Customer Ratings & Reviews

Piece of garbage my tv speakers do a much better job. Cheap plastic speaker

Its a waste of money for any room bigger than a bathroom

I love this sound bar. It makes watching tv like an entire new experience. The clarity of the sound bar is, by far, the best I have ever experienced. It made movie watching so wonderful. It has a good amount of bass to it, however, it is not going to shake your walls or anything. I, personally, love that feature. The remote is very easy to understand and operate. It came with batteries inside. Setup only took a few minutes and the instructions that are included are very easy to understand. The sound bar itself is very compact but produces a great amount of sound. It is not bulky and sits low. I am extremely impressed with this sound bar and I highly recommend it.

It’s really a bitter experience. Call multiple times but no resolution.

It's an unfortunate truth that as TVs have gotten slimmer, their built in audio has gotten worse. A good quality sound bar or external sound system is pretty much a requirement these days if you want to get the best performance out of your screen. Bose has taken a somewhat less conventional approach in the design of this speaker. While most high end sound bars will emphasize a wide array of tweeters and woofers to deliver the perfect frequency response or booming volume to help fill a room, the designers of this TV speaker have decided to focus on a perennial complaint about these external audio solutions: the tendency of spoken dialog to get drowned out and lost in the soundscape. Before I talk about that key feature though, I want to cover some of the basics. As one might expect from a brand with Bose's reputation, the overall build quality of the speaker is beyond reproach. It's definitely more a speaker than a sound bar, fitting easily between the legs on my 50" TV. The narrower spacing does result in the audio you get feeling a little less voluminous than I'm used to with sound bars, but I stopped noticing after a couple of days. Audio quality is top notch, though a little anemic on the lower end without the optional sub woofer (which is not included.) It's not exceptionally loud either, though unlike a lot of speakers that are the audio remains very clear through its entire range of supported volumes. Setup is quick and painless - with support for HDMI-ARC, Optical, and Bluetooth. All three are plug and play, with the speaker automatically switching to the appropriate input with little prompting. Even if you're not comfortable with electronics, I don't anticipate any issues getting this set up. Which finally brings me to the main feature of this device: the dialog enhancer. As far as I can tell it's trying to re-balance the center and side channels of the audio source to put more of an emphasis on the center channel, where dialog is generally piped through, and less on the side channels where you get all the music and sound effects that are used to create a 3D soundscape. It's a surprisingly subtle thing. So subtle in fact that I struggled to tell the difference between when it was on or off. But my roommate who generally always wants to watch stuff with the subtitles turned on because she finds it hard to hear all the dialog otherwise found it to be a great help. What was particularly surprising to me is that at certain points it seemed like she was actually hearing dialog even better than me, with her able to clearly make out background dialog that just blended into noise for me. Now, in theory, anyone could accomplish this if they had the proper equipment and the desire to fine tune their setup. But in practice, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that very few of us would. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to everyone given the fact that it doesn't come with a sub and how little of an impact it had on my personal viewing experience, but it's clear from my roommate's response that it's doing something right that a lot of people who struggle to hear dialog in their favorite shows will likely appreciate.

THE GOOD - Small size can fit almost anywhere - Broad, clear sound range despite size - Wide volume range - Bluetooth connectivity - Includes high-quality TOSLINK cable THE BAD - Very expensive - Lack of punch without subwoofer - No DTS support over fiber optic - Uninformative "display" - Limited sound curve adjustment - No wall mounting hardware THE DETAILS A big part of Bose's claim to fame is being able to pack a lot of sound into small speakers, which carries over the their new TV speaker. The smaller speaker is a welcome option for those with smaller TV stands, or who don't want a massive beam under their TV, but still want full sound from their TV and movies. Setup is very simple as the back has only a single HDMI, fiber optic TOSLINK, and 3.5mm stereo jack. The HDMI port supports both audio return channel ( ARC ) and CEC, reducing the need for extra cables or remotes. A good quality fiber optic cable is included in the box ( with tethered end covers ) but no HDMI cable. Sound quality is very impressive for such a small speaker with no subwoofer. It does a great job creating stereo spacial separation far wider than the speaker itself, but not so much with virtual surround effects. Audio is crisp, clean, and very well defined. Even better, it does this even at very low volume levels. This makes a dedicated night mode unnecessary. However, someone could come at this from a very different angle. Prices of course fluctuate over time, but Bose products are never cheap. It's fair to consider all the things you DON'T get for the hefty asking price. First, and most obvious, is the lack of a subwoofer. You can get a very good 2.1 soundbar from competing brands for half the price of the Bose. The speaker does pretty well on the bass side without a sub in most general scenarios, but watch an action movie with lots of explosions ( the Master and Commander naval combat scenes are great for testing speakers ) and that lack of bass punch becomes apparent. Bose offers two compatible add-on subwoofer units ( as of this writing ), but they cost almost 2-3 times more than the TV Speaker itself. Buying the sub alone is not enough, you also have to separately buy a connection cable. Why Bose can't include a simple cable with a subwoofer costing hundreds of dollars is beyond me, but that's Bose pricing for you. Second, while it may be nice to say the speaker is easy and simple to setup, others will complain it can't act as any sort of receiver. It only has one audio input ( all three input jacks are treated as the same input source ). Sound curve and equalizer settings are limited to a +/- 2 step boost to the bass. The speaker does have a voice boost setting, but it makes the speaker sound far too thin and tinny for anything other than dedicated talk programs. The fiber optic input doesn't support DTS 5.1 signals either. I'm not sure if the HDMI works with DTS because my TV might have been doing the decoding before passing the audio to the soundbar. The manual doesn't specify which codecs the speaker supports, or if it can do any high-fidelity Bluetooth modes like aptX. Finally, it lacks small things that add up. The "display" on the front is nothing more than two lights. There is nothing to indicate current volume level and the current speaker operation mode ( whether Bluetooth, vocal clarity, or normal ) is indicated by combinations of blinks and colors. Again, you can see this as a simple and non-distracting design, or it's a frustrating lack of information. No wall mounting hardware is included in the box either; you have to buy that separate from Bose. If you want to spend a premium on a great sounding, very compact soundbar with no frills, and you specifically don't want a subwoofer, the Bose TV Speaker is a great option, possibly your only one. However, there are a LOT of very good 2.1 soundbar systems from competing companies that cost less than the Bose TV Speaker that would likely be a better option for most people.

Better buy latest version , it won’t connect to app or bass modules wirelessly.

i returned as i couldnt tell any difference than my tv volume.

Sucks, sound is minimum, but something else bigger instead

Not ideal for larger rooms. Sound is a lot more flat and one dimensional.

This Bose TV speaker is an unassuming simple, small-footprint "soundbar" TV speaker that works with a small infrared remote to expand and enhance the sound of your TV in typical Bose fashion--with rather spectacular width and clarity of sound. Think Wave radio for a TV. With a bass port. It included a power cable (the receptacle looks polarized but the cord isn't, it works fine so not an issue), an optical cable and a small remote. A very simple setup with very little to do other than connecting the cables. I did find that I needed to mute the TV's own speakers since there was a millisecond delay that gave it that "TV store" sound where it was like a quick short-range echo. I tried the Bose unit out on a medium size Toshiba TV and while the OEM sound is better than average it still sounded much better with just the Bose providing the audio. Now, speaking of sound--the remote has a button to switch the unit to "Voice" mode where the sound is shaped to provide emphasis to human vocals with music and background taking a less lively role. It was a slight improvement in the audio from a world-wide broadcast of a funeral with many people as speakers. It did seem to pare down the background noise and the response from the congregation and make the person at the mike easier to hear. The remote has the usual power-on and volume buttons, but also features an instant mute and bass boost. It is an infrared type remote where you must aim it at the Bose for it to work. A bass port faces rear so if your TV is slightly elevated on it's stand you should get more bass with the sound bouncing from behind the TV. It also helped to have the speaker placed on a heavy solid surface. The bass was pretty impressive for a small sound bar type speaker, and there is a 3.5mm out jack for a separate sub-woofer if you want to use one. There's also an HDMI-Arc input for TV's with HDMI audio out, and a standard 3.5mm audio in jack. It is bluetooth enabled, and once I paired my phone to it, it became an impressive MP3 player using my subscription phone app to play them and using the equalizer I was able to really push some awesome sound. The new Incubus sounded very different and detail-rich, even compared to the same tracks played on high-end home audio. You won't get chest-thumping bass out of this out of the box, but it was really quite deep and powerful sounding for a small sound bar. This unit scores high for ease of setup and use, quality of sound, and taking up very little space.

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.

Crapped out after 2 months. Always disconnecting from Samsung TV

In box tv no remote or legs was not told about this had to travel long distance to pick up and take back

Regret buying it. Salesperson told me that I could add on to it. Apparently he was wrong. I wouldn't recommend it.

After about 3 weeks, the soundbar started cutting in and out. very disappointed- Bose used to be good quality- it would seem that is no longer true, which I regret. ( this one was a replacement for the same Bose model, which lasted a couple of years before the same problem occurred, so it would seem that the quality has gotten worse.

I can't get it to work and do not like that I have to spend over $100 to get a Geek to come and set it up.

Do not buy. Lifelong Bose supporter but this product has convinced me to shop different brands.

This Bose TV speaker is everything you would come to expect from Bose. You have 3 options in which you can connect this speaker to your tv. The first one is to connect it via bluetooth. I would not recommend this format because you definitely lose alot of the sound quality.The upside to using bluetooth to connect is that you have less wires, this is a plus if you are looking for a cleaner look around your AV setup. It is nice to have the bluetooth option because you can connect your phone and play music off the soundbar. The second option to connect this Bose tv speaker is to use an HDMI cable. The speaker doesn't come with an HDMI cable, but this isn't a big deal as you can easily get one from any store. The audio definitely improves with an HDMI as opposed to connecting with bluetooth. The plus to using the HDMI cable is that you can control the volume of the speaker with your tv remote. Also if you add this speaker to your existing home theater you probably want to stick with HDMI. The last option to connect your speaker, which I would recommend that you use if you are using the speaker as a stand alone, is to use the provided optical cable. When I used the optical cable I noticed that the sound quality was the best. When you use the optical cable you can only control the sound with the provided remote. Not only are the sounds enhanced, but also the speech comes out so much clearer. Besides the top quality sound it produces there are 2 reasons why it would be best to buy this speaker. If you are adding to your home theater this speaker would be a great add on. Second, if you are just using a stand alone soundbar and you don't want to hear that loud booming sound that most soundbars produce, but instead you want a crisp sound, then I would highly recommend this Bose tv soundbar. Lastly, the soundbar is only 2 inches high, so it doesn't really stand out when you have it in front of your tv.

I've had the TV Speaker for about two weeks now. Setting it up was incredibly simple, one optical cable connection to my TV and the back of the speaker and power. I have an older HD TV, and in thinking about an upgrade, the first place to start is audio. Visually, the TV speaker is slim, simple and looks great. When I initially turned on the speaker, I was stunned at the difference in the audio.. It actually took me a few moments to recalibrate my prior experience with my TV audio. I seriously mean, "Wow" The range and depth of the audio was so much more than my built-in TV speakers could manage.. At higher volumes, the audio was clearer, richer and the sound stage was so much wider. The audio really "feels" like it takes up more space than just the location of my TV. When I clicked the "dialogue mode" button, I was very, very impressed at how much better a show sounded. The speech was clearer without muting the rest of the sounds... hard to explain, the speech was enhanced to a point where it seemed louder than the background noises (cars driving by, office chatter, etc) - this experience makes nearly any program better. And as an added bonus, Bluetooth! I have a number of bluetooth and streaming speakers at home, however, I had to try to bluetooth on the TV Speaker.. All I can say is pretty amazing.. it's nice to be in my living room and stream to the TV speaker, music is clear and not overwhelming, again, higher volumes are amazing. While the audio quality from the speaker is totally amazing, and you can boost the base a bit to make it even better, if I had a media room, I am positive I would spring for the bass module - maybe, soon! The price point on this speaker is great, the sound quality is great and I look forward to enjoying my shows with a greater sound quality!