Wave® Radio III -Platinum White

• Lifelike sound from Bose® waveguide speaker technology
• Plays a wealth of music sources: FM/AM radio-plus your iPod®, smartphone, computer, tablet or Bluetooth® device with optional accessories
• Includes advanced FM/AM tuner; headphone jack; remote; clock
• Now with: Touch-top on/off/snooze controls; dual independent alarms; displayed song/artist info

I purchased the original Bose Wave radio back in 1994. During the course of a recent move from Florida; the carton that it was in got inundated with rain and damaged the unit beyond repair. Since I had been so happy with its performance; I decided to go ahead and purchase a new one. I've always been very pleased with Bose products, although I do feel that they're on the pricey side. As far as the new unit goes; the sound quality is equal to or better than the original version. The original one sounded phenomenal to me, so it would be difficult to improve upon that. The sound is crisp and very rich sounding, easily filling up a medium sized room with sound you would expect from much larger speakers. Since I live close to a metropolitan area; I have no trouble getting a strong signal from both AM & FM stations, a problem that some people have had. There are a few things that I find are an improvement over the original version. The radio displays text information, so I'm able to obtain the artists name and song title, provided that the station broadcasts it. Another improvement, but at added cost, is the ability to play from additional music sources, such as an iPod, smartphone, computer, tablet or Bluetooth device. For the price of the radio; these optional accessories should be standard. One thing that I find a little annoying about the new version is the inability to control any of the radio functions on the unit itself. The included remote control is necessary in order to control all functions of the radio, which is fine, but I would still have appreciated the ability to do so on the radio itself as well as with the remote. The bottom line is that this is a superb sounding radio, although not much different sounding than the one I bought 18 years ago. It's obviously well built and provided you don't leave it out in the rain, will withstand the test of time. It has some nice features, such as the artist display mentioned above, gradually increasing volume to set point of volume that was previously set, AUX input, room filling crystal clear sound, etc. The only cons that I can find are the fact that Bose charges a lot for this radio, but I guess you get what you pay for. Also, as mentioned; I would have preferred the option of being able to control the radio from the unit itself, in addition to the remote control. Overall, however; there's not a whole lot to dislike about this radio. If ease of use and superb sound is what you're after; you'll find it here.

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Purchased two of these radio, one for self; another as a gift. Both units randomly shutdown. Had each unit replaced. Same thing occurs with replacements. Have now replaced both units multiple times with the same result. There appears to be a design flaw with these units. The problem is particularly acute when playing MP3 disks. Bose has no solution for this problem. I have to hope this is not an electrical hazard nor a threat to the longevity of the unit.

I also have a 321 system, the DVD player included in the unit has significant issues playing jukebox discs as well. p.s. the dvd in the unit appears to be an ordinary PC player and the bass unit is a big box with just a small (5 or 6 inch) speaker in it; not a big woofer the size of the case.

The controls for the Wave Radio unit are also poorly designed.

1) While the touch on/off sounds neat; it isn't particularly practical.

2) The physical unit has no eject button, so you will always use the remote to eject a disk.

3) The sleep function doesn't retain its last setting. Each time the sleep timer is set, it starts at 30 minutes and you must click, click, click to get to the time you want.

4) Still no bass or treble settings. If you have difficulty hearing in a particular range, you can't adjust the sound output.

5) When the unit is off, you can't adjust the volume below a particular level. When you do switch it on at that level the unit is quite loud; so if you're trying to be quiet... s.o.l !

6) No USB input.

7) In my opinion the unit should have a DVD not a CD player.

8) Bose should remember that not everyone in the universe owns an ipod, not do we want to.

9) Title information scrolls incompletely and is only visible for a short period. No option to keep title information on, display always switches back to track number display. I mean come on, a $59 car stereo can do this, why not this expensive Bose?

etc; etc; etc;

When these units die, I'll not be looking to Bose for a replacement. I am very disappointed to see the quality of these products declining. There is also an impractical arrogance to the design of these units.

While the sound quality of these units is quite rich, my opinion would be to avoid these units based on the random shutdown problem and the inability of Bose to admit to, or fix; the random shutdown issue. This clearly appears to be a flaw in the design.

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I recommend buying this for $350 with the $100 Bluetooth adapter instead of buying the $500 version with the CD changer. Most of us are moving away from CDs anyway. Like every Bose product, it works exactly as designed.

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I am sorry to say that this "gift" had to be returned, but only because he already had one.

Love it!

The best sound ever! I've been wanting this Bose for so long, was surprised at Christmas.....love it! Wonderful quality, you won't be sorry!