Bose 321 Home Entertainment System

[GeoTracks]

Planning to look at the Bose 321 Home Entertainment System.

Have read a lot about the Philips 4750 and the Onkyo 5105 etc. here and understand that many members here have given a very good review comments for some of these.

However, I would like to consider the Bose 321 as an option currently. Have heard the system and the sound is just amazing with just a woofer and 2 speakers. Bose correctly advertises that, one has to hear it first to believe it. After seeing the demo I was just amazed at the sound quality.

For now let us keep the VFM discussions out. Looking for a true feedback if anyone of you currently own one, have heard it, know someone who has it or planning to consider it.

 

[marsilians]

Seems like you have not read sufficient posts on this and other forums. With Bose you pay more for marketing and hype than quality. Also they follow non-user friendly/unethical practices such as not publishing their specs or allowing A/B auditioning with other systems. You can get equally good sounding systems for much less. The 2 things they have going for them are simplicity and ease of use. But these come at a hefty price.

Depending on what your goal is think of the above before going to Bose.

The only other hifi manufacturer that garners such emotional and heated anti- feelings is Monster, atleast in their case you could say their products are excellent but not for Hose..

Planning to look at the Bose 321 Home Entertainment System.

Have read a lot about the Philips 4750 and the Onkyo 5105 etc. here and understand that many members here have given a very good review comments for some of these.

However, I would like to consider the Bose 321 as an option currently. Have heard the system and the sound is just amazing with just a woofer and 2 speakers. Bose correctly advertises that, one has to hear it first to believe it. After seeing the demo I was just amazed at the sound quality.

For now let us keep the VFM discussions out. Looking for a true feedback if anyone of you currently own one, have heard it, know someone who has it or planning to consider it.

 

[moserw]

Terribly overpriced. For the same amount you can get more bang for buck with other companies. Do audition/check others too before you take the plunge.

 

[anuragn]

...Also they follow non-user friendly/unethical practices such as not publishing their specs or allowing A/B auditioning with other systems.
...

Very true. Would you ever buy a new car without being informed about its power, engine capacity, torque, fuel consumption etc etc just because you feel very good while taking a test drive? But then any decent new car would make you feel similarly. I would never.
I auditioned Bose Lifestyle system at the newly opened Bose store in Inorbit, Vashi last sunday. Although it did sound amazing, but it was nothing extraordinary, being priced at Rs 1.9 lakhs. A mid-end Denon with good 5.1 speakers & DVD player with a total budget of 1.5 lakhs would sound much better.
One point that works very strongly in Bose's favour is WAF

 

[GeoTracks]

Guys, all of you are correct. I have not read the HT threads here much to make an informed decision of going in for a Bose.

The Bose demo that I saw was in the US at a Best Buy. Originally the system mentioned in the title here, was for $999 and subsequently dropped price to $899. So if one coverts it should be around Rs. 50K range + some additional import duty costs. Not sure how much it costs in India. Where did you get the figure of 1.9 lakhs form? If the difference in India is indeed that much, as compared to the Onkyos' and others, then thanks for enlightening me. I will certainly re-consider my thoughts of HT system.

 

[prakasse]

Planning to look at the Bose 321 Home Entertainment System.

Have read a lot about the Philips 4750 and the Onkyo 5105 etc. here and understand that many members here have given a very good review comments for some of these.

However, I would like to consider the Bose 321 as an option currently. Have heard the system and the sound is just amazing with just a woofer and 2 speakers. Bose correctly advertises that, one has to hear it first to believe it. After seeing the demo I was just amazed at the sound quality.

For now let us keep the VFM discussions out. Looking for a true feedback if anyone of you currently own one, have heard it, know someone who has it or planning to consider it.

My audio journey began with Bose when i auditioned them 10 yrs back in Delhi and was very impressed. My dream was to own Bose.

Now i don't have that dream anymore. For Indian people owning Bose is like a status symbol(like Mercedes).

Over the years i came to know across various brands, listened to them and finally came to a conclusion that though bose is better, there is lot of best products in the market for better price.

Bose where it scores is on usability and aesthetics.

Recently i auditioned Bose 3.2.1 in Times AV exhibition bangalore. They played Toy Story for demo. I can salute their technology when they made me feel that the sound in coming from 5 speakers thought there was only 2 speakers.
But the quality of sound was OK and not great.

I did auditioned our Value for Money Wharfedale with onkyo AVR on that day and it was twice better than Bose. A low end Denon AVR with PROFX speakers sounded better than that system for 33K.

Bose is good, great for a beginner. But when you get in to Audio world there are lot other options.

Thanks,
Prakash

 

[prakasse]

Very true. Would you ever buy a new car without being informed about its power, engine capacity, torque, fuel consumption etc etc just because you feel very good while taking a test drive? But then any decent new car would make you feel similarly. I would never.
I auditioned Bose Lifestyle system at the newly opened Bose store in Inorbit, Vashi last sunday. Although it did sound amazing, but it was nothing extraordinary, being priced at Rs 1.9 lakhs. A mid-end Denon with good 5.1 speakers & DVD player with a total budget of 1.5 lakhs would sound much better.
One point that works very strongly in Bose's favour is WAF

what is WAF???

 

[phantom76]

what is WAF???

I think it stands for Wife Acceptance Factor.

 

[moserw]

what is WAF???

Woman Acceptance Factor!

Woman acceptance factor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[datuca]

Guys, all of you are correct. I have not read the HT threads here much to make an informed decision of going in for a Bose.

The Bose demo that I saw was in the US at a Best Buy. Originally the system mentioned in the title here, was for $999 and subsequently dropped price to $899. So if one coverts it should be around Rs. 50K range + some additional import duty costs. Not sure how much it costs in India. Where did you get the figure of 1.9 lakhs form? If the difference in India is indeed that much, as compared to the Onkyos' and others, then thanks for enlightening me. I will certainly re-consider my thoughts of HT system.

Lifestyle system is different than Bose 3.2.1. The duty is approximately 95%, so there is a hugh difference in price in US and India. Another issue with importing is that if you don't pay the duty, bose india wont fix any issues with your system. I brought a bose Lifestyle system from US and did not pay duty. Due to different weather conditions and voltage issues my bose system started giving problems in 6 months and bose india wouldn't repair it. So i had to send it back to US and buy a new bose Lifestyle system here in India. This was around 7 years ago. At that time there weren't as many choices as there are now in India.

Look at least 5 different systems before you make your decision.

 

[GeoTracks]

Lifestyle system is different than Bose 3.2.1. The duty is approximately 95%, so there is a hugh difference in price in US and India. Another issue with importing is that if you don't pay the duty, bose india wont fix any issues with your system. I brought a bose Lifestyle system from US and did not pay duty. Due to different weather conditions and voltage issues my bose system started giving problems in 6 months and bose india wouldn't repair it. So i had to send it back to US and buy a new bose Lifestyle system here in India. This was around 7 years ago. At that time there weren't as many choices as there are now in India.

Look at least 5 different systems before you make your decision.

Could you please give us all, your experience and detailed review comments of the Bose Lifestyle system that you bought in India? Which one do you currently have?

 

[datuca]

Could you please give us all, your experience and detailed review comments of the Bose Lifestyle system that you bought in India? Which one do you currently have?

I have the one that I bought in India. My sister is using the one I bought in the US.
The sound quality for movies is really good. But when it comes to music it sucks big time. I haven't had any problems with it for about 4 years but recently the eject/insert disc mechanism had problems and also it stopped reading most of the DVDs (ones that use to work earlier). I got it repaired from authorized service centre but it cost me 9K just for the repairs.
It is a good system but not a value for money HTiB. The Bose name tag has a big mark-up price. I think you can get a system as good for much less or much better system for the same price since there some really good products out there now.