Bose Lifestyle 35 alternatives? (1 Viewer)

[Zach Nelson]

We demo'd the Bose Lifestyle 35 package. The wife and I were pretty impressed. I was never a Bose-fan. My opinion was always: cheap upper-range speakers with a bad woofer to fill in the mids-bottom.

But honestly, it sounded pretty good for movies and we loved the small jewel cubes.

Any alternative packages from other manufacturers that would be in the same ballpark, ie. small, white, integrated amp/sub, etc?

I'm thinking maybe the Gallo Nucleus package.

Thanks!

 

[SethH]

Are you set on the integrated amp and dvd player? If so you may be in a tough situation as generally only low-end stuff comes like this. Do yourself a favor and don't go with Bose. If you ever decide to upgrade . . . let's say you decide you could use more bass so you just add a sub to the system, right? Nope, not gonna happen, you can't add a sub to that. If you ever want to upgrade you have to do the entire system. How much would that Bose system cost you so we can get a better idea for recommendations.

 

[PaulDA]

I also auditioned the Lifestyle 35 (had an afternoon to kill at an outlet mall while my wife was shoe/dress shopping). It's 2700$US at factory outlet, who knows how much more elsewhere.

Here's a thread of my experience
my afternoon at Bose

The short version is you can get much better sound, MUCH more flexiblity for the same money, or the equivalent quality for a lot less. If you were in the little theatre room like l was for the demo, it will have sounded reasonably nice, but the room treatment is probably better than what you'll have at home, not to mention that it was likely a special source hooked into the machine. When I looked at the receiver, it had TAPE as the indicated source, and the Lifestyle doesn't have a TAPE player, so who knows what was plugged in there.

 

[Drew_W]

Small and white...Energy Take 5.2 come to mind and they'll run you $1000 CANADIAN for 5 speakers and a sub. You can then go crazy with the rest of the setup.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

I don't know anything small and white, but I know small and good, but they are black. The Klipsch Quintets are beautiful speakers and can usually be found from as low as about $325 to about $400 without subwoofer. Get yourself a nice mid-grade subwoofer like an Athena for an extra $250-300 and your set. Then get a reciever of your choice, HK is my favorite and you are set. You get that LIfestyle 35 just a tad bit bigger, that sounds alot bigger than it is, and alot more powerful.

Oh and that Acoustimass thing is a joke, I just love how people fall for it. A 5.5" driver is a mid-range if you ask me. I would say a sub wouldn't start till about 8" to 10".

 

[Kenneth Harden]

You can get speakers not much bigger than the cubes (and a LOT better sounding for a LOT less cash), and a powerful sub that is not much bigger than the bass module for a lot less money and a lot better sound. Also, it will be easy to upgrade.

In Philly, you probably have dozens of hi-fi shops that have micro-system up for demo and they can give you lots of good info. Take advantage of that.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Take a look (and a listen) at the Polk Audio RM6005 system. You can get them in black or titanium with a free sub.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Bt7DejY...p&I=107RM6005B

If you can handle a slightly larger set up....
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Bt7DejY...&avf=N&search=

 

[Stephen Houdek]

I am of the opinion that if you can't dedicate more room to your HT than what is required by those Bose cubes, you really don't want an HT.

I wouldn't put a Bose system in my bedroom. But they are indeed selling them to someone.

 

[Zach Nelson]

I agree with everything you guys have said so far. I'm not particularly in love with the integrated amp/dvd player. The fact that it has no progressive out prompted me to pick up a Panasonic XP30. Even the component out is a hack through a firmware upgrade. So I was never planning on really using that media center for movies.

A couple things I do like about it, ie. the size of the jewel cubes, the fact that you can get them in white, and that it's sold as a package.

I don't have as much time as I would like to spend piecing together a speaker/amp/sub package. Plus it's a challenge to even find great speakers in white to begin with.

I'm gonna audition the Gallo Nucleus package today if I can find a showroom in Philly. From my research last night, it seems the only drawback is their sub.

What kind of opinions do you guys have of their Nucleus micro and A'diva speakers? (A'diva might be a little too $$$ considering it just adds 1/2 a octave of bass).

Also, assuming the consensus is that the Nucleus product is favorable, which amp and sub would you match them with?

Thanks for all the feedback, great stuff!

 

[Zach Nelson]

Auditioned the Gallo Nucleus, they are much better than the Bose 35, hands down. They didn't have the Diva's in stock but I think we are going in that direction.

As for the Gallo sub, forget it, very weak. Salesman suggested doubling up on the Gallo subs, blah. Then we looked at the Martin Login Depth and Grotto. Auditioned the Grotto with the Nucleus, good match.

But I'm thinking, are there any other options for a sub that would be a good match to the Diva's (crossover-wise) that would cost less than the Grotto ($1000)?

My room is roughly 16'x12' but 2 stories high vaulted and open to the kitchen. So the volume is very large. So large that perhaps the Grotto wouldn't even be enough, won't know until I get it in there. Still looking for options on the sub...

Thanks!

 

[PaulDA]

Do a search for subs. After all the SVS threads, you might find some other brands also. In any event, there's no shortage of options in that area, for well below 1000$. Hsu, Velodyne, not to mention all the various speaker brands that make subs of their own. Good luck.

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Zack,
Sent you a PM.

 

[Zach Nelson]

Has anyone paired the SVS PB1-ISD with small satellite speakers, ie. the Gallo Divas or the like? I'm curious how this sub would fit into the dual role of not only LFE but also filling in the low-mid range where the satellites drop off.

 

[Greg Thomas]

Also take a look a these speakers. I'm sure they're better than the lifestyle system and you could compare them to the Gallos. Plus you get a 30 day in home trial.

http://www.orbaudio.com/index.asp

 

[ChrisLazarko]

Why do I get the vibe that this ORB stuff is another BOSe thing going on?

 

[PaulDA]

Well, you could be right. On the other hand, I did a quick run through their site and at least they publish specs and are not outrageously priced. They could still sound like crap. I don't know, I've never heard of them until now. Still, could be worth checking out if tiny sats are truly what he wants.

 

[Greg Thomas]

No telling how good the Orb speakers are until someone gives them a test drive but they don't throw any smoke and mirrors at you like Bose. At least the specs are there even though we don't know the accuracy of the info.

I'm in the Twin Cities this weekend and was at Best Buy today. Ran into this cool looking Celestion sub/sat system. But since BB has no sound room, I couldn't really tell how good they are. Regular price was $399 for the five satellites and the 8" 200W sub was another $199. The satellites were on discount for $249 at least for today.

Could be style over substance again but at least they're not $2500 like one infamous mfr.

 

[Robert Hoffman]

Zach, I think you'd be doing yourself a favor by reading this article before buying something from Bose.

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

 

[Zach Nelson]

That Bose article is great, I took a look at it the other day and scratched Bose off the list.

Right now I'm focused on the Gallo Diva's and looking for a sub. The SVS PB1-ISD is tempting, but I'm not sure if it will be big enough for my room. Does anyone have experience with this sub?

My room is 14'x16' but 2 stories high, so a total of about 4000 cubic feet. Plus, it's open to the kitchen and the rest of the house. Pretty challenging setup.

 

[Drew_W]

E-mail SVS and they'll suggest what would work best for your room.