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One Less Bose Wave Radio in the World

I was pleased when a reasonably rich friend of mine who studied physics, likes good things and is generally well educated on most matters told me that he wanted my help buying a "stereo".

The conversation got a little less interesting when he told me he wanted to "spend no more than $2K" given that $2k is certainly less than his monthly, if not weekly, dinner allowance. But things took a real turn for the worse when he told me that a) he wants it to dock with his iPod and b) preferably have the whole thing in one piece?!

So if I can get him to be flexible on the one piece requirement, could we build an iPod based, Bose Wave radio killing system along the following lines:

* Wadia iPod docking station?
* Cheap as dirt external DAC?
* Cables by Signal Cable?
* Berhinger A500 amplifier(s)(has volume controls)
* Epos or other competent mini monitor?

Hard to believe even that would add up to about $1500 bucks or so and his wife might not approve of more than one box....but wondering how a normal person might react to such a system, when used with their iPod.

What would you suggest in this case?
cwlondon
fpeel
455 posts
 
CW, has your friend and his wife had a chance to listen closely to your system? Doing so would give them (and you) a metric against which to measure their real wants.

As someone already mentioned, not everyone is an audiophile and even we exist at varying levels of involvement and investment. Determining where your friends interests reside in the continuum might be a good place to start.
sbk510
1 posts
 
Tell him about the Krell Papa dock and KID. That'll fit the bill.
mceljo
1,357 posts
 
OP - Have you visited his house and had him point out where the new system will be going?

I am somewhat entertained at the level of discussion just to find something that's a Bose "killer." If the Bose product is a bad as many believe a Bose "killer" would be just about anything that doesn't carry the Bose name and certainly any product from an audiophile respected company.

It shouldn't be this hard to best junk. I'll post again with a recommendation.
mceljo
1,357 posts
 
I would suspect that if your friend was left to himself he would end up purchasing a Bose Wave® music system with connect kit for iPod that retails for $599.

I'd suggest giving him some options to choose from that would be as close to this product as possible along with some higher quality options. Here are three suggestions for "similar" products:

(1) Peachtree Audio MusicBox DS4.5 System that retails for $799. The price is very similar, but doesn't include a CD player. The speaker can easily be place next to the main unit to minimize space constraints.

(2) Bowers & Wilkens Zeppelin that retails for $599. Same price.

(3) Bowers & Wilkens Zeppelin Mini that retails for $299. He'll never expect an option of a better sounding product that actually costs less.

He may have plenty of money, but that doesn't mean he want's to spend it on audio. It's likely that the budget he gave you was that he assumed that you couldn't help him for less.

My brother-in-law thinks of dining out as a hobby in much the same way that audiophiles think about their systems. He took the family to dinner one night where the cost was probably over $1,000 for a table of six. It was crazy to me, but for him it was well worth it to share the expereice of true 5 star dining.
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