Bose Lifestyle 650 Home Entertainment System, Black

Overall happy with system except the Bose price of $4000. Also Hoping they (Bose) meet their commitment to update for Apple Airplay 2 so I can connect via wifi in house. As of Christmas time 2017, the system only connects via Bluetooth if I want to use my iPhone for music. One good thing is that the Bluetooth connects at long distances (at least 30 ft away and thru a plaster wall into the next room) for my iphone. As many have said, the CEC connectivity between different brands does not work consistently. I have a LG OLED TV and the TV does not always turn on when I use the BOSE remote to power the system,. It does always turn off. I usually turn on the BOSE from the BOSE remote then turn on the TV using the LG remote. The BOSE remote also does not control the Comcast DVR. The Internet says all of this is due to a CEC compatibility issues in a lack of standard since CEC used used by BOSE to turn on all the components. I also tried a Logitech Harmopny remote and even it does not work consistently.

Overall the sound is impressive. Surround sound works great and would buy again. I struggled to satisfy my concern over the high price, but for Christmas!

I took away one star because of HDMI and setup issues. The system itself is beyond amazing. Folks who say this sounds bad are haters and think way to much about their ability to critique audio. Bose is highly specialized in what they do. Their goal is to get big sound from a small footprint. This is by far the best Bose system I have ever heard. The surround experience is awesome and beats many high end systems that cost 3 to 4 times more. Just to be clear, I am not talking about volume or how loud it can get. What I am talking about is the listening experience. People think something has to crank at 150db to be considered great experience. If that is what you want, this system is not for you. However, It will crank at high volume and is clear but it is not going to shatter windows. What I bought this for is an entertainment experience not a room where you have 2 speakers and only listen to music(Again, if you are a music junky this system is great but I know there are better ones out there for a whole lot more money). I wanted a great home theater and gaming experience and boy this delivers. There is some real innovation here with the Omni Jewels and the new sub. Adapt IQ is the best in my opinion for room correction and paired with the Omni jewels, there is nothing else out there I have heard like it. Your games come alive and your movies are more immersive and being the fact I have a son who can not tolerate loud noise, it is perfectly accurate at low volume levels. Bose, my hat is off to you but your set up needs tweaking, especially on remote pairing and HDMI handshake issues. The remote would not pair and I could not find any troubleshooting on this issue. It took another reviewer who went through the process on Amazon to figure out how to pair it. I had to return my first unit because the HDMI ports would not pass through HDR and 10bit color. It glithced and the signal would drop in and out and the screen would turn gray. The new receiver unit has been ok so far. Also, my first remote the directional buttons did not function properly. I do have to give a BIG shout out to Steve at Amazon Customer Care for taking great care of me on the swap out. Finally, even if you have the issues like I have had, this is by far the best Bose Lifestyle system ever made and you will not be disappointed.

It does it all small and window shaking.

I’ve had Bose systems for years. Started off with the Bose 321 which I moved to the bedroom when I purchased the Bose V35 and then finally I upgraded to the Lifestyle 535. The reason I kept buying Bose was because the 321 blew me away! But this Lifestyle 650 is in a league of its own!!! While there were improvements with the speakers with each upgrade I’ve purchased, there has been no larger jump then the one to the new Omni Jewel speakers of the Lifestyle 650! And they’ve nicely dialed in the receiver too. The clarity is impressive and they’ve put a punch with the bass in the new Acoustimass 300! This new 360 degree sound is very impressive. It works real well with all audio levels. My room is filled with sound swirling all around me!

But the one thing that is disappointing with Bose is they started outsourcing their support department to the Philippines. The base level has dropped about as much as the improvements with the new speakers! While there are a few good ones, many don’t have a clue about their product. They just read each step out of a book without knowing what they are doing. To give an example, I also upgraded my 321 the new SoundTouch 300. The Acoustimass 300 wasn’t making a difference with low bass sounds. At one point she actually told me that the situation was normal. She said I need to “break-in” the Acoustimass 300 like you do a car and then it’d play better!

But I am glad I stuck with Bose. When I was having trouble linking all my SoundTouches, they did send me to a supervisor which was a tech in the states. And I tell you, he was impressive!!! I took advantage of this time and got many questions answered! So good support is there if you are lucky enough to get to them.

I didn’t have the issues some owners had with setting up the system. All speakers synced easily and perfect. And my equipment was very easily setup as well. I did have an issue with the SoundTouch system, but I was also having problems with my SA-4 SoundTouch so I can’t blame this on Bose Lifestyle 650. But their support experiences that you read are real. Many of the Philippines support staff are some of the worse I’ve seen. If I hadn’t gotten in touch with an actual Bose tech here in the states, I might have switched to another system.

But in summary, the sound that made Bose famous is there with the Lifestyle 650! The jump to 4k tech and the HDMI ARC and CEC is fairly new in the industry. I’ve heard of some quirks depending on your TV but the list is getting smaller as they update the interface. I was fortunate and didn’t have any problem with my LG TV’s. Maybe because they are new, not sure.

If you want great sound with a very stylish look then I say go for it…..I am glad I did!!!