Some while back, our own dear Timmer posted that he was considering purchase of a (wife recommended) Bose home theater sound system. I suggested either the (a little more expensive) full-tilt option, or the (much cheaper) “3-2-1” option. In the end, he went with his wife (always a wise choice). But, in any event, he would have been a winner. Any Bose choice is a good choice

What is Bose’ slogan – “better sound through research,” or some such? This has been proven out again and again.

Let’s go back to the audiophile wars of the ’60s and ’70s… I was a Klipsch man.. If you are in a good room, on axis, with a pair of Klipschorns, you might as well be tenth row center at Fillmore East – that’s how perfect it was. And then there was Bose… Those wonderful 901s, and their “direct reflecting” technology:.. You could be almost anywhere in a room with a pair of those, and be moving about (as if you were in a great jazz club). And you didn’t have to stay “on axis” – and you still got a great stereo image.

Well, the eighties came. I got (not quite) rich. I rented my “acoustically perfect” pad, and placed my studio speakers (first a local brand, and then some Yamahas – I couldn’t afford ‘horns, or even La Scalas) right in the corners of that vaulted ceiling living room. And I told all my neighbors: “I come home between 4 and 7, and I blast my stereo for about an hour.” The only comments I ever got were complements on my musical taste.

And then the hammer blow came down – the revolutionary 1984 C4 Corvette. And lost (to all those but a few audiophiles) was its revolutionary optional Bose audio system – engineered for the car’s acoustics. No-one saw the writing on the wall.

But come down that hammer did. And now one cannot buy a midrange or luxury automobile, without at least the option of a “designer” audio system. And simple stereo has been supplanted by “surround sound” systems. And “Bose” is a household name – and making big money on their “Wave” music systems – a development on Klipsch technology.

And Klipsch – it’s still in business, selling to a small cadre of audiophiles, but not pushing it’s innovative folded horns like it used to.

And Timmer, he’s cuddling on his couch, with his lovely wife, and his Bose home theater system.

And me: I’m stuck here, on-axis, with my keyboard, monitor, and (rather excellent – for what it’s worth) desktop speakers. Excuse me if I just lose myself in a bit of Procol Harum.