Bose® - Wave® SoundTouch® Music System IV - Silver

You might think at $600 for a clock radio/CD player with good speakers you wouldn't want for anything. Sadly, this system from Bose is very Underwhelming! First, the unit is not even attached which is awkward and it separates. I can see no purpose for that--it is just plain dumb! Also, only 6 presets for stations? Really? Even a $25 alarm clock offers that. And only one CD capacity, why not 3 at this price. I know a lot of people don't have CD's anymore, but if you're going to have it and charge these prices, let's go the extra mile for the customer instead of under-changing people. Then there is the alarm clock: you have two alarm presets and you cannot even choose days of the week--it's one size fits all. My Sony clock radio that was $20 had that...why cannot Bose offer that on this $600 clock radio? And then the icing on the cake, Bose does not have a way to turn the alarm off on the unit. Everything must be done on the tiny remote which can easily get lost. This has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Yes, you want to go in the direction of less buttons but not at the expense of practicality! You have to order another $15 remote from Bose as a backup. As far as the reception goes, it's really poor with the built-in antenna which is actually the unit's plug. Bose actually charges you $10 for an external FM antenna. I couldn't believe that the above items were the case for this "state-of-the-art" unit, the creme of the crop of clock radios so I called up Bose. And wouldn't you know, I had to wait 15 minutes to simply speak with someone, and when he answered he did not say this is Brendan with Bose, he simply said hello, it seemed like I called a neighbor down the street. Really, this is how sad your customer service is Bose. At least Apple charges a lot but has excellent customer service. A friend of mine told me recently, at one time Bose was a great brand, when Mr. Bose was alive, but since that time, Bose has become a marketing company which happens to sell speakers. Ever notice any other speaker companies advertising or opening stores in every mall, no that's because those companies put their money into their speakers, ie. B&W, Klipsch, Sonos, etc. Bose over-hypes all of its products and charges top-dollar for them. Basically, Bose wants to charge you the most it can to give you the least possible in every way! For this price, I could've gotten Ihome's top-of-the-line clock radio/stereo and hooked it up to two Sonos speakers which would blow this thing away. I think it's one and done for you Bose!

I just bought my Bose Wave Soundtouch Music System IV a few days ago but I'm already loving everything about it. I'm a big Bose fan and have another Bose Soundtouch 30 system in the house but this one beats it on the quality of the sound. Bose's Wave Guide technology is superb and the sound you get from this small unit is outstanding. Setup was surprisingly very easy. I hesitated for a few days setting it up after buying it so I could watch the youtube videos on how to do so and also wanted to read the owner's manual. I had no problem setting up my first Bose Soundtouch 30 system but this was my second system and the youtube videos didn't help at all since they only talked about setting up the first one and not an add on. The instruction manual was also very confusing to me for setting up a second system and I consider myself fairly tech savy. Anyway, I went ahead and tried it and it was a very very easy setup. I was up and running in a matter of a few minutes. I have the new system set up in my bedroom and it fills the entire bedroom with fantastic sound. It's very easy to operate and the remote control can run everything. I moved it away from the bed and put it on a dresser so the speakers are facing the entire room. I can control everything with the remote control so it's no problem not having it by the bed on my nightstand. The owner's manual spells everything out very clearly for operating the system. And if you want to impress your friends, just pop in the demo CD that came with the unit and you will blow them away with the clarity of the sound. You have an AM/FM tuner and single CD player along with Bluetooth capabilities and, of course, WiFi so you can stream thousands of internet radio stations, Spotify, Deezer, etc. It also has an AUX connection in the back in case you want to connect something that doesn't have Bluetooth like an old iPod. It also has six presets on the remote control where you can preset AM or FM radio stations or, if using WiFi, your favorite playlists from Spotify, etc, There is also a Soundtouch APP for both IOS and Android phones and tablets that you use to set it up and it also has the same presets. With this app you can search your internet radio stations or Spotify, etc, and set up the presets off your favorite playlists. When I go to bed at night now, all I have to do is grab the remote, hit the preset for the playlist I want off Spotify and hit the button for the sleep timer. The system is expensive, as are most Bose products, but I consider it a good investment to my future music enjoyment. I have friends who have had Bose Wave systems in their home for over 20 years and they still sound and look great.

I purchased this for my roommate/landlord in lieu of rent, so my opinions are not based on my personal expectations. If you are a person with your music library on your smartphone/computer/in-the-cloud and have space issues like living in a dorm, studio apartment, RV, or for a bedroom or office; I cannot imagine a better product for listening to music. She downloaded the app onto her Android tablet effortlessly and within 3 minutes was scouring the WORLD of internet radio. The load time between stations is 1-2 seconds. The menu is nicely formatted but having only 6 pre-sets seems stingy. She activated bluetooth on her chromebook in seconds giving her 2 options to use. The remote is very small. Not having any way of changing the bass/treble does not get in the way of having deeply rich sound coming from a device the size of a shoe box. The bass and mid-range are very strong, I would say it is missing some clarity at the higher end of the register. The main weakness of the sound is lack of separation: the speakers are about 12" apart and there is simply no way to get true stereo separation from them. Pairing the Soundwave4 with a bluetooth speaker would be a major improvement. The headphone jack is on the back and you have to push all the way in and then pull back slightly but the sound you get is great. Her Koss 'phones and my Bose's sounded so much better than when plugged into our computers, if you listen to most of your music thru 'phones you will love this. Some of the other reviews I have read, here at BB and elsewhere, complained that $600 was pricey. I agree to this extent: for someone who is looking for an all-in-one device because of space considerations I cannot imagine a better purchase, especially if you use your smartphone/computer as your source for music primarily. If you have enough space (the equivalent of a coffee table) and are not using your tablet/smartphone/computer as your source you can get better sound for the same $600 with what I have: a Grace Digital internet radio tuner, a Blu ray player for CD's and a Sony center-channel 4K HDMI pass-thru 2.1 speaker (or a nice pair of Bose bookshelf speakers would do nicely too, paired with a small receiver). The speaker separation just makes the sound markedly better, in my opinion. Bottom line: she is very happy with her purchase and I think anyone how buys this little marvel of technology will be as well.

I purchased this radio to replace an old pair of powered monitors I used with my laptop at home. I was originally looking for a pair of wireless speakers and wasn't blown away by many of the options out there. I wasn't looking for a system to go throughout the home and I wasn't looking for something that was going to rock the neighborhood. I was simply looking for a small pair of speakers with a warm sound to use in a single room. Although this Bose system was well outside my price range I found it to be a perfect fit for my purposes. I decided to bite the bullet and here we are. I am happy with the purchase and it does have that warm, full sound which Bose has always been known for. I do think it is a bit overpriced for what you are receiving. As I said the sound is great, although I've never had any cause to turn it up more than halfway. The wifi and bluetooth connectivity could be a little better and the internet radio is pretty finicky to say the least. It's slow to load and often doesn't load at all. I think Bose may have some work to do on their wireless side of things. Perhaps a future update will remedy some of these issues. Also, it's a small thing, but I wish the remote was backlit or had some type of glow in the dark labels on the buttons. It's a nice, small, user friendly remote, but you can't see the buttons in the dark. I imagine I'll get used to it, but it's something I noticed right off the bat. Overall I think it's a good little radio. I think it's perfect if you're just looking for something small, but with good sound. I imagine it would be great for a dorm, a guest room or for a single person living in a small apartment or renting a room. Although I only gave it four stars I would recommend this product. I just feel it is a bit overpriced and there is some room for improvement. I have no regrets about my purchase though. If you're looking for a small, good sounding clock radio then I would say go for it. After all it is a Bose. :-)

I was very excited to purchase this new updated Bose Radio. We've had an older Bose Radio/CD for many years and it has been an excellent product -- which we will still use. However, this is a more complicated set-up but similar to other products like webcams or smart plugs. You download the SoundTouch app, connect to your wifi, download the software, install it, and off you go. In reading the reviews before I purchased, people did not report any set-up issues -- however after following all the directions multiple times the Radio would always got stuck on a message -- Update Required. After about an hour trying to get it work, I called technical support: 20 minute wait to get a technician, 1 hour phone call with him remoting into my MAC, reinstalling everything, etc. No joy. He couldn't get the download to work and the Radio just sat there like a brick. The only way to turn it on or off was to unplug it. Their solution was to send the unit in for repair. Bose could not guarantee a fix, what the problem was, when the fix would be done, and if the fix would be permanent. At this point, it just was easier to take the whole unit back to Best Buy, return it, and order another identical unit. The return people at Best Buy were extremely helpful. They did offer a repair offer, but hey, this should work right out of the box -- and I want to know when I will get my Radio back -- and that there's nothing wrong with the unit. Hopefully when I get the new unit, the install will work correctly. It might have been just a real simple issue, but it was a showstopper. BTW, the Bose technician was very good. They are located in the Philippines but their service (and English) was quite good. I was extremely disappointed when this unit did not work right out of the box, but I'm confident in the quality of Bose products.

It is really hard to go wrong with any Bose systems. They always produce great sound quality and volume, they are stylish and compact, and they seemly are built like tanks. For most the price point simply does not make sense, but I feel that you do get what you pay for. I should say that it may not be the best overall value or bang-for-your-buck. These products are definitely expensive. The biggest issue has become that the only way to operate the system is via remote control. A remote isn't an awful item in it's purpose. The problem is that it has 26 buttons. That's right, 26... If there is the need for 26 buttons to control all of the functions of the unit, why would there be no buttons on the unit itself. No volume, no clock display, no seek, etc. The only "press" function the unit has is on/off switching through touch in a specific area on top of the unit. "Old fashioned mute" essentially. I really, really wish Bose would have put this "control panel worth of" buttons on the unit itself and left the remote to have simple or basic controls. Again, the system is the absolute top quality of Bose in every way. The functionality though is ridiculously crammed into an incredibly overly complicated remote control. Purchase carefully, or on sale, and enjoy the music... just make sure to always keep the remote on top of the unit.

Had to find a replacement for our Panasonic micro system when we replaced the bookcases in our living room. The new system had to be low profile, capture a few FM stations and play CDs, so I picked up a newer and smaller version of our old Panasonic. Just for fun (and at my oldest son’s prompting), I purchased the Bose unit, as well. After setting up both systems, my son did some A/B comparisons using Bluetooth on his iPhone. I had always considered Bose speakers to be overpriced and overhyped, but listening to the sound coming from this unit had me re-evaluating those thoughts. By purchasing the Bose system, I had opened Pandora’s box, and knew that it would be difficult to go back to a conventional system. My final hurdle was the price. I NEVER would have considered spending over $200 for a bookshelf system (let alone 3 times that amount), but I was already addicted, and couldn’t imagine not having the Wave system. I now have a renewed interest in listening to my music collection, and consider it a worthwhile investment for that reason alone. If you have a smartphone, install the SoundTouch app for additional options, including internet radio.

If you are looking for a very compact stereo solution with excellent quality sound then I'd recommend this one. If you want loud and booming or a cheap option, this is definitely NOT the one for you. Sure, you'll spend twice the price on Bose but it is built to last, looks elegant, and you can actually expand this system over time. Basics include playing broadcast and internet radio, one CD, an auxiliary input from virtually any system setup, internet connectivity, plus easy bluetooth connectivity to virtually any smart source (smart phone, tablets, computers, etc). This SoundTouch is designed to connect to multiple units around the house with intelligence to direct music traffic to wherever you want it, and can be controlled via smart device app. I've been very pleased with the sound in a normal room (not for big parties) and the bluetooth+internet smart features makes this especially adaptable. I can now run my entire digitally archived music collection right from my laptop or phone. I was originally looking for a solution at half the price but decided to pop for this one given its great reputation and its advanced smart features. I later plan to get a second unit for the house. No complaints as of yet after one month's use.