Posted on: June 22nd, 2010 by Famous Phil

This seems to be a topic that I haven’t been able to find on line that was covered to my satisfaction so I will cover it.  A few weeks ago, I was in the market for speakers for my computer.  I wanted something that was somewhat compact (for easy shipping) yet powerful with decent bass.  I have read reviews for months trying to figure out what would do the job effectively since I knew I would be getting some new speakers.

At first, I got reading many reviews and settled on Bose wasn’t as good as they claim and I took the plunge for a Cambridge SoundWorks i525 tabletop radio.  This radio has reviews saying it is much richer than Bose and just as loud.  I got the radio here at my home and put it up against a Bose first generation Wave Radio that my parents already own.  I will admit that up until about 75dB, it did have a deeper bass and richer tones without any modifications to the sound output from my computer.  After that 75dB mark, it started rumbling trying to keep up with what the Bose was doing.  75dB for me isn’t loud enough since I’m considering using this with a video projector which means its going to have to project sound a little better.  Hence, I decided to send it back.  Now I decided that I’m going with Bose.

My parents already own the first generation Bose Wave Radio and I really like it.  I’ve used it many times for movies outside on my projector because it was small, yet loud, especially bounced off the projection wall / screen.  With hearing the first generation and owning some older speakers on my home theater system, I thought I would go with Bose for good quality sound.  Now my decision came down to 4 possible Bose models.  I considered the Bose Wave Radio first / second generation radios, a companion computer speaker system and a 3-2-1 system.  I’ve heard everyone before except the companion system.  I opted out of the companion system due to it being USB only for a separate subwoofer.  I believe that a separate subwoofer is necessary to reach the bass and amplitude of sound that I want out of a system.  I finally decided against the 3-2-1 system because I didn’t feel like spending another 400 bucks for something I would rarely listen to at full volume (if ever) and the wires that I’d have to deal with for moving it.  I may get it in the future, but right now I don’t think that will happen.

So now it came down to the first / second generation Bose Wave Radio.  I finally decided to take a chance on the 2nd generation.  With Bose, I’ve noticed the 2nd generation doesn’t ever sound as good, but the 2nd generation of the Bose Wave Radio really surprised me.  Like Bose promised, it can produce a deeper bass with keeping the same amplitude of volume compared to the first generation of the Bose Wave Radio.  Both radios are excellent and produce very natural sound, but the 2nd generation does slightly better at it.

I like how the 2nd generation uses headphone jacks instead of RCA jacks for input / output and I do like the bigger display, but I hate how they removed the buttons on the radio and force use of the remote (which is easily losable).  With these changes, I’ve opted to stick with the Bose Wave Radio II for the foreseeable future.

With all this said, I wouldn’t go back on saying that I really like the Bose Wave Radios, both generations.  Depending on your needs, I would recommend either generation if you want to take the plunge into the world of Bose.

Tags: bose, bose wave radio, cambridge soundworks, radio
Posted in Technology
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