Found a like new Bose Wave Sound System IV with remote at the thrift store today. I tested it out briefly to make sure the cd player read and played cds. Brought it home and I'm playing my first cd through it and it sounds great.

Do you like the Bose equipment or do you think it's just an overpriced player? Noted: I didn't pay anything near new price.

I recently finished fixing the CD drive and lid on a wave system I got off of the side of the road.

For free, I love this thing. It’s neat, it sounds plenty nice. I love the detachable base just because it has an air of opulence to it, like driving a car with a CD changer. It reads CDs a little slow but that’s mostly because WD-40 isn’t a great replacement for the original track grease.

But I’m curious about it from a 2006 perspective. Who was this product even made for?

As far as I can tell, given the detachable base with multiple audio inputs and a built in power strip, this was meant to be a speaker system, not just a really nice CD Player.

At its original $1,000 dollar price point, is it not demonstrably worse quality/$ than a more standard home audio system? Hell, even if you wanted to stick with Bose, I think it still would have been cheaper to get one of the smaller Waves and then wire that into a Bose speaker system.

The only real benefits I see to it is that it’s mildly more compact, and marginally less complicated than a bespoke stereo system (you don’t have to run any wires but the power cable, I suppose), but I just feel like that is not a large enough benefit to justify this product existing or purchasing it.

Does anyone else have some other perspective that I might be overlooking, or is this just a relic to the fact that people have been buying expensive things that have brand recognition for decades now?

So I got this thrift store find a while ago for $4.99. Cleaned it off and broke into the CDs for the first time in a long time.

Pretty good deal for something I don't mind getting dusty and dirty outside under the carport while we're doing yard work!

So my mother is 87 years old and not that technologically adept (I know, surprise!) and loves her 20 year old Bose Wave radio/CD plus the 3 CD changer. She knows how to use it, it’s simple, and sounds great.

However, lately it has trouble playing CDs. I’ve been told it’s likely that the lasers have degraded over time, and that Bose does not sell repair parts. They also no longer make CD players.

So the question I have is, what are the options here? I want her to have some way to listen to all her CDs that sounds good. Ripping them to a computer and using computer audio/Bluetooth is not an option. She would have a hell of a time remembering how to use it, if she even made it past the learning curve.

So: Refurbished model? If so, where to find one?

Find someone who actually has access to parts and have it repaired?

Some other brand that’s close to Bose in sound quality?

What’s the consensus here? All helpful input is appreciated.

EDIT: There is a saint among the group. Not long after this original post, I was privately contacted by someone who had a 3 CD changer identical to my mom’s and was willing to gift it to her. He refused any offer of payment, and paid for shipping. It arrived a few days later and works perfectly. In lieu of payment, mom made a monetary donation to a food pantry local to this kind person.

I won’t name him unless he tells me it’s okay, but there are indeed kind people out there.

Was it a good deal? Decided against the phillips one i posted since it was not very popular here

Hello,

I am looking for a nice CD player for the kitchen, and I am nostalgia as hell for the Wave sets I always saw in catalogues and my parents never could afford.

Does anyone have an opinion on the tall Acoustic Waves II vs the regular Wave systems(I or II)? Does one sound better than the other, or have some killer feature I am missing out on? Is there a reason the acoustic is three times the size?

Thank you!

I have been looking for a shelf-style, sound system for a while that includes a AM/FM radio, CD player and one that is compatible with my Bose Revolver (fantastic) speaker - so that led me to the Bose Wave IV system. (Most things available look like boom boxes and I wanted this to sit on a built-in entertainment wall unit.) I can find the Bose Wave IV on facebook marketplace, but wonder why they have been discontinued? Would appreciate your comments and suggestions.

New Years Day thrift score. It was priced at $40 but when I tested it the CD player didn’t work. I asked if they could give me an “as-is” no return price and got it for $20. Found a video where someone made an adjustment to the transport and that actually did the trick!

Also picked up a few new titles. Welcome additions that I’m familiar with already and except Steve Hackett. Pulled it up on Spotify and seems to be real decent prog rock with great guitar work.

I have a Bose wave CD player that works perfectly after it's been powered on for 10min, but before that none of the functions work except the clock When trying to change to FM or AUX the display gets brighter, turns off, then restarts. (Display appears to be a little dimmer than it normally should be) Is this likely a capacitor issue? took it apart and didn't see any obvious leaks. know how to solder but l'm not great at it and don't have a soldering kit. Can any of you help me try to determine how to fix this?

I think this would be the right sub for this but if not please let me know where I should post.

I don’t know anything about cd players but I recently found this bose wave radio/cd player that used to be my moms. I know for turntables having built in speakers is basically always bad but i’m not sure if the same applies to cd players. Seems to be going for around $150-$200 online so i’m wondering if I should sell it and maybe buy something better or just keep it.

Which version is this ? and does it work for CDs? its going for 70$ is it good enough?