yakkowarner's Full Review: Bose Wave® music Shelf System
When I first got the Bose Wave Radio many years ago I was totally amazed at the quality of the sound. The Bose Wave Radio really did sound like a larger radio. How large? About a large boom box, but not a home stereo system.
Why I got it
We actually got the Bose Wave Radio as a gift. I forgot what for but my wife’s boss apparently wanted to impress her and make her know she was a valued employee.
How the Bose Wave Radio works.
The Bose Wave Radio is just a fancy clock radio. When turned off the Bose Wave Radio acts just like a large clock. When on the Bose Wave Radio plays music from both AM and FM radio. The Bose Wave Radio unit has 18 programmable stations, 12 for FM and 6 for AM. You can plug in an extra audio device with the RCA ports, add extra speakers, or an external antenna. Other than that it is pretty simple.
The key feature in the Bose Wave Radio is the bass sound, which does sound pretty good for its size. I saw a diagram of the internal workings and inside was a flat membrane/ribbon that twisted all around the back and sides of the unit. It was this membrane that supplied the bass. All you need is to cause the membrane to vibrate and you get that bass sound.
My initial impressions on the sound quality
The treble of the Bose Wave Radio was a little better than what I expected. Most small radios have good high pitched sound so that was to be expected. There was no real squealing sound that annoyed me nor were there any noticeable imperfections.
The bass of the Bose Wave Radio was remarkable for such a little radio. I have had large boom boxes with bass boost that had less bass than this had. I was impressed. The bass was pretty clean and did not sound muddled. The bass really added a depth to the overall sound. But don’t worry, it will not rattle windows or make your bed shake.
This is not a replacement for a home sound system, just an acceptable addition to a guest room or a very nice alarm clock in your room.
Reception of the Bose Wave Radio
We live in a very bad area for receiving radio signals. Most of Riverside is known for that, but we also have hills on 3 sides of our home. So radio signals are hard to come by. With that in mind the signals we receive are pretty good. The best radio receiver we own is in this little box. Before I got direct ticket for the NFL I used to listen to this in my bedroom to catch the Redskins games because none of my other radios could receive the stations (it was either that or drive around town, and yes I’ve done that)
The alarm clock of the Bose Wave Radio
The alarm is a standard buzzer noise, a radio station, or both. If you have both the buzzer and radio set to on, then the buzzer sounds first. The radio slowly increases in volume after you hit the snooze button but it too will turn off if you hit the snooze button again. Just having the radio set as your wake up call does not work for me because I usually sleep through banter of Jamie and Danny. I usually just stick to the alarm buzzer.
The snooze alarm works like any other snooze alarm that I have owned. There are also 2 alarms you can set.
Other Features of the Bose Wave Radio
This has several plugs in the back. L/R plugs to receive a audio signal and L/R RCA plugs to transmit an audio signal. You also have a coaxial cable plug for an external antenna.
The LED display is fairly bright and easy to see across the room with all the lights on. There is also a motion detector on the LED that turns the brightness down when it is dark. It brightens up when there is movement or when you hit the buttons. This is a very nice feature.
There is also a 9volt battery compartment on the bottom of the unit. This will keep your memory settings intact in case you have a blackout.
Things I do not like about the Bose Wave Radio
-Does not have a built in CD player.
-The buttons can be difficult to locate in the dark (there are no patterns on the buttons to tell them apart.)
-No equalizer
Dimensions
4.12H x 14W x 8.5L;
Problems
There have been no problems to date. This has worked perfectly for over 4 years.
Summary
I absolutely love the Bose Wave Radio. If something happened to this one then I would probably go out and buy the CD player version. Even though the sound produced is not perfect, it is still better than most of the portable boom boxes out there. But the sound quality will never compete with a good home stereo system. You can’t go wrong with the Wave Radio if all you want is a small radio to put on your night stand
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