M-Audio or Bose?

[jrocks]

Does anyone who knows anything about speakers and speaker companies think M-Audio is a better company or Bose? I don't know much of anything so your help would be great! I'm deciding between the M-Audio Studiopro 3 speakers and the Bose Campanion 2 series. These are the two because I found them in stores and so far like them the best...i need speakers soon and don't want to spend more than 100$ and can't wait for them to ship....any advice? thanks!

Mod. note: One thread on a subject is enough. Thanks.

 

[Quboid]

You need alot of things accoding to your post. As far as I know bose is the most celebrated audio technology brand around. But if I were you i would do extensive research and buy the system that suits me best.

 

[synth3tik]

M-Audio is a lower level reference monitor while the boss are speakers. If you want you sounds to sound good get the bose, if you need it to sound like it really sounds (i.e. audio recoding or podcasting) get the M Audio

 

[sblasl]

Just say NO to Bose.

 

[jrocks]

Thanks, I don't do any recording or anything so I guess it's the Bose.

 

[jrocks]

Why say no? I think they usually sound good.

The Bose are smaller and match the MBP a little bit better.

 

[fr4c]

for looks: Bose
for performance: M-Audio

 

[MAW]

as always, it depends on what you're doing.....

is this for entertainment or pro audio?

do you need accuracy or a small footprint?

bose speakers add all sorts of poop(frequencies,intended audio distortion, surround emulation) not present in the source audio. in other words, if you want "glitter", go for the bose. if you want a true-er representation of what the sound is intended to be then i would strongly suggest somethin' like.....

 

[bousozoku]

I'd suggest you look at Klipsch instead. As much as I like Bose, I wouldn't recommend their inexpensive speakers at all.

 

[jrocks]

I want the speakers solely for entertainment. I don't do any editing or anything like that. I just want speakers that will sound good when I play my music from iTunes and if I ever watch a movie on my MBP. So the Bose configures the noise coming out to sound good? and the M-Audio gives it very close to how it is supposed to sound? is that what your saying?

 

[jrocks]

I'd suggest you look at Klipsch instead. As much as I like Bose, I wouldn't recommend their inexpensive speakers at all.

Any good Klipsch for 100$ or less that you could recommend?

 

[MAW]

I want the speakers solely for entertainment. I don't do any editing or anything like that. I just want speakers that will sound good when I play my music from iTunes and if I ever watch a movie on my MBP. So the Bose configures the noise coming out to sound good? and the M-Audio gives it very close to how it is supposed to sound? is that what your saying?

in laymans terms, yes.

it sounds like the bose are for you.

 

[Greenjeens]

The M-Audio speakers could very well be "nearfield" monitors. Nearfield means listening to speakers very close up, like from 1 meter or so.

People who mix music for hours on end, make sometimes small adjustments, want to minimize the effects of the room coloration on what they are hearing and try to minimize all the ways that the sound can change when it's echoed and bounced around a normal room. A speaker that will always sound nearly the same, even if a replacement is required is a plus. A speaker smoothly reproducing various frequencies over the full range as well as a speaker that doesn't have to harsh or irritating tweeters after prolonged listening are a quality many real monitors have. I like sft domed but they can be too soft at times

I think some speaker manufacturers give their tweeters a laid back, non-piercing qualty, so users don't get "ear burn" after hours of use, at even moderately high volume levels. This is a important in professional recording. where overused hearing can effect job performance.

If you are going to sit near your speakers, say putting them up higher above than the desk that the Mac is on. Make sure the tweeter's near ear level when seated, then maybe M-Audio or another type of monitor speaker might be worth trying out.


At least go listen IN PERSON to some various speakers, before you buy, and see what kind of sound you can live with.
I found a real good collection of of resonably priced sound equipment, especialy high output , self powered monitor mixing speakers, at the nearby Guitar Center or music store. For some reason home audio is priced much higher than similar equipment used by musicans.

Often, when smaller satellite speakers or monitors are used on either side of a display, a subwoofer is matched to where the output of the main speaker weakens.

It all depends on what type of music you will listen too, but a subwoofer, when mated with two front speakers (any small to medium speaker can benefit), adds a huge amount of enjoyment to the sound. I like the more "musical," lower output, sealed subwoofers for music, as opposed to the big and boomy type of sound from open that might be appreciated for Sci-Fi movie sound effects. A sub can be added anytime latter.


If your speakers are going to be placed across the room or at a greater distance, then the Bose might sound better, under those conditions. I have some of the cheaper Bose and they are not well balanced and use poor quality parts. However they do have a well defined base output. If you don't care about vocals, then they are kind of fun to listen to.

Anyway, do yourself a BIG favor and listen to several speakers set up in a couple of different ways(including a nearfield monitor set up) Going to a Music Store or a large "Guitar Center" on some rainy day or off hours might be a better way to get some help auditioning various speaker pairs, with less interruption, and discover if nearfield monitors are for you.

Good speakers can last many years and reproduce thousands of hours of beautiful music, inspire and entertain. A better quality pair is nearly always worth it, if you can hear the difference and it's more enjoyable. Good music speakers are something that will pay back divends for a very long time.

Greenjeens

 

[Tucom]

I'd suggest you look at Klipsch instead. As much as I like Bose, I wouldn't recommend their inexpensive speakers at all.

Why? It's their Companion series that carries true quality. Their home-theater junk is way, way overpriced for what you get. The Bose Companion series are outstanding, you can't go wrong.

I also highly recommend KRK series studio monitors, awesome stuff. Klipsch are great, as well.


Peace

 

[aliquis-]

Just listen to them yourself and decide which ones you like best.

Over at head-fi Bose is considered crap since you pay a lot for performance which isn't better than much cheaper stuff from other brands.

I thought m-audio only did sound cards

Anyway for 100 dollar you won't get the best hifi equipment there is so just get whatever you think sounds the best.

 

[theman]

Build them yourself. Oh wait, this isn't my audiophile forum. Darn...

Seriously though, Bose markets to noobs who think that expensive=good, so you just end up getting ripped off. I would look into something that isn't from a major company like bose or m-audio. Try googling some real reviews of budget loudspeakers and there will probably be a good one for around $100.

BTW, I built THESE speakers for just around $500. It was one of the toughest projects I've done, but well worth it. These are arguably the SECOND best speakers in existence (and I would have to agree). The best are these. Anyway, it really shows that you don't need to spend $100,000 dollars to get the best speakers possible. Price isn't everything. And yes, I know this really doesn't help answer your question...

 

[dmaxdmax]

Bose - All hat, no cattle.

(that said, either will probably sound fine)

 

[bousozoku]

Any good Klipsch for 100$ or less that you could recommend?

The cheapest I've seen are $150, but worth the extra. You might check Circuit City for a sale.

Why? It's their Companion series that carries true quality. Their home-theater junk is way, way overpriced for what you get. The Bose Companion series are outstanding, you can't go wrong.

I also highly recommend KRK series studio monitors, awesome stuff. Klipsch are great, as well.


Peace

I listened to the Companion 2 set yesterday and they were okay. They give you the illusion of being much stronger than they really are but that's okay for most people anyway. Unfortunately, both of the subwoofers seemed to be going the whole time, so there was a lot more illusion there than there would be at home.

 

[djkny]

No one has mentioned the Altec Lansing fx6021's. which demolish the Bose Companion 3's (not just in price, too).

There's also hoopla surrounding the Augio Engine A5's, which run closer to $300. But i've only read good reviews on these.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

No one has mentioned the Altec Lansing fx6021's. which demolish the Bose Companion 3's (not just in price, too).

There's also hoopla surrounding the Augio Engine A5's, which run closer to $300. But i've only read good reviews on these.

THANK YOU...


if you look at every speaker post i mention these, these are amazing speakers i'm thinking about picking up my 3rd pair.

LOGITECH FX6021s

 

[kellogz]

Running test: BOSE vs M-AUDIO shelf or desk speakers.

[M-Audio studiophile AV20] Vs [Bose Companion2 SerieII]
I'm testing them for a week after what I'm geting back the paire my gf and I liked the less.
We often travel and move out and the JBL we had soffered from this.
we werre looking for tough and small device with a limited budget.

price in Canadian$
(thesse are the lower nearest prices i found.)
..............................................M-Audios...99$CAN............Bose...119$CAN

the pros ans cons:
M-Audio Pro:
+Clear équilibrated sound (alows you to play with the equaliser of your laptop to get a nice rich sound)
+Very nice materials, backs built like pro studio device. On/Off, bleu led ...
+ slightly lower price (If we weren't looking for a backpackable pair of speakers we could have got the AV30 for the price of the bose)

Bose Pro:
+great bass effects
+Surounding and warm sound for medium spaces.
+smaller and lighter.

M-Audio Cons:
-No surounding, and soft bass, a monitor Doesn't play musique for a large space.
-real sound...sounds flat for movies, or games.
-wood and real electro components are heavy. 1,8 kilo for the speakers

Bose Cons:
-no tweeter and bass effects ON non-stop involves distorsion in musique... all the Highs becomes mediums.
-Plastics and a grey painted grid / 6 or 10 watt it isn't even said, where did my money go (in the magic of bose maybe...)
-When you plug in the jack, or simply touch it, you always hear an LOUD PAK'BUZZZZZ!!! sound. even cheapo speackers don't do it as loud.
-No ON /OFF switch.


M-audio:
As said: A STUDIO SOURCE MONITOR: durable pro stuff for an unbeateble price.
but don't expect any "new experience", this is what sound softly and gentely sounds. Get a bass cube if you want a compete range of sound in medium spaces.(or try the AV30 with the bass switch on)
You won't be blasted when watching movies, and if you get farther then 3 meters the sound won't enveloppe you any more.


Bose:
Blasting mediums surounding experience for such small device.
Too bad they didn't add tweeters, this 6 or 10 watt system would have sound like 30watts. (regardless of distortions)
No one cares about distortion when entertaining, but for musique lovers ( all Instrumentals and vocals, Classical, Jazz, good Rock... ) I strongly recomend you to go for JBL's équilibrated sound, because bose realy OVER TREBLES everything.

In the end,
My girlfriend doesn't care about editing, or the "real sound" of her favorite musique... she goes for the magic of Bose. Smaler and lighter, give a nice expérience for movies in our bedroom... She says the big heavy black speakers are not that good looking, and she never looks at the backside.
She liked our JBL for their complete sound but it didn't blast like bose bass does.
My next pair of speakers will probably be M-Audio (for movie editing, and real sound of musique), I liked the sound with somme equalising to get a sound for the whole room... I'll probably go for the AV30 for the bass switch. My girl friend says they are way to big and heavy, and she's right... but its the same price as Bose first price, for real durable 15watt. I'm shure the bassy effect of the bose won't last, a small Bass device uses itself prematurely.
One last thing, I was listening to a Shopin part, in original CD quality. And it sounded realy bad on M-Audio because of a background noise on the EMI music recording. I always mentioned it on the JBL but not that badly. Even thow the bose were killing the crispy notes of piano it fully took away the backgroud noise.
Emi Musique techniciens probaly should get their monitor fixed, because this Georges Cziffra' shopin CD was kind of expensif...

sorry for the spelling -> haven't practiced my english for long,
Hope this was helping...

 

[SchneiderMan]

Bose sound good no doubt but not for the money your paying. They are know for their bass.

Klipsch is also very good but expensive too.

Jbl good but not great for bass.

Harman/Kardon great for the money.

Boston Acoustics are very good. I used to own their 2.1 but i see they do not make 2.1 anymore.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Bose sound good no doubt but not for the money your paying. They are known for their bass. name

Fixed.

Klipsch is also very good but expensive too.

This is in what context?

Jbl good but not great for bass.

Not the creatures

Harman/Kardon great for the money.

It's just Harman Kardon - they were never two separate companies, just people and I don't know what you are talking about.

Boston Acoustics are very good.

Yes?

Without providing models and what not it is impossible to comprehend what you exactly are saying, besides listing the high-end speaker companies (minus a few) that make computer speakers. For example, the Bose Music Monitors have the least amount of bass of any speaker currently made by any of the companies listed above, they are also towards the high-end in cost.

I have since moved on (holy thread revival)

All of those would be helpful in determining a recommendation.

The general recommendations are going to be some Bose product that I won't recommend and people will make jokes about. The Sound Sticks which people seem to be giving a lot of credence to these days. I'll recommend the Altec Lansing FX6021 over those, which will lead to another discussion. Then someone will recommend the Logitech Z-2300. At this point, someone will recommend that something from Wal-Mart that costs $25.00 and they will swear it that's greatest thing ever. Someone will then recommend Bose and get flamed, followed by the comment about get yourself a good set of cans (headphones), because those will always sound better. Somewhere along the way the M-Audio's will be thrown around, followed by people like me recommending a different set of pro monitors, followed by another Bose posts. A good chance there will be a discussion about the Logitech-Z5500s, which are a good choice. There are a couple of intangibles: someone might recommend the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1, Creative's T40 or some other Logitech that's probably not as good as the Z-2300s. After about 20 posts or so, the general consensus will be reached by a couple of users, you should probably just go hear them for yourself, making the thread well...you can decide...

My recommendation is the Swan M10. You can find a thread about it, here.

Lastly, my thoughts on Bose. Audiophiles will tell you never to buy Bose. People like me, that want to be audiophiles will tell you not to buy Bose. I don't think they sound awful, but when you place the price tag next to them, then they start to sound awful. For the most part, the Bose stuff is mid-range stuff at top range prices. With that being said, if you are satisfied with your purchase, then more power to you. To say that Bose is "junk" is probably a little overstating it, because they are no worse then any of the other companies. But, to say that they are the best, is giving way too much credit. I love my 901s, but I believe that the in-ear headphones belong only in one place, the trash.

Speakers Discussions Are Rampant:
A good example of my predictions are found here.
Here is a 2.1 system.
Here is one thread for $100 USD. Good Discussion.
USB Speaker Discussion Here
Here is another discussion
$200 Discussion Here

 

[SchneiderMan]

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Appears I have been pwned, my bad. As for the portion of my comments that had to do with sound as opposed to logos.