Bose 5.1 home entertainment systems

Bose have produced 5.1 channel home theater systems since 1994, when the "Lifestyle 12" system was released. To the present day 2016 model Bose Lifestyle V45. Over the years these systems have had built in radios, CD players, DVD players, iPod docks and systems that have no internal media, thus relying on external sources.

Timeline of Bose 5.1 systems

Lifestyle CD Systems

Lifestyle 12

The "Lifestyle 12" system, sold from 1994-1999,^[2] contains an AM/FM tuner and a CD player.^[3] Some systems came with a CD magazine that allowed it to store up to 6 CDs at a time.

Lifestyle 12 Series II

The "Lifestyle 12 Series II" system, sold from 1999-2003,^[4] includes a digital audio input^[5]

Lifestyle 50

The Lifestyle 50 won the 2001 Red Dot Award for product design.^[6]

Lifestyle DVD Systems

Series 1

In 2001, Bose released the first version of its DVD-based Lifestyle systems. The systems were the Lifestyle 18, 28, and 35, using the AV28 receiver. The Lifestyle 18 uses "directional" speakers, the 28 uses "direct/reflect" speakers, and the 35 uses "Jewel Cubes". The Lifestyle 35 won the 2003 Hi-Fi Grand Prix Award^[7]

Series 2

In 2004, Bose came out with the Series II Lifestyle systems, the AV18, that added a progressive scan DVD player and BoseLink Out. All systems use the same Acoustimass subwoofer. All systems use "direct/reflect" satellite speakers, except for the Lifestyle 18 which uses "Jewel Cubes". The Lifestyle 38 and the 48 include uMusic. The Lifestyle 38 won the 2004 Sound and Vision magazine Reviewer's Choice Award.^[8] The Lifestyle 48 won AudioVideo International "Hi-Fi Grand Prix Award"^[9]

Series 3

In 2006, the Series III systems were released. The only difference was a redesigned center channel and a smaller subwoofer. The model lineup did not change. The Lifestyle 18 system, while not discontinued, was not made public during this series.

Series 4

In 2007, Bose began including the VS-2 external video selector in some versions of the Lifestyle DVD systems. The Lifestyle 18, was re-introduced. On 24 May 2010, Bose discontinued all but the Lifestyle 48 IV in the United States, and all but Lifestyle 38 IV and 48 IV in the rest of the world.

Companion surround sound

From 1995-1998, Bose produced a sourceless surround sound system called the Bose Companion surround-sound system. It was designed to be used with a Direct Satellite System (DSS) or Primestar satellite TV receiver. This system marked a dramatic change from Bose's previous Lifestyle systems in that it was sourceless, had no expansion possibilities, and was Bose's first system to include video inputs. It featured "Built Invisible" speakers. The system won Popular Science's 1996 Best of What's New.^[10]

Lifestyle V-Class

V10, V20, V30

In 2007 Bose announced the creation of a new system called the Lifestyle V-Class using the MC1 media center.^[13][14] Unlike its predecessors it comes without an internal CD/DVD player. These systems can upscale to 1080p resolution. When introduced there were two versions: the Lifestyle V30 and V20, and later V10 which released in October 2008.

The main difference between systems are the speakers that they come with: the V30 uses "Jewel Cube" speakers, the V20 uses "direct/reflect" speakers and the V10 uses "virtually invisible" speakers. In 2008, the Lifestyle V30 won the Red Dot "Best of the Best" and "Award for Product Design".^[15][16] Note that audio quality is not included in the judging criteria for these design awards.

T10, T20, V25, V35

On May 24, 2010,^[17] Bose introduced the V35, V25, T20, and T10. The V35 uses "Jewel Cube" speakers, the V25 and T20 use "direct/reflect" speakers and the T10 uses "Virtually Invisible" cube speakers.^[18]

The V35 and V25 models use the AV35 receiver, while the T20 and T10 use the AV20 receiver.^[17]

Bose Terminology

Acoustimass

A Bass Module.

A/B, 2 Zone, 4 Zone

• "A/B" systems has a second set of stereo outputs, allowing a second set of stereo speakers to play the same audio simultaneously
• "Zone 2" systems are able to play a different audio source on the second set of speakers^[19]
• "Zone 4" systems are able to play 4 different sources on 4 sets of speakers simultaneously

AdaptIQ

In these systems, a microphone is used to help tune the system for the room acoustics, which is now a common feature on home theatre receivers.

BoseLink

This allows Bose devices to be connected, in order to play a source connected to another Bose device, or send control signals to a Bose device in another room. "BoseLink In" connections are used on the slave devices, while "BoseLink Out" is required for the master device.

uMusic

The Lifestyle 38 and 48 systems include an internal hard-drive to store compressed music. The 48 has the ability to store 340 hours of music, while the 38 can store 200. The system remembers playlist history, so playlists based on this history can be created.^[20]

Unify

An on-screen setup wizard. It uses a reverse lookup to recognize the remote of 3rd party products to program its own universal remote.

VideoStage 5

"VideoStage 5" is a type of virtual surround effect.

VS-1

An external video selector called the VS-1 was sold as an accessory for Series II or III DVD Lifestyle systems. It contains three inputs (component, s-video and composite) and an output (either component, s-video or composite) for the TV. The VS-1 contains an upscaler and allows each of its inputs to be selected using a dedicated button on the system's remote control.^[21]

VS-2

Like the VS-1, the VS-2 is an external video selector which includes an upscaler. The main difference is the inclusion of HDMI and support for 1080p resolution.^[22][23] The VS-2 has no audio return to the media center. So while it can accept full HDMI video it does not accept HDMI audio, requiring a separate audio cable (RCA, Fiber Optic or Digital Coax) from the 3rd party device to connect to the Lifestyles media center.^[24]

References