Bose Companion 20 Multimedia Speaker System

124 reviews for Bose Companion 20 Multimedia Speaker System

1. Rated 5 out of 5

   Calista Ebert (verified owner) – January 31, 2023

   I read a lot of reviews before purchasing these, but the Bose Companion 20 Multimedia speaker system is awesome. I have it connected to my computer and use it for playing CDs as well as my iPod. The sound is awesome. Some say not enough bass, but I think the bass is excellent and not overwhelming nor underwhelming.

2. Rated 2 out of 5

   Jonathan Rath (verified owner) – January 31, 2023

   I bought the speakers a year ago. At the begging the quality and the power of the sound were great but now it sounds like if its broken. This is the first time that the quality of the sound its bad, like really bad. I have a lot of bose products and this is the first time that i have trouble with a speaker.

3. Rated 5 out of 5

   Jan Gislason (verified owner) – January 30, 2023

   In the past I have purchased, and continue to use, Bose’s Wave radio, Bose Mini II Soundlink speakers, and now the Bose Companion 20 Multimedia Speaker System. The Companion 20 is the only I’ve used for my computer desktop. Let me say it performs even more delightfully than my other Bose speakers, and I am very happy with them still. For my partner’s use, I recently purchased the Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 system, a Bluetooth device. In the process of testing the BOOM 3, I connected it to my desktop computer to check for proper video syncing and, incidentally, also checked out the sound qualities. The BOOM 3 is an excellent speaker and it will prove to be perfect for my partner who typically will use it for podcasts and other speech, more than for music. But when I disconnected the BOOM 3, returning to my Bose Companion 20, however, the difference in sound quality was immediate and impressive. I played Unbreak My Heart by Toni Braxton on both speakers and the Bose’s clear, penetrating bass highlighted the fact these speakers do not need an added woofer–they have all the woof an audiophile could possibly need or want in a pair of desktop speakers. They will fill the room, they will fill the apartment, they would probably fill the first floor of a typical three-bedroom house–1800 sf ft of living space! So I am quite pleased with the performance of these Bose Companion 20 Speakers. It is not likely an audiophile would be even slightly disappointed with them.

4. Rated 5 out of 5

   Cullen Langworth (verified owner) – January 30, 2023

   I got these for Christmas 2 years ago. I’ve mainly been using them on my desktop gaming PC, and oh man, playing shooters gets so much more intense with these speakers! Really clear and solid sound, and the bass is rocking. The control pod also makes it incredibly easy to adjust the volume and to mute audio. I’ve also been using the speakers while creating digital music, and it’s great! Only thing that I miss with these speakers is an on/off button for the power cord, but I’ll still give it 5 stars for amazing sound quality and great control pod.

5. Rated 4 out of 5

   Maverick Stehr (verified owner) – January 25, 2023

   My son bought my wife and myself these computer speakers as an early Christmas gift. Overall the sound is very good. My only concern, I would like more low range bass.

6. Rated 5 out of 5

   Margret Ullrich (verified owner) – January 25, 2023

   If you buy Bose, you should expect great quality and that’s what Bose delivers in this product.

7. Rated 5 out of 5

   Colleen Dare (verified owner) – January 23, 2023

   Firstly, the speakers have excellent build quality, including the small volume dial. The speakers look excellent on a shelf around my monitor and barely take any counter space, which was the main reason I bought these. Onto the sound; firstly these feature a sound relocation feature so that the sound either gives a surround illusion or that with default applications it appears to come out of the middle, which is ideal for movies and gaming. The treble output on these is very high quality, and the mids are just high enough to not sound excessive. The bass for speakers of this form factor with no subwoofer is insane but with rap or hip hop music may not be what some listeners are looking for as the bass is not excessive. Still though, these speakers do their job as a groundbreaking product with a very immersive listening experience in them.

8. Rated 4 out of 5

   Angel Baumbach (verified owner) – January 22, 2023

   Im amazed. I needed something compact to do demos of my Zen Riffer Custom Keyboard. I hook these up to my laptop and and I’m up. Surprised at how good the bass is without a sub and all the wires. Took me some time to learn the remote. I kept turning it off by barely touching it. But I learned! You will be happy with these in lost situations.

9. Rated 5 out of 5

   Arden Wiegand (verified owner) – January 20, 2023

   Good dynamic range. Much more high end and still plenty of bass.

10. Rated 5 out of 5

    Ubaldo Sporer (verified owner) – January 15, 2023

    I bought these speakers at least two years ago and they have never disappointed me, Great sound quality. They produce sound every bit as good as a large pair of stereo speakers from a quality manufacturer. Everyone who has given them a listen has remarked how great they sound. Plenty of volume with no distortion. I played DJ using them and my laptop at a large party at a country club and everybody enjoyed the music. Several people commented on the sound quality. Using this combination sure beat digging through boxes of CD’s trying to find a certain song for someone. Not only would I recommend these speakeea to anyone, I would gladly buy them again if I had it to do over.

11. Rated 1 out of 5

    Polly Kemmer (verified owner) – January 13, 2023

    I bought the Companion 20 in 2015, less than 2 yrs ago. I struggled with the touchpad to turn on, not very sensitive to the touch so a pain to use. then the speakers just stopped working.

12. Rated 4 out of 5

    Izaiah Wiza (verified owner) – January 13, 2023

    I personally love this new series of PC speakers. I had the older set from Bose for many years, they finally gave out, and I was unsure initially of moving up to these larger casings (the previous ones were much more compact). But I have no complaints. the sound from these is stellar, better then the older series and worth the extra space! These speakers lost a star only because the volume control node (which I love its function) has a very short cord connecting it to the speaker set, making it really difficult to set the speakers up if you have a different setup. My speakers are at the top of a small bookshelf atop my desk. with the short cord. I can’t place it anywhere convenient for me to use, so it’s usefulness is drastically cut down. And they currently have no extenstion cords to lengthen this connection. Bad forethought IMO, and somewhat odd for such a nice set of speakers.

13. Rated 5 out of 5

    Willa Kling (verified owner) – January 13, 2023

    After trying a two speaker set of a different brand at twice the money, (not from B & H ) I returned them. Bought my second set of the Bose Companion 20 for my new PC from B & H. The sound is rich, full, and solid bass with no back ground static. I don’t believe there is a desk top PC speaker set any better at any price. All positives, no negatives.

14. Rated 5 out of 5

    Lilyan Crist (verified owner) – January 10, 2023

    Short and simple, these speakers are worth the money. Full sound, convenience with the control knob. That’s about it for sub-$1000 speakers.

15. Rated 5 out of 5

    Reuben Jast (verified owner) – January 7, 2023

    I have been using these for 2 months now and I am very happy with them. I chose them b/c I did not want a bass module – these are for an office setting, and I didn’t want bass vibrating the office next door. They have crisp, full sound at low and medium volumes, with good bass. Full sound at low volume is harder to achieve than you might think. I have not tried them at high volume. They are not designed to be living room speakers, and you will be disappointed if you buy them for a big room. They are meant for close-up listening, and they excel at this. Also, I meet with clients at my desk, so I wanted something that wasn’t too garish or too big. These are good looking and conservative. I really like the volume dial. I run the cord through the cable slot on my desk, and put the dial itself on my keyboard tray so it is accessible but out of sight and it doesn’t clutter my desk. But if you want it any further from the speakers than this you will need a DP extension, b/c the cable is pretty short. Overall, these were just what I wanted, and I expect them to last many years so I don’t consider them overpriced.

16. Rated 5 out of 5

    Pat Schmeler (verified owner) – January 2, 2023

    Bose’s Best Right Now. I’m running 2 iMacs on my Desktop, with a pair of 10 year old Bose Companion 2’s on one. Wanted a set for the second, so first I tried the Bose Soundtouch 20’s. I think they’d be great for an outdoor situation, but the sound from a wired system is still better as I write this. Also, the Bluetooth connection dropped too often for my liking, so back they went, thanks to B&H’s great Customer Satisfaction/Return policy. Next, I tried the Bose Musi onitors, hoping the reviews would prove true and they’d be magical though tiny. I have 5 Bose systems at the moment, so I know what they can do with small. I found the sound to be a bit thin and on the tinny side.Returning them, and not wanting to go bookshelf or component, I was down to the Companion 20’s and the Companion 5. I’m a bit worried about the age of both systems, fearing I’d buy something and Bose would finally upgrade it. It seems to me, though, that wireless is their priority right now. Bluetooth has a long way to go to catch up to the sound quality of wired systems. So, I chose the 20’s. Why? The inputs on the 5’s worried me. I also needed to be able to remove the speakers from their stands and I don’t think that would be advisable on the 5’s. Finally, I don’t like that the bass adjustment is way in the back on the bottom of the Acoustimass.Module. If I’m going Acoustimass, I need to be able to turn it down at night so I don’t hassle the neighbors. So, the 20’s it was, and as soon as I turned them on, I knew I made the right choice. As a former pro-musician and record producer, I find these to be accurate over the full dynamic range, regardless of type of music I’m playing, which is all over the map from avant grade to hard rock to solo acoustic. They’ll never replace studio monitors, but they will give me a sense of what’s really there when I’m listing to rough mixes, and are very pleasing to listen to for final CD’s or Lp’s. For me? This is the most important consideration when I buy speakers. Movies & TV are of secondary concern to me as I don’t use my computer for these often. I don’t game either. But, for music, any kind of music, I think these are the best Bose makes right now among the smaller speakers. I also picked up a Monster 3.5 cable to run from my iMac into the 20s to ensure I’m getting the best possible sound. I believe the 5’s sound better, but they are not as practical for my situation. Sol, my excellent B&H salesperson showed me a wide range of computer speakers, but most of them were horribly inaccurate. I’ve played in small groups, garage rock bands, acoustic jazz groups, orchestras and big bands. I know what instruments sound like. I didn’t hear any that were able to capture that sound besides the Bose 20’s (The 5’s may as well, but I didn’t bring them home to try them). I believe that right now, the Bose Companion 20’s are the computer speakers any listener should try first if music if your first listening priority. For many reasons, B&H remains the best store on the planet to buy anything they sell- Thank you, B&H.

17. Rated 4 out of 5

    Efren Stiedemann (verified owner) – December 29, 2022

    Excellent small pair of laptop speakers I use in my studio when showing videos. Love the touch pad and volume control!

18. Rated 5 out of 5

    Lempi Miller (verified owner) – December 28, 2022

    I just bought a set of these to help turn my old laptop and TV into a media/work center. These speakers brought the whole thing together perfectly.These are awesome! Nice bass!! Bose are the best 😉

19. Rated 1 out of 5

    Alene Kohler (verified owner) – December 25, 2022

    Bose companion 20 multimedia computer speakers: I bought these speakers over a year ago and I’m not so happy that I did. I listened to music with them utilizing my computer a lot before the power cord failure. The design is ok and they don’t require much space for placement. Setup was relatively simple but the amount of cord in back of the speakers got in the way of other things setting around them. I purchased the silver colored ones because they were more appealing to me than any of the other colors. The amount of volume that you actually get out of these speakers is pretty clear, mostly highs but very little bass when it comes to sound. These companion 20 speakers didn’t replace any old speakers but the cost as compared to the excellent competitors available according to the quality is a little on the too expensive side for me. I would not recommend these particular speakers for the budget conscious consumer that is expecting sound on the amazing level because you might be a little disappointed. There were zero compatibility issues pertaining to these speakers and I even connected them directly to my smart television a few times. The accessories that come with the speakers do facilitate full setup and complete operation, although my power cord failed after one year and I’ve yet to find an exact replacement for this particular brand. PROS: Well built speakers, nice color in the silver, good space saver option CONS: Expensive compared to viable competitors, low quality accessories

20. Rated 5 out of 5

    Travon Gislason (verified owner) – December 21, 2022

    I’ve been using these for several years as a sound system with my tv – and they are perfect as a lower-cost, high-quality alternative to a full audio system. I couldn’t be happier.