Packaging.

Bose 35 has no upgrade capability to add and Ipod or other MP3 docs. The packaging with the jewel cubes is nice but the upgrade path is dead end for sure.

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Denon products sound far better and are more expandable.

None

DEMO-Toy product, poorly made, quite high hum level from the power supply, poor input signal level window.

Bought a used white Bose Lifestyle 20 sub woofer amplifier for CD $110 in 1998 (about 10 years old?) - no satellite speakers or CD/FM unit avail. Had heard the Lifestyle 20 in a Hi-Fi store demo room in Buffalo (US$1,800 for the system) and was quite impressed with the DEMO setup - and that is my conclusion: the Bose system is a bottom end rumbling DEMO-Toy type of product, at unbelievable retail gross margins for Bose and its dealers? My son started to use the Bose in his stereo setup after I added a pair of Realistic 3" driver cubes (similar to the studio reference Auratone T5 cubes used in every commercial recording studio as a home stereo TV or clock radio sound sanity check). Got info on the Din plug pinout from Bose, who faxed together with some basic tech specs - they were quite accomodating, as I only had part of a system. Anyway, am not fond of the 'hole...e' response of this type of product (poor 30Hz to 250Hz linearity) and the bottom end boom is annoying as the port is not tuned properly - resonace around 70Hz? The quasi transmission line approach for bass loading (done perfectly by PMC speaker in England) does not cut it!

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My surround setup includes Energy 22.2's (-3dB @ 34Hz) an original Energy ECC-1 Center and a pair of Energy Pro 2.5 Rears - NO SUB! Drive the 22.2's with a Bryston 4B (200 Watts/channel) Response of the system is smooth and sounds spectacular - and can run levels above 100dB (from a Radio Shack spl meter). Suggest to avoid satellite/sub woofer (bass heavy lifting) products unless setting up in a very small room!

My Review is of the Lifestyle 35. I have never had such buyer's remorse in my entire life. I was deceived at the factory store....How do they do it?? I hooked it up at home and it sounded like "tin cans" tacked up on the walls. Honestly, it played movies pretty well...but any form of music sounds better on my daughter's Aiwa boombox I purchased for $59 bucks. I am mosty dissappointed in how the system fails to fill the room with sound. Perhaps an entry level Bose system would work well in a small apartment...but at the $2500-$3000 price range and for a full size room, Bose is definitely not the way to go. I am returning the Bose immediately !! After investing a few hours online and visiting a couple stores, I believe I will customize a Klipsch reference speaker system and plan to drive it with a Denon AVR3803 (and have money to spare!!!!)

Conveniently packaged, low visibility so friends can't easily see it

Overpriced, tinny sound quality, no specs (what's Bose hiding?), no DTS, cheaply made

My review applies to the Lifestyle 35, which I recently tried out at one of Bose's factory stores. (Truly a tale from the dark side!)

I cannot believe that anyone at Bose can look at themselves in the morning knowing what kind of a fraud they have uncorked on the public while they charge nearly $3k for the privilege of getting butt reamed! This piece is a joke. Sure, it's all integrated together, but it has pitiful digital format support, zero upgradability, and as with all Bose Lifestyle systems, you can't find specs anywhere. NO other major electronics company out there hides its specs as jealously as Bose does. What are they hiding???? Oh, and I haven't even gotten to the speakers yet...

The Lifestyle 35 uses Bose's latest jewel cube speakers. I will say that the highs are more tonally accurate than their predecessors. But, that's like saying my concussion is not as bad because I only jumped out of a 15-story window rather than off a 25-story building. The fatal flaws from all the other Acoustimass systems are still readily apparent. The integration between low frequencies and midrange is nonexistent, and the overall sound still has nasaly quality to it.

Unfortunately, Bose's factory stores are well set-up and their demos can easily fool an unsuspecting customer into thinking they're listening to something unique. The problem is that they are getting just that -- a uniquely colored sound that bears zero resemblance to the actual source and what real sounds sound like.

This unit would be fine if it cost less than $1k. But, even at that price point, you got plenty of competition. At $3k, this is a sick joke with no punchline.

Powerful Bass, upgradable via software, PAL,NTSC,MP3, DTS

Not multiple disc

WOW! This is an incredible movie system. I can not believe the performance that I was getting from this small system. My Velodyne sub was equal to that of the Bose but twice the size. I will admit that the playback of music in stereo was slightly better on my BP's but, when I play a DTS 5.1 disc. WOW! I was also able to expand to the other area of my house so I can hear my MP3's playing (150 Songs on one disc) while my wife listens to the sat. music off this one system. I could go on and on but the home theater magazine says it all. You can build a system that will perform like the Bose or close for the same money if you know what to look for but it will be 20 times larger, 50 times more difficult and if it wont be able to be placed as simply for the right home theater impact. Thank you and I love hearing about how bad my system is by others. I think I will go listen to my new MP3 disc I just made.

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Adcom,Definitive,Velodyne

Sound, clarity and small speaker size

kinda confusing manaul

I purchased a sony home theater in a box and had trouble with the surround sound. It never was true enough. I decided to search for a better sytem, which led me to Bose. I have been very happy. If you get the right action movie it is quite the system. No complaints so far. I've had it for about 9 months.

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sony home theater in a box