Bose Home Theater System

Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 (black)

If you like to flaunt your home audio system, you're probably not going to buy the Boston SoundWare XS 5.1 speaker system. That's OK; it's not made for you. But lots of people who don't make home theater their hobby still appreciate a true surround-sound experience and Boston's system delivers that at an incredible size and price. The SoundWare XS 5.1 sounds surprisingly good, and we say surprising because its five satellite speakers feel only a little larger than a baseball in your hand. Combined ... Expand full review

If you like to flaunt your home audio system, you're probably not going to buy the Boston SoundWare XS 5.1 speaker system. That's OK; it's not made for you. But lots of people who don't make home theater their hobby still appreciate a true surround-sound experience and Boston's system delivers that at an incredible size and price. The SoundWare XS 5.1 sounds surprisingly good, and we say surprising because its five satellite speakers feel only a little larger than a baseball in your hand. Combined with its compact 100-watt subwoofer, it's one of the most decor-friendly speaker systems we've tested. Our one nitpick, design-wise, is that the speaker connections are difficult to use, but you'll run into that problem only when you set the system up.

As good as the SoundWare XS 5.1 system is for its size, it can't defy physics. The Pioneer SP-PK21BS sounds much, much better, but it's also a much, much larger speaker system. And even if living room decor is your priority, you should seriously consider the larger (but elegant) Energy Take Classic 5.1 system , which sounds considerably better as well. However, neither of those systems can compete if space is at a premium, and the petite SoundWare XS 5.1 ($500 street price) is an excellent, affordable option with solid sound quality.

Design and features

The cube satellites are incredibly tiny, just 4.43 inches wide, 4.25 inches high and 4.43 deep. Each one weighs just one pound. The speaker's rear is faceted, so instead of being a six-sided cube, the SoundWare XS satellite is a polyhedron. Its 10 "sides" also make it easier to squeeze the wee speakers into corners. If you place it on a shelf the speaker can be angled up or fire straight ahead. Or wall-mount the little guys with the included articulating bracket so you can angle the speakers in toward the listening area.

Since the SoundWare XS satellite's perforated grilles aren't removable, it wasn't immediately obvious that the satellites are two-way designs. Due to their tiny size, there normally wouldn't be enough room to squeeze a tweeter and a midrange driver on the front baffle. Boston's engineers worked around the limited space problem by mounting a .5-inch tweeter on a small bracket in front of the 2.5-inch midrange driver. That's pretty ingenious. We can't say the plastic speaker cabinet is especially well-built, but it doesn't feel flimsy or delicate.

Bose combines TV and home theater with VideoWave Entertainment System

Bose sees the the complicated setup of home theater systems as one of the biggest obstacles holding consumers back from a better audio experience to match the high definition pictures offered by their TVs. Namely, trailing cables to speakers placed around the room and the hassle of dealing with numerous remote controls. Bose thinks its VideoWave system can solve both problems. By packing a home theater system into the rear of the TV it has done away with the speaker cable problem and with a super-simple universal remote control, the problem of multiple remotes has been dealt with.

Now, you're probably saying that TVs have been offering built-in virtual surround sound for years now and universal remotes are so common they can be found at K-Mart for less than $20. So what sets Bose's VideoWave system apart? Well, judging from a demo that allowed us to lay our eyes - and more importantly, our ears - on the system as it is rolled out to markets around the world, Bose has managed to integrate an audio system into its TV that offers the kind of soundscape you'd only expect to get from a home theater system boasting the full complement of speakers placed around a room.

Sound Quality

Bose says it has spent ten years developing the technology that provides the VideoWave with its impressive audio performance and having experienced it first hand it's easy to believe because the results really are quite impressive. Through the use of a total of 16 speakers built its rear, the VideoWave TV is able to create a rich soundscape with booming bass and detailed highs. A cluster of six compact woofers provide impressive low frequency audio through the use of Bose's Waveguide technology that the company says transforms a small amount of input into a large amount of sound by directing it through a curved tube.

But with location of low-end sounds difficult to discern, it is Bose's new PhaseGuide sound radiator technology working in conjunction with the unit's seven-speaker array that is responsible for the VideoWave's surround sound magic. The seven-speaker array provides the mid-level frequencies, while the PhaseGuide array, which directs audio from two tweeters via six finely grilled openings, is able to direct the sound so it appears to be coming from all around the room.

Bose says the VideoWave can be placed anywhere within a room - including on a wall as the TV is VESA compliant - and the company's ADAPTiQ audio calibration system, which takes into account the size and shape - and even furnishings - of a room and adjusts the sound accordingly. However, since the VideoWave relies on a room's walls and ceiling to bounce sound around and provide the surround sound effect, the TV won't perform very well if placed within a cabinet.

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