Bose sub blew, need something new

[stompah]

2 Christmases ago the wife bought me the Bose 300 sound bar and subwoofer set from Costco for $999. Fast forward to about a week ago and I was playing Party Rock at about 75% and I heard a crackle. Thought it was some Bluetooth interference. It went away so I thought nothing of it. Then a few seconds later I smelled it. Burnt sub. Now it has gone back to thumping with no ill affect. I'm thinking dual voice coil with one burning out. Unplugged it.

Flash forward to today. My father in law has the kids so the wife and I have free time. We went to Costco and apparently they will take it back. Then we went home and I decided to show the wife the smell. Granted it *sounds* fine but up close you can smell the burnt sub and after leaving the room and going back in you can definitely smell it.

It is out of Bose warranty.
It is out of extra protection that her debit card gives.

Unfortunately, Costco only carries the 500 series which is cheaper but also inferior. They do not carry the 700.

Options I have thought of:

Call Bose and see if they will do anything and/or price out replacement sub speaker and replace myself.

Get refund from Costco, go to Best Buy spending at least $400 more to upgrade to the 700 series.

Get refund from Costco. Buy Kilpsch powered 12" sub $190. Hook up to old Sony receiver that powered her old Bose system and then use some small Sony bookshelf and center speakers that we have. Then, research headunit. Costco has a Yamaha for $490 which is full price. From there probably go with Klipsch's reference standing speakers when money allows.

Our living room does not allow for set up of a 5.1 or greater system. So really we are limited to stereo with center channel.

I really like to rock out every now and then so don't want to go weak. The Bose 300 setup we had can be heard everywhere in our house and out on the street. I like that. I also liked the fake spacial sound that Bose does. And at 75% power it sounded clear. I will admit over that and the highs were "Tweety". I didn't like that.

It will be our home theater sound system for those movies that we want to feel. And my music tastes range from rap to classical with a lot of rock mixed in.

I am also thinking the only way I would consider Sonos sound bar and sub over the Bose 700 is if it craps all over that and ab strong head unit and Klipsch speaker set up.

Please comment, I welcome all input.

 

[NiHaoMike]

Bose = Buy Other Sound Equipment. Get the refund and build a DIY setup. On that budget, you can get some floor speakers, a digital amplifier, parts to assemble a 2x12" subwoofer, and an amplifier board for the sub if the main amplifier doesn't have a speaker level subwoofer output.

 

[stompah]

NiHaoMike, we have agreed to return the Bose setup. I don't kid myself about Bose sound quality. I had no say in this purchase. But, I am wondering if the sound for the space it takes up is worth it. The Klipsch speakers we are looking at are on the large side. So far we've bought the Klipsch subwoofer since the sale ended today. We will return the Bose system Sunday or Monday and then decide what step to take next.

Edit: checked out the Sony receiver. It's very old. No HDMI, no optical in or out, no rca sub out. Was hoping to use that to temporarily run the system. Going to have to rethink my strategy.

 

[NiHaoMike]

See if you can find a used digital receiver for cheap. At a minimum it should have S/PDIF, but even older ones with HDMI are starting to show up since they don't support 4K. Those are perfectly usable in a 4K setup, either using HDMI ARC or using a HDMI splitter that can downscale. The splitter also solves the problem of having to have the receiver on to get display and the problem of the receiver adding lag.

 

[stompah]

Picked up the Costco Yamaha TSR-7850 receiver today. Then went to Video Only which is a small local audio video chain and paid for two Klipsch 8" floor speakers and the 4 speaker center channel. They have to pull the inventory from another store so we will be picking them up tomorrow.

Unfortunately, due to the living room layout we will have to settle with 3.1 audio for now. I can add two rears but with the seating arrangement one or two people would have 5.1 and then everyone else will hear mud.

 

[petteyg359]

Looks like you already got something, but FWIW... the Sony SA series is very nice for how inexpensive they are. Regularly on sale on Amazon for ~$100 for each speaker (or pair of bookshelves) (which have both RCA and wire clip inputs in case you've got no RCA sub-out on the amp).

 

[stompah]

petteyg359, I paid $250 for each Klipsch floor speaker and I forget the center and I just picked up two rear bookshelf speakers for $145. Klipsch is having a half off sale on a lot of inventory. Great deal for the money.

I am going to look into adding a sealed subwoofer. The current ported 12" is just a bit to "loose" for most of the music I listen to in the house. I think I might try plugging the ports to see what happens.

 

[Audioaficionado]

Look into SVS SB1000. Decent quality and free shipping. https://www.svsound.com/collections/subwoofers

 

[habbajabba]

HSUresearch.com VTF-2 MK5 Subwoofer. $539. 12" front fire 350W continuous power (1400 short term), 16Hz-22Hz variable (ported). Newsom said it was OK to once again feed his family.