BOSE(R) Companion 3 Multimedia Speaker System – Graphite / Silver
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Experience a new level of audio performance from your computer. These premium multimedia speakers provide exceptionally clean, high-quality audio while freeing up valuable desktop space. Satellite speakers can attach to your flat panel monitor or right on your desk. A compact Acoustimass module fits neatly under your desk and delivers impressive lower tones that make movies and games come to life. And an all-in-one control pod houses a headphone jack, adjusts the volume and includes an auxiliary input. companion 3 speakers represent a premium choice for all your computer audio sources. From MP3s, CDs and Internet radio to DVDs, streaming video and games. Hear full, rich sound from tiny satellite speakers designed to complement – and conveniently attach to – flat panel monitors. It’s a unique combination of elegance and convenience, whether you place them on your desk or opt for a speaker-free desktop.A compact Acoustimass module adds impressive, resonant lows for intense movie and gaming effects. Bose proprietary TrueSpace stereo signal processing circuitry adds enhanced spaciousness for lifelike sound that most conventional computer speakers simply cannot match. companion 3 speakers also feature an easy-to-use, multi-function control pod, no bigger than a computer mouse. Speaker volume control, headphone jack and an auxiliary input for an additional audio source are all within reach.Available in Graphite with Silver trim, Companion 3 speakers let you hear music, movies and sound effects on your computer the way they meant to be heard.
Features
- Proprietary TrueSpace stereo signal processing circuitry adds spaciousness
- All speaker functions controlled from a control pad about the size of a computer mouse
- Converts portable audio devices into high performance mini-systems, with one simple connection
- Dual inputs
- Tethered control pad and headphone jack module
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 20 x 12 x 16 inches
- Weight: 31 pounds
$250 Bose Companion vs $100 Altec Lansing 251
These are great little speakers, but they are way overpriced.
My roommate has these and I’ve listened to music with him many times.
I myself have an Altec Lansing 251 surround system. It was $100 when I bought it (Seven years ago!), and you can get it for $50 now. My old Altec Lansings produce a much better overall sound (especially midrange) than these overpriced Bose.
I will admit, the puck does make me a little jealous because it’s very fucntional and very cool looking. The Bose are also better constructed than Logitechs or Klipsh. But if you’re looking for sound quality, go with Altec Lansing, or Klipsch Pro-Media 2.1
If my Altec Lansing 251’s ever had a problem, I might consider buying the Bose. Since they haven’t, I haven’t.
Midrange is not the issue …
……if you use your equalizer to adjust for your particular environment.
One reason that speakers sound so much different at the store from what they sound like in your home may be simply due to the differences in the acoustic environments.
Either change your acoustic environment (difficult) or simply change the equalization curve. Its a simple thing to do with iTunes; I suppose there are also equalizer applications for the PC. As long as you don’t over-drive your speakers into distortion, you can easily adjust each frequency band over a 24db range with respect to all the other bands. Itunes provides for 10 band adjustments.
I have no experience with the other brands of speakers, but I would guess that the manufacture guess-tunes their system for some generic computer office environment – that’s why they sound great in certain homes and not in others and as a result that’s why there are many differing opinions about speaker systems. Whether or not those systems could be tuned over a similar dynamic range without distortion could be determined by thorough technical comparisons, but I suspect all speaker systems could be tuned within a similar range with similar results.
In addition, consider that each listener has a slightly different response to each audio band. WWII bomber pilots lost all of their hearing just in the 400hz range because of the continuous engine noise predominant in this frequency band.
I was able to completely remove the mid-band, make it the most prominent, etc, with simple slider controls today, so I’m not convinced that there are any significant deficiency/advantages with the Bose over the other speakers mentioned in these reviews as long as the appropriate adjustments are made.
Increases the addiction to my music!
My sole intention to get a new computer was for listening to music, which means that I had to accompany that with a large flatscreen and then, good sounding speakers. I picked the Bose because I was familiar with their products in the past. When I suggested a relative use computer music for her hair salon, I advised that she get Bose. That was my first time hearing the power of good speakers. That’s all I need, to hear good sound for the Itunes, IPOD, and YOUTube.
I love the sound of the speakers. There is a large unit that I store underneath, and then you have the two small speakers that fit comfortably on the computer stand. Also, the small round unit called the multifunction control pod provides the capability for Mute and Sound, earphones.
My issue with the control pod is that there is no indicator that lets you know where the level of sound is. This can be disturbing, when all of a sudden, a boom is heard because of varying sound decibels.
These speakers can be mounted, but I find it easier just to place them on the stand. Adjustments are available, but I haven’t the need yet to make any sound adjustments yet.
The speakers and unit are attractive silver. Setup was simple. These are great, great sound for my music!! …..Rizzo
If you like colored music buy them
Bose uses basic drivers and adds electronics (equilizers) to customize the sound. Some like it,some don’t. I personally don’t. I grew up with the stereo system as being critical to producing accurate sound reproduction. However, the digital media has not helped because it has produced compressed music and lower sampling rates which actually loses some of the music.Bose, does almost as bad by coloring the sound to make listeners believe it sounds good.When in fact it does not even come close to being a good reproducer of the content.Now, I am not saying all these user’s who say the Companion 3’s are great are wrong. I am certain they believe they sound great. My problem with them is they have too much bass too little midrange and highs that drop off too early.This is from measuring the sound through a tone generator and using a sound meter.I certainly think they are good for movies,gaming and watching web content. But I certainly do not like them for music.
Long term performance degrades..
I have been using this system for more than an year. I bought the system thinking that being a premium product should give me good performance over a period of time but I think that I was mistaken. To start with the system gave a very good sound output with good highs, deep lows and decent mid range. But over the period of time maybe due to the curing of the bass module it delivers an excessive bass taking over lot of mid range and highs.. I now have to keep the bass at the minimum level and adjust my equalizer settings to get the right mix.. I think there should have been something to adjust for the excess bass internally instead of keeping on readjusting the equalizer settings.. Overall decent,overpriced product but I doubt its longevity in terms of quality of output…
great spearkers but high price
these bose speakers are wonderful, it has great sound, can get plenty loud, and fis easily on and under desks. Also know that there could be many alternitives that are just as good for 100$ less.
(And incase your wondering, the 2 small speakers arn’t wireless)
Excellent product!
Wanted smallest PC speakers possible that put out the best sound. Current model of this system has speakers on stands, which we didn’t want. Excellent sound, and the desktop volume/mute controller is perfect for someone who is constantly taking phone calls. Highly recommend.
The best out there!
I have to say, that This is the best product out there, for such a reasonable price you get the most clear sound you cannot ever get form any other supplier. Bose definitely is the best quality brand for all systems sound. The speackers are tiny and can be placed anywhere. The volume control system is just great, with one touch you get on-off, and volume using the wheel around it, easy and convenient. The bass is very powerfull. You wont be dissapointed. This is a must have product at home or office. I love it.
the best sound for your money by far
I culdn’t have made a better buy for this amount of money. As of today I’m stll very satisfied with the great preformance that three speakers can provide. I can’t belive that I waited so long to deside on buying this speaker system, which is quite pricy. But then again, Bose is the best way to go for those of us that can afford it. Overall the Companion 3 is a great buy. —Sweet!!!!!!!!!—
A+ for Customer Service
I love the system but it failed six months after my warranty expired. But for $50 Bose fixed the unit and the turnaround was superfast — I shipped it to them on Monday and received my working unit back on Friday. Fabulous.
Steller system — perfect for what it is intended
I must say, I’m listening to these components at my home desk office right now, and I have the subwoofer placed on my large desk, behind my large PC monitor, and I’ve placed the satellites up front on the far front corners of my desk, and to be perfectly honest, the sound is incredibly rich, EXTREMELY precise on both low frequencies and all high end sounds. The instruments are crystal clear, and goose-bump making. Really am impressed with Bose. I’ve been using ADCOM components to run my PC sounds to my Snell J2 bookshelf speakers, but wanted something more immediate to my desk — an in-your-face type of sound, not so much a room-filler, and, well, I got it. It is more than adequate to satisfy me for desktop/pc usage, DVD playing at my computer, and all music files sound great with these. I’m not throwing away my Snell speakers though! If you’re going to have a room party, or want to “fill-the-air” in your room, and not just at your desk, you might want to look for something more. But if you just want quality sound while at the PC, look no further.
I was going to give these 4 stars for a lack of midrange sound, but in the end they are fulfilling as-is, when the sub is placed on the desk, and the satellites are positioned correctly. I do not like the satellites attached to the monitor — look weird, and sound too high. Enveloping sounds though when placed correctly. I think any audiophile can tweak the placements of these components and be happy. If you’re an audio-ignoramus, you might not figure out how to make this work for you. But I did, and am glad. Worth $300, though paid $250.
Give them a try.
BOSE Companion 3 Multimedia speakers
Let me get right to the point. This speaker system is the most rediculus speaker system ever! BOSE doesnt mess around. TO start off, the speakers are tiny, yet can reach volumes that will damage ears. The bass is not intended to shake the floor, but it will. The woffer has an adjustable level, so if you like a soft bass then you can have it. If you want an abundance of bass, then you can have that, too. The sound quality is just crystal clear and has such a unique, real life sound to it. The system is very compact, and can be placed anywhere. This is the best buy that i have ever made, and i strongly recomend it to anyone.
The best sound you can get.
This speaker system is fantastic, It makes my little laptop into a powerful music system right in my office. I love it, the sound is wonderful.I couldn’t have asked for better!
Cheap Audio Pleasure
I’m a professional audio producer and I’m really pleased with the overall response of my Companion 3 Multimedia Speaker System . Pretty flat sound once you calibrate the subwoofer.
Inexpensive for a bose system, I must recommend this product.
Sergio Sacoto Arias
http://www.cruksenkarnak.com
Cheap Audio Pleasure
I’m a professional audio producer and I’m really pleased with the overall response of my Companion 3 Multimedia Speaker System . Pretty flat sound once you calibrate the subwoofer.
Inexpensive for a bose system, I must recommend this product.
Sergio Sacoto Arias
http://www.cruksenkarnak.com
Lover of Bose but go to Klipsch
I love Bose products and cherish my Wave and the Bose sterero in my car. I bought this set up to add to my new IMAC G5 computer when hearing it in a store. I did this despite the hearing of other systems and was impressed of course by the Bose. Then at the Apple store I was then introduced to a similar two-speaker with controller and woofer set by Klipsch for the same price and the quality did not even come close to the Bose and suddenly had the Bose sounding tinny and not cutting the cake. I wanted more volume due to the DVD player function and the itunes of my new computer. Even though I can easily burn a disk and listen in my wave and in the bedroom, I wanted the extra sound for the DVD player and the computer in general. The apple rep online told me to go with the standing tall two speaker set and yet the system I got, not from apple online so dont worry amazon, the one with the woofer and the controller is just fabulous and for those of those who remember them I was raised by a man who had Voice of the Theatre in the Round Speakers in our living room. the same ones used at the Universal Ampitheatre in LA and could be heard four blocks away. The sound is amazing from the Klipsch and from the quiet mellow to cranking up the wonderful DVD I found by Pink Floyd commenerating the fall of the Berlin Wall in which thousands upon thousands gathered with many artists and a full symphony for an overwhelming performance of unspeakable deminsions. ( Again thank you Amazon the only place to have it!)Uncomfortably numb was not numb on the Klipsch and I had no real desire to move from my Imac in the bedroom to our 42 inch flat screen 1080I with Boston surround sound speakers in the living room. It did the job. I had ordered the Bose and had not recieved so bought the Klipsch and returned the Bose. i spent $150.00 and have a wonderful system. Woofer is larger and make sure you have plenty of desk space as the satalite speakers are not tall and thin so currently on a computer cart in my bedroom so they do block my 20 inch computer display some. Makes photo editing and slide show making more enjoyable and the price was better than a new program or more memory or any other advancement. I am trying to condense and because not a TV watcher per se I now feel I can easily get rid of the Sony old TV but hooked up to the wave and a fine sony progressive scan dvd player and have better on the Imac with the Klipsch and will move the wave into the living room to take full advantage of its capabilities there while still having the ability of using the surround sound for cds in the family room with the availability of outdoor speakers on as well. This will rock the house and make Bach beautiful Of course my kids with the wonderful round JVC sound docks for their IPODS. Although i liked the Bose for there sound docks for the kids I was again trying to save space and money so the JVC for the kids but the sound great, This way mom got the $300 noise reduction headphones from Bose, Still a great company and the best of products but they are beginning to have a wider range so be careful and remember to listen to music at a safe volume and only loudly for a short period and never let your ears ring. I reasearched heavily due to severe hearing loss of my husband due to too loud of rock and roll and drinking in the 70’s and now sober and older he is paying the price. Apparently the commonly sold with IPods in the ear ear plugs at the same volume will cause more hearing loss than the outer ear headphones. So I get the Bose $300 and I bought the kids the sonys for $60 and can not find them as hid them for xmas so they use a pair that were $20 at 75% off and the quality there but not the volume. Perfect for the ears of children. Enjoy your music quality and loud and be safe. My husbands loss has nearly ruined our family and his life due to trouble dealing with it. The end. I love rock and roll……….
Pretty good speaker, TERRIBLE price/performance ratio
Whenever I read something like the following oft-repeated mantra from Dallas Electronics Fan:
“No highs, no lows (must be Bose!)”
I am reminded that there is a cadre of Bose haters out there possessed with as fervent a religious fanaticism as the Bose lovers.
Part of the problem is that speaker manufacturers are clearly targeting their products at the gaming market. They assume that everyone wants to be immersed from all 7.1 sides in explosions accompanied by heavy metal thrash music. Small 2.1 systems are treated as cheap throw-away afterthoughts – “shovelware” tossed in the box with every low-ball Dell and eMachines.
To Bose’s credit, it appears that Bose actually considers the Companion 3 to be a serious product aimed at a different target than juvenile gamers. These speakers sound more pleasing with music (especially classical music or jazz) at low-to-medium volume than most of the future landfill being sold (or given away in computer bundles) in the compact 2.1 computer speaker system market. And the volume control/connector pod is really slick and smooth in its operation, more intuitive, simpler and just better than anything else out there, with a satisfying sense of heft and precisely the right tactile feel.
This level of product refinement and design forethought arguably costs money and to many people this makes a product worth shelling out some extra. For a more familiar example, why do people knowingly and willingly pay a significant premium for McIntosh computers when nearly everyone with any objectivity now agrees that a Windows PC can do anything a Mac can do and do it cheaper? Many “macaholics” say it is because Macs are just more sophisticated, slicker, smoother, “cooler” and more pleasant to use than the average generic Windoze beige box, and this makes Macs worth their premium cost. That argument either is compelling to you or it isn’t; it’s YOUR money. In any case, there isn’t much sense getting worked up about it. We claim to have religious freedom in this country after all.
While I said that the sound of the Bose Companion 3 is “more pleasing” than most, I didn’t say “more accurate.” Bose uses much electronic and psycho-acoustic flim-flammery to make these speakers sound fuller and more spacious in close quarters and at low volume than any tiny 2.1 speaker system has any right to. And what do most people who are not stick-in-the-butt audiophiles or blood, entrails and explosion-addicted gamers really do with their computer audio? What do these non-enthusiasts really want from their speakers while working at their computers? Most of them are listening to MP3s or Internet radio while checking their email, balancing their bank accounts and/or budgets, surfing the web, etc. They are NOT editing a video or mixing a digital master, nor are they wreaking mayhem and destruction in Palookistan. Though they may be sophisticated enough to appreciate clarity, low distortion and a reasonable sense of bass extension and heft, they want it in a small, tidy, simple-to-set-up, simple-to-use package that is satisfying at less than lease-breaking volume, even at low, 2:00AM kind of volume.
Considering sound quality and sonic accuracy alone though, I personally find the Cambridge Soundworks – selling for a ridiculously paltry $79.95 – to be a better choice. In my opinion, nothing else in a small 2.1 system is even close. And at the $79.95 price point, everything else sounds like two tin cans hung on strings, with subwoofers like somebody beating on an empty Cheerios box. The Cambridge Soundworks are the cheapest speakers BY FAR that I can stand to listen to for any length of time. And for me, that is saying a lot, since I am a classically trained musician who spends much more on audio gear than I can rationally afford.
But the Cambridge Soundworks’ user-friendliness and execution is rustic compared to the Bose Companion 3. The Cambridge product lacks a headphone jack, an auxiliary input, or even a volume control, except for a rinky-dink inline thumbwheel afterthought wired into the input cable. And to cap it all off, the bass level control is located awkwardly on the back panel of the subwoofer.
All this considered, I went ahead and purchased the Cambridge Soundworks despite its usability shortcomings because its octave-to-octave balance was more even and accurate than the Bose (or anything else for the Bose’s price or less), though I found I need to manually goose the subwoofer a tad at low volume to approximate what Bose’s circuitry automatically does to compensate for the human ear’s natural loss of sensitivity to bass as volume decreases. As for Bose’s clear superiority in features, ergonomics and general product sophistication, it wasn’t enough for me, in the end, to justify my paying more than TRIPLE the cost ($249.95).
I think the Bose product would be a fair value at $149.95, a bargain at $99.95, and an out-of-the-park home run at the same price as the Cambridge Soundworks. While I praise this product’s unique virtues, I cannot say I recommend it given Bose’s notorious “bigger idiot theory” of product pricing (i.e. “with enough info-mercials and slick ad campaigns, and pricing through the nose to increase ‘perceived value,’ there will be enough ‘bigger idiots’ to make us rich!”).
If you listen to this speaker at Best Buy or Circuit City and like it, look for a low-miles used one on ebay. DON’T pay retail unless you LIKE the idea of raiding your children’s college fund to send the good Doctor Bose’s grandchildren to Harvard!
I give the Bose Companion 3 “4 stars” for its slick execution and better than average performance in a small 2.1 system. But I give it only “1 star” for its low value for money. Consider it on balance a “3 star” product.
Bose 3 Multimedia Companion 3
I have just bought these speakers. I was looking for something to use in my flat for my ipod, and wanted something loud and good quality. I could not recomend this system more highly. The sound is perfect and the bass is almost too much. Much cheaper than the bose ipod dock at only £200 rather than £250. Yet it allows 2 sources and gives much better sound. The puck is beautifully made and works really well. To top it all, Bose have excellent customer service, it was quick and very polite, the lady I spoke to, knew exactly what she was talking about and I have every confidence that if something was to go wrong, I would be well looked after. In my opinion this is the best solution if you are looking for a small system to play music in a relatively small flat, I should think that I will never play it at the full output, as complaints will flood in. I hope that this gives any potential investor the confidence to buy one, it is great.
bangin speakers
My roomie down the hall just got these speakers, and they were bangin. I got to say man, he looked psyched out, bangin some rap. I got to give big ups to bose on these bangin speakers.
UHHHHH YES!
hey everyone i donno if anyone else is in love with bose i know own a set of these my car has bose and im soon too buy the triport headphones.yes they arent the loudest or the one with the biggest bass but they have the best sound quality around period. bose’s way of developing these makes every note crisper than the first! these will definately satisfy most everyone they do go loud enough to where you might say uhhh thats too loud im in love and you will be too!