Bose Wave Radio Help

[rp2813]

Greetings all,

I picked up a Bose Wave radio yesterday, model AWR1-1W.

I plugged it in when I got it home and nothing happened. The nine volt battery was missing, so I put one in there, plugged it back in, and then the display lit up. In fact, every possible thing on the display screen is lit, but the unit doesn't respond to any of the buttons. I can't set the clock or turn on the radio.

Can anyone advise me on what might be wrong? Could it still be a battery issue? I don't have any new nine volt type so just took one from something else, and it might be weak.

I have no instructions so don't know if there is a certain way to bump it into operation. The display stays lit, and the time doesn't flash, and it's not reading 12:00 either. It appears to be 24:00 but it's not flashing.

Thoughts anyone can share would be most welcome.

Ralph[this post was last edited: 5/16/2010-19:21]

 

[panthera]

Bose

has their good and their bad points, but they've always provided the manuals to their products with just a phone call.

That particular one, sorry, I'm not familiar with. Bose does allow trade in value for them, or at least, they used to.

Good luck - I'd start with the manual first. Oh, and, maybe check if there aren't a few AA batteries also in there, somewhere? I vaguely recall one of my parents' bose alarm clocks having both.

 

[danmantn]

I love my Bose products...you should be able to find the manual at Bose.com. But it sadly sounds like it may be fried...mine works with or without the batt backup.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks guys, I found the owners manual on the Bose site. Contrary to what I thought, my radio is a later one and not an earlier model. Mine takes the 9 volt battery and the earlier models take a couple of AA's. The only other battery the manual refers to is the lithium one for the remote control, but my radio didn't have the remote with it.

If I can get this thing working, it has an auxiliary input that I can use with an iPod and I'm interested in hearing how that will sound.

 

[rp2813]

Update

I called Bose customer service. My radio is apparently toast. They offered to fix or replace it for $109 or to give me $200 in trade-in value against a brand new Wave II, which would bring the price down to $159. Bose pays all shipping both ways.

I really don't need another AM/FM clock radio, but the fact that I can plug an iPod into it has me mulling over the offer of a brand new one.

I bought the broken one at an estate liquidator for $25. It had no power cord so I was betting the item would still be functional, unlike its previous owner. I'd still be way ahead by going for the brand new one, but am wondering if I should just blow off the $25 gamble and move on.

If anyone wants to offer testimonials regarding the performance of these Wave systems, I would be interested in reading them.

Thanks,

Ralph

 

[panthera]

Ralph,

My mom loves hers. The 3x CD changers you can get to go with them have their problems, the CD players built in work great.

She's had several through the years and they seem to go phooey every four or five years or so, but Bose is good at trade in value.

So there's your real calculation - is the money worth it for something which will sound good for about four/five years and then be toast.

All in all, I like the sound. It's really pretty damn good for what they are and their FM programming, the access to MP3 and Aux is really well thought out, not one of these where you have to dance a jig, scream and pull your hair out before they work.

Oh, they use a rather unusual antenna jack. See they give you one with it.

 

[mrb627]

If it were me....

If it was my decision, I would go for the credit rather than the repair. This thing will obsolete other clock radios.

Malcolm

 

[nurdlinger]

I bought my first one on eBay...

so as to minimize the price. It is a motherless orphan model called a "Wave Radio PC". For about a year in the early 2000s they sold this radio plus some serial cabling and software so you could operate it with a PC. I didn't care about any of that, I used it as a clock radio/alarm; at which job it was brilliant.

I got the second one, a "Wave Radio II", because one time I was sick in bed and trying to sleep, and the damned, precious cats kept jumping up onto the night table (and the radio) to see what was wrong. They landed on the buttons on the cabinet top all the time and turned on the radio. The WR/II has no buttons, it is only operable via the remote.

I still own, use, and like both of them. (The WR/PC is now on a shelf where the cats can't reach the top.) Both perform very well. The biggest difference is that the WP/PC has an external wire it uses as an AM antenna and that seems to work better than the internal one in the WR/II in my location.

Neither of these has CD playing capability. The guy in the Bose store emphasized that a few times when I went to buy the WR/II. He couldn't believe that I understood the limitation and wanted the II anyway.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks for the info Tom. I was leaning in the direction of trading my radio in for a new one but I don't know if I like the idea of only operating a Wave II from the remote. I'll have to think about that. An earlier model replacement might be the only way to avoid the remote-dependent situation. I really doubt they'll fix my same radio and send it back.

I've heard from other sources besides this forum that these things tend to fail after a few years. Bose has been making these long enough to have improved longevity but it appears they're not interested. It makes sense that they would have a generous trade-in program to remedy the early failure situation.

Thanks to everyone who has provided input. With such a short lifespan, I'm wondering if I should just cut my losses and forget the whole thing. I have other units that work with MP3 players and sound really good--and they take batteries as well so they are portable, unlike a Wave radio.