplier has to very carefully manage costs to make a profit in this scenario.
Incidentally Bose automotive sound systems are standard equipment in a lot of relatively inexpensive cars like my Acura RSX, they aren't likely to be making a huge mark up on any oem product.
In terms of schematics and other information, Bose does not generally provide this information to the public. I can tell you that the older oem systems mostly used switching amplifiers driving 1 ohm speakers and produce 50Wrms output. Equalization is specific to the location of the speaker in the car, and to the car itself. (No surprise there.) Older systems used analog EQ, I believe the newer high end ones are dsp based and can do time domain (arrival time corrections) as well in some instance.
A lot of time and effort goes into characterizing the car's acoustics from the driver and passenger positions. Multiple microphone positions are used and the response and time delays measured over a large area of the interior.
My experience relating to this process is more than 5 yrs out of date so I won't bother to go into any further detail as it is likely to be wrong.
I have seen "the inside of a third world manufacturing company", in fact quite a few. I pay a visit to one on a weekly basis which amoungst other things manufactures body parts for Ferrari. I havn't seen any evidence of these explotative practices in any of the companies I have visited. Have you visited Bose's plant in third world Mexico? What is it like there?
In terms of "selling something for a large multiplier of parts cost " I think you forgot one of Bose's largest costs. Research. Well market research - but research none the less.
Have a look at the build quality of these units - it really is poor for the price you pay. As an example chipboard as oppsed to MDF is used in construction and the fact that at the back of the units they don't go the the trouble of edging the exposed boards is really appaling.
Another thing to consider is that if you were a small manufacturer - the costs that you mentioned are indeed quite considerable, but with mass production comes large savings in terms of these fixed costs. With Bose's 1.7 Billion Dollars worth of turnover I would imagine that these fixed costs are kept way down.
In terms of "selling something for a large multiplier of parts cost " I think you forgot one of Bose's largest costs. Research. Well market research - but research none the less.
Have a look at the build quality of these units - it really is poor for the price you pay. As an example chipboard as oppsed to MDF is used in construction and the fact that at the back of the units they don't go the the trouble of edging the exposed boards is really appaling.
Another thing to consider is that if you were a small manufacturer - the costs that you mentioned are indeed quite considerable, but with mass production comes large savings in terms of these fixed costs. With Bose's 1.7 Billion Dollars worth of turnover I would imagine that these fixed costs are kept way down.
It's sort of ironic that I am in any way advocating for Bose..
Everything you say is true, and in many instances is also true for the majority of the competition. The sole difference to me may be that they still employ a considerable number of people in this country and their competitors don't which at least partially accounts for the higher costs if you factor in the considerably higher cost of labor. If you value certain societal goals and fair employment opportunity for working people it seems like a fair trade off to me.
To a T I would agree with everything you said about their products, and the quality of construction, not to mention performance. Just about abysmal comes to mind..
My reference to exploitation was perhaps a little unfair, but I am still appalled when I think of the pictures a well known far east tube audio oem shared with me of their plants.
Think about where most of our shoes are made today, child labor, and far less than a couple of dollars a day pay in many instances, that meets my definition of exploitation. I would assume Ferrari would have an ethical compunction not to deal with outfits that exploit their labor, that would hardly result in the quality of product they are looking for. In this country W*lm*rt is perhaps the most exploitative employer, and their supply side purchasing tactics have put a lot of smaller US manufacturers out of business as well.
Everything you say is true, and in many instances is also true for the majority of the competition. The sole difference to me may be that they still employ a considerable number of people in this country and their competitors don't which at least partially accounts for the higher costs if you factor in the considerably higher cost of labor. If you value certain societal goals and fair employment opportunity for working people it seems like a fair trade off to me.
To a T I would agree with everything you said about their products, and the quality of construction, not to mention performance. Just about abysmal comes to mind..
My reference to exploitation was perhaps a little unfair, but I am still appalled when I think of the pictures a well known far east tube audio oem shared with me of their plants.
Think about where most of our shoes are made today, child labor, and far less than a couple of dollars a day pay in many instances, that meets my definition of exploitation. I would assume Ferrari would have an ethical compunction not to deal with outfits that exploit their labor, that would hardly result in the quality of product they are looking for. In this country W*lm*rt is perhaps the most exploitative employer, and their supply side purchasing tactics have put a lot of smaller US manufacturers out of business as well.
Hi All,
Bose schematics are not published, but even if they were, they would be of no value, because the electronics is only one part of the design.
Like much modern equipment, it is DSP and uC based, so a schematic will be of no value at all without the software.
No Bose equipment plays "flat" - the frequency response is tailored for each system, and the higher end home systems equalize for the room. I wonder how many "audiophiles" have even tested the actual frequency response of their systems in the room their systems are used in?
Paul J
Bose schematics are not published, but even if they were, they would be of no value, because the electronics is only one part of the design.
Like much modern equipment, it is DSP and uC based, so a schematic will be of no value at all without the software.
No Bose equipment plays "flat" - the frequency response is tailored for each system, and the higher end home systems equalize for the room. I wonder how many "audiophiles" have even tested the actual frequency response of their systems in the room their systems are used in?
Paul J
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