Bose Acoustimass 5 Series III Speaker System

Since he started designing speakers in the 1960s, Dr. Amar Bose has become famous, even notorious, for doing things his own way. He doesn't think having a separate woofer and tweeter are real important, but he does have a passion for flinging sound around the room -- and giving the user plenty of control over how it's flung. The result is the highly successful Acoustimass-5 Series III satellite-and-subwoofer speaker system.

Each speaker consists of two small cubes, which turn on a hinge, each containing a tiny driver. Want the sound aimed at your face? Aim the cubes at your face. Want a more soft, mellifluous sound? Aim them away from your face, at the wall. Want a little of both? Well, with two cubes in each speaker, that's easy -- that's why Dr. Bose designed these speakers with two cubes on a hinge, allowing you to find just the right mix of direct and reflected sound.

Don't let the speaker drivers' small size worry you. The AM-5 set comes with a subwoofer whose sole job is to produce bass. It doesn't require a special subwoofer output in your stereo receiver or integrated amp. Just send the output of the amp to the sub, and wire the sub to the speakers. The sub will take the bass frequencies it needs and send the rest to the satellites.