Every now and then I get approached through this blog to advertise various things for people. A lot of the time I don't even respond - I find it hard to write anything interesting about the fact a new shoe shop has opened or something similar. However, Bose have re-fitted their store at the Qurum City Centre mall and it's now open - but with this particular brand of products, I do have personal experience with and I'm actually happy to share my experiences with a great thing that I own!
You see, I absolutely love my bluetooth speaker that my wife bought for me for Christmas nearly 2 years ago. We take it all over the place, and when it's at home, it's in the kitchen streaming Indie88 from Toronto all day long - every day. Going outside to work on the bbq... I'll take it with me - going camping? To a rugby tournament? You get my drift.
For life in Oman, for me anyway, these bluetooth SoundLink Mini (RO 99) speakers are perfect. And for me - the sound quality is excellent.
Now, back to the shop in QCC. They've re-done the shop and this time they've included some demo rooms at the back so you can try out whatever it is you're going to buy. I have to say, given the robustness and great quality of my bluetooth speaker, I'd seriously consider a Bose CineMate sound system - but alas - for me at least, it's a bit too rich for my blood at RO 669. But wow, it sounds amazing!
I've been an expat for quite a long time, not just here but in other places too, and one piece of advice given to me over a beer with a friend in a bar in Lan Kwai Fong once was this: When you close the door to your house, make it as much like home as possible - leave the other country outside as much as you can.
Which is why you won't find any white walls in my house, lot's of art hung on the walls, a radio station playing from a land far away and even from time to time the BBC iPlayer makes an appearance. Why am I telling you all this? It's because for me - and I am sure for some of you - having the radio playing from "home" (or your own playlist) is one of those nice home touches that makes things that little bit nicer here. There's obviously so many ways to have that music playing, but I can say that my SoundLink bluetooth speaker has been working hard for 12-15 hours a day for the last 20 months or so and it's still going solid.
When I was in the store recently, checking out their new layout and products, I noticed something that really caught my eye - three different sizes of WiFi speakers - SoundTouch wifi series (RO 185-315) - their sound quality is even better than the bluetooth one I already have, and because it's wifi it can be linked to my home network's server (and a lot more music) - and wifi goes further than bluetooth. I think I might get one - have any of you got one? Any observations?
The people at Bose wanted me to tell you in this article that their prices are matched to the prices in the UAE, and that they have their own service centre right here in Oman - where they also stock replacement cables and disposables for your Bose products.
le fin.
5 comments:
Looked at the Soundtouch and quickly realized that a decent A/V Receiver and some decent speakers is well worth the additional money.
Couldn't agree more. My Bluetooth speaker was well worth the money, so portable with great sound quality. It is one of the first things I put in my bag when I go away. It's also worth spending the extra few quid for the protective wrap thing. As you'll be carrying your speaker everywhere, you'll be glad it'll be spared all the knocks and dents.
At the end you mentioned their service centre- I had a sub-woofer that got fried and I decided to take it in there to see fi they could do anything about it. From walking into the shop and coming back a couple of days later to collect it, their service was unparalleled. It is always pleasant to get good customer service and these guys outdid themselves. And most of them are Omani….. ;-p
They repaired the sub-woofer and the price was not at all crazy- I was ready for a bigger bill.
And I can vouch for their prices being the same too- I checked prices when IU was in Dubai and they're the same.
Hmmm... the Cinemate System is the equivalent of R.O. 500 (retail) in the States, and here it's R.O. 669. I haven't checked, but it'll probably cost about R.O. 35 for shipping, and R.O. 25 (5%) for customs. So you'll save over R.O. 100 if you buy it from a reputable supplier in the States. And as it's such a good system (?!) it's unlikely that it'll go wrong and you'll need to use the warranty...
I'm all for using local shops, when they sell stuff at sensible prices. So I generally use places such as adorama.com...
Sonos is the way forward in terms of speakers and sound quality. Save your Rials and get some proper sound equipment people.
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