BOSE 321 GS Series II DVD Home Entertainment System - Silver

Rating:
Summary: Great sound and easy to setup
Review: After spending 4 weeks investigating wireless home theater system. I realized that they are not really wireless. So finally I came across this Bose 321 GS II System. I went to my local electronic store to listen to the sound and I was blown away. The price is not cheap but you really get what you pay for. The sound quality is excellent. I can't believe this is only from two speakers and a subwoofer. Now I am even able to listen to my regular TV program in surround sound. The setup process is easy to get you started. Everything you need is included in the box. The universal remote control is great. Now I am only using one for my TV, VCR, and Cable box. If you want to take full advantage of this BOSE system then you might want to think about buying extra cables which is all described in the setup CD.

Rating:
Summary: The Home Theater for a Dorm or Small Apartment
Review: I wanted a surround sound system for my 1 bedroom apartment, but, didn't want to have cables cluttering up the floor. I have allways liked the sound of Bose speakers having used them since back in the 70's.
I orriginally was going to go with the 3-2-1 base system but I listened to them side by side and went with the GS II.
After a simple set up I inserted the demo DVD-CD that came with the system. I was totally blown away. Good bass, and although nothing really can replace 5.1 for sound placement, there were sounds that I could tell were definetally coming from front center, and rear right and left.
The system isn't cheap, but I feal you get what you pay for.

Rating:
Summary: worth about $400
Review: My neighbor bought this system, mainly because his wife liked its compactness and sleek look. Sure, I have no argument against that---about the only thing Bose is good for is pretty looks. Actual performance and value, however, is uniformly dismal with Bose products and this one is no exception.

This system claims to deliver "surround" sound basically by running some funny algorithms on the music, i.e. using funny equalization and minute time delays. The result? A thin and distinctly unnatural sound, especially when listening to music, or any movies that have lots of midrange-intensive orchestral music. It's OK if all you watch is explosions and car chases though. The bottom line is that there is NO substitute for having bona fide surround speakers, as well as bona fide decent electronics not just pretty little cases which Bose does so well.

For less than half the price of this system, you can get an Onkyo boxed system which blows it out of the water effortlessly in all departments. That's what my neighbor did, even though he lost a lot of brownie points with his wife---but now even she has to admit the Onkyo sounds a million times better.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING for what it is, and then some
Review: PROS: Amazing sound from such a small unit. Looks beautiful. Easy to use on screen menus and setup DVD. Sound quality is top notch. Gets SO close to sounding like a true 5.1 system!

CONS: A bit pricey. It's not a TRUE surround system. Typical of Bose, the highs are very high.

REVIEW: It's amazing, for what it is. I was scared of the idea of running wires through the walls especially in a home that we're moving out of in a few months, so i was seeking an all-in-one small footprint system to hold me over until the new house is built [which will have a dedicated theater]. This IS the system. forget about the price for a second, you get an ELEGANT looking system, that takes virtually NO space. In my book that's worth the few hundred extra dollars. AND it sounds amazing..I'll admit it sounded alot better in the demo room at the Bose store, BUT it's still worlds above and beyond most (all non-bose) out of the box systems. Some complain about Bose having poor high range performance and their overall sound quality, but I have always been a fan of their speakers and have heard more expensive setups and still went back to Bose. To each is own, when it comes to your aural preference, and I prefer Bose so this was a no brainer. It's great...not true surround, but it's darn close!

Rating:
Summary: Good music/Bad video/Gimmicky surround sound
Review: Strengths: 

Really good sound from only 2 small speakers and bass module
 
Weaknesses: 
 
Horrible DVD performance on HDTV/questionable surround sound reproduction

Summary:
 
Music sounds great on this system. I like how big and clear the sound is without being overmodulated and that it comes from such a small package. It is well built, simple to set up and use, and frankly, just an elegant piece of equipment. However, I am returning it tomorrow.

The DVD video quality is horrible! I'm not exaggerating. The picture is so bad at times, that it looks almost solarized. The picture looks like a computer monitor set to thousands of colors. It is really distracting and in no way acceptable in a system that costs more that $1400.

Surround sound reproduction from the (2) speaker system is just ok. You do get a sense that there is a center speaker, but rear imaging is just not there. It's not even better that my TV's built-in pseudo surround sound.

Inputs on the back are limited to (1) AUX and (1) Cable/Sat input. I like to keep it simple, that's why I bought this system after all, but it is so limiting that I can't even hook up a VCR and an iPod at the same time. Geez.

I wanted to like this system, and I do for music, but that's not enough to justify the price.
 

Rating:
Summary: Great system for simplicity
Review: This bose 321GSii is great for its simplicity and beauty. The media player is good. I have tried alot of dvd types. As long as your computer (real player in PC or laptop) can read the dvd, this bose can will read it just fine.

About the true surround sound, I feel it projects sounds around my small room very well. Don't be fool with the comercial demo disc from bestbuy or circuit city. You will be dissapointed for the first few days because the sound you get from your regular movies will not be that good.

It does an excellent job on music and nice job on movies. I connect Sony HD receiver to this bose, I got a nice TV sound filling the room and dont want to listen to the speaker from my TV anymore :)

I think the base is not quite strong, but after increase the base up to 5 to 8 points. I feel it is good.

If you have a small room, and dont want wire everywhere. This system is perfect. I have to admit that this system does not produce good sound effect like having a GOOD 5 speaker system. and this small bose speakers can't beat tower speakers obviously. But when talking about the sound in term of speaker size and beauty, it is just amazing.