Hi Which is a better system: Acoustimass® 6 Series V home cinema speaker system or the Harman Kardon HKTS 65bq with an AV receiver?
I need this as a home theater for my living room which is approx 170 - 200 sq feet and mainly for movies, netflix and also for music. I do want good tight bass and well distributed audio at the same time do not want very bulky speakers hence not looking at other brands which may offer more audiophile quality for less or same money! Please suggest between these two only. I live in India, Thanks!
Bose system: https://www.boseindia.com/en_in/products/speakers/...
Harman Kardon system: https://harmanaudio.in/harman-kardon-hkts-65-5-1-c...
More Questions From This User See All
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
I would go for the Harmon Kardon set if it was a choice between only those two. It is cheaper and I don't even need to check the price.
Bose products are not audiophile products. Far from it. They are "Lifestyle" products. They are also horrendously overpriced considering what you are getting.
If you want good, tight bass, you won't get it from Bose. That Acoustimass bass module (even they don't call it a subwoofer) is a 6th order bandpass design which is well known for a high level of distortion and muddy response. It is also very limited in its range. It has a pronounced spike at approximately 65Hz and it produces no low bass, dropping off precipitously below 50 Hz. It does not go high enough to meet the low range cutoff of the cube speakers. Thus, there is a hole in the system frequency response curve. You will never see this response curve in a Bose ad though, because they don't publish such things as specifications.
The cubs speakers are also inherently flawed. They have no tweeters and therefore no response much above 8 - 9kHz. They are however engineered to have a big spike at 7kHz, which "tricks the ear" into thinking it is hearing high treble. The direct / reflected aspect also ads considerable distortion and ruins the soundstage. It is very old technology left over from the concept that got them recognized in the early days of stereo before surround sound was developed. Even then they were criticized for having a sound stage which "Wandered all over the room" That was from Consumer Reports who Bose promptly sued. Therefore no one will give Bose products a negative review. They will get sued by teams of high priced lawyers even if they tell the truth.
It is widely recognized that reflected sound is distorted sound by audio engineers and most musicians. This is why "line array" speakers are used in live concerts these days - to get a direct line from the speaker to the listeners ear.
Dr. Amar Bose has his doctorate in marketing. This is why they use such slick advertising to trick people into thinking that Bose is audiophile gear despite severe shortcomings. Buy Other Sound Equipment.
As always:
Buy
Other
Sound
Equipment
Bose is overpriced crap.