Bose wave systems

Bose Corporation's Wave Music Systems are table top radios that have been selling from its inception in 1984 to today. The wave radios are considered all-in-one systems with "A decade of research"^[1][2] that allowed for better sound in a smaller unit.

Timeline of Bose wave systems

Overview

The year 1993 saw the first Bose "Acoustic Wave System" developed for an automotive application. In 1993 Mazda unveiled the third generation of its RX-7 sports car, featuring an optional Bose designed sound system. This included a unique Bose "Acoustic Waveguide" rear subwoofer system. Instead of a traditional large subwoofer (typically eight inch or more diameter), this system makes use of two small subwoofers mounted in an enclosure with two long wave guide tubes extending to the passenger and driver's sides of the car.

Acoustic Wave Music System

In 1984 the original Bose Wave system, called the Acoustic Wave Music System (AW-1), was Bose's first-ever tabletop radio. It utilized two 2" drivers (speakers), and a four inch woofer, which is the only speaker utilizing the Wave Guide , a cassette player, and an AM/FM radio into a mid-sized tabletop stereo system.^[4] It was not until 1992 that Bose replaced the cassette player with a CD player, the CD2000, but Bose continued to sell a cassette player version, the CS2010, as an alternative to the CD version until the Acoustic Wave Music System v3 (CD3000) replaced both of them in 1996. What the waveguide does, is extract all the energy possible from the woofer. In a traditional enclosure, some is lost and never heard. With a waveguide, your taking full advantage of the speaker.

In 2006, Bose introduced the new Acoustic Wave Music System II, which added MP3 CD playback, a bigger screen, and improved acoustics, a Boselink port, as well as a headphone output.

Wave Radio

In 1993, the Wave Radio was introduced. It was far smaller than the Acoustic Wave, and used two 2 1/2" full range drivers (speakers), without the woofer, the left-hand speaker provided bass through a 66 cm tapered waveguide twisted around the inside of the unit, carrying all that sound out and terminating on the front next to the right hand speaker (which was band limited).^[6]

By 2005 Bose introduced the Wave Radio II, which is a Wave Music System without the CD/MP3 player. This system features a dual tapered waveguide which results in making bass an octave lower, and also includes updated drivers that are more powerful, and capable of moving more air through the waveguide. The radio is identical to the Wave Music System in every way, including sound quality and inputs, it just lacks the CD; instead having a silver plastic cover plate installed.

Bose Wave/PC

The Bose Wave/PC released in 2001 was a modified wave radio designed to connect to a Windows PC. It included software that allowed the Wave/PC to bring up internet radio stations by using the remote & would play mp3s stored on the computer. The system would even find local radio stations by inputting one's zip code.^[7] The system connected to the computer via a serial data cable and an audio plug directly into the sound card.^[8] Bose later released a replacement cable that featured a USB connection. This cable had an added benefit of not needing to be plugged into the computers sound card, though the option remained.^[9]

Wave Radio/CD

In 1998, Bose introduced the Wave Radio/CD, essentially Wave Radio with a CD player. With the Wave Radio/CD Bose managed to add a CD player into the system without drastically increasing the size and managed to keep the same sound quality, without causing the CD to skip from speaker vibration.^[10] One way that this was done, was by tapering the end of the waveguide by 2%.^[10]

In 2004, Bose redesigned the Wave Radio/CD, naming it the Wave Music System (temporarily called the Wave Radio/CD II). It utilizes a front-loading CD/MP3 CD player, the buttons were removed from atop the Wave. The sound quality was improved with new high performance transducers and adopting twin 66 cm tapered waveguides (one for each speaker), terminating at the rear of the unit. This effectively doubled the power handling capacity in the bass and provided a half-octave improvement in the bass extension. Sound imaging and clarity were also enhanced. A headphone jack was added, as well as Boselink compatibility and MP3 playback. It is criticised however, because the first series featured dual alarms, while the Wave Music System only has one.

Wave accessories

In October 2005, a multi CD changer was released for the wave music system. It connects via the Boselink port on the back of the Wave music system, but does not work with the Wave radio II.

A docking station for the iPod was released in October 2006. It uses standard audio cables and charges the iPod while it is docked. The remote can control basic the functions of the iPod and the Wave system.

In 2008 Bose released the Wave DAB module.^[5] It is specifically designed for sale in the UK and works with the Boselink port found in the WMS, WRII ^{[nb 1]} & AWMSII.

On October 22, 2009 Bose released the Wave SoundLink upgrade kit.^[11] Designed to bring music from your computer to other rooms, the SoundLink adapter features a Bluetooth USB key^[12][13] and connects to a Wave Music System, Wave Radio II ^{[nb 1]} or an Acoustic Wave Music system II via the Boselink port on the back of the system.^[14][15] The USB key requires no software because it acts as a computer's sound card, though this will disable the PC's speakers. Thus it will play PC-stored protected and unprotected music as well as Internet music sources accessed via the PC. The Wave's remote will send basic control commands to a PC's iTunes or Windows Media Player software, allowing users to skip tracks or play/pause PC-stored songs even when the computer is in a different room.^[16]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Older Wave Music System & Acoustic Wave Music system II require a CD software update to work with this accessory. The Wave Radio II cannot be updated and the accessory will only work with systems made after a certain manufacturing date.

Awards

• 1987, Amar G. Bose and William R. Short won the 'Inventor of the Year' award from the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation for the 'Waveguide' loudspeaker system employing a folded acoustic waveguide.^[6][17] This is the technology behind the Bose Wave family of audio systems.
• 2005 Red Dot award for design philosophy on the Wave Music system
• 2005 Red Dot award for product design on the Wave Music system

References

External links

• Official Bose Wave site
• Wave/PC report
• Wave/PC review
• Wave Music System Review