Reviews for Bose® Companion® 5 Multimedia Speaker System

when I heard my friend said that BOSE companion 5 is pretty good, i was thinking to get it as soon as possible.. finally, i bought it by my pocket money.. i was exciting that time.. after arrived at home i installed the system.. Shortly i was fell disappointed because the quality of the system is not as good as companion 3.. however the price is nearly 2 times from BOSE companion 3.. if you want to buy it please think 10 times...

38 of 56 people found this useful

Some areas of performance are good, others less so.

Spatial cues are awesome. These speakers throw sound super-wide, and it's very impressive. However, detail is not their strong suit. These thrive on large scale presentation on the desktop, but falter when it comes to pointing out a specific detail within the soundstage.

Bass certainly appears powerful, but is limited to thumps. Absolute extension is lacking, as is pitch definition. However, impact is thrilling, especially on pop music and action movies. The Acoustimass module, as on other Bose systems, is relied upon too heavily for vocal reproduction. This is a trade-off for Bose's trademark size and form factor. Upper response does not mate terribly well with the satellites.

The biggest problem lies within the midrange. Vocals sound canned, females sound almost as though they have a head-cold. Men sound constrained, brass is too brassy, woodwinds sound honky. The mids otherwise do sound warm, but ragged and papery. The "honk" is almost like when you hear someone calling to you when they cup their hands: it just doesn't sound natural. This is unusual in a speaker that isn't horn loaded.

Setup is extremely easy, and the single USB connection is great. However, on a MacBook, losing a USB port isn't an option. Better systems can be had, especially for this money. You could step up to a home theater receiver and a pair of bigger bookshelf speakers for an equivalent money, and get higher-quality output using your Mac's S/PDIF output and the receiver's TOSLINK input. Here, you have more options especially in terms of future upgrades and higher performance. At least with separate equipment, or even other speakers available here on the Apple website, the consumer has more control and is better informed in terms of the system's capabilities and/or limitations. Bose publishes nothing of the sort to avoid cross-comparisons.

It becomes your choice here; it is up to the consumer to make their informed decision. Never limit yourself to one single entity or brand, always keep your options open! If Bose is your cup of tea, so be it. However, do not close yourself in that box, take in the opinions of friends and experts, the latter of whom you will find have less than favourable things to say about Bose in general. Rarely do you see that with other companies.

16 of 18 people found this useful

Except for the lows, these speakers do only a little better than the built-in Speakers of the iMac27".
+ Really good Subwoofer
+ A little 3D-Sound (only if you place the speakers right - that means max. 60cm distance between them)
+ Cool remote-control

- The Price is "ok" for Bose, but too high for its performance...
- Listen to "Diamond Eyes" of "Shinedown" then you hear what these Speakers can't do...
- Highs and Mids could be much better - The Built in Sound-processing (to create the 3D-Effect - i guess - is messing up a little

I'm no professional, but i went through a LOT of professional Soundsystems - cheap and expensive. Bose screwed up here a little. For 200$ this would be ok. But no $ more.

12 of 14 people found this useful

I've only owned them a couple of days now. There's something missing that I can't put my finger on. After reading all of the reviews, there are three things I will try in order to improve the sound.

1) Position the acoustimass module forward facing instead of sideways, against the wall as I have it set up now. I now understand that the acoustimass also delivers mid-tones, so maybe that's what I'm missing from this system.

2) As instructed, I turned the iTunes EQ off. Maybe I'll turn it back on and make some slight adjustments to the EQ afterall.

3) They've had a total of about 30 minutes use. Apparently they should be broken in for a few hours before making final judgement.

My flatmate is still sleeping, and I'm working today and tomorrow, otherwise I'd make these changes now. Instead, I'll post my final thoughts next week in order to give them a fair chance. Besides, I really don't want to return them! This is supposed to be Bose's top of the line computer system... there is a good chance it's just me at this point.

All in all, they sound good to me for the first little while, but after about 20 minutes in front of them listening to music I want to turn them off. Maybe it's the Bose Truespace digital surround circuitry?

I don't really game or watch movies on my computer... I generally only play music on it and often use the Airport Express to stream it to the living room stereo as well. I understand that the C3's don't use the digital surround technology, so maybe they are more suited for my needs. I'm thinking that's the real problem... the speakers are always on in simulated 5.1 surround sound mode.

In any case... I'll try the above changes and post my final thoughts in a few days.

20 of 31 people found this useful

I owned the companion 3 series II and was completely in love with them. (5 out of 4 stars) (Not the Companion 3 series III)

Bought the companion 5 series II because who doesn't want 5 channel sound!?

Complaints:

1. No Optical input! (i knew this before purchasing). If you're going to pay 400 dollars for a 5.1 system, it'd better have optical input. Not having optical really limits the use of these speakers to the computer. I DONT CARE if they are called "computer speakers", at this price point they should support ALL COMPUTER AUDIO INPUTS. They're just trying to be stingy and make it so you have to buy their tv system if you want to have a BOSE 5.1 experience when gaming or using Apple TV.

2. Acoustamass module has a lot less depth in this system, leaving the sound very stringy and over trebled (i only listen to lossless audio)

3. its a bulky set when you compare it to the companion 3 series II and consider that the companion 5 doesnt sound quite as good.

Compliments:

1. If all you do is watch dvd's with 5.1 audio at your computer then by all means, this is the system for you! If you're a normal person and listen to music at your computer and watch movies on your TV then you might want to consider a system that will support both your computer and tv (AKA a system with both analog and digital/optical inputs; logitech makes a decent one) because i dont know about you but the only 5.1 audio i own is Dark Side of the Moon. As much as i love that album from pink floyd, its not worth $400 to experience...

2 of 2 people found this useful

These speakers are expensive. They seem to put out a good sound, though when the audio finishes I get a whining feedback buzz for some reason. I have spoken to Bose and Apple and they both told me to talk to the other. I have not been able to find a resolution to this problem.

0 of 1 people found this useful