sound quality, size, impact, bass, spacious sound, no distortion

price, specs like frequency repsonse

this system is absolutely one of the best systems ive ever had the privilege of listening to. The highs are spine tingling and the bass is deep and precise. People give such bad reviews because they cant stand something that is different and original. Thats America for you. Figures. I have an awesome stereo in my car like an alpine cd player,two amps with infinity speakers, 2 12's rockford he2s. The bose system has almost as much bass, but sounds better, the highs are louder and clearer then my infinitys and overall the sound quality is top of the line.If this system cost $700, i bet just about everyone would be bragging about it, but thats not the case. The more you pay the better the sound. There #1 for the size and the quality of the sound but there not the #1 speaker. Not even close.

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sony, yamaha

Easy to set up

lack of inputs was first concern, no DTS decoding and then listened and was amazed that for $2500 I got the flattest, least responsive sound I had ever heard.

Good thing Circuit City gave me a 30 day trial period although I only needed a few days to discover I had paid way too much. Used my in-store credit to buy an Onkyo TXDS696, Onkyo DVS353 and Infinity HTS20 speaker set and for about $500 less I have the best sound I ever heard from a system under $2500. Stay away from Bose, the name will cost you!

Size of product. Ease of setup.

Sometimes boomy base.

This review is for the Lifestyle 12 II, not the 25.

First of all, I'm not sure why anyone would spend the extra money on a Lifestyle 25 other than the fact that the Jewel Cubes are even smaller than the cube speakers on the Lifestyle 12. The speakers already take so little space, I don't see why you'd have to go even smaller.

I think the $1200 spent on an entire system is fairly reasonable. The sound is more than adequate. The only complaint I have is with a particularly boomy base with some sources. I live in a condo so this system is absolutely perfect for the amount of room I have. If I had a huge rec room, I'd probably take the time to build a component system but frankly, I have better things to do.

Another minor complaint is the RF remote won't work if the console is too close to my Wega TV.

Sure it's not DTS or DOLBY Digital certified, but the sound effects on every DVD I've played has generally been pretty good. MSRP on the LS12 is $1699. I would not pay that price for it, but at $1200, I don't have any regrets. And when we move, we can put everything into one box.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Receiver. JBL Speakers

sleek look, clean sound

price, bass

i have owned lifestyle 20 music system and lifestyle 50 which is a home theater system for over a year now.
it really love those tiny jewel cube speakers for the clarity of the sound. some people complaint about weak bass, but i don't have any problem with it.
onlt negative thing about bose is the price, i wish they lower the price in the future.

Similar Products Used:

sony, aiwa, pioneer

None.

Sound, sound, and sound.

First off, I do not own this system. I had the misfortune to be assaulted by this steaming pile of crap at the home of a friend, whose poor misguided husband fell for the marketing crap and actually bought this junk.

Terrible, terrible, terrible sound. Fatiguing. Sizzly, noisy treble. No bass to speak of, but plenty of low frequency boom and flatulence. Timing is sooo bad there are audible phase artifacts between channels. Lots of intermodulation distortion.

Total and utter crap. Do not, under any circumstances, even consider purchasing this product. It's so bad, it should be illegal.

Delia

Similar Products Used:

Too many to mention.

Compact, RF remote

Nearly everything else

I will start off by saying that I do not own this system, but I work for a national electronics retailer who sells it, so I have had plenty of experience listening to it and playing with it. When I first started my job, I was like most other people, I had fallen victim to Bose's massive marketing budget; I thought that Bose was the audio pinnicle simply b/c I had heard of them. After being in this job for 3 years and spending a lot of time around this system since it was released about 2 years ago, here are my conclusions. This system is a waste of money. I now do everything in my power to expose Bose for what it is: a name, and not much else. Unlike some other reviews, however, I will give legitimate reasons for my disapproval of this product.

First, has anyone ever actually taken a look inside a Bose speaker? There is a reason those grills don't come off. Inside of that speaker is paper and foam surround. You can pay $40 a pair for speakers and get the same materials. I have a hard time swallowing a $2500 price tag and getting speakers designed to wear out in a couple years of heavy use. I have people coming in after two or three years all the time asking "Do you guys re-cone Bose speakers?" Other than Technics or KLH, I never hear that request.

Second, has anyone really listened to this system for any extended period of time? These are the brightest sounding speakers on the market. The treble is so overwhelming that it hurts my ears to listen for more than a couple minutes at a time.

Third, and in combination with the second, where is the bass response? This system does not come with a subwoofer, rather a bass module, meaning it does the base for all the speakers and the low bass in general at once. This inefficient way of doing this leads to little to no bass response, which contributes even more to #2 above. The saying goes "All highs and no lows, it must be Bose."

Fourth, you mean to tell me that I'm going to pay $2500 and NOT get a DVD player? Are you kidding? How is this even possible in today's market? Granted, it has a six disc CD changer, but doesn't Bose realize that music is not just a small part of a home entertainment system these days?

Fifth, and perhaps most important: This IS NOT a Dolby Digital system. Do you see a Digital logo anywhere on this unit? I don't. Here's the deal: while this system can handle a digital coaxial input, it takes that information and uses Videostage 5, Bose's proprietary decoding scheme, to create a faux surround sound. So I'm paying how much and not getting something that I can get even in a $200 receiver? Say what? And to add insult to injury, no DTS either. This is very disturbing.

I could go on about the weaknesses (lack of inputs, no expandibility, etc) but I won't. This should give you a good enough picture of what is wrong with this system. Now, you may be asking, what is right with this system? It is a good music system, theoretically, being compact and out of the way with a (reasonably) decent sound. And I must admit coming with a RF remote is a very nice feature; I wish more manufacturers would take a cue on that one. But that cannot compensate for these other major flaws in my book. For under $2000 I can build you an Onkyo/Polk system with similar sized speakers, DD/DTS, and DVD that will make this system look like an Aiwa minisystem. But if I still haven't convinced you, come see me and buy it from me. I won't complain about getting the commission.

Sound, Size, Good for average people not the self proclaimed audiophiles, None of your friends have it

This site, Price, Doesn't come with the cool touch screen remote that the 50 comes with

First let me say that this is a review on the Lifestyle 30 series 2 system. Second, I am not, I repeat NOT an audiophile. I must admit that I was always intrigued by the Bose systems. After months of looking on the net and going to the Bose stores and being "brainwashed" as some of you put it, I finally broke down (not to mention went broke)and bought this system. After I bought it, I learned about this website and decided to check it out. The only thing I can say is DAMN. At the opening page I saw a set of speaker wires "on sale" for around 200 bucks. Who the hell spends $200 dollars on speaker wire? Maybe these "audiophiles" that no doubt masturbate at the simple thought of turntables, amps or subwoofers. For people like myself, that's the starting price for a decent DVD player with a few "bells and whisles". Even though I don't have my system set up properly like Bose suggests, it still kicks ass. Since I'm going to be moving soon, it didn't make much sense setting it up on the walls and what not, and have to move them a few weeks later. All I did was take it out of the box, put it on my living room table hooked up two of the speakers and the Bass module and let her rip. Again DAMN. The sound is great. No adjusting the speakers for the right reflective angle, no positioning the bass module just right, nothing. All I got was great sound. Smooth bass, crisp treble, clarity, and people yelling at me to turn it down when I didn't even get it to 3/4 of the full volume. Leave the room and you swear you're hearing a rack system.
This product is not for everyone. If you can afford to spend
all that money for brands that I (not to mention a vast majority of music listerners)never heard of, then by all means go ahead. If you are like me, the normal guy just trying to get ahead in life, likes to treat himself once in a while, and some day hopes to be able to afford all the crap that they talk about on this site, then Bose is for you. Don't take my humble opinion for it. Listen for yourself, do your research as any consumer should, and buy what YOU LIKE. If its Bose, fine. If not that's fine too.



The only reason I give it three stars for value is that I spent months antagonizing over the hefty price tag. Thats a lot of saving to do

Similar Products Used:

None

Small, compact size, good highs, ability to angle speakers in different directions, and the remote is great. It works anywhere

Poor midrange and midbass, not a whole lot of clarity in the subwoofer. Overall lack of power and fullness especially for the price. No ability to "upgrade", you are stuck with bose if you purchase one of the lifestyle systems

I have been a great fan of Bose for a number of years. My Acura CL has a phenemonal Bose system in it, and I am very impressed with the Bose systems I hear at some Dance Clubs. Unfortunately, it does not seem that Bose has transfered any of that technology and quality into the home theatre arena. I had the Lifestyle system for 2 days and returned it immediately!

The system is quite small, and those of you wishing to save space will appreciate the compact size. My philosophy is that a speaker on a stand is a speaker on a stand. Does it really matter how small it is? Are you planning on putting something right next to it? Speakers that small can only put out so much sound and reproduce only so much of the audio frequency range. Being a professional musician, I knew that a lot was missing sound wise when I tested the system with classicl, jazz, and pop music. I was quite impressed with the home theatre sound quality, but at the same time, this was my first home theatre system. In my opinion the Lifestyle system sounded better for movies than for music. It does have the capability to decode Doly Digital AC-3, Doly pro logic and a very pleasing "enhanced" mode that can be used with any source (tv, and mono programs) to achieve a sound "similar" to dolby digital. There is no processor for DTS, so those of you look searching for unit with that won't find it here.

The aluminum music center is literally built like I tank. I accidentally dropped my 35 inch TV on it while moving around some cables and not a scratch! For the price, one would expect higher quality connections and cables for the system. The connections for the speaker wire to the speakers is quite cheap, and difficult to connect at times.

Overall, I would strongly recommend not purchasing this system. If you a searching for a home theatre system, this could satisfy your palate, but in my opinion it falls far short in the music reproduction department. One could find a awesome dobly digital/DTS receiver for under $1000 and much better speakers for the same price or perhaps a little more, and there would be a remarkable difference in sound for music and movies. I recommend the Definitive Technology Pro Cinema Series which carry a five year. warranty and sound absolutely superb.

My current replacement for the Bose Lifestyle 12 Series II
Yamaha RX-V800 DTS/ Dolby Digital Natural Sound Receiver
Definitive Technology Pro Cinema 200 Speakers (4)
Definitive Technology Pro Center 2 Center Channel Speaker
Definitive Technology Powerfield 15TL Subwoofer

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Technics rack system with tower speakers

I can play all my Spice Girl CD's and they sound great

I couldn't get one with diamonds stuck in the case so David covered the case in glue and put glitter on it.

Its a sexy little number like me.

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Big thing for live showa, although it only played recordings. I can't sing live

Videostage 5 decoding - any source can sound like DD 5.1, conveiniance of design.

Some music can lack richness that towers can give - only applies to audiophilles who take it seriously

My NHT tower are never used nowadays because this package blows away anything I ever heard, I tried the Boston Micro 90s a while back and the damn things blew on me. But these I can crank up and never worry about damaging them. The whole reason I got in to DVD was for the 5.1 soundtracks - this system replicates this on VHS saving me money. Who wants crappy behind the scenes footage and directors comentary any how?

With a linedoubler attach to my projector I don't miss DVD picture quality much and I am know strictly buying VHS thanks to this system.

Buy a Bose Videostage 5 decoding system today!

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KEF, BOSTON, B & W, POLK, BOSTON, NHT, MIRAGE WITH YAMAHA, NAKIMICHI AND DENON AMPS