I have been out of the biz for about 10 years. Much has changed. Have been reading and lurking here the entire time.
I am taking on a client that I think will be a great one for me to get my game back on. He is patient and not in a hurry and & money wont be an issue. I will also be doing some custom finish carpentry as well for them. Should be a fun project!
Client has a pile of gear from his previous home and now wants to get it all installed in their new used home. It has a complete functional (at least was) Bose system, old school (5 ch surround w/little Bose sub, 4 zones of audio, each with an in wall volume control, around the home) except that the remote controller is dead and he wants to replace the system with his old gear. I have not had a chance to get a volt-ohm meter in there to see what resistances the Bose speakers present yet. He was thinking he would not have to replace the speakers at first.
Has 2 Rotel RB-1070's, 1 for a pair of floor standing B&W loudspeakers and 1 to run a passive B&W subwoofer. A Rotel RC-1090 preamp, Rotel cd player, tuner, etc. Will probably just end up as a stand alone 2 channel audio system but will feed to whole house distributed audio system of some sort.
Also has a Niles ZR4630 but, no keypads, just the wireless remote control. Obviously that system is totally outdated and discontinued and parts are not available at all. Pretty sure it is time for him to upgrade!
I am a bit rusty and not completely up to date, on what I should offer.
Back in the day I was a Denon dealer, URC MX-850 w/MRF350 was my goto!
Looking for direction, not a total system design from you guys!!!
So be nice! Hahahaha!!!
Thanks, Erik

We are still on the Denon/Marantz bandwagon as far as AVRs. The same company owns Definitive Technology loudspeakers, and we have installed these since Sandy Gross was there. They have a similar philosophy as Bose as far as using direct and reflecting (bipolar) speaker designs. The one difference is that they are not tiny and most of the floorstanders and center channels have a built in active subwoofer, so no more "all highs and no lows" crap. URC is still kicking pretty strong with their new product offerings although we install Harmony Pro or RTI.

Congrats on getting back in. We did the same thing 3 years ago after a 5 year hiatus.

Full disclosure: I'm not a Bose fan.

I'm not very concerned about the two channel system, it is what it is.

Always look at the long term cost of each option. The existing equipment is aging and at some point you will be faced with repair or replace. Even now, you'll probably be pulling wire for those Volume controls. Balance the cost of pulling wire, along with potential service/replace options in the near term for the current equipment reuse vs replacing things now with equipment that will not need in-wall controls and the repair/replace clock is reset.

Measuring voice coil resistance is not a substitute for knowing the speakers impedance. Check with the manufacturer. Also, Bose speakers assume that they will be driven by a Bose amplifier that has been equalized for use with a that model of speaker.

Regardless, step back an decide if the resulting user interface will be appropriate with the customer's current expectations.

Ten years is ancient history. Ideas that were enormously impractical and/or super expensive then are now a cheap trick. Systems that we put in a couple years ago are now stale, we will never do things that way going forward. Systems that we are about to install are already obsolete. I'm already planning for next year's models (not yet available) and many of today's go to models are not on that list.

It's a network world. If the walls are open or not yet painted, run plenty of network wire and make sure that WiFi coverage will be adequate. Also keep in mind that wire is running out of bandwidth. While it might be "dark" in the immediate future, in a few years you'll wish that you had pulled some fiber.

So true. We spend more time looking at whether a solution is easily serviceable and can be monitored remotely.

Refuse to install ANY of his old Bose would be the first, and a MAJOR step. Put it on Antiques Roadshow.

Bring him into the 21st Century as everything is on the network these days.

Sounds like budget IS an issue if he wants to use old crap.

Id pass on the job if he will not let you do it right. Otherwise your (re)new venture will be nothing but service calls.

What Tucker said

Possibly the sanest thing I've seen Tucker say in years. :)

+1

It's great you're getting back in the game, but your 1st job sounds like a nightmare already. Chunk that junk and start fresh.

I would suggest passing on this job and also on the reboot.

LOL!

Thank you all, for your insightful responses and not burning me to the ground instantly!!! Hahaha!!!
My client doesn't want to use the Bose electronics. He was hoping to perhaps use the speakers. Not set in stone. We are still discussing possibilties and options at this point.
And I do understand the difference between resistance and impedance. I come from the car audio world originally like a lot of us here.
The fact that the Niles piece was so old has been discussed.
I had already strongly suggested and even showed him examples of modern smart phone apps; HEOS, Integra remote app, Onkyo remote app, etc. I personally use those at home and in 2 of my restaurants.
He listens to cd's still and the wife uses Pandora.
I do not think this will be a huge jump to get them on modern platforms.
thinkin maybe HEOS Drive to run the whole house.
We shall see...

There, fix 'r for you. :)

rguy1,

Like many others here, as soon as I see that “Bose” word my blood pressure goes up and logic starts shutting down. My first impulse is to get nasty. On rereading your post, I see that you are only considering an attempt to reuse the Bose speakers. I don’t recommend this. Also, be sure to check the current wiring. Are the speakers wired to the controls or directly wired to the Bose amplifier? If you decide to use in-wall Volume controls, will the current wiring support this?

The current trend is to lean heavily on networked music either playing from local storage or an online service. Since the mid 200x’s we’ve only sold one CD player and it was only used on day one in order to kick the tires. We do have requests from older users to hookup an existing CD player because it is comforting, but it is only used on day one. If you setup the ROTEL as a two channel system don’t keep it isolated, install an accessory to bring networked music to the ROTEL. We
like SONOS. In this context a CONNECT would be used to bring network music to the analog system, but all of the competing products have a similar accessory.

The Connect can also be used to send CD audio to the other zones if more Connect, Connect Amp and/or speakers are used- select Aux In as the source (re-labeled as 'CD') and then group the other rooms with the one where the CD player is connected. You then have separate or global volume control and it's all synchronized, unlike doing it with a group of old electronics.

I really liked the muting volume controls because they eliminated the chance that someone would be startled by the music starting after a rough night or lack of sleep and even though Sonos has the ability to leave rooms out, it also goes back to the previous setting of which rooms were grouped, so it requires someone to pay attention to where the music will play before starting. At this point, I would pass on the local VCs unless those places are fairly remote.

I was thinking I would remove the volume controls.
I will know more today. Gonna spend some time rippin shit out and making assessments about exactly what I have to work with and should have a better idea after that.
Thank you for everyones comments, even the suggestion about just dont get back in!!!! I have actually thought about that...