Bose Lifestyle 12 Review

Overall Rating

Excellent multi-purpose system creating true 3d soundscapes. You'll rediscover the joy of radio too.

You have to get off your seat to set bass and treble levels, which you'll spend hours twiddling, along with the remote settings to make an already perfect system sound even better. You'll turn into a true audiophile geek.

The Bose Lifestyle 12 is a fantastic all purpose sound system. The 1st time I set this up and listened to a CD, it sent a shiver up my spine. If you position yourself correctly within the soundscape it feels as if you are in a true 3d environment which uses sound instead of visual images. Unbelievable. Close your eyes and you can "see" sounds coming in from the front, rear, sides and even above your head. The quietest track on the lowest volume setting is heard with absolute clarity. Movies are a total delight to watch. The 1st movie I watched using this system was Gladiator and the opening scene with Russell Crowe running his hands over the waving sheathes of corn was amazing. You could hear the soft, delicate rustling all around your head. Until my purchase of the lifestyle 12 system I hadn't listenend to radio for ages. I'm pleased to say that with the built in fm tuner, I have rediscovered it, and it sounds great. If you get the opportunity to purchase this system, don't think twice, just do it. The unit looks amazing and should sit on it's own as a feature of your chosen room. Trust me, people will comment on it's elegance. The speakers are very discreet, especially when mounted on the Bose wall brackets, which are sold seperately, and time after time you'll listen in wonder at the punch they produce in comparrison to their size. There is no distortion even at full volume and trust me, full volume is VERY loud. Can't say enough about this system and it's gonna take a whole lot to make me upgrade.