Jump to content

Bose lifestyles 12 system?


mixmaster LRH

Recommended Posts

Hi, a friend of mine is convinced that BOSE make "the greatest sounding speakers" I tried to convince him other wise but he wouldn't even let me finish (stubborn). Anyway he is at the BOSE outlet right now purchasing them.I showed him speakers by KEF,NHT,B&W etc etc. He was not interested. My question is how will this system he is purchasing (lifestyles 12 series 2 home theater) compare to something in the same price range (receiver, center, surround, sub, mains as well as the dvd player)? thanks for any information you can give.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The correct spelling is Blose! smile.gif Lots of people like them, but just set the EQ controls to "flat" and see how lousy they sound. As a rule, Blose puts the least $ content in their speakers for every $ of MSRP of any speaker manufacturer, or so I've been told. They sure sound like it to me. I wouldn't accept them as a prize in a contest.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to work in the HT industry, and one of the products we sold was the Bose Lifestyle systems. We had a great slogan for them:

"No Highs....

No Lows.....

It's Bose...."

These speakers can sound really good when auditioning them because they are so jacked-up in the midrange. They usually don't stand up to careful listening, and Bose supplied specific demo disks to use. But I can't tell you how many people, after getting them home and listening to them with their own music, and own movies, ended up returning them after a couple weeks. Now, to be honest, Bose can be ok for things like Jazz and some movies (usually not good for action movis though). Forget it if you listen to Rock/Pop/or really anything other than Jazz or light classical. Bose will usually tell salesmen to use a Disney movie or one of the Batman movies to demo the system, because they have a lot of midrange, and very little highs or low end.

Some people prefer this type of sound, and if that's you, the Bose is a good compact choice. For most people, they end up being disappointed with it after a few weeks - and with the price, you can usually get a good separate set. Hope this helps.

Wrigley

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If he is so set on Bose I doubt that you can find anything that will compare to what he is buying. Many people will tell you that Bose has been able to get a huge following because of their marketing not the quality of thier product. Complete package sytems are generally a bad idea. One problem with what he is buying is that it will be next to impossible to upgrade it as newer decoding technologies come out. He is buying a 5.1 setup and 6.1 has recently come out. If he wants to check out DTS he is out of luck there too as the Bose system does not appear to have DTS decoding. For the $2K he is spending you can easily get the Klipsch System 6, a receiver that has DD and DTS decoding built in and a DVD player that is more than comparable to the free one from Bose and you will be able to upgrade pieces and add speakers as new technologies become available.

------------------

Yamaha HTR-5150

SF-1

SC-1

SS-1

KSW-150

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wrigley,

you are so right.

I was almost gone with such a system.

Good I listened secondly to my CD & DVD's.

And indeed the midrange is totaly absent.

Also the low is not comparable to the system I now have (see below).

But this is only for the sound. Did you take

a look to that small control center. I tought

it was Alu metal. No way, "plastic".

The connection to the bass module, oh boy...

Not to speak what kind of amplification there is in the bass unit...

But the worst of all : you have no idee how loud you are playing smile.gif. Indeed there is no way the control center indicates any kind of volume level. That was to much for me smile.gif.

So my system:

DVD: pioneer DV-525

Receiver: Onkyo-DS676

Front Speakers: RF3

Surround: RF3

Center: RC-3

TV: Thomson 46" RearProjection

Sparky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I HATE when people get brainwashed by that Bose crap. I was telling a friend of mine about my Klipsches.. He laughed at me because he thought that since he had never heard of Klipsch, they were some sort of bargain brand. I'm going to have him over to hear them soon, hopefully that'll change his mind. wink.gif

Sadly, he thinks that Sony, JBL, JVC, etc. make good speakers, and Bose makes the best ones. He has the Bose factory stereo in his car. As an experiement, we bypassed the big equalizer they bolt to each speaker; it could not have sounded any worse. I was astonished. Unfortunately, that didn't change his opinion of Bose, in fact I think that made him appreciate Bose more because of the "technology" they use. Pheh.

If you want a good laugh, go to Best Buy and listen to the Bose section. Their 201 and 301 bookshelf speakers are astonishingly bad. Just try cranking up the volume on those puppies! I also tried the Acoustimess. Yuck. There were three different "bass modules" next to each other, I could easily tell which one was playing from several feet away. Aren't they suppsed to play freqs that are low enough to be non-directional?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys are awesome, thank you for all of the information. It helped me to convince my friend to take that trash back. right now I am telling him to come with me to the local home theater store to try out something similar to the klipsch series 6. thanks a million. I saw a site once where a guy took a part the klipsch system and pointed out the flaws? I was wondering if anyone had the link to this site? thanks for everything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My second question is for my friend and me as well it is about the klipsch system 6, is this a good purchase? I currently only have the klipsch promedia (4.1) computer speakers but i really love the sound they produce. I have heard a lot better but not computer speakers and not in the same price range. thank you for any info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mixmaster, it matters more what you think about the speakers(or your friend if he is the purchaser). I don't know of any "flaws" in the speakers. CNET did do a "review"(I use that term loosely) of the system, and I don't think that it could really be used as a reliable source in making a decision on whether to purchase or not since the review consisted of about 4 paragraphs and didn't give any details on the setup for the test.

The ideal situation would be to audition them at home and see how you like them. I don't personally know any dealers who will let you do this. However, the next best thing is to buy from a dealer who will let you return the speakers if you do not like them. You can and probably should listen to the speakers there at the store with material you bring, not the stuff the store uses. Also try to use the equipment you are interested in buying when you listen to the speakers as receivers and CD/DVD players vary.

------------------

Yamaha HTR-5150

SF-1

SC-1

SS-1

KSW-150

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello everyone,

I was once captured by the Bose advertisement campaign. (Once being the key word!!) My first reciever was a SOny Prologic (Yah I know! Crap). I hooked up the Accostamas 6. I was shocked at the quality, or lack there of, sound. Thinking it was the reciever, I upgraded the the Sony STR-V333ES. Still not happy, I returned the Bose and exchanged them for another Accostamas 6. After all Bose was the best. Still not happy, I upgraded to the Accostamas 15 (Bose's best Home Theater system). Now keep in mind, with brackets and stands I am now in it for $1600. The experice of a Bose system: No high, no (or weak) mids, and rumbling earpeircing base.

I again returned them a decided to call it quits on Bose. My father has Klipsch Hersays and I always liked them. I now have the Reference series (by the way they cost the same as what I spent with Bose). They are amazing.

Theme: STAY AWAY FROM BOSE. THEY ARE NOT WORTH THE MONEY!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mmLRH,

>My second question is for my friend and me as well it is about the klipsch system 6, is this a good purchase?<

The Promedia are usually placed close to the user sitting by the computer system. Klipsch Satellite speakers sound good close and are best when your room space is limited. The bigger the room, the more sound you will need to fill it. It will all depend on the room. Getting too much speaker for a small room isn't good either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 years later...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all, tell your friend he was sold an obsolete system http://www.smarthome.com/972422.html

It has been obsolete for a few years now, but Bose or dealers still have some stock. It does not even have a standard Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 decoder. It uses a Blose proprietary decodes system that does who knows what!

Does not have a built in DVD player...it is only a CD player! I used to sell the Lifestyle 8...and was ashamed of it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...