Bose CineMateâ„¢ Speaker System

Pros: Ease of use, ease of setup, great sound, clutter free.
Cons: No treble or bass adjustments.

Bose clearly advertises the CineMate System as an enhancement to your home theater, and Bose delivers. The CineMate system is of very high quality and installs with ease. The CineMate is targeted at a viewer who is looking to upgrade a TV sound system, ...

Pros: Bring high end sound to TV and DVD in a bedroom or den
Cons: A bit pricey.

Let's say you have a TV in a bedroom or den. Chances are, since DVD players are so cheap, you have one of those connected as well. Odds are that you don't have a full surround sound home theater set-up though. First, they can be large and expensive, and ...

Pros: Easy Set-Up, Bose Quality Sound, Ease of Use
Cons: Bose generally sacrifices bass response

I think some of you are missing the essential point of this system. BOSE does not advertise this as a 5.1 replacement system, but as an upgrade to television sound. Those who know sound quality will tell you TV speakers are horrible, and $500 for a sound ...

Pros: Easy to put together Clear tv sound Customer Support Techs that don't quit
Cons: Trying to reach customer support (hours) The buzz

I received my Cinemate system two days ago and it took me (a tech savvy person) about 6 hours to install this system over the two days. It was very easy to put the system together (about 20 minutes) but then I turned it on. I had a loud buzz/hum that ...

Pros: Sounds better than the stock speakers built into the television.
Cons: For this price you can find better quality/sounding speakers. No bass.

I listened to this set up in the store many times and it always sounded great, but then I received it for Christmas and set it up in my home and was very disappointed!

There is no bass at all from this very large powered sub-woofer, which blows my mind.  As others have mentioned, there is also no treble or base adjustments at all.

I would not recommend this to anyone.  You can spend the same amount of money and get a 5.1 surround sound system with a powered sub-woofer that will produce very nice bass for this price.

Pros: Easy to install,compact and it serves it purpose.Easy to program Universal remote control.
Cons: Expensive but maybe high cost means good quality.

I bought one and has been a week, I'm figuring it out how to increase the base of a cinemate system.Because, I'm not satisfied initially of what I'm hearing and hardly you can't hear the base (woofer) and it got a very pale sound. I want to return it back but not after trying an experiment,I took the variable audio output of a tv to a bose cinemate system and set the volume to least 80%(the best position that I tested it w/c gives the best sound). Put the tv speakers to off. WALLAH!, its indeed a bose speaker and good bose sound coming from it.Big improvement of sound. Very satisfied!

Pros: EASY to set up. Outstanding high end frequencies from two speakers.
Cons: The bass output is downright pathetic. No adjustment for the bass either!

Well, I knew already that Bose has never been known for their subwoofer (Acoustimass® modules) as they call them. But I never expected to have to sit just a couple of feet away to even hear it. No level control either?! The regular speakers sound crisp and clear even across the room as if you were listening to your TV through expensive headphones.

Well I've decided to now go and get a separate powered subwoofer that has a level control. Get a splitter for the A/V cables and go with that.

Pros: Very complete system for it's size. Very easy to hook up. It sounds awesome.
Cons: None

I just hooked everything up, and I am sorry for some of the other sad reviews, but my system is great. The sound is everything I had expected from Bose, so much better than the TV speakers. It has a rich, robust sound that is really nice on the ears, granted the base does not vibrate the pictures off the wall, but to me, it has a perfect base range. I would highly recommend this system.

Pros: No multiple speakers to place!
Cons: Maybe the price. Paid $499 @ Best Buy. Worth it tho!

Wonderful sound. Very easy to set up, in fact my 13 year old hooked up everything needed. It also has a instructional video to help with step by step instructions. We added this to our 42 inch plasma that we hung above our fireplace, and the difference is incredible. Music is especially enhanced. I like not having several surround sound speakers all over the family room, also. Just 2 speakers placed to each side of the television, no more than 3 feet away.

Pros: Typical good, not great, Bose sound
Cons: Everything else, including no volume or bass/treble control. For $500, you can do much better.

Although Bose advertising implies that this system contains speakers that can be mounted on the wall next to your television, it cannot be accomplished, even with the extra($70) brackets they sell for that purpose. The plugs are so big, you would have to punch a hole the size of a baseball in your wall to facilitate this...AND the wires are too short. So, unless your television is inside a cabinet with shelves on either side, forget this system. Go buy speakers from a company that sells what they advertise.

Pros: Great sound and easy setup.
Cons: Would like to be able to adjust the bass and treble.

I bought this product because I didn't want to get in the attic and wire surround speakers. I already had a great DVD player. I ordered the unit Monday 10:00 AM and it was on my door step Tuesday before 10:00 AM. The sound is really awesome on movies. Music is noticeably better than before.

Pros: small
Cons: sound quality and price

i have the bose wave system and was very impressed with the sound quality. i didn't imagine such big sound from such a small thing. so i decided to buy the cinemate to go with my plasma. it sounded horrible. the cyber acoustic system i had hooked up to my computer sounded better. i went back to the store to return it and told them my problem and they said its because it didnt come with a receiver like the acoustimass. i agree all the other bose products with a receiver/dvdplayer/cd player hooked up to the speakers sound waaay better that the cinemate

bottom line- if your going to spend 400 for a cinemate your better off buying a 5 speaker system from samsung or sony for the same price you get 5 speakers.

Pros: Ease of setup. Ummmmm.........that's pretty much it.
Cons: NO BASS. No settings controls. Pretty much everything.

If you are buying this system hoping for 5.1 sound, do not waste your money. Yes, it is easy to setup. Yes, it IS bose. Yes, it is under $500. That, however, is where the positive things to say about this system ends. If you are just looking to merely "enhance" you televisions internal speakers, this will do just that. A noticeable change I admit, but certainly not a $500 change. My wife was unfamiliar with all forms of audio equipment. When I hooked the bose system, she was astounded by the sound. I immediately said, "it's goin back". Puzzled, and dissapointed, she agreed. I told her to trust me. So I did, what I should have done to begin with. Bought a receiver, picked up some infinity speakers and spent the 2 hours setting it up. I put in the same DVD as before "Lord of the Rings" and played the same section of the movie. There was no comparison, the Bose system was put to shame. We spent a little extra $$$ on this setup, but myself and wife agreed, it was extra money well spent.

Pros: Easy set up.
Cons: Defective Unit. It simply does not work.

Most excellent paper weight I ever bought for $499.

The remote works great...programming it to control TV & DVD player was a snap. However the Interface unit is defective making the whole Bose System totally USELESS.

Pros: Easy set-up.
Cons: Zero bass -- less than the built-in TV speakers.

The CineMate demo system on display in the store truly sounded fantastic. Crisp sound with deep booming bass during film clips, and excellent sound reproduction during concert clips. Having owned both a Bose Acoustic Wave unit and a Bose Wave Radio in the past, I expected Bose to deliver on the bass, assuming they used their wave technology in the Acoustimass. Sure sounded like it in the store. So I bought the unit, hooked it up, and -- no bass. I could not hear the Acoustimass farther away than 6 inches. The built-in TV speakers sound much better. Could be a defective unit? Perhaps. Truly disappointing.