Oh boy.

Moving, albeit slowly, into Home Theater... and my wife LOVES the Bose Lifestyle system that she purchased as a housewarming gift to each other. You guessed it - I was not involved in that process - but 10 years later we're still married!

Anyway, seriously looking at a 1050. How would I hook up the BOSE speakers? I'll eventually upgrade away from them - but they'll be a proper (political) starting point.

They're the style where the amplifier is in the subwoofer. The head unit has a CD player, an AM/FM tuner, a tape loop, video in, and aux in. Stereo only - it the first Lifestyle system that they made. I plan to replace this head unit with the 1050..

I suspect that it is pre-amp output to the amp in the subwoofer - the subwoofer has two speaker output connections.

So - the 1050's single RCA sub-out connection to a Y splitter to the L and R inputs on the sub - and the 1050's L and R speaker connections to the "cube arrays?" And some new rear speakers...

Or must the "cube arrays" remain connected to the speaker output of the subsoofer??

Thanks in advance,
SW

I feel your pain (sold my old Acoustimass 7 set on eBay about a year ago). I took a look in the Lifestyle 5 manual to make sure I knew how the connections all worked. Based on that, I think you have the right idea.

I would connect the cubes directly to the 1050's left and right channel outputs and connect the bass module to the sub output either with a splitter or by just connecting one channel. The current version of the Lifestyle bass module has a proprietary input connector and a cable with left, right, and "control" plugs on the receiver end -- you could use a splitter to combine the left and right channels into one, or you could just hook one of them to the sub output on the 1050.

You'll want to set your crossover as high as possible (200Hz), since you are now bypassing the crossover in the bass module. It's not really a major loss, since the Acoustimass systems have a [url=]notorious[/url] hole in their frequency response to begin with -- the cubes cut off around 280Hz (-3dB) but the bass module can only to up to around 202Hz. In the arrangement that you are planning to use, the cubes will still go down to 280Hz (although they'll still get some signal below the range they can handle, which I suspect is happening now anyway). If you set the 1050's crossover to 200Hz, you will still be able to get the bass module's full range of operation.

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gonk -- [url=http://www.prillaman.net/links]Saloon Links[/url] | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Hi,

I have a similar question regarding bose-outlaw 1050 connection. My bose speakers is a AM4 system. one base module with 3 cube speakers (L,C,R). When I connect the 1050 (L,C,R) to the base module and then the speaker, I lost all the base. I tried to turn the sub option off and the L,C,R to LARGE. It didn't work really well. Should I try to connect the L,C,R directly to the bose speaker and the sub to the base?

Thanks for any info.

Daniel

The best way to hook up an Acoustimass system is to take the left, right, and center speaker wiress from the 1050 to the bass module and then on to the cubes. The subwoofer will need to be turned off and the left, right, and center channels set to "large." The crossover that you select will affect the surrounds only, and the low frequency from those channels (along with the LFE channel) will be re-directed to the left and right channels. It sounds like you have already tried this -- you might try setting it back up this way and then using the test tones to calibrate the system. If you still have problems, let us know.

It may be of interest to you to know that the reason I upgraded from my AM7 was the way that the 1050 had of making the limitations of the Acoustimass system so much clearer -- they sounded better than with my old receiver, but the absence of high end and the hole between 200Hz and 280Hz was more apparent.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Why not upgrade to the 950 Pre amp? r/l out to the Bose line in and later on replace the amps and speakers

Having used some Acoustimass in the past, I'd lean toward putting a speaker upgrade before stepping up to separates. Keep in mind that the AM4 that daniel's using is passive only. I believe that's it closely related to the AM3 system with a third cube added as a center channel. He'd need to get the amp(s) at the same time he gets the 950 (or try to use an old receiver as an amp, which would be a pain -- especially if the old receiver lacks a 5.1 analog input). Besides, as revealing as the 1050 is of the Bose weaknesses (see these two links for details of the Acoustimass design), I'd shudder to think what a 950 would do for them. Like I said, I owned the Acoustimass 7 system (similar to the AM4 but with double-cube satellites instead of the single cubes) for four years, from early '97 to early '01. They sounded pretty decent to me when driven by a Yamaha pro-logic receiver, but when I upgraded to the 1050 in mid-2000, I found that even though the system sounded better than it had when driven by the Yamaha, it was also much more apparent that there were weaknesses in the speakers. It didn't help that I'd had the chance to do a bit of listening to a very nice two-channel system in 2000 (Audio Research CD player and an older EAD CD player connected to a Classe pre-amp and amps driving KEF Reference speakers)...

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited January 24, 2003).]

Sadly the majority of the arguments at that (anti-bose) site are either wrong or poorly presented. It sounds like a rant. At least the conclusions are correct - sort of right for all the wrong reasons deal.

Even the fact that the extremes of the spectrum are lacking isn't really too bad - it's the hills and holes in the middle that create that magic 'Bose sound'!

I hate to admit this, but the Acoustimass system actually performs better than it has a right to. And believe me, it really pains me to admit that. Getting a response down to under 300Hz that is only +/-5dB over most of it's range from a 2" driver is actually doing better than you might suspect. That's not to say that they really do sound "good", but as and engineering feat, it actually is somewhat remarkable. However, considering the drivers only cost them a buck or two, you would expect that the whole system wouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks.

The good news, though, is that there are a lot of options in the "mini speaker" category these days. I don't think anyone else has speakers as small as the Bose, but there are lots out there that are still small enough to not impose on the decor *much*. Plus, you get the benefit of higher fidelity and the potential for a lot more output.

Jason

If youMUST have micro speakers Cambridge makes ones that 'suck less'.

Hi,

Thanks for all the suggestion. I discussed the problem with my wife (bose lover). Finally, we have the compromise. We will start moving the bose system with my old receiver to our master bedroom. So I can buy a subwoofer and then L/R speaker, and finally Center speaker. Now my questions are:

1. With 1050 receiver, what kind of subwoofer is recommanded (minimum price with optimum power) for my living room (around 20X15)? I saw the Paradigm PDR-10 sub-woofer in some reviews. Is it good for 1050? Is it the right thing to do in my upgrade process? (sub-woofer and then speaker)?

2. Can I keep my bose AM4 for a while with a future sub-woofer until I find the good speakers?

3. Any recommandation for the main speaker and center speaker? I don't mind to have a medium size speaker. But I don't think I can have a 6 feet tall one.

My main point is to fully utilize the power of the 1050 so that I can feel it.

Thanks again.

Daniel