Michel Aujmais

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I've own that system for a little more than a year now and it turns out that the signal for the remote control in the media center doesn't work anymore. So I have to get up every time I want to change the source or to lower the volume. Since its not on warranty anymore (it expired 2 months ago) i'm a little bit desapointed considered the price I paid for that thing.

Rob_L53

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Pros: Does a decent job of storing music on the hard drive - both convenience and quality of compression and storage. The system is also unobtrusive in the room.

Cons: Very limited feature set. Weak laser and limited format capability. Very limited number of inputs - both video and audio. Speaker system is definitely not audiophile quality. Clunky system interface - very time consuming to edit music library.

Summary: I've been an audiophile and musician since the 60's with a wide range of musical tastes (and yes, I still like to crank it up every now and then). After being widowed and remarrying, my new wife "came equipped" with one of these systems (in perfect condition, too). I replaced my main system in the living room with it and we used it for several months. The wife's a keeper, but the Bose had to go. It's widely accepted that this type of Bose speaker system has little or no response in the middle of the bass range - right where the detail happens in a good bass guitar line. Lower frequencies kick back in (and here you'll have to pardon the pun) to cover the kick drum and low frequency sound effects in movies. Listening to almost any kind of music this leaves a gutless, hollow feeling at the bottom end.

The DVD/CD reader has a very weak laser subassembly and has problems with DVDs which play OK on any of our three PCs or my other two DVD players. The formats readable by the unit are also pretty limited.

It is also extremely difficult and time consuming to edit the stored music collection. The Bose remote has to be used for everything and there is no QWERTY keyboard capability. In addition, the GraceNote music database can only be updated via a CD supplied by Bose (of course). If you don?t update regularly, any newly-released CDs will be stored as ?Unknown? or ?Various artists.? In some cases, the songs will even be stored individually (not as one album) so you can end up with hundreds of unclassified, unnamed, individual files.

I do like the way the system looks in the room ? very compact and much more ?stealthy? than my older floor-standing speakers or my new high-end bookshelf speakers on stands and a separate sub. This, however, isn?t enough to overcome the system?s shortcomings in the audio and video departments.

David Sommers

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $700.00 from American

Summary:
I have used the 321 system for approximately 6 months, and is is now out of order. It will not turn on unless you unplug it after each use so it can reset. Not what you would expect from a $700.00 purchase.

Strengths:
Sound is ok.

Weaknesses:
Out of order in 6 months.
The remote control will not work with the satellite system or TV that I have.

blowjarn

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.58 of 5, 45.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from bonus from work

Summary:
It took me 15 minutes to set this up, I have nothing negative to say about it. I don't know if it's worth a grand, but I got it as a bonus at work. I went and purchased speaker stands and those are kind of sad, but it says on the directions to put the speakers in a certain place for optimal sound so I bought them.

Strengths:
Ease of installation, sound is fine.

Weaknesses:
The only weakness is the DVD player on it blows. It is only a 480P, whatever that means. My TV is a plamsa 1080P, so I guess I only get half the P...I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound good.

Similar Products Used:
My last system was an RCA, wires all over the place, although I did like hearing sound that was behind me.

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Sams

Summary:
This thing has no boom boom. It is just ok for surround sound but not great for music....has lots of crisp high ends and little appeal on the low ends .....taking mine back for refund..not impressed at all. Actually disappointed in BOSE on this one!