OT: Bose home entertainment system.......

Been there done that, look into the Yamaha system. Had the life style system and I did not feel it was worth the money. Also the performance out of it was not what I expected.

http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/

There many loudspeaker systems out there. They all are very good. Bose is one of them. To costly for me, but if I had the $$$$ I would purchase a Bose product. If you got the bucks go for it.
Others will opine as soon as they awake and clear the fuzzeys out of the gray matter with the juice of the brown bean. what ever you end up with enjoy the sweet sounds of your system.

and don't just take my word for it---please do the research for yourself. Bose has suckered so many Americans over the years with their slick advertisements and marketing, along with their slick design of their products. Thus, most Americans assume that Bose makes great speakers, and are perhaps the best out there. But the fact is, Bose is horribly overpriced and, to be honest, all of their stuff is junk, especially considering the prices. Do a google search, something like, "Bose sucks," and read all about Bose and just how bad they are. Also, go to avsforum.com and go to the audio section to get some recommendations there.

Lastly, true story---Consumer Reports did a speaker rating a few years ago, and completely ripped Bose. They commented on their cheap components and bad sound (all of which is true). To make things worse, they actually rated a pair of $100 Sony speakers better than the $800 Bose ones they tested. How did Bose respond? They sued Consumer Reports, saying they didn't test them right. Overall, most Americans don't know good sound quality when they hear it, thus when they hear Bose (a brand they assume is great)...they think they are hearing good stuff.

I'll leave you with one recommendation: Paradigm. They give you the best bang for your buck, and I've never read a bad review for any of their speakers. And lets just say this, their lowest priced speaker will blow Bose' highest priced one out of the water.

have you ever taken the time to research Bose before? I assume not, as you wouldn't ever consider buying any of their stuff. Anyone who knows anything about audio stays far away from Bose.

Roanokesmoke I agree what your saying about the bose, I Owen them and was very disappointed in them. Max hit the nail on the head, they use there special disk of music and movies to demonstrate there product. The system I had could never get enough sound out of the back speakers. What I like about the Yamaha system I have I can dedicate the sound separately out of each speaker and sub woofer.

I know you will be very pleased with it. When you have a DVD movie in, it really does feel like your in the middle of it. Good luck hope you enjoy it.

Man what Bose, haters we have. Most sales people will try to move you to the loudspeaker systems that the HIGHEST SPIFF. Thats what we did at Circuit City when I was there, also we had a saying about Bose, " no high no lowes thats Boes." They are still cool. Diff. speakers will do / make diff. sound quality. So like Max said. take your fav. music etc. with you and try it. The salesperson will hate you for that, it's a time thing. How long will they be tied up with you B-4 you deside to purchase and they can snag another cust. Remember most are on comm. Sorry about the long post, but you need to be armed b-4 shopping. Miles out.I R A salesdude, not a liar.

I own Bose 301's from 1993 that sound great. I have the cube speakers and passive sub woffer in the closet. I like Onkyo for my reciever and I too would look beyond the Bose Lifestyle system. Think about what you want in the system. My concern when I purchased the cube speakers was the space I was allowed by the wife for the setup. You have more choices now for a smaller speaker than just Bose. (I didn't at the time of my purchase.)
It's a personal choice.
Doug

Craptastic. Don't drink the Bose Kool-Ade. Overpriced, overmarketed crap.

Pioneer, Yamaha, Boston Acoustics, Paradigm...not Bose.

its not that I'm a Bose "hater," I just don't like their philosophy or practices of making people think they are getting a good product when they are being ripped off (as you're aware). There are other companies out there that do the same, like Monster (and all their high-priced cables) that aren't any better than something that costs 1/5 the price.

Charleston Dave wrote:

Craptastic. Don't drink the Bose Kool-Ade. Overpriced, overmarketed crap.

Pioneer, Yamaha, Boston Acoustics, Paradigm...not Bose.

this is true. the reason they cost so much is not because they put the money into the product, they put it into advertising.

check out Energy speakers.

http://www.energy-speakers.com/na-en/

also worth checking out are the axiom audio (these are the ones i have.) they are customizable (you can pick the wood grain and grill cover color.)

http://www.axiomaudio.com/

but it is an accoustimass 5 system for my stereo and i only use it for listening to music. ...i listened to a lot of speaker systems in the 4 - 500 buck range before choosing it and frankly, i like it a lot (and i wasn't sucked in by slick advertising etc.). . .it replaced a pair of advent legacy speakers that i had for 20 years that i dearly loved but had finely given up the ghost (woofers had dried out and cracked). . .and like i said earlier, i spent many hours listening to speakers in the price range with a couple of my favorite cd's back and forth till i heard what i liked. ..

couple of things though about bose. ... you have to place that bass unit in just the right spot in your room to get the sound you want. ...too close to a wall and you get WAY too much bass. . . it took me many hours to find the right spot and get the right balance. . .aiming the cubes the right way is also key to getting optimal sound quality (at least with a stereo set up . . .don't know how it is with a surround sound). ...

and here's another thing. .. .when i first set it up and played music through my i-pod through my stereo the sound was all out of whack, way too much bass compared to when i was playing cd's in my cd player (and i have good onkyo stereo). .. what i discovered was that the I-pod has automatic settings that really enhance the bass for those little ear buds you typically play it through and when you plug it into a stereo, it gets the bass way out of balance, so you have to go into your ipod settings and adjust the bass accordingly. ...once i did that, and along with finding the optimal spot in my living room for that bass unit, i've been extremely happy with my bose purchase for over a year now. ...

so i too have a read a lot of complaints about bose systems, and i know a lot of it has to do with set up and such. ..now i don't know about the lifestyle and surround systemsn with tv's but i do know that the basic stereo systems (the 301s and 901s which have always been highly rated - and the acoutimass 3s and 5s will give good sound, but they take some work to get the right set-up. ..

paradigm's are also very worth checking out. i concur.

hehehe - being totally deaf in one ear and only 80% good in the other I can't tell the difference between a tiny radio and my friend's several thousand dollar advanced sound system. Granted I can feel the bass in my body, but forget the stereo or surround sound aspect! I can't sense direction. Guess fate saved me some dollars that way! :laugh:

A $100 system can sound great in the correct situation.
Big money doesnt mean big sound. I got about $1200 in to a Polk Speaker and HarmanKardon system, beats the pant of most systems in the 2-3k range. But it work in my room just the way I like it. You cant beat Bose for a 2 speaker system, period. Multi speaker systems, I would go to full size speakers and not the small dinky ones. If it is sound quality you want to hear thats the way to go, if it is just to make the movie seem neat, then anything will work.
JMHO