# Bose Lifestyle V-class vs...



## tesseract

Hello Shacksters.

I have a friend looking to build a whole home integrated system. The Bose Lifestyle V25 is catching his eye because of the ease of wiring the house and the 4 zone/14 room capability.

My friend wants to avoid running speaker cables from an AVR to all zones and likes the idea of a remote for each zone, which the Lifestyle system has. He has asked if AVR's from other manufacturers have the same capabilities, I don't know of any and would like to bounce this question off the HTS community.


----------



## phreak

I have no experience with this particular Bose product, but I would personally opt for one of the commonly praised receiver brands (Onkyo, Marantz, Denon, Pioneer, Yamaha) in a model with a Zone 2 out, and pair it with a wireless sender/receiver from RocketFish or Apple. The Bose products I have dealt with in the past have been remarkably underwhelming (with overwhelming price tags).


----------



## tesseract

I am trying to push him towards Denon, Marantz or Onkyo. 

Bose Acoustimass sound quality, build quality and I would think the relatively short 12 month warranty are detriments to purchase of the Lifestyle V25 for my friend. He does like the 4 zone/14 room capability and that is the primary selling point. I am not a big Bose fan, but have to admit this flexibility is impressive.


----------



## tonyvdb

There are other options such as the Sonos wireless system I am sure you have tried but stay away from Bose at all costs, its just not worth it.


----------



## chashint

Honestly, if you are not willing to choose, install, calibrate, and maintain your friend's system plus listen to the complaints if your efforts fall short in any way..... Let him get what he wants and then compliment him on it when you visit.


----------



## lcaillo

Anytime we ran into a problem with a Bose system in a customer home it was very difficult to get basic information about the components, very difficult to interface them with other products, and virtually impossible to service them. Bose does not supply parts nor service information to independent servicers nor to consumers and requires that the product be sent to them for service. Even determining IF the product was working properly was difficult.


----------



## chashint

I did not mean to imply that I would be in favor of the Bose system.
If the person wanting it is open to education and recommendations by all means engage them and help.
But if there is resistance let them get what they want.
Bose is the only audio that most people ever see advertised and Bose sets up their display domes in stores ranging from the warehouse stores to shopping malls so it may be the only "high end" audio a person has ever heard.
Much like unneeded amplifiers, #0 AWG speaker wires, or other audio enhancers .... when someone wants something they are not happy until they get it.
Plus Bose systems don't sound as bad as many make them out too so it's not like it will be terrible, just overpriced and as has been pointed out difficult to service.


----------



## tonyvdb

chashint said:


> ...Plus Bose systems don't sound as bad as many make them out too so it's not like it will be terrible, just overpriced and as has been pointed out difficult to service.


I guess thats a subjective point and to each there own I guess. Personally they sound awful and even if I was given a system I would not use it. I have a Bose Roommate II portable speaker system that you can plug into an mp3/CD player Yes it sounds better than a boombox/getoblaster but just barely and haven't used it in years.


----------



## Sevenfeet

No highs, no lows...must be Bose.

Honestly, Bose is the first experience a lot of people have with quality audio and the situation wouldn't be so bad with them if it weren't for the awful price-performance.

Besides, these days wireless and media servers are usually the first option to get sound around the house. Are they still using CDs or is there music on something like iTunes?


----------



## tesseract

I didn't know about this until a couple of weeks ago. Sent my friend a link, but I think he is committed to the Bose system.

At least now we have an alternative to offer those who ask in the future.

http://www.htd.com/Products/Whole-House-Audio


----------

