Bose Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System – Graphite/Silver

I'm very picky with my music systems. Theres just no way around it. I once spent an entire month shopping for the right system for my truck and then a whole day having it installed and tweaked in just about every way possible (different sub, different head unit, multiple speaker locations and sound settings, etc..) until closing time at the car audio store. And eventually paying them for their time and having the system removed because it just didn't sound "right". I've listened to so many systems in my day and found them lacking in certain ways that I'm almost jaded. ALMOST. Too mushy on the bass, not enough "warmth" in the overall sound, mids not clear/clean enough or too harsh, not enough detail/imaging (sound separation/blending), and on and on. I just had no EMOTIONAL reaction to them. My buddy once told me that I'm like a junkie looking for his "first hit". You know, it can never ever be quite as good as "the first time". So it sometimes goes with music gear. But then I come across a little gem like these Bose Companion 5's and realize I'm not as completely crazy as I (and some others such as my wife) actually thought. Here there is hope. For me anyways. Don't get me wrong - these speakers probably aren't the Holy Grail. But they offer so much listening joy that I have say that they have at least re-inspired me to keep searching for the perfect living room set up. I'm NOT impossible to please! Bose apparently did their homework when they thoughtfully built these well made speakers, and it's the stereo imaging that really sets them apart from the others. When playing Thorn In My Pride by The Black Crowes for instance, I can close my eyes and hear the notes of each and every instrument - first the guitar, then high hat, organ, percussion, more guitars, all dancing around my head. Then the vocals coming from...from everywhere! Many songs I listened to had this same affect, but this was the best early example and still one of my favorites to hear on the Bose. Other artists that sound great are Cat Stevens (Father and Son!), Faith Hill (Man's Home is His Castle - the piano and vocals!), Billy Idol (White Wedding, Eyes Without a Face). Harmonies can sound luscious too (The Belle Brigade - Losers). I'm talking about emotion here. There were some songs that brought tears to my eyes for the first time in years... I'm trying not to gush on these because they are not perfect. When I first hooked them up I was disappointed. I thought they sounded tiny and harsh and couldn't believe I spent that much money on them. Being used to disappointment I was planning on sending them back. But after going through the manual and setting them up properly with my Macbook Pro and being more careful choosing the quality of my source they sounded better and better. Now I'm noticing how tight the bass is and how it comes right up to where the four 2" drivers leave off. It's very well balanced. As a reference I have owned some Klipsch Pro Media 4.1 THX (never thought I'd sell them), Altec Lancing, and Logitechs. All sounded good to me but not really special. I even brought home some Bowers & Wilkins MM1's to compare side by side to the Bose. And while those did have some amazing little tweeters they didn't come close to the imaging and bass provided by the Companion 5's and I returned them. So I am keeping the Bose. I recommend them and also that people take the time to set them up properly and give them time to break in. And remember to use a good sound source like a CD or lossless MP3's. Also try a good music player instead of iTunes or Media Player. I am using Audirvauna and it does make a difference. I didn't mean to leave out movies. I just don't watch them on my computer much unless they are music videos lol! I did watch an episode of The Vikings on the History channel and I agree with most of the other reviews that it sounded really full and enjoyed it. Not exactly true 5.1 but very close.

When the Bose Companion 5 arrived I was pretty excited. They had sounded so sweet in the Bose shop downtown. I set them all up which was pretty simple and played through all of iTunes. First thing that hit me was the so called "surround sound". It does sound pretty sweet but I wouldnt call it surround sound. The longer I played the more I felt they just werent good enough for the price payed, but what was worse was that the highs very extremely sharp and hurt my ears! Now, I know I have sensitive ears, but imagine not being able to listen to music because of that!! Thats just crazy. Most songs touched on the highs and it was a nightmare!! I asked around in online forums and such if it might be my laptop, my apartment, my soundcard... and tried everything that people told me without results. The Bose Companion 5 speakers were the problem! I sent them back, and got different speakers from axiom (a superb canadian company) which are a bit more expensive but about a million times better in sound quality! I dont have any problems with the highs anymore. Pros: nice looks; small; "surround sound" Cons: Highs extremely sharp (hurt!); too expensive for quality! I wouldnt ever recommend them! Theres better stuff there for much less money! PS: Also, BE AWARE that in a bose shop or even bose setup in another store, they can fix the room and everything so that the speakres will sound amazing while at your own place where you dont have all that they will sound mediocre. Just be careful!

Bose Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System - Graphite/Silver This is the second set of these speakers that I have bought within the past month. The first I placed in my study with a 27 inch Dell Windows 8.1 all-in-one computer. The second I placed in my bedroom with a Samsung 27 inch Windows 8 all-in-one computer. Thus the rooms are not really very big – studies about 12 x 12 in bedroom about 16 x 16 feet. The sound in both of these rooms is quite booming with great highs, lows, and base. Volume is quite good at about 25% and the neighbors will complain if I raise it above 90%. These are excellent speakers. The 5:1 surround sound simulation is quite good from only three speakers, and the entire assembly is quite simple. So, the five-in-one surround sound is a simulation, and to get the best performance you do need to configure the speakers appropriately in Windows – but that only takes about 1-2 minutes max time. For easy assembly, all cords are color-coded and shaped to fit easily and in only one way into the subwoofer. There is really no way to configure it wrong. The system consist of two desk speakers and a subwoofer that sits preferably on the floor. Assembly is as follows: plug all of the following cables into the subwoofer and place the subwoofer preferably on the floor. • AC power cable • Right speaker cable • Left speaker cable • Volume control that sits on your desk • USB cable that plugs into your computer Place the volume control on your desk and a convenient location. Insert the USB cable into your computer. Insert the power cable into a convenient AC outlet. The volume control as a convenient large button on top to press to turn the system on. If you are using a Windows system go to your control panel and select sound. The sound panel will open you should see speakers 2– Bose USB audio. Highlight the speaker icon and set it to default. Then go to configure and set up and test your speakers. Make sure the distance between the two desk speakers are as indicated in the directions for the best surround-sound and separation. That’s it! :-) You’ve got wonderful surround-sound simulation (but sound is primarily from the front and sides and less so from the rear) with great volume, good separation, and great highs and lows depending on how you set up your equalizer and players. These speakers rock! :)

This unit arrived as expected. Amazon's text service notified me of just about every move the box was handled and transported from the Distribution Center to when this arrived at my home via UPS. The Bose Companion 5 system was boxed perfectly and was easy to assemble on my desk without any hassles. In fact, the Bose Companion 5 was easier to connect than the my old previous system was to take apart and remove. This unit replaced my ageing Harmon/Kardon system. After loading the software and making fine volume adjustment on the sub-woofer, we were amazed of the sound clarity and volume levels this unit produces. This system also comes with a DEMO sound and video CD/DVD (all on one CD). After watching/listening to this CD/DVD, we fully realized that we purchased our ultimate sound system for our computer. Keep in mind that this Bose system needs to be hooked up to a USB outlet on your computer. That's different from the old way, should you be replacing a standard system where the plugs plug into the back side of your computer. Make sure that you have a USB on the BACK SIDE of your computer unless you don't mind seeing USB cords in the front. Also, keep in mind you will never want to unplug this BOSE system to use the USB for another application as you won't have any sound. The wired remote feature is rather useful as well and easy to get use to. and much better than I expected after reading reviews about this system. Yes, its about $50.00 more than what we wanted to pay or budgeted for, but we are confident that this system will out perform our expectations and provide a long life and pleasant sound. Even YOUTUBE videos sound 100% better. I was not a BOSE believer before, but I am becoming one now. The new Companion 5 system is an excellent choice for those seeking affordable sound quality!!! GOOD JOB BOSE AND GOOD JOB AMAZON!!!

I had a huge kirsch k7 that made my walls vibrate, but after 4 years of abuse it was time to retire it. It still works, but it makes crazy noise when there is no sound being imputed to it. Enter Bose Companion 5, I was very disappointed to get the system, and see how small and light it was. I had a friend with me, and as I was carrying the box to my computer area he asked me how much it cost me. I geared myself for disappointment. As I opened the box I was shocked again at how small it was. I got every thing assembled, and my friend commented on the volume control puck. He noted that he has a similar system to this but his volume puck was much lighter than the Bose's puck. He said his would slide around and got tugged off his desktop often, but the Bose puck was solid like a paperweight; how a volume, input, headphone puck should be. I got the system hooked up, and went straight for a poorly recorded mix on sound cloud. It sounded great. I played music non stop for 2 hours. Listening to all kinds of things. Anyways, last night I bought Skyfall on itunes and watched it. OMG! the sound from the Bose system filled my whole area like I was in a theater. I had one little issue with the puck not adjusting the volume, and the windows volume was controlling the amplification of the Bose. I was worried this was going to be a problem, but then I restarted my computer and the puck words perfectly independent of the windows volume. I haven't been able to get the input on the puck to work when my computer is off, but I don't care I love the sound too much to care about any flaw it may have.

THE NEXT DAY I have updated my review from 2 to 4 stars because after rebooting my PC this morning the sound improved dramatically. A stark difference. Clarity and range was now really excellent. I listened again the the "Beatles 1" album on Spotify Premium (320 kbps) that I complained about below and heard high notes that I hadn't heard before, even on my high end Harmon Kardon home audio receiver and Bose acoustimass 7.1 speakers. I would have updated the rating to 5 stars (the sound deserves it!) but all of my non-sound related complaints below still exist. Bose really needs to address them. BTW, I still have to call Bose when they come back to work as I do not have the software based sound adjustment capabilities discussed in other reviews as well as in those lame instructions. Not that I will ever use them however. I prefer a flat, sharp, unaltered sound and what I'm hearing. Really excellent! ORIGINAL REVIEW As usual, Amazon Prime was awesome as I received my Bose Companion 5 computer speakers at 11 today,12/31/15 after ordering late on 12/29. Because they arrived early I thought I had plenty to time to install and setup before quitting for the day. It only took a few minutes actually as there wasn’t much too it. The found the various connections quite sturdy and well-marked. The cables were also plenty long enough. I like he desktop remote which is heavy enough to do double duty as a paperweight. I’m running Windows 10 on Dell and the instructions were written for Windows XP and Vista so they were essentially worthless for setup, but Windows 10 found the one necessary USB driver silently without any issues. The instructions talked about a setup process with lots of screen displays and ~10 separate USB driver installs that would run at several minutes. (My driver install took a couple seconds.) I finally realized this may have been true with XP (circa 2001) but untrue with an O/S 15 years newer and 4 generations later. However, big trouble was ahead. The speakers didn’t work, and amazing but true, the only “help” offered by Microsoft was a link pointing to a Bose consumer sales website in India. (I live in Southern California.) I need to add that I had already gone to the Bose website listed in the instructions in the box with the speakers. But after pawing thru all the presale adds I learned that the website offered only the same XP setup crap I already had. Nothing more except a phone number. I did try to call the Bose tech support at 2 PM Pacific time but they had shut down for the New Years Holiday already and did not provide the means to leave a voice mail. Well, at this point I realized I had made a big “buyer beware” error: I thought I ‘d bought the best quality product available. Maybe this is in fact true, but if so it’s a sad statement However, there was some “joy” eventually. (I exaggerate.) I did get those Bose speakers working, some 3+ hours later, by Googling with search terms like “Bose Companion 5 speakers no sound”. What I learned was that the Bose driver setup app is incompatible with my previously installed high end Logitech web camera. Here’s a link to the blog post that tipped me off: http://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/no-audio-with-usb-2-0-bose-companion-5-windows-xp-227549/ Scroll down the page to the post dated February 4, 2007, “No Audio” by Conductor_Grey. (I've attached a screen scrap to save others time. Yup, that post is almost 9 years old!) Anyway, I did these 4 steps to get the Bose speakers to finally work: 1. I disabled the webcam driver in Windows (Control Panel > System > Device Manager > Audio). 2. I plugged in my headphones into the Bose desktop remote port. They worked immediately! 3. I unplugged the headphones and then the speakers started working. 4. I re-enabled the webcam driver and the speakers are still working. (knock on wood! I haven’t rebooted yet.) So it appears the latest Windows driver install app (written by Bose of course and distributed by Microsoft) is just buggy. Same bug apparently as 7 years ago. I noted in the instructions that these speakers have been selling since 2006 which explains (but does not excuse) the Windows XP instructions and the date of that post blog post. All in all, I am far from a happy camper. But I’m going to use these speakers for a couple days with different types of music to see if they just need breaking in. They sounded like crap when I listened to the Beatles but I’m listening to classical piano and violin now (Debussy) and they sound much better. One plus, I used for a phone call and the voice was very clear. Best I've heard from systems like this. Sadly, Cambridge Soundworks is out of business. IMO, they made better speakers for half the cost.

I've owned other Bose products which are great quality. When I decided to upgrade the sound on my 27" Apple iMac, a Bose product was my first choice. The Companion 5 states it will work with Mac OS X 10.4 and above. I'm running OS X 10.11 El Capitan which has been generally available for nearly a year, so I thought all would be well, especially after glancing at online installation instructions before ordering, and seeing only 2 major operating system settings needed to be specified. It should be simple. Unfortunately not. Physical installation of the Companion 5 was a cinch. Hardcopy documentation included with the product however is very dated. Instructions do not match what OS X 10.11 look like with Audio Midi Setup. Without working through that second part of the installation procedure, the Companion 5 doesn't work. Even as a fairly technical individual, I was stuck. I turned to the Bose website. There was no additional help addressing current OS X -- all there is, was clearly written for earlier releases. I called Bose Technical Support. The Rep's first response was to return the product for another. I pushed my point the hardware was likely not an issue as my Mac was recognizing it, but instead Bose documentation was outdated not allowing me to complete the connection. The Rep told me my problem could be escalated, and instructions would be emailed within 48 hours. I sadly waited -- having a new Bose product which I was unable to use. Nearly 30 hours later, I received an email with written instructions, but honestly they too were dated, and do not address the different screens and options which OS X 10.11 El Capitan has. I sadly have returned my Companion 5, instead of calling Bose Technical support again. (Thank you Amazon for easy returns.) The Bose Companion 5 has been out for several years. The hardcopy documentation included with the product is dated, but it appears documentation for Windows is more current if you search the Bose website. Unfortunately, it does not appear Bose is as proactive keeping their support current for Mac OS X owners, or that their technical support agents are as conversant with the Apple environment as perhaps they should be. I suggest Mac owners look for a different product until Bose makes Mac support more of a priority and brings all their documentation up-to-date.

Wasn't sure about connecting with USB. I know that Optical is great and RCA is poor. Turns out USB is great too. I use this for my computer at work. I had thought about getting the Bose Cinemate GS Series II Home Theater instead. Why not spend a little more and get even better sound, with a wireless remote too. I'm constantly at the computer. Well, turns out I love the puck. The phone rings and I tap the puck for mute. So easy. And fine adjustment is precise, with little effort. Regarding sound, I haven't heard the Cinemate GS, but I can say the Companion 5 speakers rock. Chrystal clear, with nice tones in mid range and bass as well. That said, they do fall a tad short when compared to high-end cabinet speakers. No surprise, and I only mention it because there are Bose-philes who argue otherwise. The notes of great cabinet speakers I find to be richer, fuller, rounder, and they resonate in my whole body. Easier on the ears too. But this is a mini system, it's a Bose system, and it's fantastic. The audio imaging is remarkable, with separation of vocals, strings, woodwind, percussion, etc. And with plenty of reserve power for an explosive crescendo or dramatic flourish, without a nano second of turbo lag. It's a big sound that fills the air, highly versatile for whatever you listen to. With the sub woof under my desk and the little speakers up front and center, it's a minimalist rig, as needs be in an office setting. And in fairness, this sound also resonates for me. It's brought fun and pleasure into my office. I'm thrilled. Sometimes when you hunt and peck on Amazon, it leads you somewhere unexpected and marvelous. Just a few clicks, and a few days later I find myself transported to a magical sound garden.