Bose Solo TV Sound System

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Smiley G
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Bose Solo TV Sound System

Post by Smiley G »

Has anyone got one of these or know someone who has? Are they any good?
I think they consume less power than using a HiFi.
I'm currently using a Sony Bravia and a Denon CEOL.
http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-pe ... nd-system/
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Post by Kate »

My son, who is 21, has a Bose. He thinks it is absolutely fantastic and uses it all the time - in car, room, on the beach.....
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Post by Helen »

I recently bought a Sonos Playbar in order to improve the quality of the TV sound received via a super-thin Samsung TV. Certainly don't regret it. The sound is so much better and definitely closer to the effect intended when the programme was sound-dubbed in production.

I also use it for streaming music wirelessly from pc or iPad.

At the time I looked at the Bose TV sound system, but opted for the Sonos.
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Post by martyn94 »

My mind was poisoned against Bose long ago by the staggering amount of money and effort they used to expend (when I lived in the UK) on mailing shots I had never solicited for products they had no reason to think I wanted. And I have experience of their noise-cancelling headphones and the (very much cheaper) products of their competitors, and also of their all-in-one CD-radio gizmos. My impression is that their products are mostly pretty capable, but very much overpriced. You can get almost as much performance elsewhere for very much less money. Unless you put a very high priority on power saving (far greater than could ever be reflected in your electricity bills), I could not imagine spending much more on a sound bar than I would ever spend on the TV. But obviously priorities differ.
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Post by malcolmcooper »

I must say first that I have a lot of respect for the quality and innovation of Bose stuff but I think it is generally over priced.

Speaking as someone who recently fitted a full 5.1 Sony surround system and Blu Ray player I am very happy with it but then I heared one of these in action http://www.whathifi.com/review/lg-nb3520a

It's no better than what I've got but balance the money and not least the very much easier installation and with hindsight I'd have bought the LG.
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Re: Bose Solo TV Sound System

Post by Allan »

Smiley G wrote:Has anyone got one of these or know someone who has? Are they any good?
I think they consume less power than using a HiFi.
I'm currently using a Sony Bravia and a Denon CEOL.
http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-pe ... nd-system/
You don't say what you want it for but this box is an add-on to a television and couldn't be considered as a replacement for your Denon CEOL.

Most modern flat screen televisions have lousy sound because they are too thin to house decent speakers. The solution offered by manufacturers is normally a sound bar. The Bose system is essentially a sound bar in a rectangular shape designed for relatively small televisions ( by today's standard's).

I bought a Samsung flat screen TV in the spring with Samsung's sound bar - this gets good reviews but isn't a patch on a decent home cinema system and I'm about to bin it and replace it with a decent amplifier,

Most articles I have read rate the Sonos as a much better product, particularly as it has a centre speaker so dialogue should be clearer.

As far as I know, the Bose doesn't let you stream music to it whereas the Sonos and indeed most other products allow it.
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Post by Smiley G »

Thank you all for your input. I will go shopping in the New Year!
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Post by Santiago »

Bose is neither proper hi fi nor reasonably priced home-entertainment. IMO its a brand that appeals to people who think they have made it.

Either go for something japanese like Panasonic or Denon, take Sonos for its wireless streaming or get some proper (i.e British) HiFi. A lot of people I know rate the Musical Fidelity box.
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Post by russell »

Santiago wrote:Bose is neither proper hi fi nor reasonably priced home-entertainment. IMO its a brand that appeals to people who think they have made it.
I agree entirely. Most of these fashionable speakers are complete junk. You need to spend most of your money on good speakers while mid range "HiFi" combos are as good as any.

Small speakers are incapable of good sound. To get good bass you need to move a lot of air so you need a big speaker cone or a lot of movement. If the speaker cone moves much you get a lot of intermodulation distortion caused by the Doppler effect. This gives a sort of confused sound.

Go for big speakers from a reputable make such as KEF.

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Post by Pearsonb »

I love my Bose headphones - and by anybody's standards I have not "made it" ;-)

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Post by russell »

Pearsonb wrote:I love my Bose headphones - and by anybody's standards I have not "made it" ;-)

Pearson
The headphones are probably fine as they have very little volume of air to move.

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Post by Sue »

We dont have room for big speakers Russell but need to get something. The speakers we are currently using with our tv are on their way out and we need to replace them. Even though I wear a hearing aid I struggle to hear the tv although my husband moans I have it far too loud. We either need good smallish speakers to go behind the tv or a bar to go in front. Bearing this in mind and also limited funds to spend what would you suggest we buy?
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Post by redneckrover »

I cannot accept the suggestion that Bose is not genuine Hifi. I dont know anything about the TV soundbar system but I have listened to many fantastic Bose systems. although they are a bit expensive.
I dont accept that it is not possible to reproduce deep base sounds from modern smaller speaker systems.
I have owned many of these old wooden speaker systems in the 70's and 80's
As far as I'm concerned , you can keep your Kef, your Goodmans and your Wharfdales, give me Bose any day. !!!!
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Post by Allan »

I'm not sure why some people are so critical of Bose, clearly a lot of people are very happy with them.

However the original posting was enquiring about a Bose TV speaker which is essentially the same as a sound bar but in a rectangular shape. For those not familiar with sound bars, they are generally an all in one solution that replaces the abysmal speakers found in most modern TVs.

For a long time, I have been frustrated at not hearing TV dialog clearly, at first I thought it was me but when I researched it I found that an enormous number of people have the same problem. American TV shows seem particularly bad with the dialog often drowned out by background music.

When I replaced our TV earlier this year I bought a matching sound bar and whereas it is better than the TV on its own I still struggle to hear the dialog clearly. I feel the problem is only partly to do with the size of the speakers, sound bars use electronics to distribute the sound across the speakers and often offer a variety of sound effects to simulate sports arenas, movie theatres etc.

Unfortunately sound is not consistent with all TV programs so some work better than others. An amplifier that let's you control the level in each speaker at least lets you adjust the dialog to an audible level. In my opinion, sound bars are an elegant solution but just don't seem to work that well.

Our TV is in a very large room which may be part of the problem.

As for the Bose TV speaker, I don't always agree with review writers but they do seem to be pretty consistently unimpressed by it.
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Post by martyn94 »

If the problem is down to poor hearing rather than dis-satisfaction with the tv's "audio quality", perhaps the solution lies elsewhere -eg with wireless headphones. Sennheiser, among others, have units which might do the trick for not much over €100.
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Post by Sue »

Oh Allan I am so glad I am not the only one. Hubby loves The Mentalist and CSI etc but I just cant pick up on the dialogue at all. The same with British programmes like Death in Paradise and recently I watched a Poirot which I had great difficulty hearing because they had put background music. I dont understand why they find it necessary to do so. What speakers would you recommend Allan for tv use only.
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Post by blackduff »

The TV used to have a control for treble and bass. Now they decide which balance the TV Builders know better than what I need.

The Philips TV I used to have and the sound was, well, crappy. I think you used to have the same TV which you tried to give it away. I finally bought a Samsung TV and it's kinda better but the size is a bit too small for me now. I think part of the problem is age - not the machine - the owner is getting old.

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Post by Allan »

Sue wrote:Oh Allan I am so glad I am not the only one. Hubby loves The Mentalist and CSI etc but I just cant pick up on the dialogue at all. The same with British programmes like Death in Paradise and recently I watched a Poirot which I had great difficulty hearing because they had put background music. I dont understand why they find it necessary to do so. What speakers would you recommend Allan for tv use only.
We are certainly not the only ones, google 'can't hear tv dialogue' and you will see just how widespread the problem is.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article ... rs-TV.html

Whereas my hearing is by no means perfect, if I watch in our home cinema which has a good sound system then I have no problems but the new TV and sound bar in our lounge is rubbish.

Speakers are not the only consideration, most tv programs are broadcast with multiple sound channels and it is how these channels are divided up over the different speakers that really makes a difference.

Simply changing your speakers may not make any difference.
Not many TVs come with a provision for external speakers, do you have an additional box that the speakers are connected to? If so it probably needs adjustment. If your tv is an older model with speaker connections then new speakers may well be a waste of money.

Pm me with the model numbers of all your equipment, including satellite receiver and I'll try and suggest what can be done
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Post by Sue »

Allan we have all instructions with product numbers etc somewhere but I will have to leave it to locate for today. I can tell you we have a Phillips flat screen tv (with speaker connections), Humax HDR Box into which the Hercules speakers are connected. If and when the tv channels disappear the speakers will have to go into the tv. Sorry if thats not helpful but I am not at all technology literate!
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Post by russell »

Sue wrote:We dont have room for big speakers Russell but need to get something. The speakers we are currently using with our tv are on their way out and we need to replace them. Even though I wear a hearing aid I struggle to hear the tv although my husband moans I have it far too loud. We either need good smallish speakers to go behind the tv or a bar to go in front. Bearing this in mind and also limited funds to spend what would you suggest we buy?
Unfortunately there is no one solution that fits all. Personally I have a relatively new Philips TV and like ytou have difficulty hearing dialog, especially when there is background noise or music. The speakers in the TV are very small and face backwards so, in order to reproduce the bass notes a large excursion of the cone is required. That is fine when they are only reproducing a single tone but when there are multiple frequencies present it results in something called intermodulation distortion which gives a sort of muddled sound. I have my TV connected through the HiFi to a pair of Rogers loudspeakers (as used by the BBC as monitor speakers) and find the sound much clearer.

Choosing suitable speakers etc is not easy. It will depend on the size of your room, the space available, and of course whether or not you have a suitable amplifier such as a mini HiFi stack. Also of course your budget. If you could give me more information (perhaps in a PM) I will try to help.

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Post by russell »

redneckrover wrote:I cannot accept the suggestion that Bose is not genuine Hifi. I dont know anything about the TV soundbar system but I have listened to many fantastic Bose systems. although they are a bit expensive.
I dont accept that it is not possible to reproduce deep base sounds from modern smaller speaker systems.
I have owned many of these old wooden speaker systems in the 70's and 80's
As far as I'm concerned , you can keep your Kef, your Goodmans and your Wharfdales, give me Bose any day. !!!!
I'm glad that you are happy with your small speakers.

I agree that some small speaker systems can produce acceptable results, particularly in a small room but it does depend on how small. I was referring to the size of the driver units in TVs and in these sound bars. There are some good bookshelf speakers available that have reasonable size drivers and sound good at reasonable volume in a small room.

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Post by Santiago »

In many cases the set-up of the speakers in the room and the furnishings can make more difference than the price of the speakers. I suppose that is an advantage of Sonos or other wireless systems as it allows you to experiment without faffing around with speaker cables.
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Post by interiors66 »

I have recently purchased a Bose sound link mini so firstly I am happy to announce " I've made it" or at least IMO
And secondly the equipment is first class for sound quality from such a small device , it works from Bluetooth from my I phone and is completely wireless and portable .
There are obviously bigger versions of this which I'm sure are superior but the mini is perfectly adequate for my use sounding great on room of about 30 m2
And less than 200 euros.
Highly recommended
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Post by Santiago »

As a sort of update to this, I've just invested in a little device called a wiDAC, available from Crystal Acoustics for 69€.

What is does is allow you to stream music to an existing hifi system. I've experimented with streaming from Windows Media Player for my MP3 collection, using AirPlay from an iPad, with either iTunes or, way cooler - with Spotify and Deezer. You can also download a bit of software called Jamcast which will stream any sound on your PC. So you can tune in to whatever streaming service or internet radio you like and play it out to your HiFi over your WifI.

The sound quality is way above what I can get from my Cambridge Audio Go speaker (equivalent but supposedly better than the Bose Sound Link).

Sometimes the connection gets crackly because it uses my own WiFi to transmit sound but usually a quick reboot of the WiDAC fixes it. For 69€ and 30 minutes setting it up I have brought my old NAD amp and Wharfedale Diamonds into the 21st century.
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Post by russell »

Another way to stream music to an existing HiFi is to connect from your IPTV box (with a cable). I've been doing that since the spring with great results. I can now understand the dialogue on TV programs as well as stream high quality music.

I'm not surprised that you find your Warfedales give better results than the Cambridge speakers. They have 4 inch woofers as opposed to the two 2 inch ones so have at least twice the active cone area as well as having better rear loading.

You can argue the merits of vinyl vs. digital and fashionable expensive sound bars all you like but the electromechanical transducers (driver units and housings) are always the weakest link in the chain.

Russell
PS. It's not surprising that the Chinese owners of Rogers are now making a reproduction of the LS3/5A and selling them at £1.5k a pair despite them not matching the performance of full size monitor speakers. They are still far better than most modern designs.
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Post by willington »

I've had a Bose soundwave clock/radio/CD player and noise cancelling earphones for 15 years now...and they never cease to amaze me with the clarity and wide ranging sound reproduction they reproduce.

Of course the old adage applies...rubbish in/rubbish out.

To get the best out of a Bose sound bar, the input signal shouldn't have a restricted lower and upper frequency, like so many CD's have.

I must agree with an earlier post....British Hifi companies do make some fantastic equipment. My old Chartwell speakers are a prime example...way ahead of their time and still produce mind blowing sounds. :D

Having recently had the pleasure of listening to some modern British Hifi subwoofer speakers, made by MJAcoustics and rate these very highly. Not just on their looks, solid wood casings, but on their sound reproduction.

www.mjacoustics.co.uk
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Post by russell »

willington wrote:I've had a Bose soundwave clock/radio/CD player and noise cancelling earphones for 15 years now...and they never cease to amaze me with the clarity and wide ranging sound reproduction they reproduce.
Yes, headphones can give very good reproduction as they only have a small volume of air to move. I just don't find them convenient or comfortable.

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