Bose Soundbar

In 2011 Bose released its first soundbar system, following the release of Polk Audio's surroundbar in 2005^[1] and Philip's Ambisound in 2007.^[2] The Cinemate 1 SR is designed primarily to receive the audio output from a television, while the Lifestyle 135 is similar to a home theatre receiver in that audio and video signals pass though the unit before reaching the television.

Timeline of Bose Soundbar and TV systems

Cinemate 1 SR

On September 26, 2011, Bose released the Cinemate 1 SR.^[4] This system includes soundbar and a subwoofer (which has a wireless connection to the soundbar). The system has five drivers (including two at each end) and a transmission tube (termed "Phase Guide radiator with True Space" by Bose) which is claimed to improve the coverage of sound throughout the room.^[5]

The main input is for television audio, via a choice of analogue, optical digital or coaxial digital inputs. There are two additional 'auxiliary' inputs, but these can only be used for alternate connections for devices already connected to the television, for example to make an optical connection from a Blu-ray player which is already connected to the TV via HDMI. Both connections must provide audio to the Bose to activate 'SmartSource', which compares the two inputs and chooses the one with the "best quality".^[6] Note that HDMI connection is not possible with this model, the coaxial/fibre optic inputs are termed "HD audio connections" by Bose.^[7]

A headset microphone is included to help tune the system for the room acoustics (termed "AdaptiQ" by Bose), much like many home theatre receivers.^[8] The unit is able to detect whether it is mounted vertically or horizontally and automatically adjusts the settings to suit (this is termed "FlexMount" by Bose) instead of the user having to input this setting when they install the unit.^[9]

Lifestyle 135

Released at the same time as the Cinemate 1 SR, the extra features of the Lifestyle 135 are 4 HDMI inputs, an iPod dock and an AM/FM tuner,^[10][11][12] two component inputs, three composite inputs, two USB inputs, one HDMI output (that can upscale to 1080p) and decoding of DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-MA (core) and uncompressed multi-channel PCM (aka LPCM).

Since all inputs are processed though the Lifestyle 135 before reaching the television, it can act as a single point of control for the whole system (termed "Unify" by Bose) and setup menus can be displayed on the television. Also, "BoseLink" allows remotes for other equipment to control some functions of the Lifestyle 135 and vice versa. A microphone is included to help tune the system for the room acoustics (termed "AdaptiQ" by Bose), much like many home theatre receivers.^[8]

References