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Bose Cube Options (1 Viewer)

Sonnyblu42

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Hello! Newbie here...

I have several sound systems all around my home... for different purposes.

But, I have acquired this BO$E Lifestyle 28 Series II system (for free) all except the "Jewel Cube Spkrs"
I already know many answers to my question will be... Just sell it all! But I don't want to... I want to play with it!
And also... I am waiting on the bizarre "Audio Input Cable" 8 pin DIN to JR45 Ethernet (so I can't play yet)

I understand the Specs of the Cubes... Impedance, Freq etc...

So... Why can't I just use any 8 ohm speakers with this Acoustimass Sub? The Cubes are Passive, right?
There must be better spkr options out there that are a lot cheaper. For that matter even BO$E 201, 301

I don't see why I can't just plug any speaker into this LSPS...

Thanks in advance... Has anyone experimented with this?
 

Jason Charlton

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For purposes of playing around, there is no reason you have to stick with the Bose cubes, however the "magic" of Bose is that the Bass Module (not sub) includes a lot of proprietary processing that is designed to overcome the performance limitations of the cubes as well as accentuate the thing(s) they do well.

A huge part of speaker design is the crossover - a lot of people have made careers out of designing crossovers that work specifically with the components and cabinet of the particular speaker in mind.

Hooking up a "regular" speaker to a Bass Module is like second-guessing the original speaker designer's intent - whatever signal is being sent to the speaker from the Bass Module has already been "doctored" specifically for the Bose cubes (they are, after all, one big system).

Ultimately, regular speakers may not sound that different from the cubes, but there would be a reasonably high probability that you won't be realizing the full potential of the speakers.

The appeal of Bose is simplicity. "Let the magic box handle everything" is how many people feel. Unfortunately, for critical listening purposes, that simplicity comes at the expense of presenting the source material as the artist(s) intended.

Good luck with your experiments. It would be neat to hear a report of your findings.
 

Al.Anderson

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Mostly I concur with what Jason said. But as for using 8 ohm speakers, I'm guessing that the cubes are lower than that; so if you use the 8's the volume will be much lower.
 

Jason Charlton

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I understand the Specs of the Cubes... Impedance, Freq etc...

To piggy back on Al's comment, I'm curious where you found the information for the cube impedance and frequency response? Bose is notoriously secretive when it comes to the actual performance specs of their cube speakers.
 

Sonnyblu42

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Thank you all for chiming in! ;-) First... The Specs... Just online, I have seen quotes of 30 watts (which is believable) and an Ohmage of 6.6 Freq responce approx 300 to 13,000 w/ a gap between 200 and 300 hz between the (Sub?) and the Cubes...
 

Sonnyblu42

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I was concerned with trying to use anything much below 8 ohms... but I do have some JVC's which are 4 ohm. And yes... I saw quotes as low as 2 ohms... omg!
 

Sonnyblu42

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Also... I know that I need a Constant... so I must invest in at least 2 Bose Cubes.

And my understanding is that my original system came with the "Jewel Cubes"
Now can I use just the regular cubes? I really don't see why not...

I hear that the only difference is the jewel cubes use a neodyn spkr magnet.
 

Sonnyblu42

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I just wasn't finding a (eBay) deal that I liked... until just now.
(4) Bose Jewels for 150 jewels in the next city south...
But my quest is not over... I still want to know if there is something else out there.
Plus... I still need a center spkr... (well not really... lol)
 

ArmSC

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If the Jewels/cubes are passive you can use any speaker you want. I to would be very curious to see what ohm ratings they have as most bose stuff really goes for the lower ohm stuff. I remember a bose factory car sub that I used to have had a rating of like 1 ohm it was crazy low.

The question is are you just looking for something play around with? If you wanted something small but still decent performance and lower cost I would look at the BIC DV32 $55 and the matching DV32 CLR $50 Very small and versatile speakers that should go to 120 so if the system is not actively crossed it should get rid of that mid-range hole.
 

Sonnyblu42

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The impedance readings I took read 6.5 ohms... (which corresponds to what I saw online)
I am very pleasantly surprised at this... I was expecting something like 2 ohms.

So I found an old 6 ohm Sony center speaker at a Thrift Store for $5
The BO$E system recognized it during "ADAPTiQ" setup... and it sounds fine.

Now my FRUSTRATION is the limitations of the whole unit itself...
But it works great for DVD and Blu-Ray 5.1 There is just no HDMI for the PC
and I am unable to find a legitimate HDMI audio splitter... or USB 5.1 Audio sound card.
 

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