Customer Ratings & Reviews

Sound was low. Need a sun woofer to ho with it....

This little sound bar brings flavor to an otherwise basic and dull tv sound experience. Even expensive TVs don’t really have impressive sound nowadays, everyone knows this. That’s why sound bars have become so popular. And while most sound bars on their own are a substantial fix, not all sound bars provide quality sound. This one does. It actually has pretty impressive bass as well. I was blown away and I ended up using this a lot just for Bluetooth music. The Bluetooth is super clear compared to my brother in law’s LG Soundbar that I’ve heard many times. There is no comparison in sound quality, the difference is night and day. Treble instruments sound super crisp and clear as do vocals, speech, and dialogue in movies and shows. This sound bar shines in the mid bass department. The price for this one is super competitive but Bose managed to fit in some really cool technology to make this thing sound way bigger and than what you would think it should sound like. Excellent buy, I would love to pair this up with one of the compatible Bose subwoofers for an awesome movie experience.

(I received this product in exchange for my fair and honest review.) The summed-up version: The Bose TV speaker is a simple, small sound bar. It's perfect for those with either a TV in the 26 through 32 inch class or with a small space on a shelf below your TV where a larger sound bar simply cannot fit. Setup is quick and easy, and sound quality is good for a sound bar of this size. However, sound quality isn't significantly better than some TVs are, connectivity is disappointing overall, and it just feels like there's a lack of overall value since it doesn't include an HDMI cable or analog audio cable in the package. There was also a real opportunity to use the Bose Connect app for tuning the sound from the TV Speaker to your individual taste that was missed out on. I can only recommend this for those wanting a decent sound bar for a smaller bedroom/office TV, those limited on space for a sound bar, or the Bose fans among us. ------------------------------------------------ Unboxing and setup: Bose has a thing for simple cardboard packaging these days, but it works as I'd prefer simple packaging over what some competitors do with their boxes. Pop the tape seals open, pull the contents out, and you're ready for setting it up. You could say the package is as simple as the device it contains. The contents of the box include the sound bar, a power cable, an optical cable, the remote, instructions, and a product safety guide. The design of the TV Speaker is simple - a perforated grill on the front and no buttons on the sound bar itself (which means don't lose the remote). It’s a small unit that fits well under 32 inch TV sets or in smaller spaces on TV shelves. There's an indentation in the back of the unit so cables don't flex if you push the sound bar against a wall or the back of a shelf. The remote is plastic and light, feels solid but inexpensive, and its indentations help you find the buttons on it. The TV Speaker itself has no buttons. Setup couldn't be any easier. Connect the power and either an analog audio cable, an HDMI cable, or the included optical cable, and you're ready to go. It took me about 5 minutes from out of the box to up and going for me. Like I said before, simple. I found I liked the HDMI connection the best as it allowed my TV to turn the TV Speaker on and off, and control its volume, despite the fact that the TV Speaker lacks HDMI passthrough or source switching. For those of you who own TVs with limited HDMI connectivity, this is a glaring weak spot. The analog input didn’t automatically turn the TV speaker on and off, but being that the TV I tested with has variable audio output, I was still able to control the volume level of the sound bar through the TV once I manually turned the sound bar on. While the auto-power on and off still worked with the optical cable, I had to use the Bose remote to control the volume of the sound bar as none of my TVs do variable audio out via TOSLINK. This sound bar also features Bluetooth connectivity. To test this out, I used my iPhone with both Apple Music and some side-loaded ALAC files. Apple Music had zero discernible difference in audio quality, leading me to believe the TV Speaker supports AAC over Bluetooth; the sound quality between Bluetooth and analog with the ALAC files was slightly noticeable. The phone was also able to control the volume level. Bluetooth also supports automatic power-on, so if your TV set supports a Bluetooth headphone mode like my Hisense H8G does, that's another option for connectivity. In terms of audio quality, this will sound better than the majority of TVs on the market today or that you'd likely attach it to. I'd take the sound out of this over my Sony XBR850C, Olevia 5 series, and the Element TV in my son's room - all three are relatively muddy or tinny by default. This also sounds better than either the LG LM7600 or the LG LH5700 I've previously owned and most LG and Samsung TVs I've watched in the past. Compared to the sound systems in my Sony A8F, Sony XBR2, and Hisense H8G, however, this was either on-par or lacking in overall punch. The biggest - and only feature the TV Speaker for improving audio (without an additional purchase) is what I'm calling Dialog+, as the symbol for it on the remote is a dialog bubble with a plus symbol in one corner. And it usually works, no matter what you're doing - vocals in music take center stage, voices in TV and movies pop out with added strength. However, it does automatically adjust the volume where you'll occasionally hear background static from your source. (I didn't see anything in the included literature giving that feature a name.) You can also connect a Bose-branded subwoofer to this sound bar. The Bose Base Modules 500 and 700 are both supported, though comparatively expensive options for the TV speaker. As I don't own one of those subwoofers, I wasn't able to test this feature out. In terms of what I’d use it for, I’m not as impressed by it for TV and home theater purposes. I did try it with my computer, however, using the analog connection; for streaming music and gaming, it works pretty well. It’s compact size fits perfectly until my monitor shelf, nicely out of the way. The bass is still punchy in games like Doom Eternal and Mortal Kombat 11, but doesn’t hit so hard that it shakes my desk and monitors. So now for the disappointments - and, unfortunately, there were quite a few with the TV Speaker. First, for the price, Bose should have included a simple wall mount kit, an HDMI cable, and an analog cable (preferably an 1/8th to 1/8th inch AUX-style cable with an RCA to 1/8th inch adapter). The remote ultimately feels cheap because of the way its designed - textured plastic straight from a 1990's American car on one side, membrane buttons sealed with smooth plastic on the top. Since the TV speaker supports Bluetooth, you would think adjusting audio settings, updating firmware, and controlling the TV Speaker via the Bose Connect app would be features; they’re. not. Power, source, and volume buttons could have been easily added to the side of the unit. Finally, the input indicator staying lit, although dim, could fade out as not to distract your viewing. The biggest design failure with the TV speaker is the fact that if you use HDMI ARC as it's connection to your TV, you lose an HDMI port for connecting other devices; since most TV sets only come with 2 or 3 HDMI ports (with some higher-end models being equipped with 4). Can I recommend the Bose TV Speaker? With reservations, sure. For a bedroom or office, it's a nice upgrade. Maybe for a room where you have a tiny space to put a sound bar. It also works pretty well as a computer speaker if you have mounted monitors or a riser and want something that will fit underneath and sit somewhat out of the way. And for the person that absolutely needs it to be Bose, yes, But if you have the space for a larger sound bar, you can find better, more flexible options that are better value propositions. If your TV lacks optical output and analog audio output and you feel like you're short on HDMI ports to begin with, this is not the sound bar for you. It's not to say it's bad, it's just not as great as it could be and would have scored higher with me had the value proposition and features I expected from Bose all been there.

For so many years, I have been relying on the speaker in the television for my sound. I never thought that it was worth it to upgrade my audio. I thought that was only for people who liked to watch movies and have theater sound. Well, it turns out that you can have more dynamic audio for all types of video, even the news or a sitcom. Before this, I would often struggle to understand what someone on television was saying because of various background noise. Not now. With the voice boost feature, it seems like everyone in the videos is enunciating their words more clearly and I can discern their speech. This has literally improved my life and made my viewing experiences richer. And, now, when I'm watching a movie, I do feel like I'm in a theater. I've also been casting music from my computer to the speaker and my daughter casts music from phone by connecting to it through Bluetooth. It's really easy to do. Speaking of easy, the installation was seamless. It literally took less than two minutes to have the audio blasting through it. I think that anyone could install this with no issues. The speaker has a low profile. It looks great on the entertainment center.

The Bose TV Speaker provides amazing sound for such a small size sound bar. I connected it by optical cable and had sound coming from it and my built-in tv speaker (for comparison) at the same time and what I noticed is there were sounds coming from the Bose TV Speaker that seemed to be missing in the audio output of the TV's built-in speaker. The Bose speaker sound was clear and the audio sounded great. While it does not include a subwoofer in the box, the bass sound the speaker provides is pretty impressive for what it is. I was watching a music performance on a premium cable channel using the speaker and was totally drawn into it with this speaker. The speaker itself didn't seem to require any special setup (easy) to get up and running, it was just a matter of plugging in the right cables and it was ready to go out-of-the-box. This may seem like a small thing, but this Bose TV Speaker also powers on and off quicker than other Sound bars that I have owned in the past, which is something I appreciate. I want to note that there was not an HDMI Pass-Thru (in/out), which means if I use HDMI ARC I lose an HDMI port on the TV.

Adds much depth to our viewing experience. Nice size.

Love the sound, its very clear and the profile is sleek and small. It can get loud and fill the room with no problem

An unimaginative name but an accurate description, and for that purpose, a very good product. To put this review in context, I purchased the Bose TV Speaker to improve the audio of a Toshiba 23" TV in my kitchen dinette area. The dinette and kitchen have a 10' ceiling and are partly open to a larger area that includes living and dining rooms and entrance foyer, all of 10' height, so it is not a small acoustic environment. our primary listening positions are approximately seven feet from the speaker front. The TV has small, down facing speakers, but with Audyssey enhancement, sounds better than many other small TVs, however, with age (mine & my wife's), dialog had become more difficult to understand at reasonable levels. In my application, a small sound bar is required since the TV is only 21.5" wide, about the same width as the Bose Solo 5 that appeared to be a leading choice. Unfortunately the height of the Solo 5 would have obstructed the TV's IR receiver and $200 seemed a high price for the limited features that it offers (the TV cost less than that). Despite the price concern, I purchased the higher priced Bose TV speaker, which is an updated version of the Solo 5 and was introduced in July 2020. The TV Speaker has a lower profile than the Solo 5 and does not interfere with the TV as well as added features that may increase its usefulness over time. As compared to the Solo 5, the TV Speaker is like a 60's car; longer, lower, wider by 1.8, 0.5 and 0.6 inches respectively, but in this case that's an asset. The increased length is accounted for by the inclusion of the power supply within the left end of the sound bar, whereas the Solo 5 has a separate power module that must be concealed elsewhere. The lower profile is facilitated by oval drivers that are angled to the sides approximately 30 degrees, similar to the Solo 5's taller 2 inch round drivers. The increased depth is presumably to maintain enclosure volume with decreased height. A domed center driver of about 1in. has been added (and presumably a third amplifier channel) that I assume is to augment the voice enhancement feature. The TV Speaker also adds a subwoofer output and an HDMI ARC connection with CEC, which would be very useful for TVs that support HDMI control to allow volume adjustment via the TV. My TV lacks that feature, necessitating the use of two remotes, however, the Bose speaker can be configured to remain in standby and turn on when an input signal is present. Note that the TV Speaker does not have the large, programmable remote that ships with the Solo 5 (except the Costco version), instead a small remote is provided for the Bose alone and which is essential since there are no controls on the speaker. Controls are minimal, in any case: volume, bass (plus or minus 2 steps), dialog enhancement on/off, muting, and source (TV or Bluetooth). Indicators are even more sparse: just two LEDs that change brightness (3 levels including 0), change color (4) and/or flash to indicate operating modes or conditions. This is generally adequate, once you have memorized the code, however volume changes merely flash for each incremental change and there is no indication of where in the range it is set. The Bose TV speaker feels solid and has a premium appearance while its low profile and lack of visual embellishment allow it to be as innocuous as a table top speaker could be. The dark gray, perforated metal grill covers the front and both end surfaces. The top surface is a uniform black, semi matte surface with only a small gray Bose logo near the front edge and it is surprisingly immune to finger prints. Bose has excelled at products that offer surprising performance for their size, with speaker enclosure designs that manage to extend the bass response beyond what seems reasonable for their miniscule drivers, but usually at the expense of low frequency detail and solidity. In that regard, the TV Speaker is no exception as it offers surprising low end fullness but lacks bass definition. Midrange clarity is very good and speech is easily discernable, even with my diminished hearing. The speech enhancement mode is effective and switch-able from the remote and is particularly useful with so much poor TV audio from people working at home. I won't comment on the speaker's high frequency response since I've lost the top octave (or more) of my hearing. At volume levels higher than I will ever use, the sound remains clear and undistorted throughout the open spaces well beyond my intended listening area. I found it necessary to set the bass at minimum, yet "boom" was still excessive. Although I've not heard the Solo 5, many of its user reviews criticized its "weak" bass response and I fear Bose may have overdone retuning of the TV Speaker as there is no shortage of low end output, but it lacks definition and detail. A string bass can sound as a diffuse, "muddy" boom, not readily identifiable. Using a sine wave generator via bluetooth, I hear two audibly obvious resonant peaks at about 62hz and 170hz, likely exacerbated by my rather "live" room. Output rapidly diminishes below the lower peak and is inaudible below about 50hz at normal listening levels. Nevertheless impressive from drivers so small. This is a vast improvement over my TV's built in speakers and after initial set-up I streamed the 2018 concert, "Houser and Friends" and enjoyed 2 hours of pleasant viewing/listening with my wife; I previously had NO inclination to use this TV for musical programming. Still, I wondered if the bass boom might be reduced by adding acoustic impedance to the bass port and, to that end, I loosely bunched the corner of a microfiber dust cloth into the port and, voilà, the bass became much tighter and detailed, if a bit too restrained. since then I've experimented with other materials and currently have a single cotton square make-up pad from CVS placed in the port. With this arrangement, the bass response is much more natural and I have increased the bass level to -1, but securing the pad in the port is problematic. Now the previous 62hz peak is not audibly apparent and the annoying boom is mostly absent yet bass is strong and better defined! In fairness to Bose, their instructions advise not to place the TV Speaker in a corner and if on a shelf, to locate it at the front edge. Mine is located near a shallow corner formed by the kitchen cabinets and a wall and, although it is on a perforated metal shelf, it is a few inches back from the edge and at a shallow angle. I relocated the speaker to the front edge and could not perceive an audible difference. The corner no doubt lends some bass reinforcement, however I doubt it is entirely responsible for the overshoot and ringing (boom) that seem associated with an under-damped design. Horizontal dispersion of sound is good, however I perceive little or no stereo imaging at my usual ~7 foot distance, unsurprising with both channels centrally located, but certainly no worse than the original TV audio. Given the short length of this sound bar, I doubt any other driver location would make a substantial difference. This is an unusual speaker enclosure design inasmuch as both channels share a common enclosure and ducted bass port (as best as I can glean from photos on the web). It is not Bose's first single port stereo arrangement, as the original Wave Radio had but one port, however, the channels had separate enclosures and only one driver drove the single "waveguide" and port, perhaps with a dual voice coil since it had a deeper magnet structure than the other channel. Because of the common enclosure of the TV Speaker, I would expect diminished channel separation irrespective of the central speaker locations. For a more rigorous listening test, I prepared an mp3 file with alternating left/right, wide spectrum audio (applause). Beginning within 30" of the speaker, each channel was quite distinct and seemed to emanate from positions well outboard of the driver locations, suggesting that the outward angled drivers and curved cabinet front are effective. Moving further away, apparent separation rapidly diminishes such that by 80", both channels seem as one in the center. Using a 1KHz test tone in one channel only and measuring sound level at the speaker grill where it was a maximum for each channel, the channel separation was significantly less than 10db. For Comparison, an LP phono cartridge (remember those?), which once was the limiting factor in channel separation, may achieve separation of about 20-25db. Given this lack of stereo imaging, I consider the TV Speaker's Dolby decoder to be a wasted effort, except perhaps to extract the center channel for dialog. The TV Speaker would likely provide reasonable stereo imaging if used as a desktop computer speaker. So, is the Bose TV Speaker the core of a killer home theater system? Well, no. Can I retire my 48 year old Dynaco A-25s in the adjoining room? A ludicrous proposition! Is it the sonic equal of the less expensive, 3.1 channel Sony HT-CT150 in our bedroom? No again, although dialog clarity is better with the Bose. The bottom line is that the Bose TV Speaker is just what the name suggests and provides the enhancement that I sought: clarity of sound, more intelligible dialog, and much improved musicality for my small TV, all while fitting the limited space available, being visually unobtrusive, and simple to set up and operate. What's not to like? Well, there is the price, and it is hard to argue that an enhancement to any product can be worth 140% of the product's cost. So I'll leave the value judgment to others, but in my case, the Bose TV Speaker fulfills my purposes while I found no alternative that was as suitable. I'd like to have another for my guestroom TV, but the cost is prohibitive.

This isn't my first experience with BOSE, their product line is top notch and when I wanted, or my wife would say needed to take our TV sound system to a whole new level the BOSE TV system was perfect. I did research other systems but not much beats BOSE especially in this price range. From shipment to receiving, and unpacking the unit, we were thrilled. The directions and hook up were simple to follow and and all cords and remote battery came with the unit. It's a fairly slim unit that hides well behind the TV but packs one heck of an audiophile punch. Everything from Disney movies, to action thrillers sound good. The bass is solid, even without a sub and the mids and highs are clear. I highly recommend this unit to anyone looking for a major sound upgrade at a good price from a reputable brand. Also, I really like that I don't need to use the remote that came with the system. It automatically turns on and off with our TV, where our old sound system didn't do that and I hated having to use so many remotes just to get things going.

As a long time Bose user, I was skeptical that this small soundbar would be able to put out a full, rich sound with a decent bass, but I was proven wrong right from the start. I have had this soundbar for 2 weeks now and I am impressed. After connecting both via bluetooth and optical cable, which was very easy to do, I was surprised by the clarity of the voices and the complete sound of music and the action sequences for movies. The multiple bass level adjustment is a great feature also, but even at the highest level, it was not obnoxious. The remote is very small, which is my only complaint as it will be easy to loose. The dialogue mode is OK, but I do hear that much difference so I don't see that being used much. I have connected through my cell phone and the music sounds very good. I have not connected via the HDMI yet. I highly recommend this soundbar for anyone who wants quality sound.

I am so disappointed in what Bose has become. To pay this much for crap product is very irritating. My Samsung sound bar sounds way better. After getting this and the subwoofer, I can honestly say that I don’t think I will buy Bose products in the future. Even the pawn shop didn’t want it!

WOW! The sound is awesome & good bass, don’t need anything extra like sub woofer, especially if you live in an apt like i do, its loud enough. And when you play music, thats when it is at it’s finest.

It's BOSE, Excellence. Easy to install sounds great and truly fills our room with immersive, full sound. I recommend for small rooms.

I own and have listened to many Bose speaker systems and I truly believe they are the best in the business by far. This is the first tv sound bar I have used from them and wow it continues to prove my point of Bose being the absolute best. The speaker in small in size but delivers power clear sound with very good bass as well. This system is extremely easy to install with taking only a couple minutes to hook up. I like this system so much that I have 2 of them, one of which I have installed in my garage and it sounds even better out there than on my tv.

The Bose TV Speaker is Bose’s newest external, surface or wall-mountable speaker to give you better sound from your TV than a built-in speaker can provide. First thing to understand this is solely a single-unit speaker, not a full “soundbar” system, which I would consider a combination speaker & external subwoofer unit that can be placed in a different area of the room to create that full room immersion you get with the multi-unit system. The standalone speaker gives you what you would expect from a Bose product – excellent, crystal-clear audio and provided much-improved sound from the built-in speaker on my TV. The bass response was good, but it did seem to lack that full-room sound without a subwoofer. Used in both my living room and a smaller bedroom, the TV Speaker was much more appropriate for the smaller bedroom. There is, however, a 3.5mm jack labeled “Bass” that allows you to connect it an external subwoofer device, but again that is not included. The TV Speaker connects to the back of any modern TV using either the HDMI (ARC) port or the optical port. I opted for the HDMI since it passes a larger bandwidth than the optical, but you may opt for the optical port if you have a TV with limited available HDMI ports. The ARC feature allowed for the device to be turned on & off automatically with the TV. The optical cable is included, but an HDMI cable is not. Multiple levels of bass are controlled via the included remote, as is the ability to toggle to “Dialogue Mode”, which boosts spoken word over other background noise in movies to give better ability to hear speech. While this mode does enhance voices, it comes at the cost of losing some of the background sounds. The remote itself is small, but with a smooth surface and buttons covered by a solid rubber membrane, making it fluid impervious in the event of a spill (versus buttons that sit raised from the surface of the remote). If you’re solely using this with the TV and using HDMI-ARC, you likely will never need the remote. The device also allows for connections for audio via Bluetooth and 3.5mm AUX port on the back. This seemed to be where the speaker really showed its “Bose” name. As with so many Bose products, the quality of sound comes thru. While sound was good using it with the TV, why audio seemed to sound much better than TV I think is the expectation for that full-room immersion with TVs that didn’t happen (for lack of the subwoofer), versus an expectation for audio only. The AUX port allowed me to hook in a Google Chromecast Audio to add the speaker to my home speaker group for full-home audio from room-to-room. Summary: The Bose TV Speaker provides a good alternative to the inexpensive built-in speakers in today’s TVs. The device provides excellent sound quality, but without the full room depth you would get with a more expensive speaker bar & subwoofer combo. It’s great for a small-to-medium size room, but loses its punch in a larger, open room like a living room.

The Bluetooth never worked. The app they require you to use to connect doesn't work 75% of the time

First I want to express how Wonderful this speaker is! I have tried so many options to get volume louder on my tv and This did the trick. Very easy setup! Great value the sound is out of this world and also love the fact how it fits perfect where my tv is! I would definitely recommend this to anyone that is looking for some more sound on the TV!

Very nice sound! Slim speaker! Easy to use! Loving it

This Bose TV Speaker is living up to the great Bose name! It seamlessly hooks to the tv with little to no effort involved! It has such a sleek designe and looks sharp in any space. Th e sound quality is everything Bose has always offered and sounds amazing. The sound brings you right into your favorite TV or Movie! You will not be disappointed by this sound bar and that I am certain about!

Its good speaker with awesome sound and all the features work well. The Bluetooth got connected easily without any hassle. The bass is low compared to other speakers I have and the volume is good for a living room. Its sleek and looks good on my tv stand . The green light turns on when you switch on the voice clarity mode and it does give you enough clarity. Just love that feature.