Well the holidays are here, and I got to do the big family thing with my immedate and extended family.

After exchanging gifts I got a chance to sit down and talk to family. For those of you that keep track, my father just started working on setting up a modest HT setup after he stopped by my apartment and got a chance to hear my Paridigm Monitor/Onkio Integra setup. We were planning on catching Spider Man in the theaters...but instead wound up watching Wrath of Kahn at my place and watching him drool... (Nice to se this HT stuff is addictive to not just the young).

Anyway a few months back I helped him pick out a Paridigm Studio setup. (He has far more cash to spend then I do).

Anyway, my inlaws were at Christmass (my sister's in-laws..just to clarify). They were talking about hearing dad's system.ANd he annonced a little "addition" to his house. Namely, he'ld just purchased a...

...Bose Lifestyle 35.

He was going on and on about the thing, and figured that he must have gotten quite the deal. He only paid about $3,000 for it. I was siting there in horror. But the real clintcher came when he said the following statement:

"It was worth a lot, but it's Bose. (To my father) I figured that if you paid about $2,000 for your system, and I've never heard of the speakers you use, so this should be REALY good."

I had to nearly bite my toung when he said that. It was one of those weird situations where I wanted to laugh at the guy, and yet I felt so sorry for him...well. You get the idea.

Oh well, I guess every hobby has a dark side. I just hope he doesn't ask me to help him set it up.

-Jason

Tough one indeed. Keep your mouth shut and you fail to help the man out. Open your mouth you are sure to insult him a little. I think you did the right think holding your toung. If in the future he asks why his "better" system don't sound as good as yours you will be able to educate him. If he never notices then at least he is happy with his purchase and that's what counts.

That's how I'm treating it right now. He's a very nice guy. And I didn't want him to feel like he was just hoodwinked on christmass. I'm just glad he didn't come right out and ask me what I thought of the Bose system. (He know's that I'm the one who got my dad into HT....and that I follow HT like a hawk). I don't know what I would have said to him.

The other side to the story is that my brother in law got his family an all-in-one system from walmart (it was either philips or sony). It set him back $300-$400, and I'm sure it will sound just as good...if not better then the $3,000 Bose Lifestyle.

Jason

Awhile back, I saw a Bose infomercial on Tech TV about the livestyle system, and was so amused I had to watch it - all the way through. Those guys spewed BS fast and furious, so much so that I can easily see how some 'unsophisticated' buyers could be taken in by it. I feel your pain

I feel your pain!!!

I've decided, over the years of debating with myself, when it comes down to honesty or kindness, that I'd rather err on the side of kindness!

Find nice things to say about the Bose system, such as: Wow, it shure doesn't take up a lot of space, or Wow, your wallet looks so trim and slim now.

If he asks, I WOULD help him set up his system. Help him get it to sound the best it can. And when he hears some other system, such as yours and realizes that, umm, uh, oh, duh, his Bose blows, it will be himself that comes to this conclusion and that you are there to help him hear the light.

Paul

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the 1derful1

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
***Gasp***
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

...I was gasping for breath after that. It literaly HURT me to laugh that hard.

Ah well. I dont actually see the father in law all that often...and I dont think he's ever been to my place....trying to think if he showed up when I moved in....nope I dont think so. My brother in law did, but I dont think he did. (Just to clarify, this is y sister's father in law...she's married to his son. We just get the families together for christmass because they live here.)

Thanks for the laugh.

Jason

You're welcome!

Paul

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the 1derful1

Continue to hold your tongue. Do your own thing. Leave Dad alone to be happy in his sonic ignorance and light wallet.

I had to laugh at your story. After I bought my first pair of real speakers, a pair of Thiel CS 2.2's, I set them up in the living room (my wife even made "speaker condoms" for them when not in use so the cats would not use them for scratching posts. At a Christmas get together at our house a guest looked at them and said, boy those speakers sound real nice and look so unusual, are they Bose? I can remember saying no, but these were a close second, I said that I just could not afford (to listen... ) to the Bose stuff.

Well I feel like I redeemed myself. One of my students sent me an e-mail. His dad was "looking at" getting the Lifestyle 30. He knew about the er...value to cost ratio of the Bose system and asked me if I had any suggestions. So I sent a lsit of a few systems in three different price ranges that would be of interest to them. Sounds like his parents are going to spend some time and get something decent.

Ah, I feel so much better now.

Jason