Home > Consumer Reviews > Bose Acoustimass 5 - Speaker System, ideal for stereo or home theater use - White

I tried the Acoustimass 5 on the optional stands, mistakenly I had a pair of Klipsch Heresy III's in the room, as expected, the Heresy III's toasted them, but the Heresy III's are $1600 a pair, so was this a real comparison. No, it was a pair of professional sound reinforcement speakers v. home stereo speakers. I wouldn't dream of comparing them to the Forte II's or any of the large Klipsch systems. The premise that a person can slap together a horn and a bass driver in a ported box and compare them to the Acoustimass 5's is a joke. I love good horn loaded speakers, and I have heard bad horn loaded speakers that drive holes in my ears. Efficiency is not the only criteria in an era where power output is cheap.

So I went to the bose outlet and heard the Acoustimass 5's along with the VCS-30 center and surround speakers, a total of $650, not bad for real 5.1. As a less than emphatic person for Bose, I had to admit, these little guys really did the job, I could close my eyes and hear some pleasant sound, which is what most people want. Specifications don't take into account speaker personality, which all speakers have. The Bose system was nice, easy to listen to and all in all, darn good. Directionality and cacophony were minimal.

The little $650 speaker system is truly spectacular, in both movies and music they are really good. The Bose store was nice enough to set this up for me. There are things that well, are not Klipsch, all of my Klipsch is made in the USA, but only because they are all Heritage series stuff. These little guys (Bose A 5's and VCS 30) filled the room with good sound. The surround package added on really made them quite spectacular for $650. They have an exceptional spatial quality and are easy on the ears.

Look it bothers me that Bose doesn't publish technical specs for anything but professional products. The thing is when you are listening, with your eyes closed, just enjoy as I did. People complain about the price, well from where I sit, the combination of the VCS 30 and A 5's are a bargain.

i got these for $4 (not a type-o, $4) at my church treasure sale. Didn't really know what to expect, but HOLY COW, I put them through tests with my iPod, whatching tv, and even playing video games, and each time, it was like you were right there, in the action or at the concert. So weather you get them for $4 or $400, you should still buy them.

I have these in the back and Polks up front with a sub and they sound good. I did a test hooking up the Bose on "A" side and Polk on "B" side of the reciever and tested each set, granted the Polk do sound better but they are larger and more expensive. For the size the Bose are amazing. Very happy with the Bose in the back mounted on the ceiling, they look good too.

I was very pleased to see the price for this sound system affordable. I really enjoy the sound when watching movies!

Vesta and I lived for ten years on a sixty-foot sailboat in the Caribbean. For the first couple we had a Sony ghetto blaster for a sound system, but with over three hundred CDs aboard we decided we needed something better, so we bought an Acoustimass 5 Speaker System, which we ran from a twelve-volt Alpine car stereo with a 12 volt Alpine amp. We put the subwoofer behind a curtain in the back of the main salon in front of the extra sails and the two speakers on the left and right bulkheads and for eight years we had the best sound system in the Caribbean from St. Martin all the way down to the Spanish Main.

You can't go wrong with Bose, you really can't.

Reviewed by Ken Douglas