Rating: 
Summary: Bose LS 28 is excellent value for money to the right buyer.
Review: ...I am a professional musician and audio enthusiast of some 15 years experience. I live in an inner-city part of Sydney and space is tight. I run two systems with Bose as HT also driving a Denon amp with a set of Krix Equinox speakers (these are an excellent audiophile quality Australian speaker). I shopped around and agonised over this purchase and I am completely convinced it was the best system for me. I am also a visual artist and have some experience with marketing, which brings me to a fundamental point about Bose that the self-professed audiophiles just don't get. There is more to a home theatre system than pure sonic accuracy. Aesthetics, expandability, ease of use and extremely compact design are legitimate and valuable considerations when choosing a home theatre system. Different buyers will weight them differently, but to argue that Bose is overpriced when compared to other products based on sonic accuracy alone is unfair and plain insulting to discriminating purchasers of their products.What other product has such discrete speakers, a single beautiful head unit, such easy setup, so few connections, and can drive a second system in another room easily with an RF remote? If these things are important to you, the Bose Lifestyle 28 is excellent value. Unbeatable. Finally, the sound from this system is amazing. There are certainly comparable sub-sat configurations, and if you want big speakers and a number of seperate components there is no question better sound can be had for less money. But this is not the value proposition from Bose, and there is no pretence on their part that it is.
Rating: 
Summary: shop for something better
Review: ..and save a load of money. We've had this system for some months now and are learning to truly dislike it. The sound is not natural, the controls are confusing and for the price, it has to be the worst value in home entertainment on the market. Of the two stars I give it, one is for the ruggedness of the remote and the other is for my admiration of the company's slick marketing that got us to shell out the big bucks for this featureless turkey. My advice? Get something else.
Rating:
Summary: Great Sound, Crazy Price!
Review: Bose makes great audio products. The Lifestyle 28 produces an incredible sound with high volume and no distortion at all. These speakers are only different from the old ones in that they are smaller and have bigger decibals for volume. But the price is simply ridiculous. For half the price you could get a Klipsch Synergy system, true power with perfect fidelity. The price you are paying for the Bose speakers are just for the fact that they are small and easily conceilable, not because they have the best sound (because they don't) or because they look great (because they don't).
Rating: 
Summary: Overprice Junk
Review: Bought it hoping it would sound nice in one small unit big mistake. speaker lack on low's (bass). Speaker's are poorly design come people no metal encasing not even going to talk about how the cone of the speaker was made. The amp in this unit sound like it is only pushing 15 watt's. Bose overrate
techical specifications. This thing only cost them about $300.00 to produced. come people you could have put at less $1200 into making this thing. to make this simple return the Bose, and when with a Pioneer vsx-d912 Receiver, Pioneer Elite M-10 2 ch Amp and polk 3-way floorstanding speakers (RTI12BK) also there home theater speakers, With pioneer dvd burner. sound way better then the bose lifestyle 28. take my word test the bose and other system there before buying the lifestyle you won't like it. people who have this system a good rating must be hard of hearing or it they first system. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS OVERPRICED JUNK. NEVER BUYING BOSE AGAIN.
Rating: 
Summary: it a nice system
Review: But if u are action movie fans this system is not for u it lacks the power. if u do buy it up grade the cube speaker to the book shelf speaker like the 301 V or 201 V. this system is for those who are a Romance or Love movie fan it will fit all there needs. and those who are looking for a good system with speaker that u cant see bose will fit it. but u can buy other system at better prices from sony, Kenwood, JBL and have good sound just like bose. Look this system is alright but not great for the price and people like myself who love action movies.
Rating:
Summary: Bose - Better sound through Advertising
Review: Consumers should do their research before shelling out money for Bose speakers. A google search will bring you to epinions or audioreview websites where you can find review after review from buyers of Bose products. The commonly accepted wisdom in audio circles is that Bose makes low audio quality products and sells them at very high prices. In other words those Polk, JBL, Wharfedale or Infinity mid-fi products you can find at Amazon are usually higher quality at much better price points. Compare the sound if you ever get a chance. Make sure you DO NOT depend on volume, in other words volume is a bad indicater of quality. Listen for the high and low notes and to the clarity of the music. Tough to do in a showroom at Circuit City or Best Buy, but even there the differences will show up. Bose attempts to prevent consumers from doing this by segregating their products away from the competition. After this you might look at online audio magazines (do a google search), Audioreview (one word) and Audiogon. You'll find whole NEW world of audio products such as PSB, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Quad, Sonus Faber, ACI and many more who's products will put you on a much higher level of audio than you'd ever imagine. Usually these speakers are SEVERAL times more electronically sophisticated than Bose at the same price! Good luck and happy hunting!
Rating:
Summary: I am not impressed
Review: For [the money] you can be totally blown away by a speaker system. Try getting a Harmon/Kardon 7.1 45 WPC Reciever with Infinity floorstanding with sub, infinity center, and any high quality surround speakers and you will be absolutely impressed and you will ask yourself why you ever thought Bose was right for you. Bose - Better sound through advertising?
Rating:
Summary: Great sound - less features
Review: I always wanted a Bose. I have several friends who had the WAVE radio, and i figured
it would be really cool to have the Big System for everything (DVDc, CDs, MP3s, etc).
No more piles of machines lying around my TV.
BUT... what I found out was shocking.
1) The system sounds Great. It's tough to tell what is real, and what is coming from
the speakers. This is good.
2) It's got more then enough base to get you going. You have a separate Base control
to max. it out, if you want. After that, even Enya sounds like a Club-Mix.
3) My $110, 7 year old DVD player, has more features. The Bose cost $3000!!!!
---- a)Slow motion, play backward, step frames (forward-reverse), one button audio control,
one button subtitles control: are all NOT available on the Bose, but ARE on
my $110 Player.
---- b)The Bose is SO sensitive. My $110 Player can play ANYTHING. Scratched or
whatever. the Bose freezes on several DVDs (Disney's most of all).
4) Music is played funny. It would be nice if the sound came from EVERYWHERE,
But it comes from the focus point you set. ie. the TV. There are 5 speakers (one on
your TV, then one on each side of the TV, then two speakers behind you, are the surround
sound speakers). The 2 behind you get less sound. This makes sense when watching movies,
but listening to music should be different. Overall it's a great system. I bought it for the sound, and I watch lots of DVDs, but I want
more control in my remote. I hope Bose comes out with a better controller soon.
Rating:
Summary: Paying for a name.
Review: I bought a Bose Lifestyle 35 system in Denver, CO, at the Cherry Creek Mall Bose Outlet. Prior to purchase, I was brought into a sound studio in the store to listen to "the system". It sounded pretty impressive. I brought the unit home, hooked it up and listened. Honestly, I had a hard time telling whether the Bose system or my television speakers were on. Very disappointed. I turned up the volume a bit (about 75% of max) and the center cube speaker blew. Very disappointed. I did some research and learned a lot. Bose does not publish a lot of the specs one would expect to be published on any audio system, let alone such an expensive one. People in the field think poorly of Bose quality and value, period. I called Bose Headquarters, the store in Denver, and a local dealer inquiring about returning the unit. I was told I must drive the unit back to Denver (250 miles from my home, over the mountains, in the snow) to return it, which I did. When I did, the store manager informed me that there is a mail-in return policy and I didn't need to waste an entire day, let alone drive so far in such conditions. He asked if there was anything else I was unhappy about (besides the salesgirl not informing me that I was to receive a free Wave Radio with the purchase; by the way, I liked the Wave Radio a lot but it is also overpriced), and I asked him if the system in the demo studio in the store is the same system I purchased. I mean, after all, they shine pretty spotlights on it and completely lead you to believe that's what you're listening to. "I don't believe anyone said that to you, did they?" was my response. Unbelievable. It turns out that what you hear in the studio is a specially recorded track (made by the designers of the system to accentuate the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of the system) played on an $8000 digital tape player! I subsequently purchased a $500 Onkyo 6.1 channel (not 5.1, like the Bose) system from Circuit City and am completely thrilled. It sounds FAR better than the Bose, for 1/7 the price. Goodbye, Bose, forever.
Rating:
Summary: Paying for a name.
Review: I bought a Bose Lifestyle 35 system in Denver, CO, at the Cherry Creek Mall Bose Outlet. Prior to purchase, I was brought into a sound studio in the store to listen to "the system". It sounded pretty impressive. I brought the unit home, hooked it up and listened. Honestly, I had a hard time telling whether the Bose system or my television speakers were on. Very disappointed. I turned up the volume a bit (about 75% of max) and the center cube speaker blew. Very disappointed. I did some research and learned a lot. Bose does not publish a lot of the specs one would expect to be published on any audio system, let alone such an expensive one. People in the field think poorly of Bose quality and value, period. I called Bose Headquarters, the store in Denver, and a local dealer inquiring about returning the unit. I was told I must drive the unit back to Denver (250 miles from my home, over the mountains, in the snow) to return it, which I did. When I did, the store manager informed me that there is a mail-in return policy and I didn't need to waste an entire day, let alone drive so far in such conditions. He asked if there was anything else I was unhappy about (besides the salesgirl not informing me that I was to receive a free Wave Radio with the purchase; by the way, I liked the Wave Radio a lot but it is also overpriced), and I asked him if the system in the demo studio in the store is the same system I purchased. I mean, after all, they shine pretty spotlights on it and completely lead you to believe that's what you're listening to. "I don't believe anyone said that to you, did they?" was my response. Unbelievable. It turns out that what you hear in the studio is a specially recorded track (made by the designers of the system to accentuate the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of the system) played on an $8000 digital tape player! I subsequently purchased a $500 Onkyo 6.1 channel (not 5.1, like the Bose) system from Circuit City and am completely thrilled. It sounds FAR better than the Bose, for 1/7 the price. Goodbye, Bose, forever.
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