Bose wave radio / CD player

[Jester]

Hi,
My wife wanted a Bose radio for her office, so I picked up one of eBay (AWRC-1P)  with defective CD. I “fixed” the CD in one of these a while ago by tweaking the pot that sets the laser diode current, however this particular CD appears to beyond the tweak the pot fix.

I see a few Replacement CD units on eBay advertised as new with prices from $20 to hundreds, I would be happy paying $20 if it actually works, anyone know of a reliable affordable vendor for a replacement CD unit?

[SpecialK]

Where are you located?  I have a newer AWRCCJ that I bought off eBay not working.  Since then, replacing a few capacitors around the microprocessor gor it working and then rather than retrobrite I painted mine black.  Looks really good, but doesn't sound like a concert hall LOL. I don't use it and could probably work out a barter if interested.

[Jester]

I’m in Ottawa, not sure what I would barter though?

[SpecialK]

Yeah, that's a ways off for me.  I'm from Hamilton.

I wish Bose schematics were freely available.  This unit is probably close to twenty years old.

[bob91343]

I don't like Bose.  They are very tight with information, and in general don't support their products.

[andy2000]

I don't like Bose.  They are very tight with information, and in general don't support their products.

That hasn't been my experience.  About 10 years ago, I needed a part for a Wave radio, and Bose sent me a copy of the service manual for free so I could look up the part number (very surprising since it was for a long discontinued model).  They were also pretty good about stocking old parts at the time.  Parts prices were very reasonable compared to most other companies.  I have no idea if they've changed since then.

These use a fairly common Sanyo optical pickup, but be aware that there are at least two versions with different connectors.  Be sure to buy the right kind.

[bob91343]

My bad experience was also about ten years ago.  I needed help repairing a PA system and they refused.  They were only willing to take the broken unit in trade on a new, lesser model.  It turned out that they didn't make the unit but had another company, defunct already, supply it.  It was expensive but ended up in the salvage pile.

I wonder if they make anything or just subcontract it all.

[CaptDon]

There are so many good sounding table top units available at reasonable prices. Bose look good and sound 'good' to many folks, but so do units costing half as much. BOSE = Buy Other Sound Equipment. We had some of the mid 70's BOSE PA gear and sounded pretty good back then but time and technology has marched on. Those stupid 1 ohm speakers in the original 802s(?) are crap and wired weird. Bose soon got away from them. I think we kill a couple of those 1 ohm speakers every year
in the classic rock band I play in and sadly the guy who owns the cabinets can't afford anything newer so we keep replacing his 1 ohm 'kazoos'. It is real fun to find which speaker is dead since they are kind of in series 'sort of'. If they blow open the cabinet dies, if they mildly self-destruct the vocals sound like singing through a kazoo. Fun times!!

[bob91343]

It's all too common.  A company hires high pressure advertising people and pushes them to create a good image so they can sell stuff.  Nowhere does anyone do a serious evaluation of the gear.  That would include performance, integrity of construction, parts and service availability, price, and a few other important factors that all too often get neglected.

But it's human nature to push the sales envelope, to shovel in the money while the shoveling is good.  History is filled with such companies.  Some companies that initially do good things are swallowed up by the bean counters and there goes the neighborhood.

I apologize for having gone off topic.

[CaptDon]

Bob, right about the bean counters destroying good products and companies. Look at Eimac and Tektronix as examples. The quality of many of the smaller Eimac ceramic tubes went downhill drastically and I believe they ended or sold off the glass tube business (3-500Z and so forth) and Tektronix which was always unaffordable except to the military has gone astronomical in pricing. Differential probes costing more than used cars that self destruct with over 15 volts applied, some being absolutely un-repairable, and others costing pennies less than new to get repaired. Expensive to buy, expensive to maintain and lots of products are going that direction. SMD parts are getting smaller and less people/facilities can rework those tiny parts to perform repairs.

[lennart westling]

Hey all
My first post on this forum
Does anyone know where to get, a wiring diagram on the BOSE WAVE MUSIC SYSTEM III?
Lennart

[FIXITNOW2003]

Bose Wave Radio Series  III hope it helps