Boston Acoustics - 150W 2-Ch. Soundbar Speaker System with Wireless Subwoofer

Was on the marked for a sound system to compliment our new LED tv and went looking for either the Bose Cinemate or the Sony 150.This is foe a condo, therefore it needs to be compact. The Sony sounded kind of weak in the store and the Bose was a little too pricey. The sales person pointed out this one and took a leap of faith. I'll start with the good: It sounds great. I wanted something that would be able to handle everyday tv (not ultra loud when volume was down), music, and movies' special fx without overpowering the voices of the actors. This one fit the bill perfectly. The bass is wireless, easily adjustable, and super deep and strong. It is not a 5.1. so surround is not the best, but it gives a surprisingly nice surround experience. The bose is better in this regard, but then again is a few hundred more. It is super easy to set up and program with your existing remote (no remote included), and love that it came with an optical cable (no HDMI here). The not so good? Is pretty big for a bar. Is king of bulky and you will have a hard time fitting it under a tv without being a bother and is not too pretty. However what I find a drawback on this unit is the lack of ability to control it's power. It has a power button alright, but if it is connected to a device it will turn itself on when you turn on the device regardless of you wanting to or not. Turn it off, and in less than a few will turn itself on again. This is cool if you plan to use it for all audio (which I do) but if you only want it for movies or music, there is no way to keep it off unless disconcerted. I am happy with the unit, but if you do not want to have this thing on ALL the time, stay clear.

I was in the market for a small footprint sound system for general TV watching and music. In comparing sound bars at Best Buy, this one sounded superior to the others on display. However, I immediately found a few issues with the first one I purchased: 1) The optical input was faulty. I tried multiple devices and different optical cables and the sound bar system would automatically shut off after 45 seconds. 2) When listening to music the sub would cut out due to what I assume was overheating....even when listening at normal levels. 3) Since the optical input didn't work I was forced to use RCA. When using RCA, annoying high pitch feedback was present during breaks in the audio. I emailed Boston Acoustics asking for advice before returning their product. I waited 8 days and never heard back from them. I exchanged the sound bar in hopes that the optical issue was specific to the one I exchanged. So far so good. I've had the new one hooked up for the past few hours and the optical input is working as expected. Compared to when I was using RCA, this sound bar sounds great through optical. I listened to music for a while and the sub didn't cut out like the first one.

I just wanted to talk about 1 issue I had with the product in order to help others. I was having trouble with my remote control (after I programmed it) not working properly. It would work about 2 feet away from the sound bar no problem (so I didn't notice while I was programming it..) But it would not work any further away! I started Googling.. I read online about IR interference with plasma TV's, etc. I tried a number of home-made solutions that didn't work. The next day I called the manufacturer. I spoke to someone in the support department who told me that one option was to remove the grate on the front of the speaker (which just pulls off). Then he told me that I could poke out a plastic disc that is over the IR receiver and it should improve performance. This disc is apparently there to protect against stray light from the sun, etc. I did what he asked after I verified that I could return the product otherwise and it worked like a charm! Now I am very happy with the product. I can use the remote control from across the room as I should now. Sound quality is great from such a small system. Looks stylish mounted on my wall. Would recommend after you remove that IR disc.

I had purchase a Polk Audio 6000 and had an issue with it so I took it back with the intention of exchanging it for another Polk. The sales rep suggested I give this unit a try. For $150 cheaper it is worth the money. It only has 150 watts compared to the 289 for the polk but I haven't found the difference to be a big deal for me. It is pretty easy to hook up. It wouldn't recognize my TIVO remote so I programed the TV remote to it and then the TIVO remote works fine. The instructions walk you through the remote hook up very well. The sub seems to have a little more bass than the Polk had. You can also adjust the sub output (not with the remote). The wireless subs helps with the surround sound feel although it is definitely NOT true surround. I am having some remote issues. I have to be straight ahead in front of the unit for it to pick up the remote. It won't pick it up at about a 10 -15 degree angle. I am going to try what NickB22 did and see if this fixes that problem. Hope that works or this unit my get a return trip as well.

The sales associate at Best Buy said he knew a lot about sound bars and told me I would be better off with a company that had designed the first sound bars before each of the TV manufacturers got into the product line. He had me look at the Boston Acoustics and the Polk Audio units and we listened to them side by side. I have Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers in my bedroom and also large floor standing speakers with my family room TV and stereo and have been very satisfied with their sound combined with a subwoofer. After listening to the Boston Acoustics sound bar and wireless subwoofer, I preferred the rich sound of that unit over the Polk Audio which had more prominent treble, which may be good for TV audio, but it was just my own listening preference and my previous favorable experience with their speaker line that made me decide on Boston Acoustics. I purchased a Sharp 60" the previous week from Best Buy for a recently remodeled work out room in my home and was very disappointed in the speaker/audio quality that comes with almost all large screen TV's nowadays, so that is why I wanted to add a sound bar. I also was using all 3 HDMI ports of the Sharp Aquos 60" LED TV (one for my cable HD digital box, one for an Apple TV box and one for an X-box) so I needed a sound bar that used a digital optical cable for connection to the TV. After I got it home, I started reading the reviews on Best Buy, which were really mixed and I started to have a sinking feeling that maybe I should have read these BEFORE my purchase! The complaints that seemed to surface the most in other reviews were: 1) interference with the wireless band frequency used to connect to the subwoofer with other wireless connections in the same home area, 2) difficulty pairing an existing remote control with the Boston Acoustic sound bar (it doesn't come with its own remote, but rather you sync your existing remote to it, which most people appreciate so that they are not having to add yet one more remote), 3) difficulty with controlling the sound bar using the remote if not directly in front of it (some reviews commented that removing the front grill or removing a lens from the front of the remote sensor would alleviate the reception problem 4) the difficulty in removing a sticker from the front grill that apparently was glued all too well to the grill on many customer's units, 5) some people said that their unit failed after a period of time (circuit board burned out or an overheating subwoofer). After reading all of this, i was a bit reticent, but then again, I knew that Best Buy would give a 30 day trial, so I decided to unpack the box and give it a try. First, I have to admit that I have never connected an optical cable before. The unit does come with its own optical cable and so I will return the one that the salesperson at Best Buy said that I needed. Second, I am going to expose my ignorance here: I at first did not realize that the small translucent bulb on each end of the cable is actually a protective cover that must be removed (I Googled this on the web and it became apparent after watching a video why I could not connect the optical cable while it still had the protective cover on each end!). My Sharp Aquos was already mounted on the wall with a TV tilting mount that the Geek Squad from Best Buy had installed, so it was not exactly the easiest maneuver to reach behind the TV while it was mounted on the wall and insert the optical cable in the right orientation so that it would plug in (victory after a number of tries and marking the bottom orientation of the connector with tape so I could feel it while trying to insert it). The sound bar has 2 keyhole openings on the back to allow it to slide over wall screws, but actually I did not need it, since it fit snugly on top of the TV, braced against the wall. There is also a switch on the back of the sound bar to choose between wall mount and table mount, which probably changes the acoustics slightly. After plugging in the sound bar and the wireless subwoofer into AC outlets, the set-up directions were relatively straightforward and it appears that a large additional quick set up direction sheet has now been added to help one understand how to synch up one's existing remote with the unit, since many previous reviewers had trouble with this part and the lack of clarity of the instructions in the booklet (see below). Also, it appears that they have wisely stopped gluing a sticker onto the grill - no sticker was on my unit, so I think that problem has probably been eliminated. For synching up one's remote to the sound bar (as per instructions), you first push the power button and the volume up button simultaneously on the sound bar until the orange LED light next to the power button starts blinking, then you push the function on the sound bar that you want to assign to a button on your remote. For example, as soon as the orange light started blinking, I pushed the volume up button on the sound bar (the orange light stops blinking and becomes continuous) and at that point you hold your remote right in front of the sound bar sensor (within inches) and push the volume up button on your remote four times with a slight pause in between (you will see the orange LED light quickly flicker between orange and green each of the four times that you push your remote function button) and this is what notifies you as you pair your remote button to the function you have chosen (in this case, volume up) - after the pairing is successful, all three LED lights turn green and then when you press the volume up button on your remote the volume will increase. The other functions that you will want to synch to your remote will be the volume down button, the power button, the mute button, and the input button (movie vs TV; I am not planning on changing this function, so I did not synch this function to my remote). Here is the important part: When synching the next function, for example volume down, you will first press the power and volume up buttons simultaneously on the sound bar as before, but this time when the orange LED starts blinking, you press the button on the sound bar once that you want to synch to your remote, for example, the volume down button, then you push the volume down button four times on your existing remote while holding it directly in front of the sound bar sensor. After the 3 green LEDs light up briefly, you know that your volume down button on your remote is now synched to your sound bar. Then you repeat the same procedure with the mute and then power button. Once I understood that for each new function, you press THAT function button after the orange LED starts blinking, it was a piece of cake. So far, I have not found any problem with controlling the sound bar with my Sharp remote that came with the TV, even at a 45 degree angle and at least 8 feet away, as long as you point it at the sensor which is located in the right upper corner of the sound bar above the external function buttons. Before I turn off the TV, I point the remote at the sound bar sensor and it powers down (the audio goes out) and then I point the same remote at the Sharp TV sensor (lower left of TV) and the TV then shuts off. Some reviews mentioned that the sound bar comes back on, but it may have to do with pointing the remote in a direction that then powers back on the sound bar when the TV is powering off. So, I would just take note of where to point the remote for the sound bar and where to point it for your TV or receiver. I also have not experienced any wireless interference problems with using the subwoofer. My workout room is in a room off of the garage on the lower level of the house and my cable wireless router and Apple Airport Extreme are on the next floor up in a closet, so I am not sure if that makes a difference or not. The sound of the Boston Acoustics sound bar and wireless subwoofer are very pleasing and it is easy to understand the voices on the TV - I am very pleased with the audio quality. The one advantage that Boston Acoustics sound bar has over other sound bars is that the separate wireless subwoofer that is plugged into an AC outlet has its own manual volume control on the back which is a nice feature for providing the amount of base you want. There is also a manual power toggle switch on the back of the subwoofer, so if you want to power it off when not in use or if you just want the sound from the sound bar and not the subwoofer, you need to manually toggle it off from the back of the subwoofer. So, overall, I am very pleased with this product and it appears that they have resolved all of the prior problems that people have noted in previous reviews. I have only had it a few days, so time will tell, but I am optimistic. I apologize for the small book that I have just written as a review, but thought it would be good for other readers to understand the resolution of some of the points raised in previous criticisms. Happy listening.

My wife and I bought a new 47" LED TV and the sound output was very tin-ny and had no depth. So we started looking at sound bars since we don't live where we can fit a full surround sound. After talking to the sales people about some of the different options we realized we wouldnt really get the sound we wanted. Then the sales guy said hehad a floor model that he could sell us that was better than the rest of the sound bars. We hooked up the Boston Acoustic there in the store and it sounded great. It had bass, and a lot of sound. So we bought it. We had it at home and it hooked up very easily. 1 wire from the TV, and power. Thats it. The bar itself responds to your standard remote which was nice but it wasnt super responsive. We had an issue taking off the sticker on the front so we removed the grill. Now the sound can be changed from anywhere in the room. I would highly recommend taking the front grill so the sound can be adjusted easier. I am happy with this unit and I think its perfect if you don't have the room for a full setup. The sound will not blow you away. The bass won't knock things off the wall. But it will work for people who want a cheap alternative, or do not have the room for a full system.

Honestly, I wouldn't have purchased this item had I not passed by it where the returned/opened items were. I'm usually a little more reluctant to purchase something that has been returned because you have no idea exactly why they returned it. This specific model was only online instead of the 6 soundbars they had out for display. We were going to buy another soundbar with the intent of keeping it simple and create more sound for our 42 inch HDTV. We have a smaller living room and this fit just right in front of the TV; the subwoofer is hidden behind the TV in the corner which works out great! The subwoofer is only a 6 inch speaker, but if you put it in the right place, it will add just enough bass to enhance the soundbar with movies, music, TV etc. Setup was extremely easy, we used the optical cable that came with it for hookup to the back of our TV, and the subwoofer just needed to be plugged into a power source. I read some of the other reviews when people said the IR panel was not very friendly or needing to be in a specific angle to use the remote, but we haven't had any problem since it's pretty much a straight shot watching TV from the couch or recliner in our living room. Programming the remote was simple, we have Dish Network and had no problems with this remote. I do want to mention that if your dish remote doesn't work at first like ours did, we just used the original TV remote like the directions said and then were able to use the Dish remote without any problems. The sound quality is very nice, you can change the input to either "music" or "movie" mode which changes the quality of sound a bit, but nothing too drastic. I've already plugged in our ipod into the back with an auxillary cord and have been able to play all my music as well. Overall, a good buy from a great brand name product! Realistically, it's a sound bar...it will only enhance your movies and music not turn it into a surround sound system.

This system sounds as good as the Polk system and it was $50 less on Cyber Monday so I bought it. The set up was super easy. It would have only taken 10 minutes if it weren't for trying to program my TV remote. The buttons are a little tricky and you have to program each button individually on your TV remote. (i.e. volume up, volume down, mute, power) I also found the same problem with the IR reception to be very poor through the speaker grill. You will have to leave it off or as suggested drill a hole in the grill so the IR receiver is visible. (it's between the power and mute buttons on the speaker bar) Unfortunately, it's just poor design by Boston Acoustics, otherwise a very solid product. If you don't want to fuss with that, check out the Polk model for around the same price. It has comparable sound quality. The reason I bought the system is due my having to crank up the volume to hear dialogue on shows and movies over the sound effects. It has great sound and the sound effects don't over power the actors voices.