ellis2x's Full Review: Bose Lifestyle 28 Theater System
First off, I should state that I work at a major electronics retail store in the home theater department. Every single day, I try my best to put on a happy face as I show customers the multi-thousand dollar Bose packages available. As far as sales go, Bose makes me very happy, as it would any salesman. As far as being a loyal home theater hobbyist, though, Bose comes up short in almost every area.
By revealing that I work in electronics, I am in no way trying to boast that I am more suited to evaluating products such as these, but I do think my job lends me a unique perspective on these products. With that in mind, then, let's begin.
I will admit that Bose does a phenominal job in two areas. First, their systems do have a knack for being incredibly easy to use and operate. The remotes are emblematic of simplicity, and the systems couldn't be easier to set up. Secondly, Bose is second to none when it comes to customer loyalty. People who have owned Bose before will voraciously defend the brand, extolling the proprietary (gag) technologies that Bose employs.
As far as the Lifestyle28 (or most other Bose systems, for that matter) goes, there are just so many flaws that I could never see paying $2500 for it. First and foremost, the sound quality is subpar at best. As much as they would like to believe, those tiny speakers just aren't capable of handling the full dynamic range of a movie soundtrack or musical composition. Bose's answer to this is the Acoustimass module, a combination amplifier/equalizer/subwoofer system. Bose claims that the tubing design inside the module allows for the rather small woofer to act like one of its' much larger brothers. This type of subwoofer design is called a transmission line subwoofer, and it can be very effective. Unfortunately, with such a small woofer (and one designed around a paper woofer with foam rings as opposed to much more durable and versatile rubber rings) and such a crammed port design, the definition of the bass gets all but lost, and the system is capable of shaking only the weakest of foundations.
Moving on to the much praised Direct/Reflecting speakers, there is much to be said about their size. On the other hand, there is much more to be said about the sound quality. All else being equal, little speakers just can't work as well as bigger ones. This is extremely evident in bombastic action sequences or crashing crescendos in music, and the sound seems to crumble into incoherency as the tiny little speakers struggle to catch up.
This brings up my biggest issue with the system, and one that I have had to fight with every day. The most impressive part of the demo for these speakers in my store is the dedicated disply that plays music through the rear speakers. And once you get this system home, there will be plenty of sound coming out of those rears. Let's look at it this way, though. Over 50% of everything you hear in a movie soundtrack is supposed to come out of the single center channel speaker. About 30-40% comes out of the front left and right speakers, and the remaining 10% or so comes out of the rear speakers. And during music, only the front left and right speakers should be used, along with the subwoofer. Point being, what sense does it make to have identical speakers in every location? Not much, considering each location has a vastly different job. On top of that, the processing in the Bose system has an annoying tendency to take information out of the center channel and spread it through the front and rear, effectively cancelling out the director's decisions when it comes to sound engineering. This is not how a movie is meant to sound, folks.
I know that this system is intended mainly for video use, with DVDs being the primary source. There are some of us, though, who still require a great sounding stereo system for music. Any audiophile will tell you that music is meant to be heard through two channel stereo (unless it's the new Super Audio or DVD-Audio formats, which merit an entire rant unto themsleves) and this system falls remarkably short in this area. And by short, I don't just mean 'it fails to meet expectation', I mean it just palin sucks. There is no bass definition to be found, the treble is muffled, and the midrange has been distorted so much by the proprietary (gripe) technology that supposedly betters the experience.
There are so many other systems that sound so much better for so much less. I'll admit, you can't do much better for the size and stupid-proofness. But in this price range, there is such a large swath of merchandise hat firmly kicks the Bose out of the ring, out of the arena and out of the parking lot. Look into Definitive Technology, Canton, Energy, Magnepan, Bowers and Wilkins, M&K, Boston Acoustics, Vienna Acoustics, HSU Research, and many more.
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