Bose® - CineMate® Series II Digital Home Theater Speaker System

So, I used to have a Philiips 5.1 1000W. Honestly, I used to think that sounded great! I finally had some extra money to upgrade and I did. I got this unit! When I hooked it up, which By the way was REALLY easy, it sounded AMAZING! Anyway, This thing BLEW my Old Philips out of the water! The bass is wild during movies. I love that I can turn the Bass up or down so I don't Tick my Wife off while she's studying. lol The Clarity is very powerful. The appearance is beautiful. For those of you that wrote that it doesn't have the "Surround sound". . . Well what do you expect for a 2 SPEAKER SYSTEM. But to me, it sounds very impressive for only 2 speakers. At times I would swear there is speakers behind me. I would recommend this to almost anyone. If you are looking for the FULL surround sound I would keep saving your pennies and just get the Next model up with 5 speakers. Otherwise this one is amazing! Now, On to price. Yes, It is a little pricey. But honestly, it's well worth the price. Plus, That same old saying goes "You get what you pay for". Sure you can go and get a "Surround Sound" For maybe $200-300 but it won't compare to this! Plus, ITS A BOSE! They are all expensive because BOSE knows what they got! Plenty of people are more than willing to pay the Bigger dollars for better quality and BOSE knows it! I love this product and wouldn't trade it for anything!

i want to start out that i already have a dedicated theater room with 120'' screen, actual theater seats, hdtv/3D projector,sunfire sub/speakers 7.1 DD so i know a little about home theaters. my living room has a 55'' samsung and i didnt want 7.1 in this room, so looked at sound bars at least 350.00 on up. then came bose system for under 600.00 and i will tell you right now. invest the extra for this system. no bottom end what so ever and the sound is just amazing. 10 minutes to hook up and it is perfect if your looking for non total wired/wireless suround setups. 4 button remote is perfect sized and you can place sub anywhere and there is no distortion or bounce back. im sorry for such a long posts but this is why i purchaced this system to begin with is because of the reviews. then i went to listen and nothing else in the store came close. again it dosnt hammer like a 2200.00 sunfire, but for a living room and under 600.00 it is well enough power to rock your xbox or blurays.

I've been researching for a new system for days now, I looked at sound bars, new 5.1 speakers but for some reason I kept coming back to Bose, YES I do have (or had and put away) a full blown 5.1 system, Onkyo TX-SR605 and Infinity speakers I bought 12 years ago which sounded great BUT I wanted something new to compliment my new Samsung 40" LED. I live in a small apartment and I got tired of all the wire clutter. The moment I hooked everything up, I turned on my PS3(main Blu-ray player), played Black Hawk Down and within the first few minutes I couldn't believe it, the sound was very wide, loud and engulfing. It's not true 5.1, 7.1 etc.....BUT very close, I actually had to turn down the bass because my whole apartment was shaking. The only way to find out if this is the system for you is to hear it for yourself, you have nothing to lose other than the possibility of going back to the store to the return the thing if you don't like it...the price is high but what you get is quality and simplicity

I'm in a small one bedroom Apt. I'd been using an AIWA mini system for over a decade. Before you laugh, it was a great system with great sound. It was over $300 ten years ago and still sounded great. In fact, the bose speakers are not much better. I used to DJ and understand sound fidelity, clarity, etc. so how clear something sounds is important to me. I thought I could piece together a better system for $600-$700 dollars but as I began looking around - to do that I would needed more space and more money. I wanted something (without a tape deck) that looked clean, simple and could produce quality sound. Bose does exactly that. It's an easy set up, and the sound is excellent. The price of Bose always makes me hesitate but when you pick up the speaker (compared to say, any of the satellite speakers for a HTIB system) you instantly know it's of much higher quality. The complaint I saw most of these speakers was that you had to keep to volume up to hear voices. It's true - and a tad annoying for me (and probably for my neighbors) when I'm watching T.V. late at night. But it's not extreme. Other minor issues - the speaker wire is rather short. If you've going to mount these up on a wall away from the sub woofer, you'll need more cable. Also, it's only connecting to one source. It's not a problem for me, as I play everything through my T.V. (music, blu ray, netflix, etc.), but something to be aware of if you have multiple devices that don't have a focal point. Overall, I'm very happy with the system. I went with the cinemate series II as oppose to the level up (priced around $700). I could tell virtually no difference in the sound quality between the two. If you've got the space and the time, you can probably piece together a better surround system than this can produce - but if you want a good looking, solid sounding system, you won't be disappointed with this one.

Before purchasing this product I spent several days reading various reviews both on the Best Buy website and elsewhere on the web. The majority of the Best Buy.com reviews were very positive however I did find some negative reviews from self proclaimed audiophiles. Knowing that Best Buy has a 30 day no questions asked return policy I decided to give the system a try. Set up of the system was a breeze as the majority of people note. I did have a few issues though as my television is wall mounted and I wanted to conceal all of the speaker wires. The biggest issue is that the proprietary speaker cables that Bose uses have huge connectors that will require you to drill a ±1” hole in your wall or floor. I was eventually able to hide the wires behind my baseboard but doing so added over an hour to the setup. Also the speaker cables are fairly short which will limit your ability to place the subwoofer where you want it. In my opinion this system is not ideal in a wall mounted scenario unless you don’t mind looking at the wires but then why wall mount in the first place. The system setup is designed to work perfectly if your TV is on a stand or in an entertainment center. I have heard some people complain about the lack of input options. Let me set the record straight. There are two options RCA and digital optical audio. While I agree that standard RCA jacks may be a bit outdated digital optical is a great alternative for HD sound. Most people can’t differentiate between a digital optical audio connections vs. HDMI anyways plus HDMI isn’t necessary in a 2.1 setup (remember this is not a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system). Now for the sound. I was a bit skeptical that the sound I heard from the in store display was possible to replicate in my home but I was definitely wrong. The system sounds great and gets very loud. I tested it on HD cable, blue ray and Xbox 360 and was impressed. Those people who complain that the sound is too quiet or that there is no bass are either deaf, way too into rap and with its thumping bass sound, or have the system set up in a room that is way too big for it. My living room is 18’ x 25’ with 10’ ceilings and the sound is amazing. I even had to adjust the bass to about half way during regular TV watching. If you are looking for a real “surround” sound buy a 5.1 or 7.1 system because this is not for you. I was however surprised at the system’s ability to replicate a surround sound and at times felt like there were sounds coming from behind me and moving from left to right etc. My only complaints with the system are the size / length of the speaker cables, the inability to connect two devices to the interface module (i.e. TV and IPod), and the price of the speaker stands ($100). While the system is a bit expensive in my opinion it is worth it. If you have reasonable expectations you will really enjoy this setup. If you expect true surround sound and bass that will shake your wife’s picture frames off the wall and give your neighbors a seizure you will be disappointed.

Yes, you could argue the Bose CineMate Series II is a bit pricey, but for me, the ease of set up & it's pure simplicity, coupled with a quality product, great sound & a compact placement is worth that little bit extra for sure ? If you don't want 6 - 8 ugly speakers scattered all round the room with a wiring nightmare, amplifiers and multi functional controllers to contend with, then the Bose CineMate is the way to go. It's two speakers + Woofer all connect into one simple receiver, and it all plugs straight into the back of the TV with one connection. Simple, really ! Use the supplied Optical connection to the TV if your TV has an Optical inlet, it provides sharper sound quality. I purchased this system to compliment a Panasonic 50" 1080p Plasma. I wasn't looking for the complicated techno geek amplifier multi speaker surround sound systems, I just wanted something to provide more punch, clearer sharper, more interesting sound, and something to spice up movie sound. The Bose system does all that. I find the sound quality excellent, when viewing regular TV programming, & HD movie & DVD sound was very impressive for a system with just two speakers. It has plenty of Ooooomphhh! As an alternative to TV sound bars this is far more punchy, louder, clearer, a more detailed "moving" sound, and certainly a better quality product. However, it's not the all bells and whistles surround sound system though. Don't buy this if your'e a techno geeky sound nut who has more ears than the average human and insists on having sound bouncing all round the room in a hundred different directions. In the past I had a very expensive Denon 8 speakers system that cost 4 times what I paid for the Bose Cine Mate. The Bose 2 speaker system wins hands down for me !

First of all, people who state they can not use their BOSE System with multiple devices are wrong. Most newer tvs; by using HDMI connections with your devices and the supplied Optical cable, those devices WILL take advantage of the BOSE sound system. Do not follows these reviews stating it does not. I have a Wii U, a Panasonic Blu Ray Player, and cable box via HDMI and all sounds come out of the BOSE speakers. You do not have to unplug optical cable out of each device to use the BOSE Sound System!! Setup is VERY easy. Anyone can hook this up themselves. Each serial port goes in only one way, just line up the pins with the holes! If you own a desktop computer, and can hook up your monitor, its the same thing! Sound is outstanding. The Bose System accoustics process the sound is the most natural way possible. Its like you are actually in the movie hearing what the characters hear. Now I have a semi-small room that it is in, so this particular model is not great if you have a large living room. For that I would suggest you buy the upgraded models. Big issue that other people have pointed out. This particular system you need the remote to turn on and control the volume. If that gets lost or broken, you are out of luck. I on the other hand always buy a backup remote from BOSE. The reason I did this, is becaus of its size. It is a very small remote that could easily be stepped on or lost. That is the only draw back. Now the Bose system fills the room with sound, but does not point each background sound to each speaker like a surround setup. For that you would want the 5.1 speaker system. To be honest, I think this is a better buy. In summary, great sound for the price. WAY better than buying a sound buy, a bit on the expensive side, but excellent well built quality, not some cheap plastic subwoofer like Samsung. YUCK.

> Sound I'm not sure if it's worth the price but I'm pleased with the sound quality. The sound is very wide and comes forward a bit but never goes behind me. I don't really hear the "surround sound type" effects at medium volume, only at louder volumes. This could be because I have a wall right behind my couch and perhaps if there was more open space behind me it would envelope more. When I first started using it, I often had to pause my movie to listen because I thought I heard something outside my window. Each time it turned out to be the movie but the sound was so wide that I didn't recognize it. Very cool. I didn't really have to fiddle that much to find the right bass volume or total volume either. I do recommend zero volume on the TV though. > Remote I have a Sony Bravia LCD TV and the remote that came with it (RM-YD029) was able to be programmed to work with the cinemate receiver. I used code 51933. I was very glad about that because the cinemate remote feels like it would break sooner than later. It has a nice feel but too delicate for my taste. > Cables The optic cable fit fine. Although there's not a familiar snug fit like with other types of cables, it didn't pop out or anything. The other cables were easy to use and long enough to reach everything. > Stands The stands I bought were generic, not Bose specific. They're called Sanus Foundations Euro-style (EFSAT-B1). No likey. Although the salesman told me they would work with cinemate speakers, this is a relative statement. Yes, I got the speakers onto the stands but there are a few things I don't like and will be taking them back. The stand has a way to hide the wires but, the cinemate wires have big connectors that can't be removed and therefore don't fit in this hideaway so, the wires dangle. The only bracket that fits the speakers is a big L type that sticks up about 3-4 inches behind the speaker. Looks very cheesy. One of the base units got a bent screw while I was putting it together so one of my speakers leans to the side. Although the instructions were simple in hindsight, when I first looked at them and the amount of pieces, I was confused for about 5 minutes. I can't recommend getting the Bose stands because I haven't got them yet but that's what I intend to do.