21 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
BOSE Wave Radio: Review from a novice
Date of Review: May 26, 2000
The Bottom Line: The Bose Wave Radio is a fine product with fantastic sound and quality workmanship. But for me, it wasn't a "religious" experience as expected.
First of all, I'll state up front that I'm not an audio expert. My only personal sound requirements are decent bass, good volume, and not too much treble. I don't like rattling speakers, either. Those requirements met, I'm a happy camper.
But this Bose radio -- the taller, higher-priced version -- has been my husband's Holy Grail for years. He has listened to the commercials, to Paul Harvey, and to a friend of ours, Rob, who has one in his office and says it's worth every cent. Because Rob has "the big one" my husband, of course, would be satisfied with nothing less. He finally purchased it at tax filing time, when he realized we wouldn't get a big hit this year.
He had it shipped to my office to ensure that someone would be available to personally accept the order during UPS hours. Even my UPS guy, also named Rob (what a coincidence) said he delivers lots of them, and he wanted to know what we thought of it after we listened to it.
Christmas In May From BOSE
My husband was like a kid at Christmas, carefully but eagerly opening the box and carefully reading the manual before plugging it in. There's not much else to do but plug it in.
It comes with a remote control that's barely larger than a credit card. Very convenient, but easy to lose if you don't keep an eye on it.
Then my husband and daughter bickered over whether to listen to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack or Aqua first. Phantom won. So we sat and listened to Michael Crawford, great as always. I was kind of expecting a "religious" experience after hearing about this Bose radio for years. I was looking for a signal that it was a "religious" experience for my husband, but he had that "analytical" expression, finally announcing "sounds good!".
Am I Just Not Listening Hard Enough?
Well, it sounded pretty much like other stereos we have, including the Bose unit he bought in 1974 and that we still use today. I agreed, "yes, it sounds wonderful, Honey, you're really going to enjoy this".
And he has, and he will continue to. He hasn't raved about it, like he raves about other purchases that have given him serious satisfaction (TravelSmith shirts, Mag flashlights, and teeny-tiny Seiko clocks). He's raved much more about a tiny Sangean walk-man radio I bought him several years ago, and that he uses daily for running. That wasn't a fancy unit and didn't cost me a lot.
Very Portable -- Sort Of
I'm now updating this review nine months later, and he's still enjoying this BOSE radio. When he bought it, he visualized himself carrying it into different rooms in our house, which he occasionally does -- very occasionally.
It's lightweight, but not so lightweight you feel like unplugging it and moving it like a tiny radio. If you already have a non-portable stereo in your living room or family room like we do, you just can't mentally justify moving the smaller Bose around the house. Our house just isn't that big.
And of course, you probably won't take this out to your workbench or patio, unless it's covered. So if you buy the BOSE wave radio, chances are that you'll keep it in the same place most of the time.
My husband continues to be pleased with his purchase, and that's the big thing.
