Love the sound, but known DVD problems plague Bose Lifestyle systems
Pros:
Love the great sound from compact speakers.
Cons:
Everything good canceled out by known bugs because Bose won't spend profit to fix it.
The Bottom Line:
$4k is too much to spend on a system with this bug. If you must have a Bose system, buy a speaker system but use another DVD player.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I've had 2 Bose lifestyle systems over the last several years and have always found it unbeatable to get great sound from such a small package. However, my first Lifestyle system 25 did not have a DVD player, so I wasn't aware of the issues surrounding their DVD technology. I traded in my 25 to get the new 48 system and have really been disappointed to find that they all suffer from the same problems that have apparently existed since they first ventured into incorporating DVD players several years ago.
When playing DVD's, the system will freeze and become unresponsive. The only thing you could do previously was to unplug the system, since the power button wouldn't even work. I'm now on my 4th "newly exchanged" system and the "fix" that Bose seems to have incorporated was to make it so the system resets itself instead of having to unplug it from the wall. However during this reset, the system loses all its customized settings and has to be reprogrammed every time. Not to mention that you've lost your place in the DVD and have to browse thru the scene selection again to find it. Since it happens on about every 2nd or 3rd DVD I play, it is EXTREMELY annoying to say the very least.
I love the sound I get from the Bose systems, regardless of what audiophiles might say. However, I think this will be my last purchase of one of their systems including any type of DVD player. The biggest disappointment is finding out that this problem has existed since both the 3-2-1 systems AND the Lifestyle 35 systems and they were reported to have the very same issues. It's a major turn off now knowing that Bose is charging over $4000 for these systems and not even putting any of that money towards fixing a well-known, well-documented, widespread problem that plagues every single one of them, especially when you can buy a quality DVD player now for less than $100. If you've done the research on the net, you'll see the history. Sorry to say I'm giving up on them.
