Bose Lifestyle Home Entertainment Systems

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Image of an original LS11 manufactured in 1990
Image of an original LS11 manufactured in 1990

The Bose Lifestyle Home Entertainment Family is Bose's line of premium home theater systems. Starting in the early 90s the lifestyle systems were either stereo or surround sound systems. They came with Music Centers that played CDs, AM/FM radio and had analog and some even had digital inputs. By 2001 Bose released the first version of its DVD based lifestyle systems. In 2007 Bose announced the creation of a new lifestyle system called the Lifestyle V-Class[1]. Unlike the previous versions the V-Class does not come with an internal CD/DVD player.

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[edit] CD Based Lifestyle Systems

Starting in 1990 Bose released a wide variety of Stereo & Surround sound CD based Lifestyle systems. Each systems came with a music center that had the ability to play radio and CDs. Some systems came with a CD magazine that allowed it to play up to 6 CDs at a time. The music centers each came with a couple of analog rca connections. In the late 90s the surround sound systems started to come with digital connections.

The speakers used ranged from directional speakers, direct/reflect speakers, and jewel cubes all requiring to be connected to a bass. Bose even created a Lifestyle 901 system, using its famous 901 speakers.

Each system came with an RF remote and the system could expand up to one other room with A/B or Zone 2 technology. The Lifestyle 50 was Bose's only system that had 4 zone technology and came with a touch screen rf remote.

[edit] DVD Based Lifestyle Systems

Series 1 - In 2001[2] Bose released the first version of its DVD based lifestyle systems with AdaptIQ technology, an audio calibration system, and zone technology giving it the ability to connect to one other location.
They were the Lifestyle 18, 28 and 35. The difference between the systems were the speakers that they came with. The 18 with directional speakers, the 28 with direct/reflect speakers and the 35 with Jewel Cubes.

Series 2 - In 2004 Bose came out with the series II lifestyle systems that added progressive scan, a universal remote, improved acoustics & AdaptIQ technology, and the ability to connect up to 14 additional rooms of music called BoseLink.
Bose also added two new systems the 38 & 48, both with the ability to store music called uMusic. uMusic is called an intelligent playback system because it ranks the music stored on the system by ones listing habits (similar to a TiVo) by +/- buttons and if a person listens to a song all the way through. Through these steps it is supposed to learn ones musical tastes.

Series 3 - In 2006 the series III systems were released. The difference was only cosmetic with a redesigned center channel now horizontal and an Acoustimass bass module that is 30% smaller than its predecessor. The model line up did not change. The Lifestyle 18 system, while not discontinued, was not made public during this series.

Series 4 - In 2007 Bose updated select versions of its Series III systems to include an external video selector called the VS-2 that gives 3 video inputs (featuring 2 HDMI 1.2a & 3 Component, S-Video and Composite) and either HDMI 1.2a, Component, S-Video or Composite out to the TV. According to Bose with this device you can choose whatever input your external components support, connect it to the VS-2, and have the Lifestyle system switch both the audio and video by using your Lifestyle remote[3] [4]. While remaining a Series III product, the Lifestyle 18 was re-introduced to the public market at this time.

Bose currently offers the following Home Entertainment systems as follows[5]:

  • Bose Lifestyle 18 Series III
  • Bose Lifestyle 28 Series III
  • Bose Lifestyle 35 Series IV
  • Bose Lifestyle 38 Series IV
  • Bose Lifestyle 48 Series IV

[edit] Common Features

The Acoustimass bass module is the same for each model and is the subwoofer of the unit. They all have 5 speakers provide the Direct/Reflecting sound, (except for Lifestyle 18, which comes with single cube speakers) that Bose pioneered. A media center is included that has a progressive scan DVD player, CD player, and AM-FM radio, as well as a universal RF remote that operates any audio/video device connected to the media center. Also with the BoseLink they have the ability to expand the music up to 14 other rooms with or without wires.

[edit] AdaptIQ

The key feature of the system is the ADAPTiQ audio calibration system which allows for the system to adapt to the owner's personal living room environment. The system plays tones through each speaker and listens with a microphone headset worn by the user, and based on what it hears the media center will calibrate and equalize each speaker to compensate for any acoustic abnormalities in the room. In this manner any Lifestyle system will sound as good as the professional demonstration in any size living room.

Click show to reveal media center specifics  

[edit] Different Features

The differences between the systems come down to the speakers and the media center thanks to uMusic.

[edit] Speakers

The Lifestyle 35 & 48 systems use the Jewel Cube speakers, considered by Bose to be its best speakers. The Lifestyle 28 and 38 models have the Acoustimass Direct/Reflect speakers.

[edit] uMusic

The Lifestyle 48 & 38 systems have intelligent music storage capabilities. The 48 has the ability to store 340 hours of music and the 38 able to store 200 hours. Their uMusic technology is called an intelligent playback system because it ranks the music stored on the system by ones listing habits (similar to a TiVo) by +/- buttons and if a person listens to a song all the way through. Through these steps it is supposed to learn ones musical tastes.[6]

[edit] Lifestyle V-Class

In 2007 Bose announced the creation of a new system called the Lifestyle V-Class[7]. Unlike its predecessors it comes without an internal CD/DVD player. There will be two versions the Lifestyle V20 and V30 systems the difference being the speakers that they come with. The V20 using the Acoustimass Direct/Reflect speakers and the V30 using the smaller Jewel Cube speakers. Consumers may add any source component including HDMI-connected HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc players.

Both new products are 5.1-channel systems featuring two HDMI 1.2a and four component, S-Video, and composite inputs; and one HDMI 1.2a, component, S-Video, and composite outputs. They are both capable of upconverting video from any of the 4 connected S-Video, composite, and component-video sources to HDMI, and can upscale those sources to 1080p resolution. They come with 5 Fiber optic & RCA audio inputs with 2 digital coax audio inputs, one being assignable. Both systems also have an AM/FM tuner, an RF universal remote, an external display, AdaptIQ, and Bose Link.

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