Bose® - Lifestyle® V20 Home Theater System - Black

I spent many hours researching for a new surround sound system. I did not want to go all out with in wall speakers or floor speakers. I found that these systems can cost between $5,000 and the sky is the limit. I wanted a 5.1 channel satelite speaker system for my movies and music. I have had a 5.1 channel satelite speaker system for approximately 11 years, and quite frankly was old and very outdated. My old system would not decode blu-ray disks, or almost anything for that matter, I had to turn the volume almost all the way up to hear anything. My top two choices were bose and klipsch. Best Buy had an entire klipsch system for a good price, although it was not on display in the store which I found surprising. If your going to have a complete system on sale, why would'nt you have it hooked up all together so people can hear it and compare? I could not get this answer talking with the home audio tech. at the store. Although, they did have the Klipsch quintet series III hooked up to a yamaha reciever. The Klipsch and the bose speakers were displayed right next to each other which made the comparison easier to achieve. The bose speakers where hooked up to a Harmon Kardon 7.1 reciever. The bose speakers sounded more natural sounding, and more clear. You could hear every little sound from the music better than the Klipsch. It should be noted that both set of speakers were set to listen to FM radio. While talking with the home audio tech. he stated that the Klipsch system along with the 10 inch or 12 inch Klipsch supwoofer would deliver hard hitting bass, better than the what the tech. called "small" bose subwoofer. This is true in my opininon but with one down fall. The klipsch subwoofer is bigger for sure, but the bass could overwhelm the sound from the speakers themselves. I understand that you can control the level of bass coming out of the the klipsch sub, so maybe you can adjust it to not overwhelm the sound of the satilite speakers. (Unless this is the kind of the sound you want to hear.) With the Klipsch speakers, sub and reciever, you would have to adjust it just so, so you could get the sound you want out of it. I figured that this would hold true with the bose speakers hooked up to a traditional reciever. This is when I found the Bose V-20 display. The system comes with its own reciever, made by Bose, and calibrated for the speakers and sub. The trick thing is the reciver can be totally hidden, and you can operate it from any room in the house, litterally. When I hooked up the system, I could turn it up or down from anyroom, and also outside. I opened all the windows in the house and walked the perimieter of my house being able to turn it up and down anywhere outside. (Note: I live in a single story house, on approx. 8,000 square foot lot) The sound was amazing, clear, and concise. In the store you can not hear the bass all that well, when you could it was very clear. I chose the Bose V-20 for the sound quailty, and also I have Bose in my GM vehicle and it sounds outstanding, so I figured the home audio should be just as good or better. When I got home I hooked up the system. It hooks up very easy, and comes with everything you need. Although I already had Monster HDMI cables and Monster optical cables, so I did not use most of the Bose equipment. This system comes with easy to read installation instructions, and also all the speaker wire you need. (Also saves some money on speaker wire.) The speaker cables are color coded and labeled on the ends for easy hook up correctly to the sub. The sub hooks up to the reciever. If you attach the speakers to the mount and the mount to the wall, you could spend several hours running the wires and affixing the speaker mounts. It should also be noted that the mounts do not come with the system, or stands for that matter, you have to purchase them (Bose) for $29.99 for each one, and after paying that much for a system, its hard to do, but worth it. Another question that I could not get answered by the tech at the store was can you adjust the treb. and bass on the system, the answer is yes. You can adjust the treb. and the bass from +9 to -9. You can also adjust the level of each imput up to +6, in case your cable or dish is quieter than your dvd etc. When you turn it up, you can hear and fell the bass, probably not as hard as the Klipsch sub, but alot cleaner sounding. After I installed the system, I watched Transformers DVD and was absolutly blown away by the sound. It was amazing to hear all the sounds that I was missing from my old system. One down fall I found was when I ran my Direct TV (I have a DVR reciever) through the bose, the upconvert was bad. It made the picture choppy, and pixelated. I un hooked the video feed from the bose reciever and but it directly to my T.V. and solved the problem. (I still run the audio from the direct t.v. box via Monster optical cable). This problem did not occur when I ran Monster HDMI from my blu ray player to the bose, then another Monster HDMI from the bose to my televison. I also ran Monster Fiber Optic for the sound from my blu ray player. I am impressed with the system, and very pleased. The system sounds incredible and is worth the price I paid. My living room sounds like a movie theater now and I am glad I chose Bose.

this is a very good system and you cant argue its bose... its a bit pricey but when you here the crazy sound that comes out of this system you will love your purchase. another pro for me is the small speakers, for me i already have another system, it has these big bulky speakers and you can notice them really well.... also its sooo amazing the sound that you can get from such small speakers, the only con for me is that the remote for the system is a little more confusing campared to other systems, i would like it to be more simple.... a good sound system that is less expensive than bose and is still a good system is sony, before this system i was considering this sony 5 disk changer.... i got that that is my other system that i have, it has good sound and it is considerably less expensive, but the bose is still better.... if i could pick between them right now i think i would choose the sony mostly for less clutter because it has a 5 disk changer and that means that you dont need a dvd player sitting in your stand and a surround home theater system..... also the sony is very good for the price, now that ive paid for the bose i use it more only because it is slightly better than the sony and i have already spent the money..... i would rather have the sony and if i could choose and i would higher reccomend the sony..... so if you have the money and you want to spend it on the bose then thats fine but if you dont have enough money then i would definently reccomend the sony.......

I purchased a Lifestyle35 several years ago and have been quite pleased with the simplicity and performance of the system. I'm quite familiar with the ins and outs of Bose's systems, and when Bose released their new V-series, I figured it was time for an upgrade. Since the LS35 uses the top-of-the-line Jewel Cube speakers (which are interchangable), I saved myself some money by picking up a V20 instead of the V30. Glad I did- it gave me a chance to put the two speaker packages head-to-head! ----- The Jewel Cubes are much cleaner than the Acoustimass Speakers when it comes to music listening. With movies, they sound about the same (with the Jewels being marginally better), but music is definately where they make the biggest impact. The highs sound much brighter on the Jewel Cubes. The delicate detail found in classical music and even jazz is far more pronounced. Little things like triangles or the rake of fingers on guitar strings can be more readily picked out. During movies, it seemed like more of a volume difference than anything. The Jewel Cubes naturally put out more volume, but the clarity wasn't all that different. The most dramatic difference I heard was from DTS soundtracks- DTS doesn't use as much compression as compared to DolbyDigital, and the Jewels seemed to take advantage of this fact, if only a little. ----- As far as ease of setup and use goes- Bose has it down to a science! While not as simple as the 321 I got for my parents, its mostly because of the increase of capabilities. Basically, the more wires you're willing to hook up, the more things you'll learn it can do! The system can perform things like automatically turn on your TV, expand to 14 other rooms, and even tune itself! The list goes on and on! ----- The V20 (or should I call it the V30 now that I have the Jewel Cubes connected?), like the other Lifestyle systems, includes an audio-calibration system called 'AdaptIQ.' Unlike other auto-setup mics found with conventional receivers, you wear this one on your head. Yes- its a set of STEREO mics so the system can listen to itself the way you're going to be listening to it! Not only that, but it takes measurements from FIVE seats in the room, as opposed to just one generalized location. I guess the idea is that it will adjust itself more accurately than a normal setup mic would? Whatever- I'm sold! ----- The entire customization process begins by going into the setup menus. Individual volume adjustments are available for each audio input, as are video aspect ratios. Programming the remote is a breeze- you just go into the system settings menu and pick your device from the list (though the ability to input alternate codes would be nice). I've got a total of 7 devices hooked up to my system ranging from iPod to VCR to Playstation3, and while the system does NOT support HD audio from Bluray movies, it all sounds PHENOMINAL nonetheless! Keep in mind though, I'm running Jewel Cubes on my system- the Acoustimass Speakers it comes with still sound great! ----- Bottom line? Well, that depends on you! Most will argue that the system is too expensive- I say its a value when you look at the big picture! The abilities of the system reach FAR beyond your normal HTIB, and if how long my Lifestyle35 has lasted so far is any indication on Bose's build quality, I'm sure I will be enjoying this systems for YEARS to come! While I wish it had a few more HDMI inputs (only 2?) and HD audio support is curiously absent (perhaps because built on same amps/processors?), the Bose Lifestyle V20 is an excellent choice for those with HD on the mind, but don't want something unnecessarily complicated to bog the experience down. Pair this bad boy with a Playstation3 for its Bluray and music storage capabilities and you've got a winning combo on your hands for sure!

For the price, you'd expect Bose to do better. The V20 does not decode DTS, TrueHD, or Dolby Digital without the use of an optical line in addition to the HDMI (crazy, I know!). I spent an hour on the phone with Bose - who are VERY helpful, by the way - and he admitted as much. A very annoying issue the V20 also has is that it does not seamlessly change channels. You'll get a blue-screen while the unit does its "handshakes" with your digital cable box or changes over to your BluRay. I also could not get over how regular channels looked WORSE after hooking up cable through the receiver/control box. The HD channels didn't look as sharp either. The Bose guy said this was not supposed to happen and that I should take it up with my cable company. HOWEVER...when I took the V20 back and got something else, the regular channels looked a lot better than they did with the V20. They looked like the signal wasn't being interfered with at all (which is what is supposed to happen). The sound - which made me drool IN STORE - did not sound as great at home ... no matter how I tweaked the setups in both the Bose and my BluRay. Long story short... I took the Bose back and bought the Pioneer VSX-1018AH-k and Def.Tech ProCinema speaker setup. I saved over $500 and the whole system works GREAT and sounds phenomenal. It decodes TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc etc... using just the HDMI (like you'd expect for the the money you're spending) If you have the money and your ears/eyes can't tell the difference, go ahead and buy the BoseV20...however, if not... BOSE = Buy Other Sound Equipment

The Bose V20 system has theater quality sound and feel. When I put a move on the sound quality (even at maximum volume) is clear and distortion free, you even feel the sound waves resonating deep in your chest just like at the theater. Coupled with a HDTV and Blue Ray movies your theater system is complete. The V20 system even put regular TV out in sourround sound. TV, Radio (the Bose receiver is the radio) and even CD are crystal clear sound. I really like the fact the the BOSE remote can control the satalite receiver, Samsung DVD player and the TV so I only need one remote. The Bose remote can change channels from any room in the house including the basement. Set up took about 1 hour and was fairly easy to do. Only thing I did not like is the HDMI cable Bose provides is of low quality. For the system price I would think Bose would include a preimum HDMI cable.

We got V20 on the weekend at sales price and replaced my $400 panasonic surround sound that we had. Install was some what hard and time consuming but it included everything that you might need or would have to go buy, such as hdmi and other sound/video cables. We hooked up with my samsung 46" lcd and blu-ray player. At first couldn't get the bose control to work with all my components and we also didn't feel any different from our older surround sound. Good thing that we made the call to the bose tech support on sunday. After an hour on the phone, We were so pleased how much time the guy spend with us, helpful way and He make sure that everything works and sound like the retail store demo. He Also even send us extra cable at no charge. We are very pleased that with 5.1 surround from bose you can really hear the missing tones and back ground noise that can't hear from any other surround sound brand. I know from now on we are staying at home for the movie night. We're putting up a sign saying now showing at ACT V THEATER.

We waited over ten years before finally taking the plunge with Bose and it was well worth the wait. The sound quality is superb and it does everything I need it to do. I test ran it with Saving Private Ryan and finally re-experienced the theater quality sound I couldn't get with our Klipsch or Sony systems. HOWEVER, it took me two weekends to figure out how to make all the connections (DirecTV, TIVO, DVD...) work like they are supposed to; if I had it to do over again I would pay the Geek Squad or somebody to set it up for me. But now that it is up and running I only regret that we waited so long

I purchased the system about a month and a half ago and so far I love it. The sound is unparalled and the adaptIQ is an amazing feature. I don't like all the wires so I am currently looking for ways to hide them. The worst thing is the price but I bought it on sale so it isn't so bad. Anyone willing to pay should definitely buy this, especially if you have a promotion for discounts on a home theater system paired with the bose sale going on. Again the sound from the system is unmatched save for the V30 system (the only difference being the smaller speakers).