Bose soundbars are great, particularly its new ones: the Soundbar 500 and Soundbar 700. They solve two common problems that most people’s TV have. First, they make it so that you can actually hear the dialogue. Two, with both wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity, so you can stream music to either soundbar when you’re not watching TV. There’s also the added feature of having Alexa built-in, just like an Amazon Echo; you can say “Alexa, lower the volume” or “Alexa, what’s today’s weather” or “Alexa, turn off the lights in the bedroom” – and it’ll do it. Bose is expected to roll out an AirPlay 2 update for both soundbars soon, too.
Both the Soundbar 500 and the Soundbar 700 were released at the tail end of 2018. You can buy the Bose Soundbar 500 for $550 or the Bose Soundbar 700 for $800. But if you want to build a home theater system around either of Bose’s soundbars, say you want to add a bass module and/or surround speakers, you can – and you can get a pretty good deal while doing so. World Wide Stereo is selling Bose’s home theater systems for up to $150 off.
Soundbar 500 3.1 Home Theater System by Bose $948 $898
Soundbar 500 5.1 Home Theater System by Bose $1,247 $1,197
