What is the best kind of receiver to use for a Bose Acoustimass 5, series III speaker system?

Question

I like a lot of R&B with heavy, yet sharp bass... These are fantastic speakers and I would like to get the most out of them without damaging them with a substandard receiver.

The owner's manual says that the system is designed for use with recievers/amplifiers 'rated from 10-200 watts per channel with 4-8 ohm impedance.
I have no idea what that means!

Answer 1

Personally I think Bose speakers are overated and overpriced and I'm not alone -- see link), but since you have them here is my input to your question.

These speakers have small satellite speakers combined with a larger passive subwoofer. The mid and high frequency sound (directional) is reproduced by the satellites while low frequency (which is non-directional) is reproduced by the subwoofer. They are relatively inefficient speakers ... which means they need more power than more efficient speakers to generate a comperable volume.

The 10-200 watt range (4-8 ohm) means that they can handle fairly powerful (and expensive) amplifiers, but don't need big power to provide reasonable listening levels. That said, almost any amplifer on the market will drive them. The 4-8 ohm reference is the impedence (resistance) they present to the amplifier, but once again this is standard and any half way decent amp will work.

One thing to keep in mind is that volume (loudness) is not linear with input power. The ear responds logrithmetically, meaning that a small increase in loudness will be perceived for a doubling of input power. Really loud music is in the order of 105-110 decibels (db, a measure of loudness). If this, for example takes 200 watts of power to generate, 3 db lower volume will require half (100 watts), and 3 db less half again (50 watts). You can calculate for yourself that moderate volume (e.g. 60-70 db) will require a small fraction of the 200 watts required for 105-110 db.

The point is that a nominal 100 watt amplifier (ignoring the question of differences in "types" of watts) will drive these speakers to moderately loud volumes, and any more will simply cost a lot more and yet only deliver slightly higher volume with rapidly diminished sound quality (since distortion rises as the small speakers are driven harder).

I won't recommend a particular receiver, although a 50 -70 watt NAD or Harmon-Kardon would be a good choice.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Bose Acoustimass 5 Series Iii

Answer 3

Hmmm my neighbor bought those, and sadly i bought those too thinking they were good, I listen to alot of music soundtracks and there is a scene in Return of the Jedi,where Vader is talking and looking for Luke in the Throne Room, there is a chorus and a deep bass response the speakers could not handle it clearly and crisply, they went back the next day,lol and i bought Mirage.
But depending on your budget here are 2 of your best choices
http://reviews.cnet.com/Denon_AVR_2807/4505-6466_7-31660758.html
http://www.tweeter.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2076834&cp=1124285.1124337.1124380&filter=yes&fCat=1124380&fbrandid=1002936&fpricesort=priceAscending&parentPage=family

Answer 4

sell it to some fool who doesnt know Bose is junk