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What placement guidelines should be considered to ensure optimal audio performance of the Bose Bass Module 700?
What placement guidelines should be considered to ensure optimal audio performance?
Hey everyone. I recently ventured into purchasing some Bose equipment to achieve some type of theatrical effect when watching things like Netflix, or rented content from iTunes, Google Play, Apple TV and so on.
My current setup is as follows:
-Bose Smart Soundbar 900
-Boss Bass Module 700
-LG 4K OLED (55")
Given this setup, my room is no where near in a place where I'd like it to be. Now, for reference sake, my cousin has the same exact configuration and has a room that's twice as big as mine, and hardwood floors, like mine.
I've tried to emulate what I like: bass! I want the room to have a light rumble and I want to feel the impact of the high-octane action scenes, or just the impact of the content that I am watching. Now, I can't tell if my Boss Bass Module 700 is really working. I got one from Best Buy, did the ADAPTIQ and turned on dialogue mode, and there was NO bass. It was just dead in the water. So I got a new one.
This is now my second one, and I have the soundbar's bass setting to 70, and the bose bass module at 40. When watching shows, there is a vibration through out the room, but it was WAY more intense at my cousin's house, who has the same settings.
While I understand that each room may call for different audio settings in the Bose app, I am a bit confused as to why my subwoofer sounds so vastly different from his, or maybe my memory/recollection of it is incorrect. How do I confirm, or validate that this sub is actually working? I feel like the $800 is just not worth it right now? Can anyone please help me out? Here is how it's setup.
I am testing both surround systems at the moment.
Sonos Arc + Sub + 2x Era 300s with trueplay (iPhone 15 Pro) setup in a 18'x18'x8' room.
Bose Ultra Smart Soundbar + Base Module 700 + Surround 700s with ADAPTiQ.
A couple of observations:
The Arc sounds incredible for watching Atmos Content — specifically TV shows and movies. The Bose also sounds good, but the dialogs aren't as clear, and the surround isn't as punchy — still a very good system.
Sonos was easier to setup in the apartment. I hate that Bose requires you to screw in the wires from the reciever of the surrounds. I can understand how other people might want to custom wire their setups, but as a consumer looking for a plug-and-play home theater, that was annoying.
Both Apps suck.
Setup
Sonos Setup was excellent. Much better than the Bose. The Bose app is pretty buggy while connecting to the speakers and the UX is just garbage. It's crazy how Bose markets that you should pair the soundbar with other specific speakers but didn't build a one-click setup process.
Bose has less streaming options
Sonos buries the settings for your setup, it's kind of annoying. Bose highlights your setup on the home screen and lets you play with the EQ. More controls on the Bose app to tweak the level of the soundbar compared to the surrounds. Sonos only lets you tweak the surrounds.
PCM music from the TV sounds terrible on both, but Bose does a much better job of improving the sound to make it bearable. My Macbook Pro 14" makes the same PCM content sound 100x better. It's frustrating because half the content on Spotify & Apple Music isn't encoded in better formats. When I listen to music on my Airpods or on the Mac speakers, you don't notice the quality drop. On the Arc and Bose, you can immediately tell the quality has dropped.
Music, (Atmos, Dolby 5.1, PCM) all sound better on the Bose. The soundbar's soundstage is more engineered towards music. It feels familiar like all other Bose speakers. The Sonos makes vocals sound very boxy, and slightly echo-y. I removed surrounds on both and the results were the same. It was incredibly annoying to have this distinction given that the Sonos sounds soo good for TV content. :( I must have tested 20-30 different songs with different ranges, with friends and family, and all the same result. I've tested both in different apartments as well.
The Bose costed me $2200, the Arc setup costed me $2000 with Thanksgiving offers. It's annoying that the Bose surrounds can't be used as separate speakers. I can still use the Era 300s as stand alone speakers, and for $2000 I am getting a lot of smart speakers that can work together.
I like that the Bose comes with a remote, but I rarely use it given that most of those controls work from the Apple TV remote.
I wish Sonos had a more EQ controls. I get that the sound profile works for most people, but it's crazy to think that there is a single "scientific" best way to listen to content. I am okay with Sonos prescribing how Atmos content should sound in your room, but I want more controls for Music.