Bose Lifestyle 650 Home Entertainment System, Works with Alexa - Black

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!!!

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 seriously would give this negative stars if I could! Unfortunately, I spent over $5,000 on this product and it never worked—not even once. It arrived completely non-functional: no sound, no power, nothing. I contacted customer support and was told they would send a new remote to troubleshoot the issue. That remote never arrived. When I followed up, the next representative had no record of any such request. I even attempted to purchase a new remote myself, only to be told they are no longer manufactured and cannot be replaced. To make matters worse, I was told I could pay to ship the entire unit back just to see if it worked, but that they would not repair it if it was broken. This has been a deeply frustrating and costly experience. I strongly, strongly caution anyone considering this company (or product)—please do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. It costed me way too much, and hands down, the worst costumer service I have ever dealt with in my entire life, by far.

Sound quality is fantastic. Setup was pretty easy packaging well done, however I had issue with one of the omnijewel speakers not working. I swapped the speaker onto a different base station to isolate the issue to the speaker vs the base or something else and the issue remained with the speaker. I called technical support for assistance and that experience was horrible. It was outsourced offshore for what it's worth. The first person did not have training on the product and had to transfer me to a special team. That person could not grasp the issue at all. She had me doing worthless generic trouble shooting steps such as unplugging the system, checking my HDMI connections, checking my satellite box, etc. She kept saying I needed to do a better job explaining the issue or she wouldn't be able to help. The issue couldn't be any clearer: There are 4 omnijewel speakers included, one of them doesn't produce audio. How is that complicated? She clearly did not know anything about the product. Finally she said that I could send the entire system in for warranty service. I kindly informed her that was not an option. If I was going to go through the trouble of packaging everything back up it would be a permanent return. We went in circles a bit on this and I asked to speak to a supervisor on the matter. She refused initially and pretty much said "this is how it is". I had to raise my voice to eventually get a supervisor on the line. The supervisor was more polite and understood the issue the first time I explained it. He did also suggest the return of the entire product, which again I informed would be a permanent return if that was their solution to fixing a single speaker. It does not benefit either us to ship the entire system back. Why would they pay all that shipping after all? After some discussion, I convinced him to pursue the option of returning the single speaker. While he had me on hold to research, I tried moving the speaker in question to a third base and miraculously all 4 speakers started to work. I'm a little weary of this being a permanent fix, since it did not work in the first two positions (being very certain the base connections were solid in those tests), however I have not had issues since and it has been a few weeks. In my opinion, this level of customer service is pathetic for such a high end product. The sound experience is pretty amazing. As good, if not better than a trip to the cinema (I managed a small theatre circuit for 10 years). I gave it a whirl with the movie "The Magnificent 7" and was blown away. I was legitimately concerned that the neighbors would worry about the sound of the gunshots and the volume wasn't more than half way up. The controls are pretty sub par for what I would expect for a premium system. For music apps, from what I can tell so far everything has to be controlled through the app on your phone or tablet. I don't see any way for onscreen controls on the main receiver. I can skip to the next song on the remote, but short of that I see no way to launch music apps or anything on the system without the use of a phone/tablet. It would be nice to be able to listen to music while using a different source. For example, I play a lot of Madden on the PS4 and like to jam out to music at the same time. This is not possible. I can understand most people probably wouldn't require such a feature, but seems like something that should be doable with today's technology. I have to listen to my music on a different system when playing on the PS4. On this same note, it would be nice to be able to throw music from my PC over WiFi. This doesn't seem possible unless over bluetooth, which I haven't tried since the PC is in a different room. Not many options to tweak the sound (base/treble, individual speakers, etc). I fiddled with it once and was very disappointed with the flexibility there, however I have not even considered having to meddle with it further as the sound quality has blown me away. Not sure what's up with the complaints that it's not truly a wireless system since the rear speakers and subwoofer require external power. The only alternative would be battery powered, so good luck with replacing the batteries constantly if you truly need a wireless solution. Hard to decide on a rating for this because of all the disappointments between customer service and usability. While those are very lacking, it definitely outperforms acoustically. Even with the disappointments, I do not have any regrets with my investment so far. Customer service - 1 star Usability - 2 stars Functionality - 2 stars Audio Quality - 5 stars Overall I think 3 stars is fair.

I've had a pretty large amp/speaker setup for years. I was looking to make some upgrades and was looking at Bose. Having done a la carte for years (denon amp, kenwood speakers etc.) i wasnt sure if i'd be sacrificing anything going to a boxed set. Needless to say, the sound is as expected - amazing! I wasn't totally sure until I went to the bose store and listened in person, and then I had to buy it. Setup was easy - the system walks you through everything on the tv. Took about an hour since I mounted the front and rear speakers on stands. Well worth the money. I did have to call customer care to get the system to force the update. Calling in, i was prepared for the typical "wait forever on hold" experience. I was delighted to get through in minutes, and the agent routed me to a specialist specifically for this system. We registered a few things, and then forced the update. The rep even called me back 10 min later to make sure everything went through as it was supposed to - great customer service. The remote works flawlessly with my apple TV and Xfinity cable box. The iphone app is cool to control everything with as well... and did i mention the sound quality? Amazing. And the speakers are a brushed metal, and are TINY. Everyone i've showed it to thought i was nuts for what i spent, until i play something for them!

I am 1000% satisfy, I received the package on time, the equipment was worth it had no problem. I had few questions and someone by the name of John answered them very fast. I highly recommend buying from this seller. Thank you, John, you're the best.

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.

The best system, but no dvd player.