Speakers: all-time worst


What is the all-time worst (home audio speaker systems, not the plastic cabinets or ceiling types) loudspeaker system that you have heard, and why? In other words, the all-time worst value.
wenterprisesnw
As I tell people who come into my audio shop here in Austin...Bose was recently given the franchise to outfit all the patients rooms at the State School for the Deaf here in Texas. About says it all. By the way the quip about the tire and the stick was hilarious...thanks for all the laughs.
There was a chain store in the Dallas area several years back called Highland Superstore's. That now defunct franchise used to have a dedicated Bose listening room. In this torture chamber from left to right was a wall starting with the BOSE 901 all the way to the "new" accoustamas. EVERY one of these had the same boomy, bland sound! No wonder the sold so many of the "little cube" speakers - why not get the same crappy sound from something 1/3rd the size? And what was up with those speaker designs??? Tweeters firing out the top and sides at wierd angles. Cones upside down in the cabinet that were supposed to give you "stereo everywhere" as the speakers fired out the side AT EACH OTHER! Of course all of this was explained by some computer graphic or speaker cut-away illustration. By far the crappiest, overpriced, overhyped pieces of sh-- on the planet! A car salesman just lost a sale last week because I was all ready to buy a new car from him until he told me it came with a "premium Bose sound system". I told him to knock down the price - so I could afford to get that crap ripped out of the vehicle - and he looked at me like I was nuts. Didn't I know that was an "extra" he was throwing in? The biggest tragedy is that it's companies like Bose that are putting real speaker manufacturers out of business. By the way, my vote for second crappiest speaker is Cerwin-Vega. I had a buddy in college that used to crank his up all the time - now he's almost deaf!
Martin Logan arius...in the set up i heard ss Conrad Johnson amp and rest...sounded lifeless, dead...wonder all this reviews..it must be some trick! Also Klipsch (any)should stay frozen in the 50's....
OK, OK, you guys probably have it right with the Bose 901s (or the Bose mini satellite Home Theater System). But in terms of today's systems, I think the sound of the Wilson MAXX speakers is pretty poor. Very exxageratted presentation.
Bose reps in the 70s had an insane demo I guess to show the durability of the 901s fool-range drivers. They wouuld plug the speaker directly into a wall socket. It would rip the cones to shreds but remain buzzing at 60hz. With technology like that who needs sound?