Two Words, One Answer.
Entertainment System
 3?2?1 GS Series III DVD Home Entertainment System - Graphite $999.00 I've been using Bose equipment for about 10 years now and each system that I own seems to satisfy my needs. The 321 GS Series III is no exception. I personally bought the unit for the simplicity and clean setup. I have a medium sized living room and 5 speakers, a huge subwoofer, and lots of speaker wire were not to my liking. I was looking for a system that produced great sound, was sleek, and disappeared into my room and the 321 system fit the bill. Don't get me wrong, for $1000, you can put together an NHT, Paradigm, etc. system that will sound a better than the Bose but NHT, Paradigm, only have mediocre (if any) home theater systems. You can't compare stereo speakers to home theater speakers as the comparison is not fare. For example my Acoustimass 15 system is a great home theater system but a horrible stereo system. I would rather have a pair of Paradigm atoms and a small sub for stereo music. I however do not like the Paradigm atoms for a surround sound system. Sound wise, the Bose can get pretty loud when you crank up the volume. I find that the high's could be better, midrange sounds fine to me. I think the high's sound a little "shreeky" because Bose does not employ a true tweeter. The bass module for this system is surprisingly better than the Acoustimass module that I have with my Acoustimass 15 setup. I find the 321 system module to hit a little lower and it just sounds fuller. My Acoustimass 15 module always sounded like there was a gap between the low end and midrange. I called Bose to ask them for specs on the Acoustimass drivers but they wouldn't tell me. As far as the simulated surround sound, I find it to work best on certain movies only. I was watching Star Wars the other day and the effect didn't feel as good as watching a more modern film. Plus, to feel the surround effect, you really need to crank the volume up....but needless to say, it does work. We were watching I Love Lucy DVD's and the sound reproduction for an older show like that was pretty good. Also the automatic equalization balances the sound out so you don't find yourself constantly changing the volume up and down. The remote is of very good quality, it controls my TV, cable box, and the 321 unit with ease. It is made strong and it feels good in your hands. My only gripe with the system is that the 321 media center unit is a little on the cheap side. For $1000, you would think that the construction would be just a tad high end. Also, I find the input time on the system to be a little slower than I expected. For example, when you click on the menu's of your DVD, there seems to be a slight delay. Strangely, I don't have this problem with my $75 Sony DVD player. I bought it on sale from [...] for $899. Personally, judging from what's out on the market, I don't think this unit should sell for more than $700...even with the Bose name. It just will not produce what you would expect from a $1000 system. All in all, you should judge this system based on what and who it was designed for. It's good for small to medium sized rooms and I think aesthetics take a slight precedence over sound quality in this case. I bought this package because it suited MY needs. This is not a be all end all entertainment system...but it does what it is supposed to do.  Crosley ST75 Williamsburg Entertainment Center Stand (Black) $99.95 This is a very nice record cabinet. Although it is intended as a stand for one of Crosley's "record players", I bought it to set my turntable on. It goes well with the modern black glass TV table, but adds a touch of "retro" to the "modern". This cabinet was very, very easy to assemble... very well engineered from that standpoint. They should have marked each piece (A, B, C, etc.), but it was pretty easy to figure out which piece was which. The parts fit together better than any other "assemble it yourself" furniture I've ever bought.  Polk Audio I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 $499.00 The system is really excellent and has fantastic sound quality. The I-Sonic blows the Bose systems out of the water effortlessly, and has far more functionality, with an input for an auxilliary device, direct port for satellite radio antenna, etc. The only issue I have with the system, and the only reason i didn't give it 5 stars is due to the limited access to the alarm functions. You literally have to use the small remote control to select, change, and ultimately turn on and off the alarm functions, which doesnt make any sense. Of course, there is a snooze button so if you want to snooze and not turn the system off once the alarm sounds, you're in business. Despite this, it is a fantastic system, well worth purchasing! |
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