The Invisible Speakers.... (Bose Acoustimass 5)

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Product:	Bose Acoustimass 5
Date:	18/03/04 (5500 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Flexibility, "virtual invisibility", good imaging, fair to good sound.

Disadvantages: Will not play at wall rattling levels in a big room. Not for audiophiles or audio hobbyists

I have two systems. One is my serious listening and hobby system based on B&W 602.2's, and the other is in the living room for TV sound enhancement for movies, easy listening, background music for dinners or cocktail parties.
Why were the AM-5's selected? Because they are "virtually invisible" (a Bose claim). Most people don't even realize there is a sound system in the living room. And because the sound really isn't that bad. Mine are AM-5 Series II's.

Set up:

They are driven by a 100 W/ch Sony STR-135 and a Sony CDP-XE500 for music, and there are feeds from the TV system. The TV is a large console, sitting diagonally across a corner. The satellites are along the side walls about 7 feet each way from the TV and 39" from the floor. The sub sits in the corner behind the TV with the port about 16" from the corner and pointing straight up. It took a while to find the right orientation and distance from the corner for the port. The two cubes in each satellite are at 45 degrees to each other with one pointing straight out from the wall and the other aimed away from the TV at 45 degrees. This gives a very solid center image and a good ability to get a stable image at a variety of seating positions. No attempt was made for a Direct-Reflecting arrangement. At a 45 degree angle, the two cubes form a broad dispersion direct radiator. The room is 16 x 28 feet, with wall to wall carpet and four arm chairs, a sofa, and two upholstered Ottomans. There is an 8 foot ceiling, and almost no drapes.

Sound quality:

The sound from the three pieces is pretty well integrated with no obvious hole or peak at the woofer to satellite crossover point. Bass is solid and fairly punchy on the music set up. No tone controls, loudness contour or bass boost circuitry is used. There is no chestiness on male voice, and highs are clear and open, but a little spitty for my taste. You can tell they are cone mid-tweeters, and
brushed cymbals lack subtlety. A deader room would help. To my ears the system sounds pretty flat in frequency response.

When used with the TV, there is some bass boost used to give the exaggerated bass the movies demand. The TV speakers are left on and provide a center channel, so we have a 3 channel system for TV. Sort of a poor man's HT. Used in this manner the bass is full, solid, deep, and powerful. We live in a condo, so we cannot be into wall rattling levels, but we have also been careful not to couple the sub into the building structure. It sits on a thick rug and pad and does not touch the walls. So what bass we perceive is strictly air borne, and it's pretty good.

Comments:

Many reviews by users complain about problems with the sound of the AM-5. They cite lack of bass, too much bass, no midrange, poor imaging, and many other problems. Since I don't experience any of these, it caused me to think about that for a while. Here's what I think the problem is: they are simply not getting the wiring right. The speakers come with good instructions about setup and connection, and a set of cables with tinned ends and color coded leads and color coded terminals on the modules. Even so, I think about half the users are getting the phasing on the leads wrong at one point or another. There are four sets of leads to connect, and counting both ends of each that's eight places to screw up. Compared to a good in-store demo or what I hear at home (and several friend's homes as well) the complaints I read correlate well to a mis-wired system.

Complaints about boomy bass may be due to coupling into the room structure causing floor and walls to vibrate and leading to a boomy, over blown bass. But that can happen with anything.

Set them us right, connect them right, and don't expect audiophile quality; and they can provide a good quality sound at fairly loud levels even in a big room.



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