Bose Lifestyle 48 - Looks and sounds amazing.

I have no idea what these other people are talking about, but this system sounds and looks absolutely astonishing. It has the deepest bass, clear highs, and great compatibility with my video i-pod. The DVD/CD player is amazing. It stores tons of songs, and it was able to read CD's that neither my car cd player nor my old dvd/cd player were able to read. It must have a better sound processor. Moreover, it looks BEAUTIFUL! Every single person who has come to my apartment after I've had this installed is dazzled by the system's looks. The speakers are tiny, and the main unit looks futuristic. They're amazed that such huge sound can come from such TINY speakers - and so am I. I mean, it's relatively easy to get clear, loud noise out of a big bulky ugly squarish box, but these things are tiny little cubes. It's a step forward for mankind if you ask me. Look at it like this, a big american muscle car might make 400 horsepower using a 6 liter v8 engine - big deal, they're big ugly cars with big ugly engines. You expect them to have a huge amount of power. A Porsche 911 turbo can make more horsepower out of a mere 3.6 liter v6 engine- huge power out of a small, well engineered, attractive object. That's the difference I'm talking about.

Sound Quality:
The great thing about this system is that EVEN at low volumes, the sound is crystal clear and the bass is exceptional. I have turned it up loud - it still sounds great when it's loud. Bass is amazing. Watching the first 15 minutes of Saving Private Ryan is an experience with this system. You'll have to check yourself for bullet wounds.



Setup:

It was amazingly easy to set up. I once helped a friend set up an Onkyo 5.1 system. It was supposed to be a really great system. We read the manuals, set everything up properly (or to the best of our abilities), but we just couldn't get the rear speakers to work with Dvd's, video games, or CD's. It's not as if we're morons - we both have college degrees, and this is why it was such a nice feeling being able to set the Bose system up in about 20 minutes. The wires are color coded, and the ends are like phone jacks - they plug into the acoustimass unit. The acoustimass unit has a wire running to the head unit, and that's it. You're all set. Everything - all of the speakers worked the first time around. Also, with the AdaptiQ system one doesn't have to worry very much about speaker placement. It conforms to the shape of the room. Time saved on setup can be spent on enjoying the system. When you have a hectic schedule and little downtime, it's nice to know you can enjoy the system rather than having to fiddle with it constantly or worry about whether or not it IS in fact set up properly.

Ease of Use:
It has an RF remote, so I can flip through MP3 songs while I'm in the kitchen. Also, the user interface is great: the lifestyle system has an onscreen guide that lets you choose what genre, artist, album, and/or song to play. The uMusic system is great - it's a feature that learns what type of songs you like to listen to. All you have to do is hit the 'uMusic' button, and it will play songs you typically play or have rated with the convenient / - buttons.

As far as movie setup goes, you can decide how loud you want the rear speakers to play, whether you want more bass, less treble, etc. Moreover, everything is shown on-screen with pictures, icons, and descriptions.

Quality:
The speakers are small, but they're not as light as you would expect them to be. They're fairly dense, and I take that as a sign that their magnets are apparent and powerful. The material feels like magnesium; the grills are metallic. I have had my system for years and haven't had to use the warranty once.

Price: Costly, but it holds its value for years. It's a bit expensive, but nice things are expensive. When you think about it though, it's the best system to buy economically. The Bose Lifestyle systems retain their value well, so years later if you decide to sell it you can get a fair bit of your money back at the other end. 10 year old Bose systems are still selling on Ebay at relatively high prices. I don't think Onkyo, Harman Kardon, and other home theater systems retain their value as well as the Lifestyle Systems do, so the lack of depreciation is something to keep in mind.