Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System

Just got these b/c my dog chewed the wires to my last stereo (basic ihome), to me this was a blessing in disguise because I now have an awesome set of Bose. To kick off the review I want to say that I am by no means an audiophile, I am just a casual music lover/listener. Nor do I listen to music that requires high quality equipment to really enjoy (i.e. orchestra or opera). I listen mostly to rock, classic rock, and occasionally I like to play nature sounds to help me relax and meditate/sleep. I have these set on my bookshelf and hooked up to apple's airport so I can stream music from my iphone and computer. It's in a fairly small space cuz I live in an NYC apartment. For my purposes, it's absolutely perfect. The sound is rich and bounces off the walls, it sounds like I am surrounded in my music even though the speakers are located in a corner of the room. The bass is not too much, which is a plus for me because sometimes too much bass gives me a headache. The volume goes up pretty loud, for the most part I turn it less than halfway and it's more than enough for me. However, I am in a very small space, so this may not be the same for other people. When I have friends over, they comment on how great the sounds are, and I tell them it's computer speakers, and they're all surprised.To give you an idea of how great and 'realistic' the sound is...one night I was playing a recording of a thunderstorm to help me fall asleep, and my gf woke up and said to me 'wow it's really raining out'! A lot of people are saying you can get a lot better for your money, and theres also the Bose haters who thinks they're overpriced and the products are shoddy. I personally think these are great and I am really getting my money's worth. These are actually intended to be computer speakers, which in my opinion is an overkill. I think they work awesome as a mini home stereo system.

If you're considering Bose, you're probably doing so because you have an ear for accurate sound reproduction. Otherwise, if you're looking for just pure "thumping" bass or to simply blast loud music, from your PC, you'd be better off with other (and cheaper) 3 pc (with sub) systems out there. Don't get me wrong, if like me you've stuck with Bose (901s, 802s, etc.) over the years, well, keep in mind these speakers are the "low end" of the PC line - you can get the $300+ Bose computer speakers. At less than $100, you get an excellent pair of desktop speakers - of course depending on what you use your desktop PC for and what systems/resources you have that match what it is you do. In other words, if your desktop PC doubles as your home theater, these speakers won't do (obviously). If you create music on your desktop PC, you should be looking at using that optical output to connect to larger systems. Match your system with what your intentions are. Going back to this unit. Sound reproduction is excellent. Some quotable quotes here say "bass is muddy" - I'd probably point to the sound source/recording and/or the sound output settings in your PC. If you were using "lesser" computer speakers in the past and tried to compensate by setting your PC EQs and "sound/bass boost" or some other "sound enhancement" setting offered by your sound card, I think you should start from scratch when upgrading/switching to the Bose C2 SII. I currently have all these "extra" sound settings turned off - in other words, *nothing* is distorting/manipulating the sound source being reproduced (aka "flat" setting) by the Bose C2 SII. Voila! Crisp highs, clear mids, clean lows - and I don't mean I "feel" the lows (you need a sub for that, period), I hear it. No, I'm not saying I have a home theater experience in front of my desktop PC...if I wanted that, I'd go to the living room and enjoy...although watching movies on my desktop is just fine as well. At this price, the Bose C2 SII will satisfy a specific type of listener. Its probably too expensive if you're just looking to hear some sound from your PC. Gamer? Maybe - but I think you should get 3 pc systems for most popular games - if you're just into Angry Birds however, these would do just fine :) Home theater - no, go for a home theater setup, or at least a 3pc system. But if you're looking for accurate, clean sound reproduction from your desktop PC, if you want to "hear" (not feel) sound, for under $100? Yup, the Bose C2 SII will do.

The Bose Companion 2 Series II speakers are nice computer speakers to be sure, but if you are looking for a good speaker for music, look elsewhere. As is common with most Bose products, the bass fills the room with these speakers, even without a sub-woofer. However, the sound is muddy, and the treble levels are no where to be heard. The sound is lopsided. I put on my favorite record, and while the bass came flying out at me, I had to strain to hear the vocals, no matter how much I tweaked the bass and treble levels in iTunes and on my computer (levels can not be adjusted on the speakers themselves). My other concern with the speakers, which may effect musicians more than casual listeners, is the volume control. I am a professional saxophone player, and when I buy speakers, a feature that I need is the ability to turn the speakers up to a high volume without distortion. The Bose speakers would go only so high before a feature kicked in to keep the loudness from blowing out the speakers. In other words, when the volume peaked, the speakers would automatically turn down the music for the duration of that peaking. As a result, when playing along with a record, there was more or less a "wah-wah" effect on the music as a result of the volume being constantly adjusted. Not to forget that even at the highest volume, the treble levels were buried by the bass. This will effect any musicians trying to use these speakers for the same purpose, or any consumer that wants to rock out hard with the volume blasting. The Bose speakers are sleek and have solid construction, but those are unfortunately the only positives I can highlight. I had them out of the box less than two hours before I repackaged them and sent them back for a refund.

I read nearly all the reviews; good, bad and "luke warm" ones alike. My responses to the 2 primary "themes" of complaints about this product are as follows: 1.) Yes--compared to many of the other 2.0 systems the price IS on the higher side. Personally, I did not want a 2.1, 5.1 or 7.1 system in my small home office. I simply don't need it. These speakers will be used for listening to Pandora, iTunes and the occasional web conference on Skype, Gmail Chat, etc. If I really want to "rock the Casbah", I'll use my Bose Sounddock or my home stereo. I wanted relatively small speakers which would fit on my desk without taking up tons of room--AND I did not want the tinny, small sound which you get every other speaker this size--at least all the makes/models I've listened to anyway. 2.) Yes--the bass does tend to be more pronounced on these speakers. In my experience, this has been true of every Bose product I've ever listened to. Incredible bass is one of Bose's "claims to fame". The good news is, unless you're planning on using these speakers with an '80s-style Sony Walkman with no tone equalization, it is very easy to drop the bass levels and boost the treble levels in iTunes, Windows Media Player, your computer's sound card software--or even on your iPod/MP3 player itself. Problem solved. Don't just believe me; bring your MP3 player to your local audio store and try a few 2.0 or 2.1 computer speakers.....then go try the Bose. Under $100 has never sounded so good! And if for some reason you decide later than you don't like them, the demand for used Bose products is very high, so you'll have no trouble selling them for almost full retail on ebay, etc.

I bought these to have better sound than just the internal speakers on my MacBook after selling my previous computer speakers*, and for when I don't want to have to fire up my home stereo to listen (using a Griffin iMic I have connected to my MB via USB) to iTunes podcasts or eyeTV. *I used to have a set of Altec Lansing ATP3 3-piece speakers (2 small satellite speakers & a subwoofer) that have xlnt sound, but I just don't have the space for them anymore and needed something more compact. These speakers have great sound and live up to the famous Bose quality sound. They have a nice balanced sound overall, maybe just a bit more weighted on the bass side, but this will vary as to what type of & the quality of the recording you're listening to. They also have nice crisp highs as well with excellent spacial imaging characteristics for their size. The only thing I feel is missing from these speakers are separate bass & treble controls, and maybe an on/off button with the volume control. Sometimes when I'm not listening to them & the volume is all the way down, my cell phone (when it connects/syncs with the network) will produce some audible buzzing noise out of the speakers at a very low volume, but audible in a quiet room as they're less than a couple feet away. They're also a bit on the pricey side IMHO, but you're paying for the extra quality sound that Bose is famous for. There are lots of speakers that sell for (much) less, but these Companion 2 Series II speakers live up to the Bose reputation. For these reasons above I only can give these speakers a 4 out of 5 rating. Overall I'm very pleased with them & would recommend them for anyone looking for a relatively small 2 piece speaker system, are familiar with Bose products, and are not put off with their higher price tag.

All I can say is AWESOME. Granted they cost a litte more then the staples speakers, but you are going to get the best quality speakers by purchasing this product. Bose has a tradition of being a name known for sound and this product does that name justice. If your looking for speakers that you can actually hear your music as you work or videoconferencing, tthen this is a must buy. Yes i have read other reviews that says this is overpriced. WRONG. Yes its not a cheap pair of speakers, have to say im now on my second pair in over 7 years. So these speakers lasted me 7 years including being tossed around in a move. Positives. 1. The quality. You can hear the strings of a guitar or distinct tone in ones voice 2. No ugly subwoofer. Lets face it who in the world needs a subwoofer with a computer? These have a great bass that will match equally the volume of the rest of the music. 3. The design, slim and attractive. Not big, bulky, or trying to look cool like some of the other products. Negatives I guess you can list price, but honestly I got 7 years out of my first pair and that included a move (and lets face it when you move you just toss computer speakers really around). So yes you get what you pay for. and in this case. You definitely get what you are paying for.

I purchased these speakers for my Acer laptop and it took me a minute to figure out how to hook them up mainly because I have been dealing in cheapo speakers for so long that didn't require a set up that I just plum forgot how a real setup works. Nonetheless, setup was easy. I looked at a video on my computer and found that the sound was definitely more rich than the ten dollar Logitec speakers I had, so I was happy. I get to the music collection and find that some of my music does not sound quite right. It's like you are missing high and low frequencies so some of the songs that utilize these frequencies just sounded a bit terrible. That is disappointing but to be honest most of my collection sounds fine and for the price you really cannot complain. I have used Bose in the past. The QC2 headphones and the Wave Music System and I found that the sound was very decent. In fact, when I got rid of my Wave system I was depressed for a while because I couldn't find anything that sounded as rich as my Bose. The QC2 was poorly constructed so they broke in 6 months. The sound from the speakers pales in comparison to these two items so if you're looking to purchase based off the experience of either of these items then reconsider or listen to them in store before you dive in. For what these speakers are used for I say they do a mediocre job but nonetheless gets the job done. I wanted to give these a five, I really did, but honestly they are worth no more than a 3.5 in my book. I recommend with caution.

This is one of the best desktop speakers out there in the market. The price for the 2.0 speaker is on the higher end if you do the price search through the market. Do your own research before buying? At the end you need to feel good about its sound whatever the pundits say in the review site. A 5 star product which you don't like would have no long term value for you so do your own research go try out in the stores. The thing I liked about this product is that its awesome quality with such minimal size and compactness. It is tightly built and strong. If you don't have too much desk space then this is the speaker to buy. With its elegant design and compactness, it fits perfectly. If you don't mind spending few more bucks for the products looks along with its awesome sound quality then just go for it. Being practical, obviously it would not sound good as other sound system with a sub-woofer where I mean a high end sub-woofer subsystem and not just those that call themselves 2.1. But keep in mind that Bose with its only two small speakers sitting on either side of your monitor has that true bass that sounds good enough sitting about 5 ft from the computer. And it is not to be used to used as a home theater system because that's not its function. Don't depress yourself trying to expect too much from something it is not and that is why there is a whole bunch of varieties of speakers that perform different functions and obviously costing more for a quality home theater system. Due to its small size, it is very portable and would fit in any regular pack which was a big selling point for me. And also keep in mind that greater number of speakers lying around your desktop doesn't mean that you're getting better sound and more speakers for a lower price. Nope, just use your own logic? Highly recommend going to stores if possible before buying.

Near perfect condition, work spot on, lovley sound from such a compact set of speakers. Can't go wrong with bose.