Bose

Bose Cinnemate Speakers

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For a while now I have know I need to get rid of my stereo. It is a great stereo. I probably wrote about it before but aren’t 100% sure. Either way I love it and it has served me well for years. The problem is with Teagan getting ready to crawl we know we want to get rid of it. At first I was looking to get a sound bar speaker “system” since it is one speaker and a subwoofer. The idea has been to get rid of all the wires and speaker stands that are all over our living room right now.

Several months ago I picked out a decent sound bar but wasn’t 100% convinced to buy it. Flash forward to today and that system is now not available and comparable ones are more money than I thought was appropriate for the quality I would get. I know what I have (an Onkyo 5.1 receiver and speakers) is overkill for our apartment but i also knew how much a downgrade the sound bar was. When i found a well reviewed sound bar in the $250 price range i thought that was good. Then when that wasn’t available a decent one was more money and the reviews weren’t as good. At that point my friend Jayson convinced me to go and get a Bose Cinnemate II system. It was much more than i wanted but the reviews were much better than any of the cheaper sound bars. I know many people have polarizing opinions of Bose but i have had good luck with them in the past, so I went to buy them. As luck would have it they were marked down in price. The higher end version was around the price of the lower end ones, and the lower end ones were marked down even more. I opted for the higher end model and just got them.

I have been happy so far, but the real test will be when I get my new TV that i have been planning on getting for a while and put on a good movie!

New Headphones

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I felt horrible after work, but I forced myself to run the errands I had to before collapsing. I got a hair cut since I really needed one and that always makes me feel better. This time it did a little but the cold didn’t magically go away. Dam cold. On my way home I ran over to the Apple Store. I needed to replace my Bose in ear headphones. I am kinda pissed that a $99 pair of head phones broke. I can only hear out of one ear sometimes. I did have them for almost two years (or so I think), so I didn’t go shopping for another brand. I liked the bose ones overall so I got another pair. I do bang them up so I think I got my moneys worth, or I am just saying that to justify buying another pair. I just know if I had to go another day with the Apple headphones I was going to go crazy!

iPod Dock’s

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For a while I have wanted to get a set of speakers I can plug in my iPod or iPhone 3G into. I haven’t gotten one yet for several reasons. The biggest one is that I have been encasing my iPod and iPhone in protective skins. They are great to protect the easily scratched devices (come on apple) but the downside is that with these cases the devices will not fit into any devices made for them. Last week I noticed my brand new (less than a month old) case was flaking its finish off. I read a review that this was possible so I rolled the dice when buying it, but since the case started falling apart I took the phone out of the case for a bit. I noticed that even though these cases don’t add too much bulk, it felt like it did. When I held the “naked” phone in my hands and used it, I was surprised how much sleeker it felt. I the remembered that all of my Treo’s never were in cases when they were in my pocket. I do have concern that the back of the phone will scratch up, but I think I will leave the cases off the phone for a while.

With no case preventing me from buying a dock or a speaker dock for my phone I started looking for a decent speaker set. The timing was perfect because recently I have wanted to listen to music in my bedroom. Now I have to put headphones on and that is a pain. My research has show me that there are tons of options. My research of reviews also showed me that many consumer electronic companies don’t get consumers. People if you make a device specifically for a GSM phone don’t suggest that you put the phone in airplane mode to avoid the feedback sound you get from speakers when the phone is plugged in. That isn’t a viable option, just a cheesy work around.

I found a ton of devices that had an equal amount of options. I find it funny that what I finally set my eyes on is the most basic of systems. I am debating on buying the Bose SoundDock Series II. The only downside I read in reviews is that it lacks features that other cheaper models might offer. Again, consumer electronic companies (in my opinion) don’t get it. Do you need to throw in all these features that many wont use to sell devices? I want to plug in my iPhone 3G and listen to crap on it through good speakers. I want to charge said iPhone in the speaker system, and maybe access the unit via a remote. This isn’t a radio, or an alarm clock, or whatever other features people want to creap in there. I know others might want those features but it is over kill for me. I want good sound. The iPhone 3G will work fine in the Bose system because they said they shielded the unit from the GSM frequencies that cause interference. It might be on the pricey side for what it does but I am tempted to go and get one. Jayson has the older model and loves it. It is a Bose after all. I don’t typically take name brands for granted, but they have lived up to their name for me so far!

So this story ends with me going to the Apple store last night and buying the Bose system. I also bought an iPhone dock for my computer. It drives me crazy that I have cables lying all over the place for my iPhone on my desk. Without the case I can plug the phone into a cradle and one more piece of clutter is off my desk.