BoseLifestyle 135 Home Entertainment System

I waited for a while and debated with myself for quite a while as to whether I could justify spending this money and finally gave in when the price came down by $400. I had looked at the SR1 Soundbar as a relatively (only relatively) cheaper option when I finally felt that this kind of technology had reached a level that might be worth trying. My wife had, for a long time, been unhappy with the speakers and wires all over the lounge associated with my several innovations of surround sound. We are keen film fans, and believe that good sound is imperative to really enjoy the full experience of a good film. My surround sound set ups in the past had involved Onkyo, Sony and Yamaha receivers with a variety of different speakers and I had been satisfied, yet never completely happy and in particular with the separation of the vocal sound and breadth of background and music in most films. One of my biggest frustrations, despite having a central speaker, was the lack of clarity in the spoken voice without having to turn up the volume such that the background sounds were too loud.Anyway, this unit finally arrived, and I chose it over the SR1 because of the multiple HDMI inputs and the fact that it has a headphone socket for late night viewing. The installation was fairly painless, and instructions on screen very comprehensive. As for the proprietary 'headphone' microphones that allow the system to balance the sound for where you sit, I was very impressed with the ease of use and the resulting effect. Once everything was set up, I tried the system out with a variety of inputs; films, music and the iPod connector. INCREDIBLE. That's all I can say. I have experienced a couple of other units including a Yamaha and an LG soundbar and this thing absolutely blows them out of the water. Not only that, the sound reproduction is superior to any of the multiple speaker systems I have used in the past. Whilst it does not produce a completely flawless surround sound from what would have been the back speakers - it comes close to resembling a full surround sound system. But what is remarkable is the complete clarity of the vocals, the beautiful spread of the music and effects spectrum which makes you feel like you are really experiencing what is going on on the screen. I don't know why people complain about Bose - I have heard the rather childish 'No highs, no lows it must be Bose' and I just have to say that these people obviously have no ear for how music and effects realistically sound in real life. What Bose are trying to do is not give you some overarching boom from the bass or overbright treble, they are clearly seeking to reproduce sounds as they might be heard live. As far as I am concerned, they achieve this really well. The subwoofer provides just enough bass to blend into the overall sound and give a good bass response without it sounding like a punk in his beat box car showing off and the treble response is so clear without being thin and reedy. I love this thing and have tested rock, folk, classical and movie soundtracks extensively since it arrived. I have also turned up the volume to near maximum and do not get the kind of distortion of sound that is often heard at these levels. All that being said, if you want more treble or bass, there are options to up the levels and there is even an option to make the sound of voices in films more prominent - but to be honest, I have not yet had to turn this on.In addition, the accompanying remote control automatically picked up my TV remote control with a couple of inputs from my existing remote, and automatically controlled the ipod without any programming. The multiple HDMI slots are great and my existing set of Bose Headphones sound absolutely great when listening without the speakers. It has really helped my wife by being easy enough to use where in the past the operation of multiple pieces of equipment had sometimes proved to be extremely frustrating.Highly recommend this unit, which from all the units I have tried and heard in the past, is far superior and I have absolutely no regrets at having had to spend more than I might normally have done to get this kind of sound quality.

First, I will say the sound is better than my TV. Not surround by any means, but better than the sound coming from my 1" deep 55" LG TV. I gave it 2 stars because the base is much better than the other sound bars I looked at / listened to.Everything else about this system is very weak. In engineering terms, "sub-optimal". In buyer terms, so far it sucks.The remote took over 20 minutes to program for my CD Disk changer, the LG LW5600 TV, a Blu Ray player (also LG), and the cable DVR box (FiOS). After all that time, it can turn on the Bose system, and turn on the TV. That is it. It claimed it could do everything though it needed the optical controller for the CD changer. It can't change channels on the cable box, or do any of the DVR functions. It can't turn on or do any function of the Blu Ray player. It can't even fast forward a DVD! There is no control of any of the functions of the TV related to any of the internet or any other extended TV functions.Once installed, you have a controller you have to have out so you can adjust sound volume, but it does nothing else. Well, it does provide contrast on my side table since the color is different than all my other remotes...Heavy piece of junk.The bar looks ok, and is pretty innocuous. I was hoping to simply have it reside below my TV across the base. That way it would be great for sound, and almost disappear. The extension legs if comes with aren't long enough to reach the shelf the TV is sitting on so it is on an angle. If it were to sit properly, you wouldn't notice it, but since only one leg is on the cabinet, the other sits a couple inches higher and it draws attention to the poor design. The cord is long enough to put it above the TV, but then I would have to find a way to wall mount it without drawing attention to it, and the height is well above the ear level.I sent an email to Bose, still no response. I will go back to their site and try to get a human to see if there is another way to do the set-up beside the crazy button pushing method the system leads you through. Perhaps they offer higher legs so you can set it below a TV.I would NOT buy it again.

Wonderful sound but those who do the research know, it is not a substitute for a real surround system.I am not an audiophile but I am not a good enough and cheap enough person either. I watch mostly TV shows off my DVR, sporting events and video streaming. Almost all of these, except for some sporting events, the networks make little effort in my opinion to make surround sound worthwhile.For my taste surround sound is only really nice when watching something on Blue-Ray. For the ease of not having to deal with all the wires, the ease of a simple and smaller receiver that this has compared to a large, heavy and wires galore of a regular receiver, this has great sound and convenience.

Is not a secret that bose sound hasn't comparison. The 135 system has an excellent design and awesome sound. I connected my blue ray, directv and ipod systems very easy. I had never seen a setup as easy. I'm very happy with my Bose.

Its expensive but well worth it. Great sound for a sound bar and easy setup. Love the wireless sub-woofer. I would strongly recommend it.

I previously had multiple components, receiver and lots of tangled cords. I was looking to downsize without giving up quality and eliminate the clutter. I was not disappointed. This is a great system. I was surprised, however, that it took so much work to set up the new Bose system. It is not 'plug n play'. I ended up spending several hours to connect the components. Once set up it is great and I recommend this system. I am very pleased.