Pros: Great sound right out of the box
Cons: No Thumpity-thump-thump. Must use proprietary adapter connectors from Bose. Small remote.
The bottom line: The Bose Wave Music System takes some getting used to, BUT once you do you won't regret buying it !
My wife & I like to treat ourselves to something nice once in a while and this year we wanted to replace the stereo system we have in our dining room with something which would sound better and take up less room on the sideboard. We both enjoy our music my wife sings with a women’s chorus and I’m audiophile as well as a fair to middelin’ mandolin & guitar picker. We considered several shelf top systems, some were too big, most had terrible sound. (We are both a bit persnickety when it comes to audio.) Then we found a Bose display and sampled some of the systems Bose had to offer and were very impressed with what we experienced.

We went home empty handed to discuss our options and try to make a rational decision. We settled on the Bose Wave Music System . What’s so new about it? It reproduces sounds a full octave lower that the Old Wave Radio C/D Player. After choosing this unit I went to the computer to do a bit of price comparison shopping.

Five minutes later I discovered nobody really discounts Bose items. However there was a bright side, on the Bose website there was a 0% interest purchase plan, Actually what Bose does is to take a small down payment directly from your checking account then begin to deduct the balance thirty days later in eleven equal payments. We could have the Bose Wave Music System for a tad less then $42.00 per month.

The day the Bose arrived the UPS driver came around the side of the house to my shop to find me, telling me “This is something nice - I don’t want to leave it out.” My eyes lit up when I saw the small white box emblazoned with “Bose Wave Radio C/D” on every side. I have to wonder why Bose would so boldly proclaim the package’s contents when their shipper of choice tends to leave things outside one’s door. (I run a business out of my home and the regular UPS driver is great about not leaving things outside.) If you do order directly from Bose be sure to add a comment to the shipping department not to have your package left at the doorstep. Thanking him I took the box and ran like a kid on Christmas morning into the dining room to unwrap and set up our new toy.

The Bose wave Music system is best described as minimalist. It doesn’t take up much space and has no controls to be found on it’s surface. Everything is controlled by a small remote. Judging from the other reviews here you will either love this product or hate it.

There were just five items in the box, the player, power cord, remote control, demo CD and instruction manual. The exterior of the player was a pleasing graphite color ( You can get one in white, but my gnarly mitt’s are usually dirty and we have a seven year old son whose hands are constantly sticky from...? ) All in a small package (14.6 W X 8.6 D X 4.2 H) with a bright green display that shows a digital clock when turned off. The speaker openings flank the center display and a single slot under the display is for inserting & retrieving your C/D’s. There are no controls to be found on the player itself, everything is controlled by a small remote. The Music System is small enough to sit on the shelf of an antique mirror hung over our sideboard, which pleased my wife even more, allowing her to use the sideboard once again.

With everything unpacked I grabbed the separate power cord and plugged it into the player, then the wall. Turning the unit on, I quickly went through the set-up menu. This is when you can adjust or set things like; The display brightness, Clock format of AM-PM or 24hr military time, play the radio when CD ends, snooze time if you care to use the alarm feature (More on this later.), Bose link code - You can use this in tandem with one of the Bose Lifestyle Home Theater systems so you could listen to whatever’s playing in another room - Bose link accessory also required. Last on the set-up was a factory reset feature in case you screw things up

I’m not going to explain all the controls - that’s what the user’s manual is for but I will make some comments & observations. The remote control is THE ONLY CONTROL, so don’t lose it. The controls are laid out well on the small (3.8 L X 2.3 W X .4 H) small wedge shaped surface. If you have curious kids get another remote right away as the remote is both small and light.

Features I could not find are some kind of “Bass/Treble” adjustment or at least a “TONE” control. I’m used to a 16 band equalizer on my big system, and I like to play with the sound. All that exists is a “Talk Radio” feature to lessen the amount of bass boost to make voices sound more natural. At first I was disappointed but after having the Bose Wave Music System for several months I find the sound to be just fine for what we wanted this player to do - provide low to mid volume, distortion free background entertainment while accurately reproducing music.

You can store up to six FM and six AM radio stations and if the power goes out or you unplug the player the memory will hold the pre-set stations in an internal memory for forty eight hours.

The C/D player will play full size C/D’s only, no mini or odd shaped C/D’s. It will also play MP3's so this is a nice plus. Regular C/D’s and MP3’s can be played sequentially, in sequential repeat, random order and random repeat where every time the disc is replayed, the order will change, You can also select just one track for repeat play. These modes return to normal whenever you insert a C/D.

The back panel has five ports, one for the power cord, one for the Bose Link, one for a 75ohm FM antenna (Not included - The power cord does double duty also performing as the FM antenna.), A headphone output (Speakers will auto-mute when the ‘phones are plugged in.) and an AUX IN port. The user manual shows how to connect a TV to the Player and in theory one could connect one of the big “Juke Box” C/D changers that hold 300 C/D’s. You will need to order the proprietary adapter connectors from Bose though.

Ok, now about the snooze feature... There is an alarm clock feature so you could place this in your bedroom, but at $499.00 this makes for an expensive alarm clock.

I tried the C/D player with a couple of C/D’s. Sound quality is a very subjective and. personal subject. What sounds good to one person could be bad sounding to another. I will state the Bose Wave Music System accuratly reproduces the full spectrum of music. The player uses two small acoustic “drivers” deep inside a 26 in long labyrinth called a “Wave Guide”. At the loudest volume the sound is crystal clear with no audible distortion. Some folks prefer to bludgeoned about the head & ears when listening, and this item is not intended for very loud volume, but rather low to mid volume levels with no distortion present.


Don’t expect thumping bass, this is not the same as a 26 in. sub-woofer ! You might not feel the kick from a bass drum but you defiantly will hear it. When listening to an acoustic guitar you will be able to hear the guitarist’s fingers brush against the strings. I could hear the singer’s breathing on one C/D. The lack of a tone control on the playback unit means you will have to listen to the music the way the artist recorded it and wanted it to sound. This can be a good thing and I am developing a new appreciation for every single one of the C/D’s in my collection.

There are several things about Bose products I must mention, A Bose speaker isn’t really a speaker in the conventional sense. It’s a “driver”. Basically, a driver works with a carefully shaped enclosure to reproduce sound. I would have to be an audio engineer to explain it correctly, and you would have to be one to understand me. Stereo separation is another issue.

Moving on to the Bose Direct / Reflecting principle; Only a small portion of the sound we hear comes directly at us. Sound waves are constantly bouncing off walls & furniture indoors. Most of the sounds we hear do not come from the source, we hear their reflections. Your brain processes these sounds to tell you if the sound is coming from left, center stage or right. For example, when you have the vocals coming from the left speaker and the guitarist coming from the right you will have great separation, but the sound will be very unnatural. Bose sound is designed to be presented to your ears as a reflection from the source. There will be a recommended placement suggestion in the user’s manual and you should locate the unit or speakers as indicated for the best results. If what you hear doesn’t sound right, move the unit to another location in the room and try again. Placement can have a big impact on sound quality.

The only bad thing I can say is I recently heard the Bose Acoustic Wave which is louder and has significantly more bass at a party. Now I know what for Christmas this year