Bose Lifestyle 28

[Furyblade_Lee]

My existing Surround Sound system has died (only a cheap JVC 5.1 , had about 5 years use), and have recently been down at Richer Sounds browsing a few components to replace the AV Reciever and 5.1 Speaker System, with a budget of about £1,000 (I have a Playstation 3 for Blue-Rays and DVDs) BUT on browsing the Bose shop at Bluewater, I impulse bought on 0% 10 months a Bose Lifestyle 28. I comes next week, but have I done something really stupid? £2,200 could have bought me a whole lot of stuff in Richer Sounds, but I do not live in a detatched house so I cannot listen at mental levels most of the time. How good is the Bose28 compared to what I could have got?

[Maxf]

Not useful, but you've bought it so unless you can take it back then why ask the question?

£2,300 buys you a lot of kit. £800 amp and £1,500 on sub/speakers

[Plotloss]

Pound for pound, Bose is always eclipsed by the competition.

[E31Shrew]

If you really want to cancel it I guess you should be able to . Cooling off period blah blah after signing a credit agreement.

FWIW I think they are great systems. Powerful enough, discrete and ability to multiroom simply. Hold value very well so trading up no problem. Not everyone wants their lounge to resemble mission control!

I would have gone for the LS18 or V10 to save over £500.00 however.

[Furyblade_Lee]

MaxF, I think the clue to why I asked is hidden in the text I wrote.

To the others, thanks for the replies. I know really I should have not impulsed and looked a bit deeper into components, I was enjoying getting used to the new jargon! It seems I could get the same sound quality for probobly £500+ less. But also as you say I do not fancy having load of kit on show so maybe it was a good choice with hindsight, and the connectivity and ease of use swayed me as my 8 year old daughter has quite a good chance of being able to work it.

[mikef]

You can get better sound for less. On the other hand I never heard of anyone getting grief from the Mrs for installing Bose. I have had Bose lifestyle systems for years with no regrets

[bennyboydurham]

I have a lifestyle 20 I bought a decade ago. It still sounds amazing and I can't enjoy watching telly without it. Having moved to blu ray I can hear the difference in sound quality - not bad for a 10 year old system.

Customer service is also top notch. Relax, the audiophile fanboys will tut tut but you've made the right call.

[Wilseus]

Plotloss said:

Pound for pound, Bose is always eclipsed by the competition.

I'll drink to that. I heard a really expensive home cinema system of theirs once and it sounded rotten. Apparently, the drive units in their speakers cost about $2.50 each.

[headcase]

Im not a big Bose fan as I install it for a living, BUT there isnt much out there at a similar price and sound quality that does it all in 1 box like the bose (well 2 boxes because they come with a VS2 now) (well 3 boxes I forgot the sub) (well 4 boxes I forgot the psu)

ill get my coat

[Wilseus]

headcase said:

Im not a big Bose fan as I install it for a living, BUT there isnt much out there at a similar price and sound quality that does it all in 1 box like the bose (well 2 boxes because they come with a VS2 now) (well 3 boxes I forgot the sub) (well 4 boxes I forgot the psu)

ill get my coat

I hear you. I suppose if the OP is happy with it then that's all that matters!

[Not Ideal]

I have the Lifestyle 28 - bought it a couple of years ago at Harrods with a promotion.

I don't think it sounds that great but it meets my requirement to have an all-in-one system that is discreet as I really didn't want big lumpy speakers.

Would I get one again...hmmm...probably.

[Furyblade_Lee]

Customer Service top notch..... No so far with Bose Bluewater... Ordered it on the Sunday about 11 days ago, told to expect a courtesy phone call tomorrow ( the Monday ). No call. By the Wednesday I got a worried so phoned the branch. Apologetic, no problem my system was being delivered next Wednesday (yesterday) . No System came, wife waited in all day. Rang Bluewater again, no idea why but Manager assured me he would call me today. No call yet... Not exactly top notch so far!!!!!

[Rochester TVR]

I owned (its now gathering dust in the loft) a Bose Lifestyle 28 for 5 years...

At the time I thought it was the bees-knees but just before christmas I decided to upgrade my whole system. I looked into a LS48 but eventually deicded against going with BOSE after hearing a demo of a seperates system in Sevonoaks Sound & Vision.

Eventually I went for:

Pioneer LX5090 TV
Pioneer LX-81 Amp
Pioneer LX-71 Blu Ray
KEF KHT 3005.1 SE Speakers.

Listening to my system now has made me realise that BOSE are extremely over priced for what they are... The Pioneer / KEF setup I have will knock the socks off any BOSE system!

A few weeks ago my father was looking to replace his home cinema system, again he wanted BOSE because of the small speakers and nice looking control unit. So I did a demo of the car chase scene from Batman Returns on my system and then went straight to BOSE in bluewater to play the exact scene on their system. There was no contest, the BOSE lacked any kind of depth to Low or mid range, and when pushed hard it was almost painful to listen to.

IMO I will never buy BOSE again, nor will I reccommend them to anyone. If possible I would cancell your order immediately and go listening to a few seperate systems.

I am only just down the road from Bluewater so if you want a demo of my setup I'd be happy to oblige. (I dont get many opportunities to really krank it up with the wife indoors!)

[andye30m3]

I wanted small rear speakers so went for the anthony gallo micro's, not sure how they compare to the bose but they are another option.

http://www.anthonygallo.co.uk/pages/products-homec...

[Furyblade_Lee]

The saga for me has finshed with me cancelling my order with Bose. Do not want to publically batter them any more, they were helpful towards the end and offered me a fair discount but say they sacked their Manager who messed things up for several people.

I have though decided to go with an Onkyo TXNR807 AV Reciever teamed up with a White Bose Acoustimass 6 speaker system. Mainly because the speakers are so small and unobtrusive at 3" each. I realise I could get far better with the overall cost I will save but I have an old period cottage so I want them as unobtrusive as possible. The Onkyo seems a good unit and in many ways for me better than the Lifestyle 28, one thing is being able to name the Sky, PS3 and Wii on the display for my daughter. Thanks everyone for your advice. I should have a little cash left over towards a new 37" TV...

[Not Ideal]

Cool glad you got what you wanted.

[0707]

Bluewater Bose closed so bit deeper than they said to you m8 .

Furyblade_Lee said:

The saga for me has finshed with me cancelling my order with Bose. Do not want to publically batter them any more, they were helpful towards the end and offered me a fair discount but say they sacked their Manager who messed things up for several people.

I have though decided to go with an Onkyo TXNR807 AV Reciever teamed up with a White Bose Acoustimass 6 speaker system. Mainly because the speakers are so small and unobtrusive at 3" each. I realise I could get far better with the overall cost I will save but I have an old period cottage so I want them as unobtrusive as possible. The Onkyo seems a good unit and in many ways for me better than the Lifestyle 28, one thing is being able to name the Sky, PS3 and Wii on the display for my daughter. Thanks everyone for your advice. I should have a little cash left over towards a new 37" TV...

[0707]

Bluewater Bose closed so bit deeper than they said to you m8 .

Furyblade_Lee said:

The saga for me has finshed with me cancelling my order with Bose. Do not want to publically batter them any more, they were helpful towards the end and offered me a fair discount but say they sacked their Manager who messed things up for several people.

I have though decided to go with an Onkyo TXNR807 AV Reciever teamed up with a White Bose Acoustimass 6 speaker system. Mainly because the speakers are so small and unobtrusive at 3" each. I realise I could get far better with the overall cost I will save but I have an old period cottage so I want them as unobtrusive as possible. The Onkyo seems a good unit and in many ways for me better than the Lifestyle 28, one thing is being able to name the Sky, PS3 and Wii on the display for my daughter. Thanks everyone for your advice. I should have a little cash left over towards a new 37" TV...

[Lenda Tailor]

Due to similar experience with Bose I have decided that I will never buy any Bose equipment at all as well.
Bose is only about marketing rather than the actual product satisfaction!

Rochester TVR said:

I owned (its now gathering dust in the loft) a Bose Lifestyle 28 for 5 years...

At the time I thought it was the bees-knees but just before christmas I decided to upgrade my whole system. I looked into a LS48 but eventually deicded against going with BOSE after hearing a demo of a seperates system in Sevonoaks Sound & Vision.

Eventually I went for:

Pioneer LX5090 TV
Pioneer LX-81 Amp
Pioneer LX-71 Blu Ray
KEF KHT 3005.1 SE Speakers.

Listening to my system now has made me realise that BOSE are extremely over priced for what they are... The Pioneer / KEF setup I have will knock the socks off any BOSE system!

A few weeks ago my father was looking to replace his home cinema system, again he wanted BOSE because of the small speakers and nice looking control unit. So I did a demo of the car chase scene from Batman Returns on my system and then went straight to BOSE in bluewater to play the exact scene on their system. There was no contest, the BOSE lacked any kind of depth to Low or mid range, and when pushed hard it was almost painful to listen to.

IMO I will never buy BOSE again, nor will I reccommend them to anyone. If possible I would cancell your order immediately and go listening to a few seperate systems.

I am only just down the road from Bluewater so if you want a demo of my setup I'd be happy to oblige. (I dont get many opportunities to really krank it up with the wife indoors!)

Lenda Tailor (Client Electronics Reviews) - Fabius, New York
bose acoustic wave| bose wave music system| bose acoustic wave| bose acoustimass 10| bose acoustic| barcode scanner| reverse phone lookup| bose acoustic| bose sounddock portable

Edited by Lenda Tailor on Thursday 16th December 22:35