The last Bose Acoustic Wave Music System

[@TheOnjLouis]

8:17 This is a track by yours truly called ‘A Moment Of Joy. Always a good time when Techmoan plays your stuff.

[@JHilden]

Moament of Joy 😃

[@ChristopherHallett]

Nice tune, mate!

[@soldier0n]

Great tune mate, also enjoying your podcast!

[@mistermatix8241]

Is it just me, or does the assembled system look like a model of one of those weird faceless hotel complexes in Las Vegas or LA? The scooped front, the weird angles. Adding the cd changer makes it look like it has an enclosed lobby area, and the DAB unit looks like an annex building. It's attractive in a way, but looks like a prop from Total Recall, and definitely looks like something Patrick Bateman would have in his apartment, playing Huey Lewis or Phil Collins. If Bose decide to go into the hotel chain business, it would be a crime if they didn't basically make a giant version of this.

[@JWD1992]

This comment is gold. As someone who has been to Vegas a lot, I know EXACTLY what you're talking about, haha. I guess it looks the most like Wynn.

[@smvwees]

That! I first couldn't pinpoint it, but that is it, it has an overall hotel feeling as well. But somehow als the unit looks like someone has on a dorm of a college as his all-in-one player despite the price.

[@Moonlightshadow-lq4fr]

@@smvwees lol yeh like some snotty kid know it all and gets on everyones nerves lmao :)

[@Moonlightshadow-lq4fr]

My first thought it looked like something that could be used on thunderbirds lol :)

[@eadweard.]

Bateman had impeccable taste.

[@stevedrown1239]

I produced the demo CD that came with this product. I only worked with the prototype that came in pieces. It was similar to the Bose Wave Music System III and IV demo CD. If I find a copy of it, I'll send you one. Hopefully, that still sounds good through this product. BTW, I agree with your assessment of the sound and features. At least you didn't have to assemble yours, like I did. HAHA!!!

[@papagunit]

Small world

[@youtubegarbage7876]

leave it to Bose to give the rich Boomers who bought this a demo CD in the mid 2000s - knowing that they bought it to listen to AM radio on a product their friends think is classy. Most of them probably hung the CD on a string in the window thinking it was a rainbow reflector.

[@TheInconspicuousMan]

Don't have to worry about shopping bags for a few years after that unboxing

[@Roof_Pizza]

The number of bags never goes down without an effort.

[@jameslaidler2152]

Use them for trash bags I guess. Used to do that years back before shops and markets stopped using them.

[@garydiamondguitarist]

Not a good packing job, exactly the reason I don't like stuff posted. People either overdo or underdo it.

[@Recordology]

@@jameslaidler2152perfect for office and bathroom trash cans

[@Falcrist]

Must have been a US midwesterner who shipped the unit. They used some of their "bag of bags" 😂

[@marcberm]

I love that what was once Bose's premium remote option looks like the shovelware remotes you get today for anything that plays media or has RGB.

[@michaelmartin9022]

Like the colour-changing light I got from Daiso (Japan's Poundland, only actually good) that broke after 3 days. Well, the light broke, the remote might still be good, for all I know.

[@zakofrx]

A friend had an older one.. Aluminum ergonomic remote that was wireless and worked from any room.. It just shoes how all theChin3se rebage construction has made things much worse.. Now its all just random parts put together rather than a full custom design made in Japan or Europe..

[@anthonyreynolds2365]

Back then, a remote like that is slick and high tech. Today, it's just viewed as cheap for the exact reasons you mentioned lol.

[@EricGrumling]

It seemed to be the go-to device for independent bookstore owners in the 1990s. Somewhere in the back of the stacks or behind the counter there was usually one of these pumping out Windham Hill music all day.

[@biffboffo]

Windham Hill. 😂😂 So spot on.

[@777jones]

Suddenly I can smell aromatic candles lol

[@bostonrailfan2427]

considering who the company catered to, it’s apt: pretentious people with money bought these over actual decent systems that cost a fraction of the price

[@jjjsmith2497]

@@777jones Those darn things give me a massive headache!!

[@jjcoolaus]

I love how you test the FM reception of a device, its still very relevant to most people, and it sounds like you are in a fringe area so a good location to test

[@rodmunch69]

It's great to test, but FM is certainly no relevant to most people anymore. Ratings prove that is not the case. Still, it should always be checked out, and in the US almost no one ever tests HD radio, even though it's vastly superior to plain old FM.

[@technoman9000]

@@rodmunch69 It still amazes me that new cars don't have HD radio. It's fantastic, but I had to buy a small portable unit. I guess it's all about streaming these days, for better or for worse. Personally I prefer to listen to real local radio.

[@Roalethiago]

​@rodmunch69 Fm is extremely relevant here. Our digital radio (tho extremely underutilized) is back compatible with analog FM (different fom DAB). For some reason, we never fully switched to Digital Radio, i guess we have just too many radio stations, and with the insane regulation of everything comms related, by ANVISA it never got the push it needed. Brasil btw.

[@rodmunch69]

@@Roalethiago Well regular FM is radio is still probably 1,000x more popular than HD radio in the US, if not more like 10,000x. But in general, the number of people listening to radio has plummeted since everyone just does everything on their phones. If you want music, you got a million free apps for that, if you want talk, you have basically an unlimited number of podcasts. For me, personally, I can't even think of the last time I listened to regular radio - and when I have heard it, it's so hacky and so low budget sounding (when not playing music) I just cringe.

[@jed1nat]

@@Roalethiago I think you misunderstand in that radio for music, period, isn't relevant to most people anymore. I know I'd never listen to crappy broadcast radio when there's easy high quality streaming options without commercials.

[@CCCW]

In germany, these were always advertised in "old people magazines", next to stuff like heating blankets or way too expensive CD collections of music from the 50s. Always gave it a bit of a "snake oil" aura for me.

[@tomspotley5733]

Velcro Slippers and Dinner Trays

[@CCCW]

@@tomspotley5733 exactly!

[@rafaelvarga8185]

Not to mention the stairlift and hearing aid adverts.

[@HansOvervoorde]

And those easy to get up from a seat seats with brand names that sounded luxurious in the 1890s.

[@fattomandeibu]

You'd typically get them in the Sunday newspapers here in England, along with adverts for lethal looking mechanical hair trimmers. "Save yourself £££££s in going to the barbers!" The pound signs would be massive and take up most of the ad, along with a small black and white drawing of the implement in question.

[@MrMartinRome]

You should take a look at the Cambridge Soundworks unit that was a direct competitor to the Bose Wave radio. Sounded much better and was less expensive.

[@johnr6168]

Indeed. The Cambridge is much more accurate and detailed sound- wise.

[@SamWesting]

Cambridge Soundworks, founded by Henry L Kloss of KLH fame.

[@SBCBears]

@@SamWesting And Advent speakers and Tivoli Audio. What a guy!

[@kins749]

This is Vargos from the Aachnirod Space Penal Colony, I can confirm that I have a Bose Acoustic Wave Music System and it indeed does look at home

[@FG-gu9rn]

I think the reason why the CD changer is only capable of playing regular music CD’s is because it probably came out a decade before this MP3-compatible revision of the system was made (possibly made for the version that came before), when MP3 was still a new piece of technology. It even looks like it belongs to that era, judging by the controls engraved in italics.

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

Also mp3 discs weren’t a “standard” so much as they were just regular orange book CDs with mp3 files on it. Just about any cheap tat had that compatibility. It was probably beneath such a high end audiophile device to defile the room with lossy compressed music.

[@emprsnm9903]

I found that manufacturers were really slow, to outright resistant to adopt technologies that were consumer oriented/desired. The underbelly of the manufacturer 'agreements' with the music industry, where support for anything beyond broadcast & disc, was steadfastly thought to encourage/condone piracy (and/or loss of control of their already captive marketshare chain). It took forever (4+ years) to integrate any kind of mp3 support, and likely that was only through the pressure of their own hardware manufacturing marketshare being in entropy. The only reason WMA was ever included; was due to a subsidy from Microsoft to push their own proprietary audio format in competition with early iTunes (iPod era). If you wanted anything else; Ogg/Flac, etc, even basic WAV.... Never happening, not even via a firmware update. I found myself Not buying hardware more than not, due to lack of formats support. They did it to themselves

[@SuperSmashDolls]

@@emprsnm9903 It was actually unclear whether or not it was legal to ship an MP3 player at all in the US. After Congress's whole "let's ban DAT" kerfuffle, they passed the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) which mandated a specific form of DRM be put on *all* digital recorders (except "professional" models, which were never defined in the law). In fact, that's what the music industry sued Creative over when Creative started shipping dedicated MP3 players. Of course, the judge in RIAA v. Creative decided to just let Creative run a truck through a loophole in the law. Technically, the player does not record, it's just opening files copied to it from a computer, which isn't controlled by the AHRA. Hence why computers could do whatever with audio CDs while dedicated music players were basically forbidden from format-shifting digital audio without handcuffing it. And to make matters worse, other countries have even worse laws. The AHRA's one positive attribute was that it explicitly legalized format-shifting CDs to other digital media (at least within the AHRA's stupid DRM mandate). In the UK, that's *still* explicitly illegal, and Parliamentary efforts to legalize it have been shot down by the courts because the law would mean less people *rebuying the same music on new formats*. In other words, UK law considers musicians to have a constitutional right to sell you the same music twice. So naturally you can imagine why manufacturers aren't chucking the latest royalty-free Xiph codecs on their players. Or at least that was the case with music. For some reason lots of DVD players proudly supported VCD and DivX, formats that (at least in the US) had ZERO market penetration and were used exclusively by movie and TV pirates using their DVD players to play pirated video on their TV.

[@sabrowenie]

Got a white Acoustic Wave at a yard sale for $25. It was badly yellowed, smokers house. Cleaned it i up, sounds a bit boomy. But when we have outdoor movie night it’s more than adequate sitting under the projector screen. I turn down the bass on the laptop that’s hooked to the projector. Can’t say it’s Dolby Surround but good enough for my purposes.

[@misterthegeoff9767]

I never imagined that a Bose system would have the remote control from a set of ebay rgb lights. Also that multichanger is so slow. I had a car with a multichanger back in the day which was so much faster, you can really tell this is 1980s technology that just kept hanging on past its time.

[@Kumimono]

I'd say, a set of e-bay RGB lights has a remote from Bose system, chronologically. :)

[@tomgidden]

It's a weird thing... in my experience for some time luxury/lifestyle kit had weird, cheap and/or very limited remotes, while the lower-end stuff actually had proper remotes. My mid-nineties Panasonic boombox (RX-DS20) has a proper normal-sized rubber-button remote, while my parents' feather-touch Sony thing had something more like the Bose. One exception to the luxury/lifestyle remote trend was where they'd have a "master" remote to control all the devices, that'd either be manufacturer-specific, or so inexplicable it was useless and you'd end up getting one of those cheap(er) learning remotes from Dixons. I ended up with a Philips "Pronto" RU890: a hefty touch-screen learning remote brick that I spent hours customising. Come to think of it, that'd be a good one for TechMoan.

[@misterthegeoff9767]

@@tomgidden I remember 1990s Sony remotes being good but then again they had a huge range so maybe at some price points they had less good remotes. My parents' panasonic TV had the best remote but even my terrible Amstrad VCR had a better remote than that bose one. The only brand I have seen other than bose to use those cheap remotes is a Goodmans soundbar.

[@garydiamondguitarist]

Funnily enough, from the review I don't think it was particularly decent in it's day either, and shouldn't have held on for even a couple of years. It's basically junk, old school eWaste.

[@ShokaLion]

That's exactly what I came on here to point out. That remote is unacceptably naff for the price of this system.

[@chriswathen9612]

The problem Bose has always had is they are essentially an R&D company which had one good idea 50 years ago trying to play at being a current manufacturer. I sold their Lifestyle and 3-2-1 Bose systems in the mid-late 00s and whilst the sound technology actually was impressive, nothing else about their systems was. They had moved into the AV space with products which were premium priced but cost reduced, cheaply built, under featured, and lagging years behind everyone else. They never made substantially different SKUs for different markets, so no SCART on European models. For years after HDMI became a standard input, Bose could only deliver this through a breakout box fed by the component ports. Not only did they carry on solely supplying DVD during the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD format war, but even after it was settled they didn't have a single product in their range with a Blu-Ray drive. And that's before you get into their mess of proprietary connections requring proprietary cables. Totally not worth the money, once you got past the talking point of big sound from small speakers, there was nothing else left.

[@JohnKelly2]

In the 90s, I worked at a radio station in college, and the station owner loved Bose. He used Acoustimass systems throughout the station. In the main office, in his office, in the studios, in the control rooms, etc. And we had a 4 of the Acoustic Waves we used when doing remote broadcasts. They worked well for that because they were portable, loud and more convenient than bringing a receiver and speakers out to a remote. Of course, they were heavier and more bulky than our microwave transmitter. Try one in a large room, and it will sound much better.

[@volvo09]

Yeah, I don't doubt that this sounds best in a large room.

[@thezood]

Ah, 1980s technology with 1990s build quality manufactured in 2000s

[@UrbanoDagrippino]

Yes they were end of an era

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

Like the awful walkman knockoffs available today; they can't reproduce the brilliant miniaturization of the peak of the Sony tech, so we get tape players that look like the original Walkman from 1979 or whatever it was.

[@monsterpound_alt2]

you mean 1900s?

[@AcornElectron]

Sad to see

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

I think that is an over priced pile of plastic its audio performance is boxy and mechanically rather cheap I have seen better remote controls on a garden light. "Bose" over priced junk with digitally processed sound to accommodate the deficiency in cabinet construction. Bose used to do good Club audio systems but that does not translate to domestic kit which is just pants but usually bought by those who also have a SMUG fridge and tone deaf.

[@tortureborn]

I just bought one of these original cassette systems from the 1980s. It has bass and treble control. It is the clearest cassette player I have ever used. No hiss, no clicking, just a fantastic option for mixtapes.

[@volvo09]

The cassette version is the one I'd be interested in

[@Localtraveler2376]

The 80’s version probably had better speakers and analog controls. I had and old Bose from that time and it sounded quite good.

[@colinstu]

Yeah I think a lot of cheapening happened to this unit over the decades, and resting on laurels. He should check out older units.

[@humanwaveform]

this just makes me assume you'd never used a high end cassette player before.

[@Localtraveler2376]

@ blah blah blah snob

[@MrRickp78]

I got given a smaller Awrcc6 recently from circa 2006. I got it recapped (solved the prolonged 'please wait' error) and plugged in a cheap alexa to stream amazon music and it's a great addition to our summerhouse. A decent sound from a small cabinet. I think with an alexa echo dot added, it has another lease of life. Recapping was not expensive.

[@christophergetchell6490]

I'm from Boston MA, where the Advent loudspeaker originated, along with the Bose headquarters here in Framingham MA. Henry Kloss, who created the Advent, started a speaker company in the late 1980s called Cambridge Soundworks to directly compete with Bose products at a fraction of the price. Not only were they competitive, but they actually sounded quite a bit better! Their competition to the "wave" systems was the model 88 radio, which actually sounded like a full stereo. They also made some of the best computer speakers I'd ever heard!

[@johnhoward3042]

Not difficult to sound better than bose. Truly a product for suckers.

[@aznsensation44]

Yup Henry Kloss was a legend. Advent, KLH, Cambridge Soundworks AND Tivoli

[@junits15]

@@johnhoward3042 it’s no high end product but to say it sounds bad is just hyperbole.

[@FTarquin]

Very cool!.. I lived in Peabody, MA 1999-2007 and remember Cambridge Soundworks. Boston Acoustic were pretty good and popular at that time.. Do you think the model 88 has as much bass as the Bose?

[@tedbell4416]

Advent made great speakers

[@popculturedon]

Back in the 90s here in the US, there was a very popular radio personality named Paul Harvey. He had a syndicated radio show for years and years and years where he would just tell stories. His closing was always “I’m Paul Harvey. Good day!” Anyways, his show was sponsored by Bose. That’s how I learned about Bose Acoustic Wave back in the day.

[@squirtbaybay]

Loved listening to Paul Harvey. I couldn't have given less of a fuck about what he was talking about. I just liked his voice.

[@jdraven0890]

I can hear his voice while reading that 😂

[@usenamenotallowed]

Hello Americans!

[@r.l.royalljr.3905]

Yes, this is where my grandmother got the notion to buy the compact one back in the day. It was ridiculously expensive and she and my aunt got into a fight over spending that much money on what amounted to a CD player.

[@alfredvalrie5541]

Good day!

[@savizzlekeys]

A friend of mine who worked for Bose gave me one these. I use it in a small room with a turntable connected to it. It sounds amazing! I believe the acoustics of the room itself plays a part in the sound of these. I also have a full audio file setup in a big room, but the Bose gives it run for its money with its clarity.

[@timmturner]

The first time I heard one of these was in a Sears right after Terminator 2 came out on video. It was being played on a TV with a Wave as the sound output, as I walked by I paused when I heard Arnold snatch the shotgun from the biker bar guy because the bass was phenomenal, then the drum kicked in from Bad to the Bone and I was a bit floored. I was looking for the subwoofer and couldn't find one and then realized it was all coming from this little box.

[@GTI1dasOriginal]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@freepress8451]

Suspect this review was to boost channel views, the very mention of Bose and all the haters come out

[@sgas]

​@@freepress8451lol???

[@Moonlightshadow-lq4fr]

I remember seeing something like this at a cinema but it was massive and was high up near the ceiling and pointing towards the screen, the shape of this unit that is. Not sure if it was bose or whoever?

[@johndough8115]

@@freepress8451 Its not about Hate. Its about Honesty. Bose sells way Over-Priced products, while trying to POSE their equipment as being Audiophile Quality. Nothing could be further from the Truth. They use the cheapest $2 Chinese drivers.. and some Gimmicky Trickery, to get that over-exaggerated + artificial sounding Bass response. People whom actually know the technology inside of speakers.. are not Hateful. We laugh at the general mass Lemming Ignorance. See respectable looking commercial = must be great Product = Buy at any Price! Suddenly, there is no such thing as Dishonesty in the World. And if YOU like that low level sound quality... you defend their Trickery and over-pricing scamming... via Ego based Brand Fan-Girl'ing. You dont want to know the actual Truth. You dont really want to hear, and learn... that you could get 50 times better sound, at 50 times less the cost. Your mind is Brainwashed into an Ego Feedback Loop, of Self Delusion. You dont want to live in actual Reality... because that could hurt your Feelings (which is actually why you posted, in the first Place).

[@KyleJWest-vn9kn]

What a blast from the past. I remember these being advertised on late night television and really wanting one as a kid.

[@Michael-um1qq]

Same here kind of! Except it was the cheaper Bose Wave Music System, either I or II. Color me shocked when I recently got a new old stock Bose Wave Music System III with a matching Multi-CD Changer in Titanium Silver for Christmas.

[@freepress8451]

I have one of these and discovered for my model, the power cord also acts as the FM radio antenna.

[@flyingo]

I used to sell Bose equipment in the late 80s and these devices were slow to catch on but ultimately a big hit. I’ve always enjoyed Bose products for the most part even though they were usually very expensive. A few years ago I picked up one of these Acoustic Wave compact systems for $5 at a garage sale as it was supposedly not working, but with a little cleaning and tweaking it sprang to life. It’s a model CD-2000 with AM/FM tuner, CD player and several auxiliary inputs when paired with the pedestal PD-2. Mine has a minimalistic “treble/bass” control for minor adjustments. I wonder why they abandoned that feature. Mine was manufactured in January of 1994 and in my opinion it still sounds great after 30 years. I will admit that I don’t listen to radio with it, just the CD and other inputs. Thank you for this deep dive into this version.

[@autobotjazz1972]

I do agree that Tech has caught up and even exceeded what ever edge Bose wave systems may have once had back in the day. That said they were always just too expensive for me to even consider purchasing.

[@FreerunMediaService]

The last part of this video you're talking about of the feature hype and everything under menu's and button combinations. I think we can agree on the fact it's not anything different than these days. Everything you want to do other than volume and skipping tracks, is under button cominations or menu's. It's all getting more features and more difficult to operate. Everything is touch screen and manu driven.

[@pl1068]

The boselink on the back of the DAB is there because the DAB has used up the acoustic wave boselink connection. So you would use the boselink connection on the DAB to connect into a Lifestyle 48 home theater system which has a hardrive to store over 300 cd's in lossless quality.

[@volvo09]

That's pretty cool, the hard drive unit

[@wbfaulk]

But it clearly says not to use it. What are you possibly going to use it for if not to connect to another Boselink device? Do they mean "don't use it to make coffee"?

[@mikehensley78]

In the mid 1990s i took a 2 year electronics course. A local audio/electronics shop(The Pied Piper) would donate broken items that were returns or warranty items so that our class could fix/auction-off some stuff or strip components from them and learn what we could. While there picking up a load of donations one day i heard a Bose Wave radio and it was playing classical music and i could feel the cello and the floor was vibrating. i was amazed! after we loaded the stuff my instructor had some paperwork to do so i was playing around with that radio and the guy said play whatever you wanna play so i put it on a rock station and then an R&B station and i know a CD is gonna sound better than an FM broadcast but WOW!!!!! the classical music sounded amazing from the bose radio but the rock did not sound that great and the R&B was kinda too bass-y for the amount of mids/highs. I have always wanted one of those radios though! I bet it would make an AWESOME set of desktop PC speakers!!! Bose made another set back then too. It was 4 smaller front/rear left/right 4inch speakers and a small sub that had a HUGE sound. I've always wanted a set of those too. Watching this video brought back a lot of old memories. Can't wait to see the next one!!

[@gwheregwhizz]

It looks like most of the budget went on all those advertisements in The Guardian and The Times Sunday supplements.

[@mida8261]

That's because you're right. I own one of these, and it's a $200 USD (157 pound) system at best.

[@andrewmontague9682]

Aspirational marketing is often used to pump the prices of stuff that isn’t justifying the cost on quality alone. Supreme is the best example of this.

[@rodmunch69]

Like he points out in the video, when these first came out, they were pretty ground breaking, and the standard for quality for many years (in terms of all-in-one small systems). The issue is they lived on their rep with this unit and didn't really improve it. Then again, people buying this unit, wanted THIS unit. But like with most brands that market to non-poor people, they spend a lot of advertising. The only company I've ever seen not do this, that was selling a quality product to people in this income range is Tesla.

[@andydriscoll1903]

Because they did

[@michaelmartin9022]

Don't forget Focus, now the BBC's, but once an independent, pop-science magazine. I had issue 1 somewhere once. Might be worth nearly a fiver on Ebay!

[@MikeSmith-sh3ko]

Spot on concussion Mat. Always thought the bass was overblown and somewhat out of control and where everything is piled up on itself made it difficult to use Better Off with Something Else

[@matthewjbauer1990]

I remember going to a Bose store with my Dad as a kid and hearing one of these things and being wowed only because of the demo tracks they played through it. Once they played the radio or certain tracks, I immediately felt like it was a waste of money. Dad ended up with a 3-2-1 GS 2.1 DVD system in the early 2000s that I thought was a waste of money but what was I to say as a kid

[@robinwindsrygg9568]

That pseudo-compatibility with the external «docked» CD player sending the turn-on signal to the main unit via lined up infrared is hilarious. It’s something I’d expect from the early 1980’s.

[@technoman9000]

It's kind of ingenious. A lesser company would've just given you two remotes and said "deal with it." I have to applaud Bose for giving modular integration a shot. I do miss having upgradeable equipment...

[@ancltube]

​@Lacking_something Yes it was

[@Tim091]

@Lacking_something 20:20

[@ancltube]

@Lacking_something No, and it is not easier for me than for you to find it. Just watch the video!

[@davidpowell9965]

i used to have a keyboard for a pocketpc pda, that used a posable piece of shiny metal to reflect the ir from the keyboard into the ir port on the side of the pda. very staff of ra.

[@DouglasLippi]

I got the small one with radio and CD player at a thrift shop for $12. Sounds great and also has RCA inpur and output. Totally rad!

[@craigcousins6718]

One thing that winds me up is when eBay sellers empty there recycling bin into the box for packaging!!!

[@stussels]

if my item arrives unscathed im ok with it. certainly better than nothing

[@bobby666666]

@craigcousins6718 It could have been polystyrene Chips that get everywhere, but where you want them.

[@craigcousins6718]

@bobby666666 yes I know what you mean I but mixing desks and they get into the faders!!

[@bobby666666]

@craigcousins6718 I didn't think of that. I used to work for a company, and we received various parcels. Some had chips in, and I had to spend time chasing them. Other timed it was shredded paper. That was just as bad.

[@yebo56]

Why

[@toonman361]

The only time I'd see a unit like this, it was in an old person's room in the pensioner's home. BTW, for two videos in a row, when you were testing the radio, ELO was playing. Cool.

[@HughRaine]

Came to say the same thing about ELO! 😅

[@meechmushrooms]

“It appears the previous owner was last listening to *PANJAB RADIO, which isn’t much use to me.” It's 6 in the morning and that made me laugh so hard 😂😂 his deadpan delivery is perfect. lmao

[@terrylandess6072]

A guitar player/solo singer had a set of the 901's for performance in small intimate clubs. As a Bassist I thought they sounded great playing through his mixing board. It was only when I sat some 18" speaker cabinets next to them did I realize the sub frequencies missing from the 901's. I used the concept of 'bass reflex' in the 70's by turning my cabinet around in a corner. Still there's no substitute for a speaker large enough to move air the way a dedicated subcabinet will.

[@themagus5906]

The 901s were marketed in a time (70s) when louder without distortion was considered the benchmark. Bose tried to "get around" the bass-reflex craze by extensive equalization. Many people back then were impressed by just how loud the 901s played for their size. I agree about moving air for bass; that's why I'm a Klipschorn fan.

[@mlconley]

@@themagus5906better sound through equalization.

[@WillmobilePlus]

I have an Acoustic Wave Music System II. Got it for 15 bucks at a garage sale in an affluent neighborhood. It is my favorite piece of audio equipment. Not so much that it is the best sounding thing ever (it isnt), but with some "help" with some external speakers it is just a joy to still use, and I love to see it on my fireplace when I walk through the front door. Edit: You are correct about the display. Mine is too high up to see, so I had to rig a prism on top of it so it reflected the display towards me.

[@fmdof]

I was fortunate enough to find one of these with the mentioned carrying case for 40 bucks at a resale shop. Minus the cd changer. It's been my camping radio mainly using the aux input. Despite not having the changer, it did come with the remote for one. I ended up listing the remote on ebay for 20. Took about a year to sell, and funnily enough the week it sold, same resale shop had the cd changer for sale for 20 bucks. Bad timing for the sale, I did end up buying the changer too.

[@meechmushrooms]

Also love Techmoan's glasses! They remind me of Raymond Reddington (James Spader) from NBC's _The Blacklist._

[@garydiamondguitarist]

James Spader is a criminally underrated actor. Nice to see him getting a mention.

[@meechmushrooms]

@@garydiamondguitarist Agreed! Love him so much. ❤️

[@ikonix360]

Maybe 2-3 years ago I had the opportunity to try and repair one where the optional 5 disc changer malfunctioned due to a cracked gear. My opinion is it's real good sounding for AM audio and ok on FM, aux and CD. The issue for me is the bass does not go down much below 50Hz. Now when compared to similarly sized radios it is easily the better sounding radio. If I only had the space for a small radio, this is likely what I'd have.

[@mavfan1]

My parents have had a smaller Bose radio for probably 30 years in a spot under the TV and it sounds pretty good, certainly much better than other radios they have around the house.

[@NotATube]

I get the impression that Bose products probably would have been considered quite good-sounding compared to most low-to-midrange consumer electronics and the main problem was that they were overhyped and massively overpriced for what they were- i.e. nowhere near the high-end "audiophile" systems the marketing claimed or implied they were.

[@jdtseventyfour]

I have one of these with exactly the same accessories you tested. I inherited it from my late father in law. As I hadn't had a hi fi for so long (my last one died in 2009 when I was moving house) and have just had a Pioneer ipod/bluetooth dock for a few years, the Bose system was a welcome change. I must admit I was carried along by the hype that 'Bose' was a good brand and I would visit the Bose shop in Liverpool to look over their kit. It's not the best system but it does the job. thanks for an honest review.

[@markmarkofkane8167]

They were never affordable for me. I also never had an opportunity to hear one. Very interesting, though! Edit: I find a lot of "hi-fi" systems have too much bass. I like bass, but not when it seems to drown out the treble and midrange. EQ presets are no good. Give me the 5+ band graphic equalizers we used to have!

[@johnr6168]

Some equipment has the bass cranked up to make some listeners think the quality is better. Accuracy is more important. The trouble with Bose bass is that it's not very even or clear but a muddy mess instead.

[@Helloyousilverdevil]

I wanted these so bad as a kid in the mid-late 90’s… their ad campaigns were top notch back then showing off how ‘complex’ the sound guides were to the speakers, and the simplicity of the design and nice black color made me want it even more. But same thing as you, these were NEVER affordable… plus they never evolved (cheap LCD screens, no ability to tune, just basic functionality). But I went looking for old ones on ebay about a year ago to get something I dreamed of as a kid as an adult- and they’re STILL just as freaking expensive. Now that I know they’re not even that good on sound to begin with, I really don’t have much desire to grab one anymore

[@EpicureMammon]

I just inherited a first version from my grandma. It needed some repairs to get back up and running, but I was also kind of disappointed in the sound. However, it at least had tone control via bass and treble sliders. I can't believe that they got rid of those adjustments.

[@volvo09]

That's the version id like to get a hold of.

[@danielemerson312]

From the era when "Fifty Shades of Grey" was a buying guide for household goods. Apart from the bathroom, which was of course, avocado-coloured.

[@nameless-user]

I feel personally attacked lol.

[@dlevi67]

Avocado bathroom suites - last popular circa 1975. "Metal grey" appliances - all the rage in the 2000s. Bit confused about history, aren't you?

[@danielemerson312]

@@dlevi67 My mum's house - built (on the cheap) in the Nineties. Bathroom - totally avocado.

[@dlevi67]

@ Plenty of them still available in the shops now. That doesn't make them fashionable and it hasn't done since 1975.

[@danielemerson312]

@@dlevi67 Oh I see. You're trying to "win" at a conversation. Well done, carry on.

[@scottbennett3119]

My Bose Wave from 1987 had bass and treble sliders. Nice video,thanks!

[@Jonathan_Doe_]

Bass below like 100hz is omnidirectional so the lack of audible difference when you moved it away from the wall kind of proves the bass speaker in the units not a very good sub at all. I think they’re just very resonant in the mid bass between 200-400hz, which most people perceive as more bassy, but as you said,really it just sounds kind of wooly.

[@drasticmart]

Always wondered is I was missing out not having got one of these, thanks for the reassurance I wasn’t!

[@marcusphoenixish]

I had one of these, and yes, I totally agree that not being able to adjust the sound was a bit downside

[@ElektronikLabor]

Back then when I went to school I sometimes visited our local Bose shop and saw that device; I was convinced that would be the best system with the best audio quality one can imagine.

[@jestubbs69]

The saying that went around was “no highs no lows, must be Bose”. Installed my fair share. Always old folks. 1/2 installs added on a proper subwoofer for home theatre. 1989-1997.

[@JamieStuff]

That trope is because of the original 901s. They had to be installed in a specific manner, because they used the walls as part of the system. Installed correctly, they sounded fantastic. However, MANY people treated them like bookshelf speakers... and then they sound like crap.

[@polarstar]

Hahaha. That's so original.

[@broeheemed32]

The “no highs no lows, must be Bose” mantra is applicable today in many automotive sound systems. You can have 60 separate drivers, but if they can't reach the frequencies (they can't), it doesn't matter how many you have. We have a Bose "premium" system in our Cadillac ATS. It's just not very "premium". Bose was good at creating clever innovations years past, but they really don't have anything outstanding to offer anymore.

[@straightpipediesel]

@@broeheemed32 Agreed, the new Bose car systems are garbage. GM is dumping them, they got Harman, who makes the infotainment system anyway, to stick their AKG brand on the premium models.

[@ChadWSmith]

I loved visiting the Bose stores in the mall back in the day. They always did a great job of presenting their speakers as the most amazing futuristic speakers ever created. I was never in any danger of buying anything as I did not have thousands of dollars laying around for a sound system. But their marketing presentation was a sight to behold. When they came into the listening room about 1/2 way through the presentation and removed the false-fronts of the big speakers you thought you were listening to, and revealed the tiny little things actually making the room full of noise, it was shocking and impressive.

[@typhoontim125]

All the style and grace of an office printer....and barely sounds better than one!

[@markjamesmeli2520]

Thanks for posting this. I'm old enough to remember that many friends of mine (and myself) considered buying one of these throughout most of the 1990s, and onwards. In America, they were advertised EVERYWHERE!! It wasn't until your last Bose related video, that I wondered where all that "hype" went. While this system is far advanced, I'm glad you've actually explained the unit to all of us. Unfortunately, 30 years later, I still couldn't afford one.

[@charlesduboise5198]

I bought my first one in April 1993 , I sent them a check for a 1026.00 dollars it still works fine, and my second in 2004 but I also bought the 5 disk changer with it and it was 1399.00 dollars it had a remote except for the slide control for the volume on the first it was almost the same , and the 3rd I bought in 2017 and paid 1199.00 I bought all 3 straight from Bose

[@theturdflinger]

This is very nostalgic, had one of these on a corner table in the living room growing up.

[@stuh6277]

In the mid 90s my parents got 2 of the smaller wave radios with the top loading CD player. Both no longer play CDs but all other functions work. They still use one in lieu of a modern soundbar.

[@carbonstar9091]

That's how my father still uses his. It's honestly not terrible as a soundbar. Completely inferior to a real audio system for music though.

[@andyevans2336]

I remember back in the 90s, a friend took his AW system with them while they floated the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon. He was pleased that he brought multiple battery packs.

[@Tactical_Hotdog]

New glasses Matt? Suit you, sir!

[@jimsimpson1006]

Ohhhhh!

[@superspak]

Great video. My Grandparents had one of the later models that had the CD player. I remember loving the bass response and seeing the advertised airflow channels in the manual, (I feel like woofer builds with PVC pipes are more of a recent trend?). I have nothing bad to say about Bose. You get what you pay for usually. I already went through 3 sets of ear cups on my QC35 II over 4 years 😄 I remember the TV ads too.

[@roberthorwat6747]

Missus bought me one. Perfect kitchen sound system, lounge not so much. Got divorced. Had to sell it, couldn't believe how much used ones were going for (this is years ago mind), ker chingg thank you very much, years 'n' years later, one came up for peanuts on market place and I realised I kinda missed it, so got another one. One cheapo blue tooth adaptor later and my kitchen rocks once more. 6.5/10 is about right. A fair review.

[@fossilfern]

I legitimately love the look of this thing. Reminds me of the 90s in its aesthetic I have one sitting on my shelf and it’s such an eye sore…. But I love it.

[@DrewberTravels]

I stayed with my uncle in 2003 for a little while. he had one of these and swore it was the best stereo ever. I think he was just trying to justify his purchase. I preferred listening to music on my Sony can headphones.

[@pleappleappleap]

That Motown compilation is packaged really well. The CDs made to look like vinyl records are cute.

[@EeekiE]

The 90’s RX-7 I have had an optional BOSE installation with a waveguide system that took up literally a third of the already tiny boot space. It also looked very much “form follows function”. I don’t think the function offered is worth the form on that either.

[@volvo09]

Does it still work? I saw a review of one of those cars but the factory radio was broken.

[@Goopa-Troopa]

I work with the guy that designed that system (Hes still with the company) and he absolutely knew what he was doing. Its hard to get good bass response in a small sedan like that off the back deck and door woofers sound absolutely abysmal compared to a properly enclosed woofer like in the rx7 waveguide

[@volvo09]

@@Goopa-Troopa that's pretty cool! Yeah without a rear deck / trunk to have woofers in you don't get good bass. Most all cars such as hatchbacks and wagons with a decent stereo have a woofer somewhere, and back when the RX-7 was new OEM's were not doing that yet.

[@bluzmanintx8176]

I bought one brand new back in the mid 2000's and I was never impressed by it. I still have it and this video inspired me to hook it up again and give it a listen.

[@turokforever007]

So they spent 1.5 million on the port design. Then 27p on the rest of the so-called design.

[@hifijohn]

What's there to design ??, the transmission line has been around since the 1940's.

[@zorktxandnand3774]

1.5M of which 1.4M went to marketing the port design.

[@technoman9000]

@@zorktxandnand3774 Why make something better when you can just convince people it's better? #ThinkDifferent

[@nickwallette6201]

@@hifijohn Yes, but designing a transmission line for one driver means you've designed a transmission line _for one driver._ Prototyping something at this scale was probably quite costly, since you're not just going to build it out of plywood....

[@mlconley]

Most components were off the shelf. The unit cost Bose $150 in 1990 when I worked there. I did QA for the series I and early series II.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

*I have one of these; it is my daily driver. I love it* . I don't even remember when I got it, 20 or 30 years ago probably. In fact, I listened to this recording on a Bose Acoustic Wave Music System. It's major weakness is lack of tone controls so I have a pre-amp whose only purpose is a rotary volume control and tone controls (and input selector). Basically it is a powered speaker; I don't use its built-in CD player or FM/AM radio except on rare occasions.

[@dimensiongamer534]

One thing that looks like it would annoy me about this system is all those indents on the front of it, looks like they would pick up dust all the way from Alpha Centauri! XD Gud vid as always! :)

[@volvo09]

A paint brush does wonders to clean up grooves like that. Looks like the seller did exactly that, because I expected it to be dusty too.

[@hoot7588]

@@volvo09 Good tip

[@philanderson5138]

I dreamt about owning one of these - thank you for the detail

[@yehnahthx]

That finger wobble when Grandmaster Flash came on! I can see you thinking, "Screw the content, I should just listen to this track and get back to making content later"🤣

[@garrylawless3550]

I love your videos, everything we need to know and you're funny as well. I used to see adverts for this system over the years, and back in the eighties, yes it did look good, but you're right, it doesn't look good now, no flashing lights or funky display either- well that you can see without standing over it! Excellent review and thanks for the laughs!😄

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"it doesn't look good now, no flashing lights or funky display" Hooray for that.

[@danoconnell1833]

There was a TV ad (in the '80s?) showing the Bose Acoustic Wave fooling people in a concert hall into thinking it was a full compliment of professional PA equipment. That sums up the overselling of Bose to me. As a music lover and musician, I was psyched when I got a chance to listen to it for the first time, and I remember the feeling of disappointment when I did. Then the absence of an equalizer sealed it for me. No thanks. (To be fair, I have heard other Bose equipment that sounded good.)

[@Billsoundmaster]

Was that the commercial with Herbie Hancock ? I always felt it was sad that he was the pitch man Bose , better sound through marketing.

[@danoconnell1833]

@@Billsoundmaster I know he did a few bose commercials, but I don't think he was in the one I'm thinking of. I couldn't find it on KZbin.

[@osliverpool]

Very interesting take on it, thanks. I've wondered how that might sound since I heard the smaller Wave radio some years ago. Someone I know bought one for use in the kitchen, and it sounded a lot better than I expected. It doesn't seem like the idea scaled well.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"It doesn't seem like the idea scaled well." The smaller Wave Radio came later, if I remember right. So, the idea scaled, but scaled smaller.

[@Haffmatthew]

I was a young kid when I would often wake up to my little crt showing these infomercials for these Bose Wave systems. I always imagined having one as an adult! Thanks for covering

[@ArlenMoulton2]

As I commented on the Patreon version of this video, I bought one of these off eBay before I'd even finished this video, it arrived, and I'm pleased to say I love it! It's a CD3000 so that means it's an original Wave system not a Wave 2, but has the CD player rather than the cassette. It looks beautiful, I really like the design of these, and even though the sound can be mediocre in some locations, where I've chosen to have it seems to work as it sounds fine, nice and rich, far better than anything else of its size from the 90s, I'm made up to finally have one after all those hours looking at them in the Bose shop as a kid!

[@a1white]

26:15 Radio X is DAB+ only. I had the same issue with an old Denon system I had that didn’t support DAB+. It shows the DAB+ station just nothing plays (as I guess it cannot decode it)

[@sheldoncampbell2139]

I will always remember the cool Bose demo rooms in the late 90's/2000s's, they pretty much had a family room set up and spot lights would highlight the areas where the speakers would be hidden.

[@joeblankenship377]

This probably could have been cheaper if they hadn't spent all that money on nightly infomercials for the thing.

[@FG-gu9rn]

He did a review on one of those a couple of years ago, you shall check it out!

[@dustys5512]

My grandfather had the original bose wave system with the cd player in it. If I recall correctly he got it back in the early 90s. We inherited it from him but it's pretty much worn out. The CD player doesn't work and the AUX inputs have a short in them making it cut out unless you keep pressure on the cables.

[@Spoonyspoon27]

A common appearance on shopping channels didn’t instil much confidence of sound quality.

[@AirBudProMax]

Thank you Techmoan! I’ve always been fascinated by these.

[@howardoberg5847]

there is a local BBQ chain that has used Bose Wave radios up on a shelf for their sound system for years. Sounds good but I always wondered what they will do when they eventually break down (being on for good 12-16 hours / day, everyday). Although some are well over a decade old and still sounding good.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

Mine operates pretty much all day long, every day, for the past 25 or so years. I don't remember when I bought it.

[@mar4kl]

My parents bought a Bose Wave Radio sometime after I went off to college. I don't remember if they bought it sometime in the 1980s or the early '90s; I just remember visiting my parents, and there it was, in the living room, sitting atop their old hi-fi set. It was an impressive little unit, although just how impressive depended on what you were comparing it with. When my parents bought their Bose Wave Radio, they owned two stereo sets. The first was the old hi-fi set, although it was a bit of a Frankenstein stereo. It started off as a 1962 Magnavox Astro-Sonic console stereo, which, I'm sure, offered very fine sound for its time. However, in the early 1970s, its turntable developed a problem, and a few years later, its tube amp failed. Dad worked around the first problem by replacing the original turntable with a Radio Shack model that he just dropped into the well (plus a phono preamp, since the new turntable's magnetic phono cartridge produced a much lower output signal than the console's original ceramic cartridge), and the second by piping the phono output into an external receiver that he parked in a cabinet that sat next to the console stereo and then the output from the external receiver back into the console's speakers. He then added his reel-to-reel recorder to the system, and, after catching the 8-track bug (a bit late in the game, actually), also added an 8-track tape recorder (yes, he RECORDED on 8-track to play back on a portable 8-track player that we used in the car on long road trips). It ended up being an eclectic stereo system, and more than a bit fiddly. My parents' second stereo was what we called a "compact stereo" back in the 1970s. It consisted of an all-in-one receiver and 8-track player - no phonograph on this thing - and a cheap pair of speakers. It had been purchased for his office in the mid 1970s; when we moved to a new city, it ended up in the laundry room. The Bose Wave Radio handily outperformed both of the above stereo sets. However, there was a third system, a component stereo set that my brother and I had put together with the best components we could afford, as we could afford them. We had audiophile ears; unfortunately, we did not have audiophile budgets! So, the system was put together over time, and by the time my bro went to college (the year after I did), it consisted of a pretty nice receiver (although I can't remember what brand/model), a Technics SL-B200 turntable with an Empire P-mount cartridge, a Sharp single tape deck with soft-touch keys (we couldn't afford full logic controls) and a pair of Sansui speakers. It was a far cry from the best stereo money could buy at the time (although it was the best that OUR money could buy), but even so, the Bose Wave Radio most definitely did NOT outperform that stereo. Small, plastic cabinets with small drivers inside can only deliver so much, even with a revolutionary, resonant sound pathway, especially when compared with full-size speakers in wood cabinets. That said, there's no question that the Bose Wave Radio was an impressive little stereo. I think its main problem was the hype with which it was marketed. Bose's ads claimed that it outperformed full-size stereos. It sort of did, but only because most Americans, then as now, were far more interested in convenience and price than sound quality. The average American's stereo system at the time was a compact stereo, like the one in my parents' laundry room, with boom boxes starting to take over due to their portability, and the Bose Wave Radio sounded much better than those. It didn't outperform a good component stereo set, but it sounded more than good enough, fit in places where a good component stereo never could, and was very easy to use.

[@Ben-says-you-are-AWESOME]

I spent 30 plus years repairing consumer electronics and was never overly impressed with the Bose music systems, whilst I wasn't alone in my view there are other people who think they were the best things ever - a triumph of marketing perhaps. The sound is often too bass heavy and boomy; the lack of any EQ controls, I think, was a mistake. The whole point of EQ controls is to tailor the output to suit your room acoustics, your ear or just your preference! There is actually an official Bose modification for some of the Wave Radios to reduce the bass level, which greatly improves listenability. Those CD changers are horrid. Firstly, they're clearly an afterthought with a weird aesthetic and limited interaction with the main unit; secondly, they are too slow in operation; and thirdly, they have plastic bits inside that have a tendency to crack and fall apart now they're aging - rendering them completely useless. Over the years I've had a couple of different Bose CD Players at home but ended up getting rid of them as they were somehow 'unpleasant' things to listen to.

[@carbonstar9091]

If you've ever been inside a Bose product you know the components are as cheap as possible. All marketing no substance. For the premium price you could have way better stuff.

[@Ben-says-you-are-AWESOME]

@@carbonstar9091 Absolutely! Like with many 'premium products' the only premium thing is the price tag.

[@NotATube]

My guess is that *maybe* the lack of EQ is because the design is hard-engineered to alter the sound (and particularly the bass) a certain way and it's not as easy to adjust that via EQ controls the way it would be with a more traditional design....?

[@DJ_Tabula_Rasa]

I have that exact unit. CD changer and all. Only mine was the older liquid crystal display. Found it at Goodwill in perfect shape for 10 bucks. For that price, it stays in my room. Decent sound.

[@ThatSceneKittyCatFemboy]

Format suggestion... CD+G A format for primitive video graphics on an optical disc.

[@MarkBurfeind]

We have had the Bose Wave alarm clock radios over the years, always loved them! It’s on my bucket list to own a full sized wave radio someday. One thing I have always found strange about Bose is that they wouldn’t build the Bluetooth module into the radio itself. - In our scenario, I just had an Apple AirPort Express plugged into the RCA in making it an Airplay device.

[@M3G4UK]

Traditional DAB tuners will "see" DAB+ stations, but will go silent as they won't be able to decode the stream, hence why some of the stations on your unit were silent. 😊

[@1madfitter]

I once worked at a company right down the street from their corprate headquarters. The building is a giant wave radio, lol. It was a cool sight to see.

[@KevinTernes]

I listened to one of these around 1996. The bass was "not right" and it was expensive so I passed. I ended up buying an Aiwa unit that looked obnoxious with too many lights but sounded absolutely great!

[@Mr.Clingclong]

About 25 years ago, I was working in a house in Chelsea, and the owners had one of these. I was fascinated by these devices, and as the owners were away, us mice decided to play. We switched it on and we were amazed, it filled the room with such a big, rich sound I've never heard in something so small, mightily impressed.

[@nathanwoodruff9422]

In 1994 I was with a woman that had one of these. She told me that she had spent $1,400 USD on the thing. She had a record player connected it that both were sitting on a dresser in her bedroom. Remember this was well before the age of CD's. And no, she couldn't see the display unless she was on tippy toes. She only used it for the record player, but it sounded amazing. I believe back then it had an alarm clock feature that would turn the radio on in the morning and I think she used that as well. Would I have spent that much money in 1994 just for an amplifier? Probably not. But it did sound absolutely amazing.... well, for playing records.

[@wemartin12]

What do you mean, 1994 was peak time for CDs. CDs became mainstream in the late '80s.

[@alextirrellRI]

I have an older version of the smaller unit. I don't use it too often but this makes me want to give it a revisit. It's in my kitchen and I usually use my Google Home for some quick music while I'm in there -- which it's surprising what a decent sound that can put out.

[@uingaeoc3905]

I was never much attracted to these things. If you want something like a clock-radio-cd player in your bedroom get any one box micro system. Having two speakers in the bedroom is not that inconvenient. i used to have mine hooked up to a Tannoy Subwoofer but really not needed.

[@1nico517]

I have a Bose wave cd radio that my Grandma bought over a decade ago as the speaker for my computer, I really like it, but it's not for everyone. I love the design of them and it fits in well with my thinkstation desktop that I have, they almost look like they were made for one another

[@always_outnumbered]

Can't believe this was still sold up to 2018. Looks like it should of been discontinued in the 90s

[@paulallen6915]

It is have, not of.

[@sunnohh]

They sounded quite good

[@garydiamondguitarist]

Should have been discontinued the year it was released.

[@garydiamondguitarist]

​@@paulallen6915Sentence fragment. See, I can nitpick too 😝

[@paulallen6915]

@@garydiamondguitarist that’s fine, I can edit too.

[@gaz1978]

Techmoan - Long time subscriber here great video again, keep doing you it just works.