Bose Wave Music System - Graphite Gray

After being impressed hearing the Bose Wave (radio+CD) at friends over the years, in March 2006 I broke down and bought one. I have not been disappointed. In September 2009, I bought my second. They have replaced all the other sound electronics in my house. That said, here's my take...

PLUSES: The sound is phenomenal. Crisp. Clear. I also like its simplicity: From programming radio channels to setting the time. No fancy bells or whistles. Again, S-I-M-P-L-E to set up and operate. And, with its size, it fits anywhere. I have one in my kitchen, where I listen to most of my music (it's adjacent to my bedroom). The second is in my front room. I consider myself a music sound aficionado, but not an anal perfectionist.

MINUSES: Sure, I wish it were less expensive. You wonder how much it really costs to produce? But... their staff is great and they probably have a sizeable marketing budget. And, I agree with some of the reviewers that CDs do "stick" initially. Sometimes it takes 2-3 tries before it "takes." A major problem? No. It's erratic. And, if it happens the first time you put in a new CD (store bought or home-made) in subsequent insertions after initial play, things seem fine.

OTHER: Despite the price, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find better sound and size for the price. Also, I like the fact that when you buy from Bose, they will bill your credit card over 12 payments. Makes the price "hit" easier to take/afford.

OTHER, PART II: Also, be sure to watch the ads for "free shipping." That will save you around $15. Finally, I find the bigger remote "special" worthless. (I like the credit card size remote.) If they're offering that instead of free shipping, ask them to drop the Big Remote bonus in exchange for the free shipping. They'll do it.

FINALLY: Despite the naysayers (1-3 star reviews--hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion) if you look at the Total Reviews, you'll see well over 60-70% give it a 5 or 4 star rating. That tells you something about satisfaction.

What a waste of money, and to think I sold my little AIWA CD player at a yard sale and bought this. The sound quality is just not there.

I have had my Bose Wave Music System for just under a year and am still impressed with it. The sound quality is amazing, everything comes through crystal clear (even when played very loud). I have hooked my Bose up so that the television plays through the AUX as well, making watching movies so much nicer.

The biggest pro for me is how easy it is to use. Just slide your cd in and it's ready to go. There aren't a million buttons to fiddle with like on other stereo units (I am sure there are people who like all those buttons, but that's all a bit much for me). The Bose remote only has a few buttons (there are no controls on the unit itself) making it very self explanatory (play/pause, stop/eject, seek/track and volume are your options for playing a cd).

The alarm feature is also something I use all the time. Set the time you want to wake up and to what you want to wake up to (radio or cd). It's great!

Several of my friends thought I was crazy to spend this amount of money on a stereo unit. I say it is worth every penny. I use it every day and I love it.

I recently bought the tabletop Bose CD player in graphite gray and I am generally happy with it. This version does not have buttons on the player but I don't find that to be a problem. I was sent the upgraded/ bigger remote so I have the remote it comes with and the larger one as well so who really needs buttons on the radio. I can point the remote anywhere and it does what I want it to do; you don't have to point the remotes directly at the radio. Basically all you have to do is hit a button and the radio picks up the command. Very easy and an improvement on the previous radio. The speakers provide a deeper, fully sound with more bass than the previous radio. I am not one who likes to fiddle with bass and treble all the time so I am satisfied with the sound quality. I also connect the radio to my tv and it provides excellent full sound quality for my DVDS. This radio is really for a person looking for a simple plug and play model that sounds pretty good and has other uses (like connecting to your television). The CDs sound excellent in a smaller sized room. This unit won't replace your stereo system but it is an easy-to-use radio that provides the listener with excellent casual listening that won't make your ears bleed.

Like it says above...

I've had this thing for less than a month and a half, have taken care to use it exactly as specified, but the problems with playing CDs mentioned in reviews below (not just CD-Rs, but full-fledged CDs) started not long after getting it out of the box, and by this point it won't play a thing without skipping, freezing or both. And I will say it has some nerve claiming in the booklet that failure of the unit to play CD-Rs is probably due to the recording process, when all of them play just fine on every other player I have. The sound quality wasn't bad when it did work, though not enough, I'm thinking, to justify the price tag. At the moment I'm thinking of just abandoning it by the road somewhere, but I don't want some other poor soul to find it and have to suffer as well...