Bose has long been a font of secular miracles, most of them involving the production of Great Big Sound by Itty Bitty Boxes. Starting more than four decades ago, with the company’s seminal – and still available in highly evolved form – 901 speaker system, Bose has consistently taken the “bigger is better” theory of sound reproduction and replaced it with “impossibly small is better still.” The company achieves this goal by following a very simple path. The first step calls for a vision, which is provided by company founder, Dr. Amar Bose. The next step is for some of the company’s engineers, of which there are roughly 1,000, to transform that vision into reality.
The latest example of that reality comes in the form of a pair of extraordinarily small, astonishingly capable self-powered desktop speakers called the Computer MusicMonitor. Each aluminum-cased speaker is roughly the size of a clenched fist (but not nearly as lumpy), with the cabinet configured to angle the sound directly towards a listener seated at a desk. The package includes a small – what else? – remote control for volume and power, along with cables for connection to a standard computer audio output.
Given that there’s no great shortage of tiny desktop speakers, you might wonder what there is about the Computer MusicMonitor that makes a pair worth the non-trivial sum of $399. The answer is simple: the vast majority of those tiny desktop speakers either sound anywhere from awful to mediocre, or they require a subwoofer to deliver anything approaching satisfying bass response. The Computer MusicMonitor, by contrast, delivers luscious full-range sound without the need for a subwoofer and the extra cabling associated with a three-piece speaker system.
Bose achieves this secular miracle by fitting each box with a front-firing powered speaker whose bass output is augmented by a pair of inward facing passive radiators. These radiators are, in essence, speakers whose motion is created not by the audio signal from the computer, but rather by the acoustic output of the powered speaker. The output of the passive radiators, in turn, escapes through slots on each side of the box. The necessarily tiny stereo amplifier lives inside the right speaker, which is also equipped with power and volume controls, in case the remote isn’t handy.
You might think that this technology comes pretty close to negating the whole “no free lunch” theory, but fear not. The laws of physics remain intact, for the price paid for the lunch in question is the Computer MusicMonitor’s ultimate volume level. In other words, do not buy this system with the expectation that it will fill your living room with concert-level sound. The system is intended to flank a computer display, and to please the ears the person sitting in front of that display. When used in that context, the Computer MusicMonitor will get loud enough to give music a satisfying heft, but the key word here is music. If you’re a gamer, and want to feel as well as hear the explosions that, let’s face it, are what make computer games worthwhile, look elsewhere. If, however, you’re a PC-using music lover who a) values clean, accurate, full-range sound and b) doesn’t want to fuss with a subwoofer, The Bose Computer MusicMonitor will please and delight you every time you turn it on.