Bose 3.2.1 GS II Theater System
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- Front Speaker: 2 Way
- Included Components: DVD Player
- Number Of Speakers: 2 Speakers
- TV Resolutions: 1080p (1125p)
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Great for home theatre, mediocre for music
Pros
Home theatre sound in a such a small unit. Impressive!
Cons
Music quality is decent at best, limited expandability, no HDMI output/upconversion.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
A good system if you want great home theatre in a small package and are willing to accept mediocre music playback and many annoyances.
Very nice system for home theatre IF you want a small system and music quality is secondary to home theatre quality.
We bought both this system and the Denon S-301. The Denon S-301 was better musically, had better features, and had a decent upconverting DVD player. This Bose was better for home theatre and much smaller speakers. As we use it mostly for home theatre, we kept the Bose.
The good:
Very good sound quality for movie playback. Great presence, great bass.
The main speakers are impressively small. Really impressively small.
Acceptable surround-sound from 2.1 speakers. While nothing like a good 5.1 (or 7.1) system, it was quite acceptable for most movies.
The bad:
The mid-range and the high-end are decent at best. While not a major problem for movies (dialog is a tad muddy, that's about it), it makes this unit unfix for demanding music playback.
No HDMI output/unconversion. As our current TV only has S-video inputs this is not a problem, but as soon as we replace it we are going to need to purchase a separate DVD player, partially defeating a benefit of this unit.
Very limited configuration for the audio. We were fortunate that the default settings seems to work fine in our room, but if they don't there's not much one can change to improve it.
Did not like the remote/interface. For example, changing the DVD audio or subtitles requires a dozen button presses (go to system menu, scroll down to subtitles, enter, up/down, enter, exit). This should be a single button!
The remote is NOT very universal, for example it can not control the TV volume. [Just channel, power, and input.]
Limited expandability. Bose expects you to use their "bose link" to expand it. [e.g. add remote speakers.] While the stuff is nice and simple to use, it is quite expensive.
We bought both this system and the Denon S-301. The Denon S-301 was better musically, had better features, and had a decent upconverting DVD player. This Bose was better for home theatre and much smaller speakers. As we use it mostly for home theatre, we kept the Bose.
The good:
Very good sound quality for movie playback. Great presence, great bass.
The main speakers are impressively small. Really impressively small.
Acceptable surround-sound from 2.1 speakers. While nothing like a good 5.1 (or 7.1) system, it was quite acceptable for most movies.
The bad:
The mid-range and the high-end are decent at best. While not a major problem for movies (dialog is a tad muddy, that's about it), it makes this unit unfix for demanding music playback.
No HDMI output/unconversion. As our current TV only has S-video inputs this is not a problem, but as soon as we replace it we are going to need to purchase a separate DVD player, partially defeating a benefit of this unit.
Very limited configuration for the audio. We were fortunate that the default settings seems to work fine in our room, but if they don't there's not much one can change to improve it.
Did not like the remote/interface. For example, changing the DVD audio or subtitles requires a dozen button presses (go to system menu, scroll down to subtitles, enter, up/down, enter, exit). This should be a single button!
The remote is NOT very universal, for example it can not control the TV volume. [Just channel, power, and input.]
Limited expandability. Bose expects you to use their "bose link" to expand it. [e.g. add remote speakers.] While the stuff is nice and simple to use, it is quite expensive.
