Bose Wave Radio - for pleasurable listening

Over the years I've seen, but rarely read, hundreds of Bose Wave Radio ads, always suspicious of the unrelenting hype and claims made by the manufacturer. I chalked up their hyperbole to an overly-enthusiastic and highly-paid advertising staff. There was no way I would buy one at the fixed price. That is, until...

A year ago a friend turned on a Wave Radio in his living room for no more than a couple of minutes, since we were in a hurry to depart. I was somewhat impressed by the effect and wished I could have heard more.

I next heard one on an open counter in another friend's kitchen. I thought it produced disappointing sound, but realized the room was not suited to any kind of musical presentation. She kept it there to listen to news and commentary, not music.

Finally I was sitting in my auto service station (a class outfit up here in rural Vermont!) when I became aware of rich, clear music filling the large room that also served as a tire showroom. What was the source? Over in a corner on a shelf was the by-now familiar compact shape of a Bose Wave Radio. Could the sound really come from that? An hour's wait for my car listening to good music from NPR convinced me I should think seriously about this excessively-advertised radio.

The July 2003 issue of Consumer Reports arrived before long and rated six quality tabletop radios, Bose placing at the head of the list. I then read a number of Epinions reviews, learned from them, but found it difficult to arrive at a consensus from such a variance of opinions. Most reviewers liked the Bose Wave Radio very much, a small minority liked it not at all, and some accepted it simply as a good, but high-priced clock radio.

I then examined a current Bose magazine advertisement, still aghast at the cost. The company provided free shipping and for that one month would include a free $99 Multimedia Pedestal base with a number of features to expand the versatility of the radio itself. A 30-day trial was offered and they would pay return shipment if I decided not to keep the radio. Why not give it a try?

Yes, the price was high at $349, and I was prepared to listen, judge, and return the unit for a full refund if I had doubts about quality, sound, or convenience of use. One not-so-pleasant surprise was to discover that Bose has (unadvertised) outlets in all but a few states, and this means adding sales tax. The radio was shipped from Georgia, but I had to pay $17.45 Vermont sales tax. If you live in New Hampshire, you won’t. Better check the Bose website to see if your order will be taxed or not.

As one who has an excellent modular system in one part of the house, an agreeable mini-system in another, and a somewhat simpler mini-system in my study, I was only considering a good compact replacement for one of the mini-systems in an average-sized room. Because I already had an excellent compact CD player that could be attached, the Wave Radio/CD model was of no interest because I’d “save” $150 by ordering the radio alone.

The Bose Wave Radio seemed a sensible choice, although there were other less expensive possibilities, such as the Tivoli Model One or Two, the Boston Acoustics Recepter, and Cambridge Soundworks 730. If the Bose disappointed, I was willing to try each or all of the others, two of which I had previously heard elsewhere.

I phoned my order for a charcoal gray Wave Radio..

The Bose Wave Radio and Multimedia Pedestal arrived on schedule in as secure and well-designed carton as I've seen, important because of the equipment’s weight. The two inner cartons fitted together with only millimeters to spare. A patch cord was provided without charge for connecting the unit to a separate CD player.

One Epinions review had complained of the "cheapness" and fragility of the radio's plastic case. When I examined the unit in hand, I couldn't understand or agree with the critique. The radio appeared to be the sturdiest, most precise plastic (polycarbonate?) casting I had seen outside of certain high-quality digital cameras. There was extensive robust metalwork visible inside through the cooling slots. Turning the heavy unit over and from side to side, examining all features with care, the Bose proved to be exceptionally well made, heavy and solid, a quality precision instrument. It had an attractive modern design, with a hint of streamlined Raymond Lowey art deco from an earlier age. No frills, but a businesslike simplicity that seemed to shout potential. Would it live up to this?

I was surprised by the matching Multimedia Pedestal's sturdiness and features. I had thought it would be little more than a plastic base; instead it turned out to be heavy metal with wiring, receptacles, jacks, and features of its own, including lighted input control buttons for three different AUX functions. The pedestal precisely fits the radio itself and although not claimed by the manufacturer, I suspect enhances resonance as well.

Setting up the Bose was effortless; instructions in the two well-organized manuals (pedestal and radio) are clear and copiously illustrated. Once in place, the initial impression is one of no nonsense, of quality construction, thoughtful design, in a handsome, but unobtrusive case. (I did not want the more visible white model for the planned location.)

The room I had chosen for the radio is of moderate size, one in which my wife and I sit to read and talk more frequently than any other. It contained the third in a series of what I had hoped would be good small sound systems to live with. All had been disappointing. A larger room on another floor contains a major component system that can fill the house with quality sound, but it's a room we don't find intimate, and days go by without music from that source. So the sitting room was our problem.

I placed the Wave Radio on a table in a corner of the chosen room, angling it outward from the two walls, allowing them to assist with the bass. I tuned an FM station that relays NPR classical music with a strong line-of-sight signal from a mountain top 10 miles away. There was no need to adjust the Wave Radio’s FM antenna, which is incorporated in the power cord, and AFC made sure tuning was accurate. Brahm's Fourth was playing and the sound quality was astonishing. It simply couldn't be. Tympani, bassoons, and double bass were rich and clear with a resonance that seemed to emerge from a concert hall. Strings and woodwinds were crystal clear with none of the tinny shrillness often heard in lesser quality radios and mini-systems. The rich clarity, the nuances, the highs, mid-range, and bass filled the room in a way I could not believe, and as no other small system had.

Stereo separation was not exaggerated, but I wonder how much one can expect (or want) from a compact unit when seated across a moderately-sized room. If a Tivoli Model Two with speakers six feet apart doesn’t lose the effect under such conditions, it may exaggerate stereo in an unnatural way. I've listened to a Model Two on several occasions and was neither impressed nor interested. It is too “manual” for our purposes, too tied to its separate remote speaker, and even without its optional subwoofer (a third box), it seems to “boom.” Now, after many hours of listening to the Bose Wave Radio, I still cannot understand how so small a box can produce such splendid sound.

On that first trial day, after listening to the Bose, I rushed to our larger room and turned on the big system, its components selected over the years to produce the best sound I could afford. The comparison produced an odd effect I can't explain: sound here was magnificent, of course, swelling to orchestral proportions, but in what suddenly seemed almost overwhelming fashion. I returned to the smaller room with the Bose playing in modulated throat. On that occasion, it was thoroughly and comfortably pleasing, and has been ever since.

Believing it was too good to be true, I connected a separate CD player and tried a number of different disks, from a selection of Galway's flute pieces to Bach's thundering Toccata and Fugue, with various instrumental works in between. The Bose Wave Radio handled each in admirable fashion. I know some listeners seem to rate sound systems by their bass, and they won’t be disappointed if they situate the Wave Radio properly. I prefer bass in its proper orchestral proportions, which the Bose seems to have achieved in balance.

The upshot was I not only kept the Bose, I find myself in its room more often than any other, enjoying the radio's fidelity and clarity more than I believed possible.

In fact, the other day I moved a comfortable chair to the middle of the room and spent several hours listening to an extraordinary NPR musical extravaganza. It was an afternoon I won't forget.

Talk about eating crow. No doubt the Bose advertising staff will eventually read this review and nod sagely. They won't know who I am, and I have no intention of inflating their promotional overstatements further, but admit—gulp!—everything they have written about their astonishing little radio is true.

I'm not going to engage in a contest with audiophiles, many of whom know a great deal more about sound technology than I do. Others are professional musicians with acute sensitivities (one of my sons is such), whereas I'm a listener only. But I've been listening all my life and I know what I like, not only in composition and performance, but in quality of presentation. For me the Bose Wave Radio provides complete pleasure.

It is also called an alarm clock radio, something of a put-down in my opinion. I neither need nor use the Wave Radio as an alarm. Nevertheless I checked out and set the clock with its many intelligent automatic features (such as mode, repeat, ramping, etc.), although I doubt the alarm function will ever be needed in this house. Retirement means not having to rush off early in the morning, and should a need ever arise, a conventional alarm clock does the trick—it encourages me to leave bed immediately, fully awake, stride into the sitting room, and turn on the Bose for NPR news and commentary, followed by nicely scheduled early morning music while sipping breakfast tea in my favorite easy chair.

I use but few preset tunings and their displays, since I’m essentially a three-station (FM) person, checking only a single nearby AM station for weather and local news. I am aware, however, that the Bose Wave Radio tuner is exceptional and is capable of pulling in a wider range of FM stations than many more sophisticated tuners. AM, however, is limited to the locality. A special cable connection to those TV companies offering FM signals is provided on the rear of the radio, but I’ve not been able to use this, since cable is still many miles away from our country home. Presumably I could connect to our satellite receiver for its music channels, an option I may consider.

Those reviewers who keep a Wave Radio on a bedside table and use it as their normal alarm seem to be satisfied, perhaps preferring a slow awakening with music or the tone alarm, possibly allowing a return to sleep while waiting for the reminder alarm. Frankly, I find the Bose Wave Radio capable of much more as an eminently pleasing sound system in a smallish room—while I’m wide awake.

The digital clock, function readouts, and pedestal AUX lights, seen across the room, are small and unobtrusive. All information is held in battery-powered memory should the power go out. Display intensity responds to ambient light, dimming when the room is bright, intensifying when it is dark, never overly conspicuous. The charcoal gray cabinet is almost invisible in the corner, and looks even less like a radio now that I've had a sheer brocade cloth cover cut to lie flat on the fan-shape top of the radio (no acoustic damping is evident, nor does the thin cloth affect almost undetectable heat radiation from the flat surface). A small framed family picture rests on top of the brocade, so only the dark grill and window are noticeable from the front. Although operating buttons on top of the radio are accessible simply by lifting the cloth, I don't need or use them, because I operate the radio from across the room with its credit card-sized remote control. When visitors enter, they are puzzled where the rich music is coming from, since they see nothing that resembles a sound system.

For those considering a Bose, my only recommendation is if you already have a good CD player—portable, compact, or tabletop—use it and save $150 by buying the Wave Radio, not the Wave Radio/CD, which seems to be the model Bose is plugging excessively these days, with hardly a mention of the simpler unit. Separate CD players often have their own remote controls and may hold more than one CD. They also may be more convenient to operate than opening the top of the Bose. (I especially like the Tivoli CD player that matches the Model Two boxes, but works beautifully with other units—use it if you already have one, but it’s expensive as an add-on, $200.)

Frankly, I’d just as soon not have a working, rotating mechanism in the same box as the sound production system. One person at Bose unintentionally provided what I suspect was tacit admission there is a slight difference in sound quality between the Wave Radio and Wave Radio/CD —he said there “wasn’t much” that the human ear can detect. No doubt he is correct, but working parts and some space taken up by the CD mechanism do intrude a little.

So by choice my Wave Radio is not the CD model. The excellent compact CD player, hidden much of the time behind a curtain on a wide nearby windowsill, is connected to one of the three lighted button-controlled AUX circuits the Wave Multimedia Pedestal provides. A second circuit goes to a good compact cassette deck, also out of sight. (Other possibilities for some owners would be a VCR, TV, powered speakers, or a large music system.) I'm considering using the third circuit for one of my LP turntables, but am reluctant because of its size. Perhaps a MP3 player holding favorite LP recordings would be more in keeping with our space limitations.

Some reviewers have objected to a lack of tone controls, while Bose counters by explaining the unit senses the need for different ranges and adjusts accordingly. Frankly I have not felt an urge to adjust non-existent controls, for the room-filling sound is balanced and thoroughly satisfying to my ears. I believe, however, proper placement within a room is essential. Try different locations for the most pleasing effect.

What hasn’t pleased me? The hidden sales tax gambit, the too-eager sales pitch over the phone, the cocksure attitude that there is nothing to compare with their product, the unrelenting advertising in every possible publication, and finally, constantly pushing the CD model and almost dismissing the less expensive radio, a better buy if you already have any kind of CD player. You get the impression they’ve listened too often to Cabaret’s “Money makes the world go around.” My recommendation to Bose Corporation is, “Cool it.”

Nevertheless, I am reluctantly forced to admit the tiresome hype in Bose advertisements is in fact true. The Wave Radio is a remarkable instrument, and from the pleasure it has given us, worth every considerable penny.