Bose Companion 5 - Sierra Compatibility

[Tucom]

I'm reading reports of the Bose Companion 5 USB speakers not functioning properly under Sierra, and even El Cap. What's strange is that I had a set of C5's that seemed to work fine under El Cap, then another set that didn't work properly; the right channel was muffled. After reading reports I'm starting to think El Cap was the cause of that.

Curious, does anyone have a set of Companion 5's working properly under Sierra? Would really like to get a set again - but hesitant upon reports of them not working under macOS.

Thanks

 

[Tucom]

Anyone...?

 

[Eduardot]

Anyone...?

I have a 2013 27 inch iMac, that with El Capitan was riddled with problems with the usb bus, and my Bose companion 5 speakers would work intermittently. Since upgrading to Sierra, all problems just disappeared.

 

[mfram]

I just attached my old Companion 5 speakers to my rMBP running the latest Sierra. The speakers worked... BUT... I did notice something strange.

These instructions are for Sierra, they might be slightly different on other versions of Mac OS.

After attaching the speakers, run the "Audio MIDI Setup" utility. Select the Bose USB Audio selection. You should see a volume slider and at the bottom is a button marked "Configure Speakers...". Press that button. Select the "5.1 Channel" setting for the speakers.

At that point, it will bring up a picture of a 5.1 channel speaker layout. I noticed that the channel settings for the speaker configuration didn't match the speaker layout. I had to change the channel settings to match the picture. The setting are like "Front Right", "Front Left", "Front Center", etc. But those names didn't match the picture. So I fixed them.

When I listened to sound, then it sounded OK. But I can imagine that if the default channel setting is messed up, then that could definitely make the sound strange.

So check that out after you attach the speakers next.

 

[Tucom]

Got the Bose in - They sound *incredible* - Very good stuff, just like I remembered.

Working great with Sierra so far (less than half an hour, just set them up) - The settings were a little off in Audio MIDI Setup - thanks big for letting me know, all is sorted.

Will update if anything changes, but so far, they're great.

 

[eaglerockdude]

I'm reading reports of the Bose Companion 5 USB speakers not functioning properly under Sierra, and even El Cap. What's strange is that I had a set of C5's that seemed to work fine under El Cap, then another set that didn't work properly; the right channel was muffled. After reading reports I'm starting to think El Cap was the cause of that.

Curious, does anyone have a set of Companion 5's working properly under Sierra? Would really like to get a set again - but hesitant upon reports of them not working under macOS.

Thanks

Every since I upgraded to Sierra, my Bose companion 5 speakers intermittently just disconnect, and the internal speakers come on. The only FIX i found is to unplug the USB and reconnect. Its very annoying. I wish I had never upgraded from Yosemite, but too hard to go back.

The MIDI set up solution does nothing for me. My speaks about about 5 years old. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I don't see any "driver download" solutions anywhere.

On a side note, since Sierra, My mouse and keyboard disconnect a lot more now too.

I miss Steve Jobs. I think that is the reason.

 

[Tucom]

Every since I upgraded to Sierra, my Bose companion 5 speakers intermittently just disconnect, and the internal speakers come on. The only FIX i found is to unplug the USB and reconnect. Its very annoying. I wish I had never upgraded from Yosemite, but too hard to go back.

The MIDI set up solution does nothing for me. My speaks about about 5 years old. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I don't see any "driver download" solutions anywhere.

On a side note, since Sierra, My mouse and keyboard disconnect a lot more now too.

I miss Steve Jobs. I think that is the reason.

Never had this issue - until recently. Have you tried restarting your Mac? Nothing worked until I did that.

Hopefully the next OS updates and iterations don't have this issue.

 

[TonyK]

On my wife's system with the Bose 5 Companion speakers they always battled the 27" LED monitor with built-in speakers. We finally replaced the 27" monitor with a 32" monitor with no speakers and she had no more problems.

This was running Yosemite and before. Think even El Capitan had issues for her. Can't speak to Sierra as her system cannot take that upgrade and the Bose 5 Companion speakers got moved to my system, also not a Sierra system. I'll try later with a new MBP running Sierra and report back.

 

[jan.klan]

September 2020 update:

All my issues disappeared when I used USB-C to USB-B cable without any dongles.

What was happening: My Companion 5 frequently stopped working after a little while of having the music paused, or when I switched audio outputs (think listening music via speakers, then making a call via headphones, then wanting to switch back to loud music via speakers - the second time no sound went out until I disconnected and reconnected the USB cable).

I am running a 16" Macbook Pro with all the latest updates. The issue occurred when the speaker was connected using a USB-C to USB-A dongle and then USB-A to USB-B cable.

I currently have it connected to an USB-C port LG UltraFine and all the issues are gone.

This issue is being discussed on many places, including Bose and Apple community support forums and here. The common advice was to use the auxiliary input instead of USB.

List of discussions I found with no answer:

BOSE COMPANION 5 COMPATIBILITY ISSUES AND… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Bose Companion 5 Speakers and Mojave - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

High Sierra sound problems with Bose Comp… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

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community.bose.com

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Bose Companion 5 - Sierra Compatibility

I'm reading reports of the Bose Companion 5 USB speakers not functioning properly under Sierra, and even El Cap. What's strange is that I had a set of C5's that seemed to work fine under El Cap, then another set that didn't work properly; the right channel was muffled. After reading reports...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Tucom]

WOOOOOOOOW necrothread resurrection 0___0

Holy sweet mother of Winsconsin.

Gotta say I've never had any issues with High Sierra, at least I believe that's what I was running with these when I sold them, regrettably. - They're incredible speakers. Running some Paradigms in near-field with sub at the moment and the Bose absolutely held their own, easily. But there's always a step up.

Anyways yeah, glad you go them working and interesting find. I'm guessing USB-C is a straighter protocol to the API or w/e for CoreAudio w/ your laptop than other ports? Super rough, vague explanation but I'm guessing that's it. Somehow.

Crazy cool people still use these though - I had a total of four sets one time. Love Bose, and love other setups as well.