Bose Wave Music System

Before we begin, let's just state that we have nothing against Bose. In case you get the wrong idea, we'd just like to point out that Bose products generally do sound fantastic. Make no mistake; all the Bose gear we have seen to date not only sounds great but in most cases is stylish and attractive as well. The only problem with Bose is they charge a small fortune for their products.A very, very big small fortune.

We actually tested the Wave Music system for a good hour before finding out the price. The results were excellent - this is a superb sounding system for its size. The clarity and crispness of the tunes it belts out simply has to be heard to be believed. The demonstration CD included in the sales package pushes the Wave Music System to its limits and even at almost the highest volume setting, it doesn't disappoint. When we had fellow office workers excitedly peering through the window to take a look at what was producing all the noise, we knew we had a winner!

According to Bose, the technology used in this system is called "acoustic waveguide speaker technology". Basically, a tube efficiently transfers energy from a small speaker to the outside air over a wide range of low frequencies. This produces unpreceeded instrument timbre from a system this size. Sure, it sounds technical and isn't what you want to read but trust us; it works and it works perfectly.

The Wave Music System is an alarm clock style single slot CD player with an AM/FM Radio. It's a pretty basic system and it's quite clear that Bose have focused on sound quality rather than attempting to pack the unit with features. This sounds fine in theory, but when you consider the price tag of the unit, it's rather disappointing .

The AM/FM radio interestingly uses the Wave Music System's AC Power Cord as the antenna. This means you shouldn't need to connect an external antenna to pick up good reception; we had no problems with this at all, even in our office which is normally a no-go zone with radio reception. This is quite convenient and especially noteworthy to those who don't have much space in their house or apartment for extra antennas or cables.

In terms of looks, the Wave Music System is quite attractive and comes in two colours; white and black. The system stylish yet minimalist, but the overall effect is aesthetically pleasing. The front of the unit houses an LCD display, with the CD slot sitting directly underneath it. The rear of the Wave Music System provides connections for external equipment including a 3.5mm antenna connector, Bose Link Connector (which connects to Bose link enabled Lifestyle systems), Auxiliary In and a Headphone Jack.

Undoubtedly the best features of the Wave Music System are the alarm setting and the ability to play MP3 CDs. Using the alarm settings, you can wake up to your favourite radio station or CD track. You simply select the track or radio station and the required volume level and hold the "Wake To" button on the remote. It's that simple. Bose really do deserve some credit here for ease of use and this function is sure to be appreciated by those who tend to sleep in without an alarm (don't we all?).

Other settings which can be adjusted include snooze time, clock time format, low power mode, display brightness level and the ability to play a radio station automatically after a CD ends. A credit card sized remote control is also included in the sales package and all of the Wave Music Systems functions can be activated with it.