I heard that Bose's approach to sound production is different from all the other companies, Bose focuses more on the psychoacoustics than technical accuracy of the equipment. That is why it doesn't publish specifications of it's speakers and most of them are not within +/-3dB. But many people regard them as pioneers in speaker making, it seems like Bose forgoes on the quality of the transducers and uses cheap transducers but uses DSP to make them sound good.
I want to know more about this psychoacoustics philosophy to sound production, are there any free or paid resources to understand it?
I want to know more about this psychoacoustics philosophy to sound production, are there any free or paid resources to understand it?
Dr.Bose understands that for a targeted price of a product an average consumer will likely be willing to pay for, it simply has to be built in a certain way, which is not the audiophile way. And that is good for the company, and those that need more, should look elsewhere, or get involved with DIY, imo.
They seem to follow the conventional philosophy of making technically superior product, like drivers, etc.
Wouldn't knowledge psychoacoustics be relevant even in a DIY project?
Is your username Indian? But you have Italian flag. I heard about that joke but they have improved over time, now some of their speakers have all three: lows, mids and trebles.
As a engineering student Amar Bose did some very crude research on spacial perception of music through loudspeakers, misunderstood the results and then misapplied the faulty conclusions in his first direct-reflecting design, the 901s.
But Bose's main achievement was conquering the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, and achieving blanket glossy advertising worldwide on captive audiences, eg in airline magazines. These advertisements both primed and tugged aspirational strings for the up and coming wealth class and shaped purchasing decisions. So his real achievements were in psychological behavioural manipulation, not psychoacoustics.
His company's financial success came from manufacturing extremely crude and inexpensive (yet functional) design implementations in the Mexican low cost labour market, allowing staggering profit margins that other manufacturers only ever dreamt about.
Bose used the same strategy of claiming technical superiority to the unsophisticated (in this case administrators, not consumers) to gain major installation contracts for public stadia. Anecdotally these these systems were frequently not used for the opening of the venue which was the justification for putting the system in to start with. The big touring operators and entertainers sometimes would request Meyer, JBL, EAW, Electro-Voice or other more commonly accepted PA companies, or threaten to cancel the show.
But Bose's main achievement was conquering the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, and achieving blanket glossy advertising worldwide on captive audiences, eg in airline magazines. These advertisements both primed and tugged aspirational strings for the up and coming wealth class and shaped purchasing decisions. So his real achievements were in psychological behavioural manipulation, not psychoacoustics.
His company's financial success came from manufacturing extremely crude and inexpensive (yet functional) design implementations in the Mexican low cost labour market, allowing staggering profit margins that other manufacturers only ever dreamt about.
Bose used the same strategy of claiming technical superiority to the unsophisticated (in this case administrators, not consumers) to gain major installation contracts for public stadia. Anecdotally these these systems were frequently not used for the opening of the venue which was the justification for putting the system in to start with. The big touring operators and entertainers sometimes would request Meyer, JBL, EAW, Electro-Voice or other more commonly accepted PA companies, or threaten to cancel the show.
Here is their reason for that action:
Source: Dr. Bose Tells All: Company Secrets, Why They Don't Publish Specs, And More – TechCrunch
Many non-audiophiles love the sound of Bose speakers. Ask them why. Generally it's because they have a big, mellow, full sound and fill a room nicely. Especially if you turn on the Loudness control. 
That's all that most people want. Something pleasant to listen to. Yes they have seen the marketing, but that's nothing new or unique.
That's all that most people want. Something pleasant to listen to. Yes they have seen the marketing, but that's nothing new or unique.
Google work for you where you are? I tried "audio spatial psychoacoustics "bose"" both with and without the "bose" part - and got more result than I have time to read.
If you're really interested, you can read the bose centric stuff along with the general stuff and probably get a good idea of what he was trying to achieve.
A "good" speaker which will provide both direct and reflected sound might be Planet10's microTower. microTower bipolar ML-TL for CHR-70 or EL70
With this you can get that sound style, but at DIY component and materials quality - and designed by someone competent in the art, for whom a corporate profit margin wasnt the main objective.
I've been playing with it some at In Vane? Or LxMini meets Bose 301... My most recent reflector attempts to throw some of the sound up, while allowing some to be projected forward in the normal way. All to see if I can get that sound style using just one speaker driver.
There's nothing wrong with researching (or enjoying) Bose sound. There are plenty of resources out there - as others have said, Google is your friend.
From a purist perspective, Bose are nothing special but many non-audiophiles ("normal" people) enjoy them immensely. They have broad appeal through a generally pleasing, biased sound - which makes sense, as Bose target the premium mass market. Polarizing products don't appeal to the mass market and budget is a high priority as non-audiophiles (even wealthy ones) won't put too high a price on audio quality when they can't really tell the difference.
That said, should you wish to get into audio in a serious way, there are better vendors to read up on who focus on quality and clarity without such restriction on budget. Some of the engineering coming out of Kef, etc. is staggering. There's also far more in-depth material, but one step at a time... I would advise *not* diving in at the deep end in audio research as you'll likely get lost very quickly!
By all means, read up on Bose's Waveform technology. If you find yourself interested, there's plenty more to read!
From a purist perspective, Bose are nothing special but many non-audiophiles ("normal" people) enjoy them immensely. They have broad appeal through a generally pleasing, biased sound - which makes sense, as Bose target the premium mass market. Polarizing products don't appeal to the mass market and budget is a high priority as non-audiophiles (even wealthy ones) won't put too high a price on audio quality when they can't really tell the difference.
That said, should you wish to get into audio in a serious way, there are better vendors to read up on who focus on quality and clarity without such restriction on budget. Some of the engineering coming out of Kef, etc. is staggering. There's also far more in-depth material, but one step at a time... I would advise *not* diving in at the deep end in audio research as you'll likely get lost very quickly!
By all means, read up on Bose's Waveform technology. If you find yourself interested, there's plenty more to read!
If you read the advertising, Dr.Bose was the messiah, the new coming, and so on in sound reproduction.
The truth is that after the patents expired in 1990, nobody bothered to copy the designs.
The basic sound flaw in Bose is that all the drivers have to be precisely in phase to give the best quality, if they are slightly out of phase, they will really cancel each other out, the same principle is used in car silencers, and the Kundt's Tube.
Kundt's Tube was invented in 1860, and I had to study it in 11th grade, 1980-81.
Actually, they sound like a small speaker in a wooden box, like an old valve radio, or PA speakers used for voice in auditorium use.
Like previously said, no highs or lows, or at least dull.
And the price...
So the best test is what suits your taste best, and listen to your favorite passages before you buy.
The truth is that after the patents expired in 1990, nobody bothered to copy the designs.
The basic sound flaw in Bose is that all the drivers have to be precisely in phase to give the best quality, if they are slightly out of phase, they will really cancel each other out, the same principle is used in car silencers, and the Kundt's Tube.
Kundt's Tube was invented in 1860, and I had to study it in 11th grade, 1980-81.
Actually, they sound like a small speaker in a wooden box, like an old valve radio, or PA speakers used for voice in auditorium use.
Like previously said, no highs or lows, or at least dull.
And the price...
So the best test is what suits your taste best, and listen to your favorite passages before you buy.
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The classic 4 inch Bose cone driver used for almost all Bose fullrange speakers from the 901s, 800s, 802s, 402s, 502 Panarays and later stacked by the score in the early Bose arena systems had a couple of interesting quirks, the obvious one being the nasty resonant dust cap used to peak high frequency output before it falls of the cliff at 12-14kHz.
The other quirk is the edge-wound single layer voice coil that necessitated a keyway or notch in the pole piece for the inner end of the voice coil to exit the pole, which results in a non-uniform magnetic field strength around the coil. This in turn causes a twisting motion to be imparted to the cone by the voice coil current. I have often speculated that this irregular cone motion is the source of the signature 'Bose sound', a sort of unnatural electric-field-ish edge to everything.
The other quirk is the edge-wound single layer voice coil that necessitated a keyway or notch in the pole piece for the inner end of the voice coil to exit the pole, which results in a non-uniform magnetic field strength around the coil. This in turn causes a twisting motion to be imparted to the cone by the voice coil current. I have often speculated that this irregular cone motion is the source of the signature 'Bose sound', a sort of unnatural electric-field-ish edge to everything.
I really don't want to be controversial but I'm just going to leave this here,
Bose happens to work with GM
GM has BOSE in many of their Cadillacs.
you put the two together.
the market that BOSE was after was not really for anyone who really cared about audio as many of us do.
they are a lifestyle product if you ask me and they fit the bill nicely.
basically if you drink Starbucks and you probably know a little bit about gender Theory or the lgbtq history movement that's going on right now? You probably know a thing or two about BOSE now.
they do make some great engineering products and they actually do a few things but what was strange to me was when our friend and favorite car guy (JAY LENNO) who has a certain turbine car reached out to BOSE so that they could probably quiet down his turbine car....
well they decided to not take on the challenge...
I wonder why?
maybe because their engineering department really wasn't set up for the purpose?
or someone like General Electric may have better acoustical Engineers to quiet down turbines I don't know maybe even Honeywell.
the same people that buy BOSE are the same people that you often see building these wonderful car audio builds that are Masters Of Sound Engineering and of course happened have the utmost of build quality.
Easy Custom Door Panels! *No Fiberglassing Needed* | DS18 Super Tweeters/Mids | Project Sequoia 2.0 - YouTube
I know it's hard to believe but some people don't really care about Imaging nor do they care about placement or anything else or buzzers or rattles they just ignore all those things and it doesn't matter.
sure they're usually missing a few frequencies from one end of the other or in the middle or complete left or right channels all at the same time who knows but again these people aren't really concerned with those things.
the fact that most people buy a simple mono speaker to listen to music on and that being one of the hottest products as far as from a sales volume perspective should tell you something but the general public and their taste in audio.
life is about perception and some people have different forms of perception and...obviously some have different forms of intelligence but most people don't want to talk about that for obvious reasons.
I think with most appropriate to say
There is there is no accounting for taste.
Bose happens to work with GM
GM has BOSE in many of their Cadillacs.
you put the two together.
the market that BOSE was after was not really for anyone who really cared about audio as many of us do.
they are a lifestyle product if you ask me and they fit the bill nicely.
basically if you drink Starbucks and you probably know a little bit about gender Theory or the lgbtq history movement that's going on right now? You probably know a thing or two about BOSE now.
they do make some great engineering products and they actually do a few things but what was strange to me was when our friend and favorite car guy (JAY LENNO) who has a certain turbine car reached out to BOSE so that they could probably quiet down his turbine car....
well they decided to not take on the challenge...
I wonder why?
maybe because their engineering department really wasn't set up for the purpose?
or someone like General Electric may have better acoustical Engineers to quiet down turbines I don't know maybe even Honeywell.
the same people that buy BOSE are the same people that you often see building these wonderful car audio builds that are Masters Of Sound Engineering and of course happened have the utmost of build quality.
Easy Custom Door Panels! *No Fiberglassing Needed* | DS18 Super Tweeters/Mids | Project Sequoia 2.0 - YouTube
I know it's hard to believe but some people don't really care about Imaging nor do they care about placement or anything else or buzzers or rattles they just ignore all those things and it doesn't matter.
sure they're usually missing a few frequencies from one end of the other or in the middle or complete left or right channels all at the same time who knows but again these people aren't really concerned with those things.
the fact that most people buy a simple mono speaker to listen to music on and that being one of the hottest products as far as from a sales volume perspective should tell you something but the general public and their taste in audio.
life is about perception and some people have different forms of perception and...obviously some have different forms of intelligence but most people don't want to talk about that for obvious reasons.
I think with most appropriate to say
There is there is no accounting for taste.
Waiting for my new car... It was not possible to get anything else than Bose from factory...
My current car has an Infinity system, and some reviewers gave it a bit of flac, but it really sounds quite good. If you reset it to flat, it sounds reasonably close to flat, give it a "JBL tilt" and then some of the modern heavily compressed mixes become somewhat tolerable.
Dreading the Bose system, hoping for a positive experience...
My current car has an Infinity system, and some reviewers gave it a bit of flac, but it really sounds quite good. If you reset it to flat, it sounds reasonably close to flat, give it a "JBL tilt" and then some of the modern heavily compressed mixes become somewhat tolerable.
Dreading the Bose system, hoping for a positive experience...