Bose Acoustimass 10 Series Iii Test

Bose is i of the well-nigh polarizing brands in home audio, especially on the Internet. Some dwelling theater enthusiasts are quick to dismiss Bose products equally overpriced and overhyped, but user reviews for Bose's products are often overwhelmingly positive. That makes it tough for buyers to separate truth from fiction.

Whatever your opinion on Bose may be, there's no denying the company'southward products are expensive, which is why we couldn't include a Bose organization in our recent roundup of 5.1 speaker packages for under $500. The Bose Acoustimass 6 Series III ($700 street price) was the closest we could go and we compared it with its more affordable competitors. For all the vitriol hurled Bose's way, the Acoustimass vi Series 3 held its own in head-to-head testing, specially considering its satellite speakers are among the smallest nosotros've seen. On the other hand, it's hard to justify its $700 price, peculiarly when an splendid culling similar the Free energy Take Classic 5.i system is bachelor for just $400. The Bose Acoustimass 6 Series III definitely isn't our top choice for a budget five.1 speaker system (especially for value-conscious buyers), but those who take to have the Bose name won't be disappointed.

Design and features
The Acoustimass 6 Serial III is a six-slice organization: v "virtually invisible" (that'due south Bose's term) satellite speakers and a large subwoofer. The satellites are perfectly visible to our eyes, only they are tiny at a mere 3.1 inches loftier, 3.1 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. Each sat houses a single two.5-inch "Twiddler" driver, but no divide tweeter. The black plastic speakers counterbalance one.one pounds each; the cabinets are attractive and have non-removable black fabric grilles.

Bose Acoustimass satellite speakers

The Acoustimass 6 Serial III satellite speakers are exceptionally pocket-sized.

While Bose refers to the speakers equally cubes, their backs are curved and have threaded inserts to facilitate wall-mounting. No brackets of any kind are supplied with the Acoustimass six organization, but Bose sells cast-metallic UB-20 wall/ceiling brackets. These brackets allow horizontal and vertical adjustment of the speakers, so y'all can direct the sound where you like. We placed the sats on stands and put the center-channel sat on the shelf in front of our TV.

Bose Acoustimass speaker connectors

The speaker connectors toward the bottom of the speaker are extremely small, although they piece of work with Bose'south included speaker wire.

We were disappointed with the quality of the sats' spring-clip wire connectors. The bound clips' grip on the wire is fifty-fifty less secure than for most connectors of this type, so a moderate tug may dislodge the wire. However, one time the sats are in position the wires volition stay in identify. The clips only take skinny bare wire ends, which is fine in this instance since Bose supplies all the speaker wire.

Bose Acoustimass speaker wire

The Acoustimass comes with even more wires than a standard five.ane speaker organization.

Many packaged 5.1 systems come with speaker wire, and so does the Acoustimass half-dozen, but the bad news is that it comes with twice every bit many wires every bit other systems. With the Acoustimass 6 you demand to run the included 20-foot flat, ribbon-type wire betwixt the Acoustimass module and your receiver'southward five speaker and subwoofer outputs. That proprietary cable is fitted with a multipin connector that plugs into the Acoustimass module; then yous run another proprietary set of wires betwixt the Acoustimass module and each of the 5 sats. The but reason nosotros can recall of for this unusual arrangement is that Bose is performing some boosted sound processing in the subwoofer. That's fine, just be prepared for all the wires.

Bose Acoustimass subwoofer

The subwoofer looks downright huge compared with the tiny sats.

The matte blackness, vinyl-covered powered subwoofer has a single v.25-inch woofer mounted on its bottom panel, and a big rear-mounted port. The cabinet appears to exist synthetic from medium-density fiberboard, simply the front and rear caps are molded blackness plastic. The Acoustimass module's chiffonier is definitely bigger than almost of the competition's subwoofers; the mighty Bose is 16.33 inches high, eight.13 inches wide, and 22.33 inches deep and weighs 27 pounds.

Setup
The Acoustimass module has bass and LFE rotary controls located virtually the back of its right side panel. They separately control the overall bass volume level and movie soundtrack depression-frequency effects. There's a detent at the 12 o'clock position of each knob, which nosotros took to be the "apartment" setting. Every bit we played movies and music we sometimes felt a need to make small adjustments above or below those settings.

We used a Denon AVR-1912 receiver and an Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player for all of our Acoustimass 6 listening tests, and we were pleased to detect the arrangement unusually easy to set up. Commonly, with speakers equally small as these, we would have to take some time to experiment with the AVR-1912's subwoofer-to-speaker crossover settings to accomplish the best possible bass residuum between the sub and sats. With the Acoustimass 6 the bass balance is stock-still, and is handled inside the Acoustimass module. Nosotros had great sound within minutes of setting upwardly the system.

Performance
The Acoustimass 6's satellites may be incredibly tiny, only the sound is anything just small. Nosotros showed the Bose no mercy and played the opening sequence of the "I Am Legend" Blu-ray at a healthy volume, and the sound of Robert Neville's Mustang fastback speeding through the deserted post-plague New York streets was thrilling. When Neville shoots at herds of galloping deer the sound echoed off the buildings, handily demonstrating the Acoustimass 6'due south ability to put us within a scene. The tonal balance was total and rich, and considering the size of the tiny satellites, that feat was even more impressive. Dialogue sounded natural and clear.

The Acoustimass vi'south sub-to-sabbatum bass alloy was well in a higher place average, and then we compared the Acoustimass half dozen with the Harman Kardon HKTS 20BQ and heard two very different-sounding systems. With the "House of Flying Daggers" Blu-ray the fight scene within the circumvolve of drums had more impact and visceral boot over the Acoustimass six. The HKTS 20BQ's smaller subwoofer created a lot less bass, just it had better definition, and then each drum thwack was more distinct. The sound from the HKTS 20BQ and Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 systems was more than detailed overall, and the wrap-around-the-room surround imaging of both systems was more immersive, but the Acoustimass half-dozen had more oomph, so it sounded like a bigger, more powerful system.

Porcupine Tree's "Anesthetize" concert Blu-ray sounded remarkably dynamic with the Acoustimass six. The prog-rock band'southward mix of audio-visual and electrical instruments changes from melody to melody, and Gavin Harrison's pulsate kit had peachy punch, only his cymbals and other percussion instruments sounded a piddling coarse compared with what we were getting from the HKTS 20BQ's satellite speakers. The Bose'due south soundstage depth was flatter than the other systems'. The Bose satellites don't have tweeters and the Harman Kardon speakers practice, which might business relationship for the difference.

Listening to Paul Simon's new "And so Beautiful or And so What" CD in stereo we were more than aware of the Bose sats' small size. Simon'southward vocals lacked body and the acoustic guitars sounded a little muffled.

We actually liked the Acoustimass 6'due south fuller tonal balance with movies, and with the room lights turned off it was like shooting fish in a barrel to forget we were listening to five three-inch-tall speakers. However, the organization forfeited the resolution and detail we heard from the other systems. The all-time, clearest sound we've heard from a pocket-size, upkeep-priced v.1 subwoofer and satellite system came from the Energy Take Classic 5.1, although some buyers might prefer the Bose Acoustimass half-dozen'due south rich sound.

Determination
The Bose Acoustimass half-dozen Series Three speaker system delivers big sound from uncommonly small speakers, merely its loftier price keeps it from being a proficient value selection.