Here's what < $3500.00 will buy you in a Best Buy or Circuit City:
Denon AVR-3805: 120 watts x 7 full-bandwidth rated • Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, DTS Neo:6, Dolby Pro Logic IIx, ALPHA 24, HDCD, and Widescreen 7.1 processing • Auto Setup and Room EQ Adjust • Denon Link • 3-room/3-source A/V output • sixteen 192kHz/24-bit DACs • component video conversion • learning/multibrand touchscreen electro-luminescent remote.
Denon DVD-2910: Universal" player (DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-Audio) • DVI and HDMI output • 8MB buffer for quicker layer change • plays CDs, CD-Rs and CD-RWs, and MP3 & WMA CDs • digital bass management • built-in Dolby Digital/DTS decoder.
Polk RTi8 main towers: Frequency response 40-26,000 Hz • Dynamic Balance® drivers • Power Port
Polk Audio CSi3 center speaker: Voice-matched for RTi speakers • frequency response 65-26,000 Hz • Dynamic Balance® drivers
Polk Audio FXi3 rear speakers: Bass-reflex • frequency response 60-26,000 Hz • 45° angled driver arrays • Dynamic Balance® drivers • dipole/bipole switch • keyhole slots for wall-mounting
I'm all for companies spending big bucks to market their equipment, so long as they do not lie, decieve, or mislead the unimformed. BOSE has certainly made a living out of directly decieving the public. They do this by targeting the older folks (because most older folks "believe" what they read over doing some research - don't believe me? Watch 60 minutes or 20/20 sometime about all the marketing scams that target the elderly). Next they pay big bucks to be sold at AFEES outlets. Why? That's where a LOT of retired older folks shop. Next they spend gobs on "infomercials" about how their Acoustic Waveguide System sounds BETTER than a big home theater system! In their commercial they even "morph" a big system into their smaller system giving the illusion that their research has done the impossible - achieved that scale sound from a table-top radio! Amazing! Then they have magazine ads in Home and Garden, Cosmopolitan, Interior Decorating - why? Because studies have shown that the type of person who reads such magazines are the type of person who buys due to seeing the ads. Now, with all this marketing behind them, they are now targeting THE WORLD by selling in Best Buys, Circuit City's, BOSE outlets, and in malls - all where young and easily persuaded kids shop.
People are misled into believing that Amar Bose' scientists in their state of the art research facilities have their act together by having achieved the holy grail of audio - produce life-like sound out of 3.5" speakers. In fact, the only things their "scientists" have achieved is how to make the most inferior products, cut corners, vinyl particle board (cheap board), buy their speakers from the lowest bidder in China, and market it right to your door step with their money back guarantee infomercials. Amazing decietful practices if I ever heard it. Why do you think they NEVER publish specs on their speakers? Because their specs suck. And specs can say a lot about the performance of any given product (although by no means can it also say any given product sucks, this is still not the way to blindly sell your products). You would'nt buy food at the market if you could'nt read the specs on the side of that can, would you? Or buy a car if the salesman promised you it would perform to your wildest dreams. Specs are given to show a BASIS for which to compare your product over another. Without specs you have no way to start a comparison. "Well just listen to the speakers and let your own ears decide". Sorry, but people are fooled all the time, and with marketing already burned into your brain like newborns hunting for a McDonald's, having someone tell you this is better is no way to spend your hard-earned $3500.00! :thumbsdn:
Shame on Amar Bose for decietful practices.