bdolcourt's Full Review: Bose Lifestyle 30 Theater System
Before I begin, this review is about the Bose Lifestyle 50 system (for which there is no category). It is the direct successor to the Lifestyle 30 system. Most of what I have to say about the 50 is applicable to the 30, however I only have direct experience with the Lifestyle 50.
Why is this system different than any other?
Bose is developing their new sound systems under the premise that the system should be heard but not seen. They believe that racks of equipment are difficult to use and look ugly. They have invested effort into making all the components as small or as hidden as possible and to work with a little fiddling as possible.
First, they shrank the speakers. Instead of using full range speakers, the Lifestyle 50 uses 5 "Jewel Cube" speakers for high frequency sounds and the "Acoustimass Module" for bass. The Jewel Cubes are actually 2 speakers, one on top of another, that swivel for more control of directed and reflected sound. Each speaker element is 2" in diameter and uses a neodymium magnet. The Jewel cubes are quite small and come in white or black. The Acoustimass module is thinner and somewhat longer than a normal subwoofer (dimensions from the Bose Web site: 14" high, 23" wide, 7.5" deep). It handles the system’s woofer and subwoofer duties. It contains all the amplifiers for the Jewel Cube speakers. By moving the amplifiers, Bose was able to shrink the size of the base station (what used to be the tuner/amp) and move the amps out of sight. Colors for the Acoustimass module are the same as the Jewel Cubes.
The base station is an AM/FM tuner and has an integrated 6 CD, magazine style player. It is about the size of 2" 3-ring binder. The base station is capable of Dolby Digital decoding and Bose’ own "Videostage 5" (a system that takes a non-surround sound signal and gives it a false surround sound). It has 4 Audio inputs, at least one of which can accept an optical, digital source. The base station also has four speaker outputs. The Bose representative claims the LS50 can play four separate sources to four rooms simultaneously (I was not able to independently verify this). The alternate outputs are stereo and not surround. The base station is silver with rounded edges and is quite stylish.
The remote control is a sight to see. Bose touts it as a "Personal Music Center." It is a large (8 x 4 or so), oval that is held width wise and has an LCD screen. It uses layered menus to keep the screen less cluttered and controls every function of the base station, including programming the CD player’s playlist. The center of the remote screen contains the volume control and does not change in response to selected menus. The remote control uses RF instead of infrared to communicate with the base station, so the signal can travel from room to room even with obstructions. The range is 60-70 feet.
Notable differences between the Lifestyle 50 and the Lifestyle 30:
1) The LS30’s remote control is a “standard” RF remote. It does not have an LCD screen and the system must be programmed at the base station.
2) The LS30 only has 2 speaker outputs
3) The Acoustimass module for the LS30 (and lower) is not considered a subwoofer. I’ll say that again. To have a true subwoofer, you need to buy the LS50 system. I didn’t believe this at first, but the rep I spoke to emphasized this point (of course he might have wanted to up his sale).
That’s great, but how does it sound?
The system sounds really good...at first. The highs and mids are crisp and clean with no distortion. The jewel cubes can put out a lot of clean sound. I am impressed. The neodymium magnets are a great improvement (a friend has one of the previous generation systems). The Acoustimass module also has a powerful bass sound that doesn’t seem to boom at all. So why did I add the qualifier "at first?"
To answer this question requires a little bit of the theory behind what Bose is trying to do. It is actually the same idea that is used in higher end computer speakers: Make speakers that can do highs well and a speaker that does lows well and you should get good sound as the two speakers work together to make the mids. At a certain point, the ear cannot distinguish where the lows are coming from, so all the lows can come from a central point with out ruining the stereo effect. It is a nice idea and it works...some of the time.
When listening to classical music, or most stereo sounds, the system works pretty well, especially in a smaller room where Bose’ attention to reflected sound works. There is a caveat: if you are too close to the Acoustimass module you hear way too much bass and the mix suffers. This also happens in a smaller room.
The problems with this audio scheme become apparent when the system is used with soundtracks engineered for Dolby Digital (5 separate channels of audio plus low frequency effects). For loud scenes, the sound is pretty good. Your ear is fooled most of the time and it sounds clean and well engineered. The problem is that when 5 discrete channels of sound are used, all the lower frequency sounds are shuttled from the speaker it is supposed to come from to the Acoustimass module. No matter what the reps tell you, you notice.
In the Bose store, I, and two others watched selected scenes from "Galaxy Quest," specifically the space battle scenes. During one portion, the camera is over the ship when it fires missiles, first from one side of the ship, then the other. I expected to hear the sound shift from the back speaker and fade forward, first left, then right. I didn’t hear it either time we watched the scene that day. When I commented, the rep stated that this was a poorly engineered DVD (that begs the question of why they chose it then). The next day, I rented the same movie and tried it on my system, which has full range speakers in all five positions. The sound separation was clean and obvious. The afore mentioned scene sounded exactly the way I expected, fading from the left-back speaker forward, then from the right back speaker forward. Just to confirm that I wasn’t imagining things, I went back to the Bose store and confirmed that the separation just wasn’t present when the movie was played on the Lifestyle 50.
The second trip back also showed me something else: the low-mid range on this system is weak. The speakers just can’t do everything they are trying to do and still be the size they are. We were able to listen to a much wider variety of music on the LS50 that day. The weaknesses just became clearer and clearer. When listening to soft classical music that frequently changes tone, the weakness almost jumps out. I wasn’t the only one to notice; The person I went with also agreed that the low-mid range was weak.
Other things of note
1) Since the base station doesn’t have any amplifiers you need to use Bose' powered speaker systems for your "B" speakers. At 1,500 bucks, that is a bit step.
2) The system doesn’t have a graphic equalizer. It is supposed to adjust and equalize the room itself. When I asked how that works, I was told, "Well."
3) For all its complexity, the remote isn’t too bad. It took a few minutes to get used to the menus, but it is pretty intuitive, quite powerful, and easy to read. Programming the system from the couch is nice. Watch out…you might never leave your back.
4) You will still need a DVD player, VCR, or cassette player if you want those options. This kind of negates Bose' "low profile" goal.
5) The LS50 remote will not work with any other device you have, nor will it accept commands from any Universal Remote. It’s one more thing on the coffee table.
6) The LS50 does not work with DTS encoded DVDs and there are no plans to included it.
What does it all mean?
The system looks good. Bose may be onto something. It is very low profile and I like the idea of smaller components. I might even consider buying one of the lower-level, 3 speaker systems. I must admit though, that my two star rating is somewhat deceptive. The system really does sound good...most of the time. The flaw in the Lifestyle 50 is that you spend extra money to get a sound this system can’t deliver. Surround Sound utilizes each speaker independently. Trying to make one speaker do the duty of 5 doesn’t work. It actually seems antithetical to the idea of surround sound. Moreover, because of the double duty nature of the Acoustimass module, low-mid range sounds suffer too. It is a nice try on Bose part, but it just doesn’t work as well as they want or advertise.
The lack of DTS is notable as well. This system is supposed to last a long time. Not including current technology in something of this price gives me pause. You can’t just swap out components on this one. To move to new technology requires repurchasing the whole thing! Talk about $$$!
This system is expensive. For the same money (or less) you can get something with full range speakers. It won’t be as small or as tidy, but it will provide clean sound all the way through the frequency spectrum. Most importantly, this "other" system will reproduce sound the way the artists and engineers wanted it heard, something the Lifestyle 50 just can't pull it off. When it comes down to it...isn’t that the real point?
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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