Why are Bose systems hated?

BalanBro

I used to be a car audio installer back in college and can remember the VAST quantities of early 90s maximas that used to come in with dead bose systems. The drivers were very cheap treated paper cones (fronts were tiny too). One thing they did do to help remedy the small, cheap drivers was to use a molded plastic ported enclosure to enhance the lower frequencies. The enclusure also doubled as a housing for an internal amplifier (the most common part that failed over time).

From what I've seen in general (including some bose bookshelves I still own) they start with cheap, inexpensive speaker materials as a base, but then build slightly better than average enclosures to help optimize the capabilities of said drivers.

So yea, they sound better than your typical plastic home theater in a box systems (or your basic car audio speakers which are screwed directly into the metal door skin without any sort of enclosure/baffle). But you can do MUCH better by purchasing decent aftermarket speakers and focusing on a quality install (<-- this is key!).

I'm not trying to bash bose as they are more than sufficient for 99% of the people out there. It's just that there is potential for so much more while spending quite a bit less.