Bill Cain: Mighty Favog: That's something you can do yourself in a fairly dead room with volt-ohm and SPL meters. Then throw in a good 1-khz test tone.
If it's so simple, why doesn't B*S* publish such info?
Because..... They state in their literature, in substance, that specs are basically meaningless and an owner should concentrate on the overall experience....... Really!! I'm not kidding!!! Here's a party line answer to that question from their tech folks...
Dear ***,
Thank you for your inquiry. Bose (R) Corporation does not publish frequency responses, simply because they are not accurate and usually will mislead the customer.
Frequency responses are usually measured with testing equipment set up in an anechoic chamber. An anechoic chamber is an isolated room designed so that sound will not reflect off any surfaces. Giving out such frequency response results is terrific- for those people who live in anechoic chambers! Most of us listen to our systems in rooms with very reflective surfaces, such as plaster, brick, glass, and dry wall, so the frequency response that a manufacturer may supply is no longer accurate. Just as no two rooms have the same dimensions, nor are they decorated exactly the same or have the same construction, no two rooms will sound the same when using the exact same
speakers and amplifier.
For example, if you were to place any speaker in a room with no carpeting and wooden furniture, you would hear something completely different than if they were placed in a room with shag carpeting and plush furniture. Perhaps
this can be equated by imagining a single lighted candle placed in a room with completely black floors, walls and ceiling. Obviously, the same candle when placed in a room with white surroundings will appear to be emitting
much more light than when placed in the first room with black surroundings, as the light will reflect a great deal more off the white surfaces. Sound reflects off surfaces, much like light does. The surroundings make the speakers sound different in the same manner, because they actually are able to reproduce different frequencies via sound reflection and speaker placement.
We hope you do not take the fact that we do not publish speaker frequency responses personally. We do not publish our speakers specifications to anybody, whether it be before or after they have purchased a speaker system
of ours. We simply invite our customers to listen to our speakers using the most accurate testing equipment possible- their ears.
If we can be of additional assistance in the future, please contact us toll free at (800) 999-2673 extension EM1, or email us from our Bose website
And......... here's another "answer"
Bose does not publish frequency specifications. The reason for this is that we believe that such statistics do not add very much to an understanding of an audio product's acoustic characteristics and, even worse, can be misleading. Audio manufacturers make these measurements independent of industry standards, and in varying conditions. Additionally, a single statistic is not a reliable measurement of a product's performance. One could, for instance, find a very expensive system with exactly the same specifications as a much less expensive system. On paper, the two would appear identical. The difference in performance, however, would be significant. A better approach, we feel, is to listen to the product.
Thank you for contacting Bose Corporation.
In the original 68's, the freqs, etc were discussed in a booklet, and they included two test reports, one from E&E Labs and one from Hirsch-Houck Labs, but by 1970 or so, they stopped including those booklets/reports.
With the EQ's set at mid point, and the -40Hz button "off", the 68's I had produced 84 dB 1w/1m at center point with a 1000Hz tone. The 2008's produced 86dB. Dead on axis with one or the other, about 87dB, Off axis to the left or right, decreased by about 1dB every 10 degrees, until about greater than 30 degrees off axis (or up against the side wall), 83dB.
That, however, was only in the room in which they were tested....
He has truth; the wheel of time may roll whither it pleases, never can it escape from truth. It is important to hear that such have lived. All Hail Hypno Toad!!!