apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

very cool. i'm still content using my 15-yr old stereo at home (which works perfectly fine), but i do like the idea of minimizing.

Any thoughts on the Specktone Retro? http://www.speckproducts.com/specktone/

US$149 (CAD$199), I think it looks good and the insides are all analong, as opposed to digital. The sound quality is okay, but it's mostly the exterior design that appeals.

Maxwell, you know I love you, but as a I have to disagree with you on the sound quality between these two systems. However, the audio input jack for computer & television is important! Aren't there any abilities to wire the Bose to computer and television?

At the SF Apple store, the Bose & the Apple speakers are the same price. When programming the sound balance to the type of genre and then listening to the music samples on the iPod, this is what I was hearing:
- Apple has a "fatter" bass sound
- Bose has a crisper bass sound
- When listening to acoustic instruments (guitar, strings, piano, etc.), the details came out way more on the Bose. I could hear the bow changes and live instrument sounds on a cello on the Bose, whereas the Apple didn't capture as much of the detail.
- The Apple appeared to project a clearer melody line regardless of instrument, but part of that was due to the "fatter", less-defined instrument sound.

Changing the sound balance for each genre of sound sample was key for me & my friends - they were comparing the same two speakers and brought musician me along to be a third set of ears. I would take the Bose in a heartbeat over the Apple.

Anyone else compare these two speakers?

one thing that's nice about this unit (other may have it as well, i don't know) is that there's a place for an external device to be plugged in. i have my satellite radio receiver hooked up with this and it works nicely.

My big problem is the lack of a radio on both of these. Ideally I would like to have something like the Bose Soundwave, but with a Ipod Nano dock, so I can listen to the radio or the Ipod. Not sure if there are any viable options out there....

Tivoli Audio has a few nice iPod-oriented options (with radio):
http://www.tivoliaudio.com/home.php?cat=264

I have yet to here a Bose product that sounds good. They really get vocals all wrong.

Bose is the singularly most overrated branding in modern electronics.

A Tivoli One radio with an input cable on your IPOD would be another low cost choice.

I really like the people on here. Please don't waste your money on Bose.

I have been very pleased with my Logitech mm55(?) speakers. Cheap and certainly good enough for the office. Might be a bit wimpy for an apartment, however.

Hmmm, lots of bose bashers here... I have the bose iPod dock for about 2yrs now and I LOVE it... it sounds great. Before that I had the Bose wave cd and radio which also sounded good and lasted for years (it's still going, my mom has it now). I just don't think you can beat the quality and value of this product.

I was looking at the SoundDock until I got the ZVOX Mini as a gift. It has a nice low profile, but wonderful sound. I highly recommend it. http://yhst-9301186439366.stores.yahoo.net/zvmihipestso.html

I use Logitech as well - Z-2300 which includes a sub woofer. It gives me decent sound, although I admit I'm not a fanatic about speakers.

When I moved into my studio a few years ago, I went on a tear to eliminate unecessary items so:

The speakers connect to my desktop computer
I got rid of my stereo and put all of my music on my computer (itunes).
My computer monitor is a Sony and I watch my TV through that. The cable connects to my monitor. I chucked the TV.
I listen to radio on my computer (through itunes).
I watch DVDs through the computer/monitor.

So all entertainment goes through my computer. I really love the set up, and it enabled me to get rid of my stereo, dvd player, radio and TV.

We have the Hi-Fi in my apartment too and we LOVE IT! But let me ask you this - do you have it hooked up to your TV, and if so, does it sound good?... I have always wanted to know. Thanks!

PS - The Hi-Fi sounds GREAT.

I tested a number of models in the Apple Store, too, and am trying to make a decision. My untrained ears liked the iGroove HG most, and the style seemed nice for my shelf. Any comments?

Kate - I am going the same route. Chucked the TV, DVDs, radio, and music on the laptop. Did you previously post on running the cable through the computer? I'm on a complete break from TV (unless I see TV that I want to watch through the internet, but I haven't seen anything I do want to watch yet), but eventually, I'll probably want to do this.

I was eyeing the Hi-Fi too (I might still break down and get it) but for now, I just got monster cables and connected my iPod dock to my home theater system in my living room. It's not super portable like the Hi-Fi will be if I ever get it, but it sounds great and the cables only cost me $30.

How à propos! I have been contemplating how to transform (er...get rid of) my SO's old speakers, turntable, etc. The speakers take up a lot of space but they do sound good. So all feedback on your experiences is gratefull accepted.

Pixie -
My cable is hooked up to the monitor (the Sony), but I can also run it through the computer itself. I have an HP Media Center PC, which has cable hookup and a tv card, I think it is. So I'm watching the tv through the cable, not the internet. I barely watch tv myself, so this has been a great option. And the reception really isn't that bad.

The audiophile in me would never allow giving up my hifi components and speakers. However, I do understand the need to minimize. Here a great option by Monitor Audio, a great Brit hifi company...

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=MOIDECK

Looks and sounds great. I like the fact you position the speakers to get good stereo separation. It's a steal at $150.

I have the tivoli iPal and I use it with my ipod; its small, looks stylish, and is easy to move around, but the sound is not all that big -- it works for my studio apt., but the bose would probably be a better idea for someone who wants a true home stereo system.

I just saw this advertised for $100: ETON SOUND 100
www.etoncorp.com

It's got TivoliAudio styling, but it has an FM digital tuner, alarm clock, aux input. For the alarm feature, Tivoli costs 2x as much.

Haven't tried it myself - but was rather interested in this for the bedroom.

Also if you have all your music on your desktop and have a WIFI router, you have other wireless music options namely from ROKU (rokulabs.com - I have the soundbridge500 hooked up to my stereo) and the Squeezebox (slimdevices.com)

My husband just bought me the iPod Hi-Fi and I Love it. The sound is incredible.

Good Klipsch. I can't recommend the company enough - they make fantastic midmarket speaker systems (and some decent high end ones as well). I have a pair of large bookshelf speakers that, for their size, create an amazingly crisp soundstage.

They have two killer iPod products; the iGroove and the iFi.

The iGroove is a single unit, with a two woofers and a single tweeter horn. Works like a charm. The iFi is a three piece system (8 inch, 200 watt sub-woofer and two satelitte speakers)

Once you go Klipsch, you'll never go back.

iLounge.com does a very good job of reviewing a lot of iPod sound systems.

I run my iPod through the Tivoli Model 2, which is beautifully designed (a bit "softer" looking than the HiFi with a wood enclosure, but still modern), has a radio, and sounds great.

Laugh all you like, but my entire "sound system" consists of a Jlab speaker that plugs into a USB port on my Powerbook. 40 bucks: http://tinyurl.com/yzgpl7

Big improvement over the laptop speakers!

i have the ipod hi fi in my living room, all my music has been downloaded to the ipod and i don't have a stereo or cds in the house. the hi fi is great and i reccomend it for anyone space challenged.I found it impossible to test at the apple store as the noise level is so high there. i reccomend tek serve on 23rd street for a quiet atmosphere.
i have the tivoli ipal in my kitchen and the sound for the ipod is so poor i only use it as a radio.

The closest product in this market to true high fidelity is the Klipsch ifi. It will fill a large room with loud sound and it's available at Costco. For big sound in a good sized LR or family room it's the best solution and puts all the single box units to shame if you like your music loud, But you're back to two satellites and a subwoofer. You can't break the basic laws of acoustic physics.

I spent all last weekend downloading my cds into the computer and then onto my iPod. Bought the Specktone (very cool greeen) and the sound is good enough for me. Powerful enough to fill my largish living room with no problems. Then my iPod crashed. But I am very happy to have cleared out an entire book case worth of cd's and now my book clutter problem is solved. Now to get the iPod fixed, and the cd's sold.

Good point JC. Another good reason to go in the direction of the iFi. Those single boxes just can't create the same stereo imaging you get with a more traditional setup.

Sheeeeeet...if I want to listen in mono, I'll go to grandma's house!

A little off topic of iPod solutions - but on topic if it's how to get the stereo out of the living space....

If you need to save space and you own your pad, you can install speakers in the ceiling or walls. You can then run the wires to somewhere out of the way like the guest room/office closet. With the Apple AirPort Express you can then wirelessly play music off your computer if you use iTunes. It is a decent amount of work to set up, and not the cheapest - but it does sound quite nice and keeps the components out of the living room.

bose is bad

I have used the klipsch promedia speakers. They sounded really terrible. Is the ifi actually any good?

Pixie, you're my new favorite person -- we only ever play CDs on our laptops, but the speakers on those don't support decent sound for ambient music. I've bookmarked that speaker plug-in and now look forward to dumping an ancient boom box that's sulking in a closet.

I'm another one on the anti-bose side. It says a whole lot about the quality of a company's products when they won't publish their specs.

I say Tivoli... I use one of their early model MONO radios, and it'll beat the pants off of any bose system around.

Another option is a DIY amplifier kit like DIYParadise's Charlize. You will be astounded at what you hear, believe me.

Glad to be of service, wende! The little speaker changed my life. I wouldn't be able to hear NPR and KJAZZ all over the apt. without it.

So good to hear my daughter just purchased the HI-FI for me for Christmas. I actually went with her to the Apple Store and they had a large selection of speakers. The salesperson let me hear the Bose as well as the Klipsch, this was the least expensive. There was one right beside this one which blew me away. I don't remember the name but do know he mentioned it had just arrived that morning and he couldn't believe the sound. I have to admit it was hard to choose between that one and the HI-FI but I wanted something I could take with me, something portable so I went with HI-FI. Also, the price tag on the other system was around $149.00.

Mac understands the importance of quality and asthetic. It's been my experience that every product they make just works perfectly, including the Hi Fi. If any of you are like me, you spend a great deal of time at work with your headphones on listening through your iTunes catalog. go to http://www.srslabs.com and d/l the trial version of their iWOW plug-in for your iTunes. It's quite possibly the best sound enhancing plug-in I've ever experienced and if you really love the quality, it's only $20.

Paul, Do you know how that works, ie, why it enhances the sound?

I've digitized all my music, but don't want to run it from an iPod. Have Airport Express all ready to go, but any advice on what next, best components?

And it needs to look as good as it sounds. :)

I don't know, that is to say, I'm no sound engineer but SRS labs was one of the first (or maybe the first) to create a 3D space sound quality. Meaning that the music sounds 3D, producing a brighter more intense sound. Just download it, my words can't do it justice and the trial version is free. You'll thank me later.

I gotta ask Patrick, why woulkd you not want to use an ipod?

thanks Paul--will try it out.

Agreed. I just bought this and after testing the sound on all the different systems the Apple HiFi was by far the best and easily the best looking. I can't say enough about how happy I am that I don' t have to use a component system any more and NO MORE SPEAKERS! And with the iPod radio receiver you have the complete package. But compare the sound and see for yourself....there is no comparison.

SiL

I have a SoundDock, and love it - so much so that I bring it with me when I travel (it's sitting on my desk in my Copenhagen hotel room as I type, soothing my jet lag).

I just got a new 80GB iPod, and foolishly got it in black. I don't like how it looks with the white SoundDock, so I ended up extending the splurge and bought a Logitech SoundStation. It's the highest-rated iPod docking/speaker system over on ilounge.com, the iPod site. And I think it's lovely - black, angular, kind of stealth bomber-y. Not mod at all. The sound is fantastic, and it comes with a built-in radio and all sorts of controllable parameters, from bass and treble to display brightness.

BUT. For some reason, i seem to be in the unique position of having a SoundStation where the remote won't control the damn iPod! No one else seems to have this problem but me!

And it makes me blue, and it makes me curse the day I turned my back on my old SoundDock.

But, damn I hope I can get that thing to work, because it looks good and sounds even better.

So, like, highly recommended, albeit through a veil of frustrated tears of longing.

Ay yi yi. I'm sorry - the jet lag is strong within me.

Honestly, I do think that anyone shopping for a good-looking, full-featured iPod stereo system would be really well-advised to check out the Logitech SoundStation. It's the same price as the SoundDock, but I feel the sound is better.

And, FWIW, my girlfriend has the Apple iPod stereo, and I can't say I love it.

Oh, and Pixie (?) was right - for the last five years in my office I have played my iPod and my laptop through a crappy Logitech computer stereo set (2.1 - two small tweeter-y speakers and a boomy subwoofer), which I picked up for the princely sum of $29 at Office Depot; I think it's the best bargain in sound I've ever had.

(By "crappy", I mean downmarket - the thing sounds fantastic, especially when one is sitting there marveling at how little it costs!)

Having purchased, and returned both the Apple and the Bose, let me say this about them:

The Apple was stunning with my Rock/Pop collection, but uber-weak on Classical/Soundtrack/Vocal. The Bose was an epiphany on the Classical, etc. -- HOWEVER, it has this annoying, neverending hiss -- basically, it never shuts off. It didn't compare to the Apple on Rock, either, but I would've lived with it if not for the hiss. For someone like me, who would purchase a system for the finesse of sound, that hiss was the deathknell. I live in an urban environment -- read, tiny space, but with double-paned windows -- so the Bose in my 16'x20' living room was irritating, to say the least.

I am likely to try the JBL Radial, though unlikely to try the Klispsch, because of the design. And only if the former runs silent when not playing. Both were rated very near the Bose in sound reproduction quality in the Jan.'07 Consumer Reports.

Bose is so overrated. (I found their very expensive sound-muffling earphones so delicately made, as to be impractical, neccesitating frequent replacement.)

Bose:
low quaility slick design marketing = impression of high quality

Do a little research/hunting and you can get much better sound for the same price as Bose.