Review of Bose Companion 3 Series II Speaker System

[MrElectroduck]

2nd song after eminem pls..;)

[pcnazz]

Good review Chris . BOSE Companion 3 Series II sound very nice , I know I have a BC3 S2 set , however I would not of paid the $250.00 for them . I got them at NewEgg , Shell Shocker , $179.00 Delivered . I loved them so much after 20 minutes of first listening to them I went back on line and purchased the BC5 System new for $349.00 Delivered . I saw all the BOSE Haters on line but I still gave BOSE a try , I'm glad I did ! Both sets I love , just find a deal on price like I did .

[uknowzjacob1087]

That's one of my favorite scenes in Iron Man haha

[Gundam99577]

Damn! Your Companion 3 sounds awesome on MY Companion 3!!! Bose FTW

[icdp]

Guys, I have a macbook pro and im ready to buy a high end sound system. But I dont know which one to get. I dont want those cheap plastic speakers, you know it? I was thinking about getting the bose, but i think theyre overpriced. What other high end speakers are better than this system? I watch movies, listen to music and play games. I want a 2.1 or even a 5.1 system. Please someone help me

[ChrisFromJersey]

@icdp You would be very happy with the Audioengine A5

[randomrazr]

@icdp cant go wrong with harman kardon soundsticks III

[gregmilev32]

@icdp get klipch but im happy with my bose

[Elbonio]

@icdp You are a typical mac owner. 

[kd84afc]

I am interested in getting Bose but i aint sure which companion to go with either 3 or 5, Which are better?

[Carozan1990]

I have the Bose Companion 3 Series 2, and i love that. Bose Power is the best!

[Andrewlakerman101]

Can you hook these up to your TV?

[JogBird]

BLOSE

[slvr415]

I GOT THESE IF U PUT YOUR MUSIC BAR IN THA MIDDLE IT SOUNDS THA BEST...ENUFF BASS N AWSUM SOUND

[drunkenking612]

Klipsch Ifi totally blow these away. Had to buy them back cause I was stupid enough to sell them at one point.

[slickis82]

@drunkenking612 Depends on what your perception is of good quality. Bose is geared towards a home theater sound signature and that's why so many consumers enjoy them over other brands like Klipsch and Logitech. I myself enjoy the home theater sound of speakers the best, and that's why I personally think the Companion 3's specifically are far superior to the ProMedia's for instance. However, in terms of catering to "audiophile" standards there are better brands out there in the same price range.

[DudeImDaniel]

Damn, they even sound amazing through the speakers on my computer (which are crappy btw).

[MrMigs08]

Quality sounds very good from what i am hearing :).

[randomrazr]

have u had any experience witht he harman kardon soundsticks II speaker system?

[ChrisFromJersey]

imo they pale in comparison and are just plain ugly - i hate big round clear plastic things like that - reminds me of custom pc's with an acrylic case

the bose are much classier and sound better

[randomrazr]

oh ok, well i may spend the extra for bose

so u hvae used the harman kardons beforE?

[ChrisFromJersey]

yes

[randomrazr]

im curious, whated u do with them? lol

i have one last question about the bose companion 3, where are they made in ?

china? japan? taiwan? lol that usualy gives me an idea about the quality

[ChrisFromJersey]

i heard them in the apple store, along with the bose, bose sounded way better so i got them from the bose store - bose manufactures their products in the US, Mexico, and Ireland - i believe mine are from the US

[randomrazr]

OH! seriously? that means good quality!

[djvinni]

the subwoofer isnt good. he is going to his extreme very early^^

[ChrisFromJersey]

not sure what this means, but i still think the subwoofer is awesome. i've moved from my parent's house to an apartment and i've put the subwoofer under my bed with my speakers on my desk, it sounds fantastic

[djvinni]

guy, i listened to the sub 6 hours ago in an electronic market. in germany it cost 300euro :D for this money you get really better speakers

[ChrisFromJersey]

speakers aren't set up properly at electronic stores, if you want to hear them properly they have to be set up properly, sub woofer should be put near corner of rooms, and in the case of the bose, tucked away out of sight, and the satellites should always be put firing at ear level, just over shoulder lengths apart (im talking about computer speakers here)

[theblunttruth]

I have a question. Can I hook these speakers to a T.V? Anyone? thanks.

[TheArea510]

@theblunttruth well if your TV has a JAck(In) pulg

[BOSEROCKS1]

the song is called All Sewn Up from the Oceans Thirteen soundtrack

[mesutmunzur]

i love that music 03:00.where it's from???

[fahaz78]

isnt this a pointless test since most ppl are listening on naff speakers you not gonna hear the sound like it should?

[BmsClassic716]

not me! i have these :D

[PacificCircle1]

@fahaz78 TRUE.

Safe to say they sound very good as Bose has been doing actual acuostical research for decades.

[kaankoc58]

Is it compatible with the PS3?

[wax333]

yeah you just need a 3.5mm stereo plug to rca's cable with female ends and youd plug the red and white rca's from the ps3 into them as the speakers dont have an hdmi slot or pass through

[jabottom]

Great job! I've been working hard trying to decide whether or not to buy these and I think that this sold me... :)

[defectedsound]

For a system in a larger room, or a room like yours you could try the Bose ACOUSTIC WAVE® music system II If your budget can stretch that far?

[ChrisFromJersey]

the companion 3 series ii work well in small-medium sized room which is what i have (11.5'x9') - they're also specifically made for computers because of the 3.5mm jack (or USB in the case of the companion 5) - the wave systems are more for bedroom or kitchen type scenes in my opinion, where there is less focus on sound equipment, not an office or living room area

[defectedsound]

I suggested that as it seemed the next step up from what you have. if i wanted a system in my bedroom or kitchen id go for the WAVE® music system. In my view any thing I have seen on the higher end models are more for including in not just music but also home movies etc. Which not everybody wants. So the ACOUSTIC WAVE® music system is the better choice in that case.

[TechSmack]

wow they're good ! how much?

[Cooldude1006]

good vid man im lookin at getting these speakers

[iDep94]

beautiful screen saver with music!

Where can I find it?

[ChrisFromJersey]

it's the iTunes visualizer, in itunes hit ctrl+t

[iDep94]

Thanks :-)

[faraon2012]

VERY ESTUPIDO YOU PAY BOSE PRICE

[kynigh]

Your camera rocks... and nice PC (at least it seems to be, with that amazing graphics)

[cao1964]

I have these and I notice its not only on location of subwoofer but also what kind of floor you have, I have found for my room which is tile not rug, and 10x12 room that having it off the floor sounds best, similar like his but I have it about 4 inches off the floor and lets the base sound better.

[Fastcarsupersports]

Hey,what visualisation is that?

[wertui]

do you have put the bass level on maximum? sorry for my english im from austria

[ChrisFromJersey]

im not sure in this video to be honest, it really depends on where i have it, if its in a very good location, i keep it on half, if not, i put it up all the way

[pmdsp]

Nice camera mic... and a good video thanks

[burubura]

is that default visualizer of itune or u hav downloaded it ?

[ChrisFromJersey]

default

[burubura]

hey cud u plz tell me bout the bass or woofer quality of this product

[ChrisFromJersey]

it's a decent woofer, but just make sure you put in the right place, as with any subwoofer, you can't just put it anywhere, make sure it sounds good wherever you plan on sitting while listening to it, try different areas if one doesn't work well

[unbenannt007]

die 5 er is beser die habe ich

[ChrisFromJersey]

nah i don't like the 5 much for music, which i do alot of, it works very well in games i hear though, movies too

[00frozenzoo00]

nice screen OMG !

[ChrisFromJersey]

hehe thanks, theres no extra stuff on it, just good quality lcd

[MyRandomReviews]

These are very decent for Bose products. Although I think the same quality is available for less elsewhere. This is one Bose product I wouldn't someone mad for buying.

(The second song sounded awful on these speakers, sorry)

[mission100uk]

nice screen dude! ive had my bose 3's for a week now and i love them, but your right, their not for turning up too high. though i would recommend them by far.. their fantastic speakers. thanks for the vid.. you actually made me buy mine!

[iloveaxxo]

your thanking him for wasting your money?????

[mission100uk]

now now! im happy wih mine..for what use them for. i used to use an amp and speakers but i dont like all the shit on my desk..

[Faheynator]

u should use some wd40 on your bipod

[MrJayPalmer]

what program are you using to play you music?

[ChrisFromJersey]

itunes

[Unrated48]

id vote that is Battle Field 2 right? Not sure.. Or some old shooting game

[ChrisFromJersey]

no this is a pretty new one, only a year or two old, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

[ellieslover82]

Great vid. Does anyone know the db on these speakers, only i am comparing them to the HK Soundsticks 2 and they get around 104 db ?

[ChrisFromJersey]

you don't want to turn these speakers up tooooo high, the bass fades out at high volumes and the highs seem more muffled - these speakers aren't for noise freaks, i suggest getting a second pair of speakers like full sized stereo for those times you want loud music, not clear, that's what i did :P

[ellieslover82]

thanks for your info

[Unrated48]

So those arent good for loud music like heavy metal and shits like that? i got Altec Lansing VS4121 and id like some better speakers.. budget : 200-320$ i guess.. if its like 350 u can still tell me...

[ChrisFromJersey]

i would only turn these speakers up 3/4 of the volume or the bass tends to fade out and the highs are overpowered

if you want louder speakers, go for the logitch z-5500 - they go for about 400 on their site, but you can find em for as low as 225 in some places

[iloveaxxo]

get hifi speakers

[starrywalsh]

I have these woohooooo

[FeeLtheHertZ]

What brand LCD is that?

[ChrisFromJersey]

V7 got it from newegg

[niceguy01]

what game is this?

[b8amack]

I wanted a review of the speakers, not your monitor. This is useless.

[kkevinC]

u cant hear the audio?

[b8amack]

Well, I hear the audio through your recording of your audio as played on MY audio. You hear what I'm saying?

[kkevinC]

yes, but u can also hear the resembelance of what the speaker on the video is producing through your speakers depending on how good they are. But thats not my vid.

[afg96]

lol

[Arseheat]

what's the brand of your tv?

and how many inches, and response time? :D

[ChrisFromJersey]

it's not a tv

it's a monitor

V7 is the brand

its 22"

5ms response time

[gp5506]

bro can u do me a biggg favor and tell me all the songs u played

[BKKloppenborg]

these things do hit for being so small i was supprised with mine the first time. Especally the sub. Its maybe a 6" and it kickes the Shit out of my 10" i have. Good video.

[socal1000]

ya i got the insignia 5.1 from best buy 90 bucks

great speakers but when there on and your not listening to them they have a hum to them, when there goin strong its great sound, would rec if you dont got the skrilla for these bad boys

[lavelliINC]

the bass on those are too much. Bose has issues with bass in all their systems they over do it... so annoying.

[ChrisFromJersey]

well then i guess it's a good thing they put a knob on the back to turn the bass up or down...

[lavelliINC]

Does that work? On my speakers I turned the bass all the way down and it didn't change at all.

[ChrisFromJersey]

yeah it does, on mine when its all the way down, the sub is completely unnoticeable

[niceguy01]

where from jersey are you from? is that a computer monitor or a tv? its pritty cool. showing how your speakers sound in a video is dumb cause people cant really hear the difference on there speakers how those speakers sound you know lol.

[nuclearvoodoo]

You can get a very slight idea of the bass/treble response. To me they sound like punchy/crisp speakers, I might buy some

[niceguy01]

yeah i herd them in person there pritty good sounding.

[fredo69]

where are you supposed to plug it in?

[VincentMng]

I bought the Companion 5 and J...E...S...U...S!!

yeah i was gonna say you can only pass your opinion and appearance not show performance becayse even if we have the bose speakers, they dont so it wont be the same.. but he tried :)

[x3r3r]

I'm not sure what the point is of recording the sound coming from them. Doesn't that depend on a) the quality of your recording device and more importantly b) the quality of the speakers I'm using to watch your youtube video?

.....

[ChrisFromJersey]

well my mic is actually pretty decent and if you want to hear them with close quality you should try in-ear headphones, they seem to get decent range

my commentary on the positioning was the really important part to the video though

[VincentMng]

i may go instore to test them out haha! and compare them.

[Arseheat]

are u playing it on pc?

[VincentMng]

yeah that is on PC by the looks of it. Chris would you say that they are worth the hard earned money?

[ChrisFromJersey]

the bose? yeah they're deffinately worth the money (though i did get them on sale ;) ) If I were you I would deffinately go to the bose store and tinker with all of their computer speakers to see which ones you like the sound of best.

[VincentMng]

Chris could you take a picture of the leads that the satellite speakes connect to the bass box?

cant seem to get a picture of them where i can see the connector.. ill pm you my email address.. if you can..

[Arseheat]

what is the brand of your tv?

[ChrisFromJersey]

it's not a tv...it's a computer monitor...and it's a V7

[Arseheat]

how many inch is your tv buddy?

[ChrisFromJersey]

not a tv, its just a monitor, but its 22"

[VincentMng]

hi there, i just wanted to know, you know the speakers on either side of the monitor, will they connect to any other sub woofers? there are some faulty speakers that i may buy just need to know if it connects as the sub is broken.

[ChrisFromJersey]

they use standard rca connectors but im not sure how good they'll sound connecting to another sub, bose tend to design things that way

[deter6895]

does the bose companion 2 have bass in it or only the bose companion 3?

[ChrisFromJersey]

You're going to have to rephrase that question it doesn't make sense. If you mean does it have a sub or sub input then no but if you mean mcan yyou hear the bass, then yes but it's no where near as powerful as bc3. Try the companion 2 first and trade up if you need more bass.

[dakidakov]

the 2 has only two speakers. The 3 has subwoofer as well. The difference between 3 and 5 is that 5 has bigger speakers. But it has the same sub. I think the 3 is the best. I bought 3 cuz 5 is much more expensive than 3 and the differences are minimal.

[93BigG]

can u please tell me the name of the eminem song

[ChrisFromJersey]

till i colapse

[officialgcam]

for all you people that want to hear the true sound of a bose system go pick one up because you will not hear the true sound like he is hearing because it wont sound the same

[simranbenz12]

hi

i jus bought dese n wen i tried to fix it, nothin happend..

i mean der was no light on the control pannel ,, i did everythin according to the mannual but still nothin happenin,,

what do u think is the problem ?

i feel der is no power supply to the woofer

pl help

[93BigG]

speakers sound brilliant cud u jus tell me the names of the songs, thanx

[ysn370]

nice, eminem!

[proto35]

man thats beautiful, might consider these for christmas.. XD

[2474KIKAS]

what is the program on your screen called??

[ChrisFromJersey]

call of duty 4

windows media player

itunes

[Chicago10281]

So, do you enjoy your Bose Companion 3 Series II so far? I know I enjoy mine! Got them last Friday! They're pretty loud, as you can see, and the bass really kicks out on it!

[cainemansion125]

is it another audio source from the control pod? from my experience, there is one already at the back of the bass. how do you switch between them?

[ChrisFromJersey]

you can't switch between them, they will both play out of the speakers at the same time if you don't turn one of them off

[jamesluskpingpong]

you suck at call of duty

[rehabboy01]

Nice job, ChrisfrmJersey.

[jono22932007]

i love my bose y did u not the Companion 5 its like a 5.1 in a 2.1 system the bass is superb.

how far do u have tha bass on then back

[ChrisFromJersey]

I didn't the the Companion 5 because I didn't want to use up any more USB ports and the satellites were too big for my desk.

And I always keep the bass compensation knob exactly at 50%.

[jono22932007]

kl i love the fact that u dont have to do anything to the equlozer because the are so good

[ajishps]

I had a companion 5 and I just sold it, The bass is vert lack for the system (in some very low range) also it make unwanted surround effect for music. If your primary use is music dont buy companion 5 or if you need an all over high end speaker CP5 is the right choice. It is awesome for movies and great and please dont expect any magical effect as bose saying (invisible rear speaker....) you dont feel anything like that.

[abkdrips]

GREAT REVIEW MAN 5*

[andick69]

can u make a video on how to hook it up to ur tv

[ChrisFromJersey]

made the how-to video :)

check it out

(sorry its so late, i was away for a while)

[mahlerianvidz]

I feel that the 3.5mm cable they gave was really crappy and the speaker's RCA cables are kinda short even to reach the Acoustimass under my desk. I think gold plated cables and connectors will improve the sound.

[ChrisFromJersey]

yes you can remove the speakers of the stands, i actually had a video where I did that, but accidentally recorded over it on my mini DV tape :( (but the sound quality is lessened when the speakers aren't elevated)

[MrFrankBullitt]

Damn they look good.

[dance2jeffreee]

awesome nice man, great!! loll

[FeeLtheHertZ]

Hey man, good review, although I disagree on some of your views. When I said the C3 Series I's, they were some of the best speakers I've ever used to fill up a room with sound, be it large or of relatively small size. Secondly, I had my Acoustimass module right under my desk, and it sounded fantastic. It could have been the design of the desk, but the bass was solid and prominent, with the highs coming through beautifully clearly. It was definitely more than "just okay". Better sound card?

[ChrisFromJersey]

thanks

i think the design of the sound of the speakers is definitely dependent on the placement of the acoustimass module, under my other, larger, desk, it sounded superb, but under this one its just ok

the fact that the sound doesnt fill my room as well as my stereo its kinda hard to explain but its almost like with my stereo this is a huge wall or blanket of sound but with the bose its like someone is talking on either side of you

ill probably do a follow up review video noting these points :)

[ChrisFromJersey]

oh and my onboard sound is actually really good

uses dolby decoding and such

i would buy an expensive sound card but i run vista 64-bit and there are no sound cards out there then run well in it

[FeeLtheHertZ]

Yeah, at least the bass portion of the sound is, which does affect the overall presentation of the soundstage. Try fiddling with placement of the Acoustimass module, or as I have my desk (due to the way the legs are designed), try moving your desk out a little bit from the back of the wall, this could, in theory, allow sound waves the the AM module produces to resonate and travel more efficiently, easily, and prominently towards your listening position. Really? Definitely no X-Fi Vista 64?

[ChrisFromJersey]

unfortunately i don't have anywhere else i can put the acoustimass module at the moment, in the future i may buy a longer 3.5mm cable and probably some RCA extension cables for the satellites, but for now ill just leave it where it is, i did try the desk thing before but it looked awful when sitting at it :P

and ive looked all over in forums and such and everyone says stay away from x-fi if you have vista 64, eventually they go off saying they'll try another sound card, but then dont follow up

[XboxXXX]

I use the X-Fi Fatal1ty on Vista Home Premium 64bit with no problems at all.

Nice screen! I got the same.

[ChrisFromJersey]

its nice to see someone got it working without the snap crackle pop or hangup/freezing problems, but because of all the reviews ive read with vista64 people, im just going to stick with my onboard dolby for now ;)

[JohnnySack187]

There most certainly are. I run Vista Ultimate x64 and my sound card works fine

[FeeLtheHertZ]

Haha, awesome man! I was thinking about this right when you commented me on your video, and my OS X Mail box went 'ding' :D. Hehe.

[ChrisFromJersey]

lol what a coincidence!