Bose Wave Music System - Titanium Silver

I have enjoyed my Bose Wave music system for just over a month and I am very pleased with its performance. This is the second or third generation of the iconic Bose one-piece tabletop sound system that is intended to make you think you are listening to a much more complicated and professional component system. And, to a great extent, it does just that--or at least, it is closer to a stereo component sound than to a stand-alone run-of-the-mill radio sound. It certainly features a deeper range of bass sounds than any other one-piece radio I have ever encountered.

Bose has pioneered its spectacular sound machines which seem highly defined by their innovative speaker systems which they refer to as "waveguide speaker technology". This one-piece system produces a clear, natural, room-filling sound without the need of external speakers. It has a very innovative physical design with a small unintrusive footprint that sits well on a night stand or in the kitchen. I particulrly appreciate the Titanium Silver color which seems appropriate for any area of the home. It is simple to install right out of the box and has the FM/AM radio, CD player, and clock/alarm built in. There is an auxiliary input for an MP3 player or other alternate sound source.

I especially appreciate the alarm system that opens softly and gently rises in volume as you awake. It comes with a credit card size remote control; however, I purchased the larger backlit remote with a dedicated cradle that I use instead. All in all, this is an effective and very impressive one-piece tabletop sound system that I enjoy daily. It is a bit pricy, but ultimately, you get what you pay for.

I had the Bose Wave Music System (one disk changer and remote) for a week or so now. Never thought I would pop the $$ for this but when I found it at a good price, I said "go for it". I'll admit, I'm surprised and impressed. I did expect it to be different, better and so forth just because of the reputation but I was not prepared for the details of that difference. The sound is remarkable. It not only sounds great when you're in the room with it but also because of how well it produces music throughout several adjoining rooms . For example, when I am in my living room, two rooms away from where I placed the Bose (in the kitchen at the rear of the house and facing the back) the music sounds almost even better its rich and full and more rounded than any of my other music systems with the possible exception of the one that takes up a great deal more space. I like listening to it from my reading chair in the living room....great full powered sound without being overpowered by it... I hear details of CD music I've not heard before from such a distance. I think the distance listening factor of this unit is the most remarkable feature of all that are mentioned.

Some reviewers have been critical of the unit being controlled only by the remote with no on board buttons. I can see that as a problem if you have kids and pets (who like to eat remotes and yes, both the kids AND the pets might do that).... but for me, a single guy living alone, it is no problem. Actually, the unit looks sleek without all those buttons on top and you don't have to worry about dust accumulation. Just the same, I do recommend getting a backup remote easily available on the eBay market (just Google it). If you've got an extra $500 for a new unit, go for it...or, if your funds are more limited, look around. It can be found for less. In my case and considering what I paid, it was more than worth it.

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I originally ordered the Boston Acoustics Trio because of better features but due to a couple of issues (details below) decided to switch to the Wave. While I had both units, I did a side by side comparison, and here is a summary:

Sound Quality: Both the Trio and the Wave sound great. Listening to the same radio station and CD in both, the sound is different and IMHO the Bose sounds better. Especially in higher frequencies and lighter tones. Some may like the Trio better. But the difference is not likely to be a deal breaker for either.

Sleep feature: Both units allow a programmable sleep time (up to 90 min). When it is time to turn off, the Wave gradually lowers the volume and turns off. The Trio suddenly turns off at whatever volume it was, which can be jarring. Bose wins.

Controls on Unit: Trio controls are nice to use, and most people will not need the manual for common tasks. The Wave has no buttons on the unit itself, every control is through the remote. If you buy the iPod dock, you get an additional remote for the Wave and then one can leave one remote near the unit. But still, the lack of a Snooze button and CD eject button on the Wave is annoying. And one has to worry about not loosing the remote or having a dead battery one day. The Trio definitely wins.

Remote control: Comparable features on both. Bose does offer an optional bigger premium remote with back-lit buttons.

Radio: The Trio shows radio station names and the name of the currently playing song. The Wave only shows the station frequency. Wave does have one more pre-set memory location. Boston Acoustics wins.

iPod: The iPod dock was free with the Wave at the time of this writing (through Bose) and deeply discounted with the Trio (through Boston Acoustics). The docks work on both, but are only mediocre in terms of the amount of control over playback one gets from the remote. The Trio dock does allow for the alarm to be set to wake to iPod. The Wave dock needs a separate bulky power adapter while the Trio dock gets its power from the same wire that connects it to the Trio. Both do charge the iPod. Trio wins.

Alarm: The Wave has one alarm, which cannot be programmed for days of the week. The Trio has two alarms each of which can be set for all 7 days, weekdays, or weekends. Trio wins. (BUT, the Trio seems to have a bug, also noted by some reviewers for Trio. I set both alarm 1 and alarm 2 on the Trio. Alarm 1 was set for an earlier time and it did go off at the set time. The Snooze worked. But when I turned off the alarm using the correct method, two bad things happened: Alarm 1 automatically reset to 12am, Alarm 2 turned off and did not sound at the set time.)

Wake to: The Wave allows the alarm to be set to CD or Radio. The Trio allows CD, Radio, iPod, or a tone alarm. Trio wins.

Battery backup: Both the Trio and Wave remember the time, alarm, and radio presets in case of power failure. Neither will sound the alarm if there is no power at the time the alarm is supposed to sound. Its worthwile to note that many cheap radio alarms have a backup alarm on batteries that sounds even if there is no power.

Clock: Neither adjusts for daylight savings. The time display IMHO is better on the Bose and easier to read, though the screen on the Trio is higher resolution. Both allow for changing the display brightness. The automatic brightness change on the Trio is jerky and not pleasant to look at when its changing. The Bose brightness change seems imperceptible.

Looks: This is very subjective. I liked Bose better. More importantly, my wife liked Bose better and she has a good aesthetic sense. Maybe that's why she married me :-)

FM Antenna: The Wave's FM antenna is part of the power chord, so no need to extend and hide an additional wire. The Trio has a separate wire for the FM antenna. Bose wins.

AM Antenna: Hidden for the Wave. Exposed as a twisted wire for the Trio, which for me was damaged on delivery. Bose wins.

Price: Bose spends more on marketing and customer service. They have local stores where one can experience the products in person. As expected, Bose is more expensive.

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I was hoping for a good music player and a alarm clock. It makes a decent music player and alarm clock. It is supposed to have really good sound. The sound is muttled and there are no adjustments to make it any better.

I didn't like the fact that there were no buttons but I've found that it doesn't really cause to much of a problem as long as the batteries are good. It does however have a couple annoying features.

It has an auto dim feature for low light which I would rather disable but it won't let you. It will let you turn it up some with makes it tolerable. When you set the alarm it comes on low but it automatically goes up to 30 which I wanted louder but again no adjustment.

Now the good features. It seems very well built and sturdy. The design is attractive and fits in most places with no problem. It does have a Cd player which works well as long as you don't what to preset tracks (It will only shuffle).

With all this said, I still have to give it a three. I would give it a four if the price tag wasn't so high. For the money, I expect a few more adjustments. It is very easy to use however and serves it purpose well. It does need to have more options. It works well and seems like it will last a good long time. I'm fairly happy with it.

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Just completed a major kitchen remodel and when all was done, we realized the one thing we hadn't considered was MUSIC. Previously, we had an undercabinet Sony unit which was fine, but with the new kitchen, we had built-in undercabinet lighting and no where to mount a similar unit. Ended up picking up a refurbished Bose Wave in Titanium Silver at a Bose Store for 20% off...while still pricey @ $400, the clean look, excellent sound and radio reception made it worth every penny. Its a nice, clean look that blends in nicely with our blue/white granite and stainless appliances, and really fills the kitchen/dining area with sound...all our friends have commented on the great sound. It's also nice to be able to plug in our Ipods with a standard head-phone-like connector...although Bose offers an Ipod dock (w/ charging capability) for $100, the one review on Amazon was not so great so we passed on that. Definitely recommend this unit.