Vintage Speaker Review: Bose Interaudio 4000 Speakers

When it comes to audio sometimes it is time to say out with the new and in with the old.  I recently bought a pair of vintage Bose Interaudio 4000 Speakers to replace my fairly new Pioneer bookshelf speakers.  While I thought my Pioneer speakers were pretty good, there is only so much a bookshelf speaker can do---particularly in the bass department.  Enter my "new to me" Bose speakers.

Bose is known for creative and somewhat gimmicky speaker designs.  The often feature tiny speakers backed by a subwoofer.  Many people have found those designs problematic because they rely very much on good speaker placement for success.  Fortunately, the Bose Interaudio 4000 speakers are large, old-school, speakers that rely on straightforward speaker design.

In size Bose Interaudio 4000 speakers are somewhere between floorstanders and bookshelf speakers.  They have a big woofer, a smaller tweeter, and two forward facing bass ports.  Each cabinet is 13-inches by 22-inches.

According to the specifications plate these Bose speakers are recommended for amps with 10 to 100 watts of power and the impedance is 4 to 8 ohms.  Maximum continuous power is 75 watts.  Some of that seems like hocus-pocus and additional specifications don't seem to be available.  The ear is the ultimate test.  To my ears, the added bass provides a fuller, more present, sound than my prior bookshelf speakers.

You won't find many old school Bose speakers today. Now the speaker maker is focused on personal audio, audio for computers, wireless speaker sets, and headphones. But, if you search hard enough, you can still find some Bose bookshelf speakers.