Now hear this! Listen closely to tone of the best speakers in the world

Bose Corporation was founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, then professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As an MIT graduate student in the 1950s, Dr. Bose decided to purchase a new stereo system. He was disappointed to find  that speakers with impressive technical specifications failed to reproduce the realism of a live performance. The quest for better sound was on.

Extensive research in the fields of speaker design and psychoacoustics—the human perception  of sound—led to the groundbreaking 901® Direct/Reflecting® speaker system in 1968. Its unprecedented approach to sound reproduction came much closer to the essence and emotional impact of  live music, and won immediate acclaim.

Although these speaker systems accurately emulated the characteristics of a simulated, massless, ideal, spherical membrane, the results of listening tests were disappointing. This led Bose to conduct further research into psychoacoustics that eventually clarified the importance of a dominance of reflected  sound arriving at the head of the listener, a listening condition that is characteristic of live performances. This finding led to a revised speaker design in which eight of nine identical small mid-range drivers (with electronic equalization) were aimed at the wall behind the speaker while one driver was aimed forward, thus ensuring a dominance of reflected over direct sound in home listening spaces, replicating the dominant reflected sound fields listeners experience in live performances.

Before hearing his new design for the first time, although confident that his new design would produce a dominance of reflected sound arriving at the ear of the listener, faithfully replicating that aspect of a “live” listening experience, Amar Bose was unsure as to whether his new “direct/reflected” design would be a small audible improvement or a large one over his earlier design and the best commercially available loudspeakers. The new pentagonal design, named  the Model 901, was a very unconventional design for speakers at the time (which were generally either full-size floor-standing units or bookshelf-type speakers). The Model 901 premiered in 1968 and was an immediate commercial success, and the Bose Corporation grew rapidly during the 1970s.

Bose Corporation has developed and manufactured audio devices, such as speakers, amplifiers, headphones, Bluetooth accessories for mobile phones. automotive sound systems for luxury cars, automotive suspension systems, and performed some general research as well as focus on better sound reproduction in all formats.

The list of major Bose innovations continues to grow. Fourteen years of research led to the development of acoustic waveguide speaker technology, found in the award-winning Wave® radio, Wave® music system and Acoustic Wave® music systems. Acoustimass® speaker technology reshaped conventional thinking about the relationship between speaker size and sound, enabling palm-sized speakers to produce audio quality previously thought impossible from speakers so small.

Auditioner® audio demonstrator technology removed the guesswork from sound system design for arenas and other large venues. It allows builders, architects and facility managers to hear precisely what a Bose® system will sound like in their building, before any equipment is installed, even if the building only exists as a blueprint.

Bose Lifestyle® systems provided a welcome alternative to conventional component-based systems by offering fully integrated home entertainment solutions. Lifestyle® systems deliver award-winning performance and elegance from elements specifically engineered to work together.

The systems approach has paved the way for numerous Bose solutions, audio and beyond. Integrated systems account for the acclaimed performance of Bose automotive sound systems and Acoustic Noise Cancelling® headsets. The revolutionary Bose suspension system and ElectroForce® linear motion system rely on proprietary Bose software and hardware working together in harmony. All feature technologies available only from Bose.

The company aims for excellence in everything it does, from the way the business is run to the Bose customer service. From the products to the owner’s manuals one uses to set them up, the customer experience is the key. In everything Bose is clear in its mission, and the staff and engineers truly believe that “good enough” is merely a starting point.

“We’ve taken our commitment and our passion for innovation and applied them to developing unique sound solutions to meet virtually any audio challenge in any application, even the space program. While many of our products are designed for entertainment and home audio solutions, you’ll find Bose sound is prevalent in both the aviation and automotive industries, too.

The company also designed professional sound systems for many applications, including stadiums and auditoriums, houses of worship, retail businesses, department stores and restaurants.

Today, Bose technology can be found wherever quality sound is important, from the Olympic games to the Sistine Chapel or from NASA space shuttles to the Japan National Theatre. In the home and on the road, from large outdoor arenas to intimate neighborhood stores, restaurants and clubs, listeners can hear the realism of the most respected name in sound—Bose. In Hong Kong, the company has seven stores, including one at the Chep Lap Kok International Airport.

The company’s commitment to excellence has served the company well. Today, Bose has operations in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia and South America.

FAST FACTS
• 1964 Founding of Bose. In the 1950s, Dr. Amar G. Bose observes that loudspeakers don’t deliver natural sound extensive research into the science of sound leads to the formation of Bose Corporation 

• 1968 Birth of a Legend. Bose introduces the revolutionary 901® Direct/Reflecting® speaker

• 2010 Rethinking the Television Experience. Bose changes the way people look at—and listen to—television with the debut of the VideoWave® Entertainment System.