Bose - TV Speaker (2nd Gen) Compact Bluetooth Soundbar with HDMI ARC, Clear Dialogue and Remote Control - Black

The Bose TV Speaker is an entry-level soundbar designed for somebody who wants minimal configuration and simply wants better sound from their everyday television. I’ll start by saying that I’ve been a big fan of Bose for most of my life. I’ve owned many Bose products over the years, including one of their original soundbars that I purchased approximately ten years ago. I still have that soundbar, still use it every single day, and have never had an issue with it. More importantly, the sound quality has withstood the test of time. It still sounds phenomenal even compared with many soundbars being released today. With that said, I think it’s important to understand who Bose designed this particular speaker for. This isn’t really the starting point for a big modular home theater system. It’s for somebody who simply wants to make their television sound considerably better without worrying about rear speakers or apps. You basically plug it in, connect it to your television, and you’re good to go. One thing I was really happy to see is that Bose still includes an optical input. I’ve always appreciated when soundbars keep this option because there are still plenty of televisions that use optical, and it’s a simple and extremely reliable way to get audio from your TV to your speaker. However, if your television supports HDMI ARC, I would absolutely use that instead. ARC allows the soundbar to behave much more like an extension of the television and ties into your existing TV remote. Sound quality is excellent for what this speaker is designed to do. Bose has always been known for producing very clean, crisp sound, and that carries over to this model. Dialogue in particular is clear and easy to understand, which I think is probably one of the biggest reasons somebody would buy this over simply continuing to use their television’s built-in speakers. With that said, This does not have Dolby Atmos or upward-firing speakers, so you’re not going to get a true three-dimensional sound or sense of audio coming from above you that you’ll experience with Bose’s more expensive soundbars. What you do get is a very clean and surprisingly full projection of sound coming from the front of the room. For normal television, news, sports, sitcoms, and everyday movie watching, I think it sounds fantastic. It’s also a very small soundbar. In my photos, I placed it alongside the Bose Smart Soundbar and my roughly ten-year-old Bose soundbar so you can get a better idea of the size difference. It’s several inches shorter than the Smart Soundbar while being fairly similar in depth. If you’re working with limited space then this will be right up your alley. Bluetooth has also worked exceptionally well. I’ve spent hours streaming music through this speaker and haven’t experienced a single connection issue. Music sounds surprisingly good too, and the small size has allowed me to carry this around the house. I’ve actually been carrying it outside to my covered back patio and using it almost like an oversized Bluetooth speaker while my kid swims or while I’m working outside. Obviously, this isn’t actually a portable speaker and you still need to bring the power cord with you, but it’s small and light enough that moving it around is incredibly easy. That’s turned out to be one of my favorite things about it. Overall, I’m very happy with the Bose TV Speaker for what it is and, more importantly, for who it’s designed for. It’s a great speaker to make your television sound considerably better, hear dialogue more clearly, stream some music over Bluetooth, and don’t want to mess around with apps or complicated setup, I think you’ll be incredibly happy with this. If you’re looking for something you can eventually expand with additional speakers, want Dolby Atmos, or want Wi-Fi and room-to-room audio, I would move up to one of Bose’s Smart Soundbars instead. Bose does an excellent job with that ecosystem as well. But if all you want is a simple, compact speaker that makes your TV sound a whole lot better, this does exactly what it’s supposed to do.

The Bose TV Speaker v2 is a compact, easy to use soundbar meant to enhance the sound from your TV speakers. It produces rich sound with very clear dialog and is a perfect upgrade for someone having difficulty hearing dialog from their current TV speakers. The package contents include the following items: The Bose TV Speaker v2 soundbar itself A HDMI cable An AC Power cord A remote with batteries The Bose TV Speaker has the following connections: 1x HDMI port 1x Optical port 1x Aux port 1x Bass port 1x Service port which looks like a USB-C connector 1x AC Power connector Front Power On/Off LED and Bluetooth LED Supports Dolby Audio and Bluetooth. The build quality of the Bose TV Speaker is excellent. It has a front metal grill which I prefer over soundbars using a cloth grill because I always fear accidentally tearing a cloth grill. Looking through the grill, I can see 3 drivers (a center tweeter and two front drivers that are slightly angled outward to provide a wider soundstage). There is also a bass port on the rear to increase the bass response. Overall sound quality is excellent with very clear dialog. The sound is rich and full with decent bass that is better than most TV speakers. If you need stronger bass, you can connect an external subwoofer to the soundbar. While the sound is rich and full, it doesn’t seem to produce a wide sound field that envelops the user. There doesn’t seem to be any companion app so the setup is as simple as connecting the soundbar to your TV using an HDMI cable. The Bose TV Speaker v2 is advertised as “Roku Ready” and luckily, I am using this soundbar with my 43-inch Hisense Roku 4K HDTV. My Roku HDTV automatically recognizes the Bose TV Speaker as being Roku Ready and configured the system to work together. This allows you to access soundbar settings directly from the Roku TV’s menu system using the Roku TV remote so you don’t need to use the included Bose remote. By pressing the star button on my Roku remote, you can access the following sound settings on the soundbar: Audio EQ (Normal, Dialog Mode) Bass Level (Minimum, Less, Normal, More, Maximum) Placement EQ (Normal, Wall) The standard default Audio EQ mode already delivers very clear dialog and when switched to Dialog Mode, I found the dialog seems to be brought up further to the front and is slightly more clearer. But I think the improvement is subtle. Similarly, the different Bass levels produced subtle differences in bass levels. I would suspect this would be more noticeable if an external subwoofer was being used. I currently have the Bose TV Speaker v2 soundbar mounted on the wall and I didn’t really hear any difference when switching the Placement EQ mode from Normal to Wall. Summary In summary, the Bose TV Speaker v2 soundbar produces rich and full sound with extremely clear dialog and better bass than most TV speakers. It is very compact and extremely simple to use. If you have a Roku TV, you can access the sound settings using the Roku remote and the TV menu system. During my time with it, it has been very reliable – it reliably turns on/off when you turn the TV on/off. The Bose TV Speaker v2 would be a great choice for a small space and for someone who isn’t interested in a complicated surround sound system and is mainly interested in getting richer and fuller sound with great dialog clarity over their existing TV speakers. This is the perfect soundbar for someone like my elderly parents.

From the name I thought the Bose TV Speaker 2nd generation would be a box-type speaker, but it’s a smallish soundbar, approximately 2 x 23 x 4”. I have a very similar Bose product that they call a soundbar. There are some differences. The 2nd gen is about 4 inches shorter and stockier. The top is solid. It doesn’t have speakers on top like the soundbar does. There are connections on the back for HDMI, optical, AUX, bass and USB for service. The AUX connection is new and gives more versatility. The Bose website says it comes with an optical cable and no HDMI. Mine came with HDMI and no optical. That’s a good thing, because HDMI is the best way to connect a soundbar. It allows the TV remote to control volume and gives the best sound quality. Bose speakers are always excellent, but the app is quirky. So it’s OK that there is no mobile app-based set up or control for this speaker. Control of the speaker is done solely by using the soundbar and TV remotes. There are remote controls for Bass and Dialogue mode. Dialogue mode analyzes the vocals in the sound and “elevates” them so words can be heard more clearly. I didn’t notice a huge difference, but it might depend on the source of the sound. Although I have an extra HDMI port on my PC, the speaker won’t connect that way without some kind of an adaptor. Bluetooth is the only option there. Initially the speaker would power off whenever the monitor went to sleep. I spoke with Melody, the Bose AI, and “she” told me that holding down the power button for 5 seconds - until the light turns amber - will initiate Auto Wake. I haven’t had any power issues since doing that. When watching a video I did notice that the picture and sound were slightly out of sync. Syncing the sound was an app feature and Melody didn’t have a solution. The speaker connected easily to my phone and the sound when playing music is incredible. Initially the speaker paired with both the phone and PC. When I restarted the PC, it wouldn’t connect to Bluetooth until I deleted it from my phone. Once I re-paired it with the PC, it wouldn’t pair with the phone. Melody said it can pair with multiple devices - so there must be a way to do it. I’ll have to spend a little more time working on that part. The speaker has fantastic sound. It is simple to use and uncomplicated. There are no unnecessary buttons or features. The only change I would make is to configure the front so that the Bluetooth, Power On and other lights show on top of the speaker or in a larger area on the front. They show in a small groove along the front edge and can be hard to see when doing set up and troubleshooting unless you’re at eye level.

My husband has hearing difficulties, so we used to have a frustrating setup where he would link his hearing aids directly to the television through an app, which meant I could barely hear anything at all. That issue is completely gone after we got this Bose TV speaker, and I couldn't be happier with it. The audio is so well-balanced and natural that it improves every program we watch, and even though my hearing is fine, I'm getting just as much enjoyment out of it as he is. What impressed him right away was the Dialogue mode, which made voices on every show come through with remarkable clarity. For the first time, he doesn't have to rely on his hearing aids to follow what's being said, so we can finally watch television together comfortably in the same room. Installation couldn't have been simpler. The speaker itself is very sleek and compact at roughly 23.5 inches in length, 4 inches in width, and 2.25 inches in height, with four flat rubber pads on the bottom that keep it securely in place. It came with an HDMI cable that I just plugged straight into the eARC HDMI port on our TCL television. On the rear panel there are connections for HDMI, Optical, and AUX, plus a dedicated jack if you ever want to add a compatible Bose bass module for extra low-end, though for our needs that isn't necessary at all. There's also a service port and the connection that the supplied power cord fits into. A small white indicator light appears on the left when the unit is on, but it's so subtle it doesn't distract from viewing at all. It also includes a compact remote that was ready to use immediately with the battery already installed. Additionally, the speaker is Bluetooth capable, so you can stream from a phone or tablet if you want. It looks wonderful, delivers excellent sound, and has been a fantastic find for us ~ I would recommend this Bose TV speaker without hesitation. We love it!

This speaker is such a wonderful improvement over the tinny sound of the built in speakers on a flat panel television! It’s a great way to fatten up the sound without adding a ton of gear to the room. The dialogue boost on this model allows me to hear the words clearly even in a quiet passage without cranking the volume so I don’t disturb others in the house, especially later in the evening. There is an output port to connect a Bose subwoofer if you want to expand later for even deeper bass but there is an adjustable bass setting built in to the speaker that provides a nice bass boost. I have it connected to an HDMI ARC port on the television with the included cable, the speaker turns on and off with the television and the television’s remote controls the volume. Once I had the bass and dialogue settings adjusted with the included remote I only needed to use that remote if I’m connecting to the speaker through Bluetooth with a mobile device. The speaker has a pair of threaded mounting holes if you need to wall mount it with the optional bracket kit. It’s surprisingly small at just less than 24” wide and 2” tall, it fits between the legs of my television. I think if you’re realistic with your wants and needs you would be very happy with this speaker, it provides great sound in a small package and is easy to set up and operate.