Pros: These entry level speakers will blow you away!
Cons: Slightly lacking in the extreme high frequencies but still a standout performer.
The Bottom Line: Tremendous value at this price level that dictates a definite audition and a probable purchase! Listen to B&W, PSB, Paradigm and others but expect Bose to come out on top!
sam-pro's Full Review: Bose Acoustimass 3 IV Speaker System
Not too long ago my good friend Brent came up to me at work and exclaimed..."Hey, Petey!! Guess what I did!!" At 7 AM in the morning and barely completing my first sip of freshly brewed Dunkin' Donuts coffee it definitely widened my eyes and pumped the heart a tad faster than a split second before the exclamation was attempted! He then proceeded to tell me of his rather recent speaker purchase.
Yes after several recommendations made by myself he had finally bit the bullet! For weeks he asked me what I thought about this brand or that brand. He wanted something small and onobtrusive that could still reproduce the entire spectrum of frequencies. First we talked about the PSB ALPHA's and then about Paradigm. Then he asked..."What about Bose?"
Well, I then proceeded to tell him the gospel according to the 901 as most folks know how I really like that speaker. But for his situation I asked him to look into the Bose Acoustimass systems because I had heard they were quite phenomenal although I had not up to that time actually listened to any of them. Well he did and purchased the AM-3 for about $350 w/brackets and was quite thrilled with and proud of his choice!
Brent was so excited that he wanted to know what the best wire would be for hookup. I told him to use oxygen free copper wire and he did but he also considered the flat style of wire being that the darn cable had to run under his living room carpet. The problem was that at the time the esoteric stuff was running about $10 a foot so he wound up with good 18 Ga. OFC which was considerably cheaper but great nonetheless!
Mirasonic.COM sells the best 50 ft. roll of 18 ga. Oxygen Free Copper Wire on the planet shipped to your door within three days for under $10 complete! The clear wire is marked with "plus" and "minus" signs for easy hookup. The superb low cost cable will make your system look and sound its very best!
My friend also had purchased a pretty good Onkyo or Yamaha receiver as I recall but am not sure. At any rate the sound was fantastic and he raved day after day about how he finally owned a system that revealed to him sounds he had never heard before. He even bragged about how he had effectively hidden the rather compact subwoofer behind his sofa! He told me how fantastic the bass was and how clear everything sounded!
Well that was sometime ago and finally recently I got to audition the miniscule system and hear what all the fuss was about. Keep in mind that I was a bit skeptacle even though I am a lover of Bose technology! But really if anyone could design great small speakers it would be Dr. Amar Bose. The company was built on the premise that smaller speakers were better! I fully concur.
The Bose AM-3 SERIES IV speaker system consists of a pair of tiny 3" cubes and a rather small Bass Module that stands at just a tad over a foot high and half a foot wide and about 9" deep. The cabinets are attractively and sturdily built with either black or white finishes.
The system's Impedence is 4 to 8 ohms and Power Handling is rated at 10 to 100 watts. Incidentally, the speaker terminals are of the spring type but are very well made and should not discourage anyone from making the purchase although I'm sure they will! Pedestals or mounting brackets can be used to install the small satellites at extra cost. MSRP is $400 but the system usually sells at about fifty to one hundred dollars less.
DO NOT be fooled or befuddled by the tiny appearance of the AM-3 and the $400 price tag. Remember the old adage..."Good things come in small packages" and it certainly applies to the item at hand!
For the audition I was armed with my usual variety of CD's ranging from "Rock to Bach" so to speak. The CD player was a highly regarded Sony and the receiver was a very nice Yamaha rated at well over 100 watts p/ch. The speakers were positioned on very long shelves at about chest level as I like to stand or move about the listening room during the audition. This not only helps my ailing legs but gives me a good sense of how stable the soundstage is as I move about. The shelves aided in repositioning the cubes rather easily. The Bass module was placed on the floor in the middle of the two sats.
On Rock the sound was crystalline with plenty of the notorious Bose impact and clarity! Jazz really excelled with great detail even well into the deep bass although the system is limited at the extreme frequencies...thus the reason for the Bass Module tag as it is not a true subwoofer. No matter as it performs its function quite adequately indeed!
Complex Classical orchestral works were reproduced easily and effortlessly with fantastic soundstaging regardless of how I positioned the cubes or the Bass Module itself. Admittedly, detail and overall size of the sound did not by any means equal the company's fantastic 901 system but was present to a great degree nonetheless!
Female voices were quite natural and seductive. Male voices were reproduced with very little bass underline. Mid bass was smooth and powerful with the Midrange and Highs very nicely presented but lacking somewhat in subtle details.
Admittedly, the extreme ends of the audible range were down by comparison to more expensive systems but one might be surprised to hear or feel a small amount of organ pedal bass. This is where positioning the bass module becomes critical e.g. out from or nearer the walls and corners of the listening area.
Regardless of the forward radiating pattern of the sound it is still very spacious without any appreciable blur. The "sweet spot" was very generous as Dynamic Range was excellent!
Incidentally, the cubes can be turned towards the side walls slightly away from the listener to give somewhat of a Direct/Reflecting effect for which Bose is most noted for. Experiment a little.
My impression of the overall Frequency Response is that the system is very flat from 50Hz to 15KHz with the highs dropping off rapidly toward inaudibility and lows dropping off smoothly to about a 50Hz fundamental. This is a great accomplishment by Bose at this price level!
While we are on the subject, Bose does not get into Frequency Response specs not because they are afraid to as the too numerous to count Bose bashers claim but because Dr. Bose himself found them to be disgustingly ludicrous as he purchased a hi-fi system with impressive specs that fell way short of just as impressive performance long ago. That was the whole reason why the co. formed anyway! The man made the decision never to publish this type of specification when the first 901 was introduced in 1968 and he is not about to start publishing it now!
As a matter of fact, Power Response is what Bose believes to be a more appropriate term to be adapted by the audio community...but it has yet to do so.
The Power Handling of the AM-3 Series IV is such that it will not appreciably fold or compress at the one hundred and twenty five watt mark! Even at that level there are no extraneous sounds from the cubes or the bass unit itself. Superior and superb!
DO NOT TURN THE VOLUME UP TO THE POINT OF "CLIPPING" as you will surely damage the speakers and maybe even your hearing! Great speaker designers like Amar Bose and Richard Vandersteen as is Yamaha are most concerned with this plaguing problem and campaign constantly for protecting the human ear.
Well once again Bose has worked their magic in not only designing a very inconspicuous and onubtrusive speaker system with performance that betrays its small size and price! A "best buy"? YES!! For less than $300 the Bose AM-3 Series IV rises above all others at its low price and some costing twice as much! With this entry level speaker system Bose has both ends of the spectrum covered! Is it really any wonder? Go for it!...PJS Series II
In the 4th series of this outstandingly popular speaker system, the left and right channel drivers are less than 4 high and direct the middle and uppe...More at Amazon Marketplace
In the 4th series of this outstandingly popular speaker system, the left and right channel drivers are less than 4 high and direct the middle and uppe...More at Amazon
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