The dragon In the room

I had one such subliminal moment when I tried out the latest Lifestyle 235 home entertainment system from Bose,undoubtedly the most respected name in the sound business. Lifestyle 235 is a 2.1 system (with two speakers),and you won’t feel the need for more speakers. In fact,if someone wanted to take you for a ride,they wouldn’t have to work too hard to convince you that it was a 7.1 system.

The depth of the sound will make you believe that it is being created by refrigerator-sized wooden speakers. But this great sound is from two new Gemstone ES speaker arrays,no larger than point-and-shoot cameras. They are called speaker arrays,since each box has three drivers — two facing forward,and one positioned to the side.

The speaker arrays combined with Bose’s TrueSpace digital signal processing,make the sounds seem true to life. These two features create surround sound the way it is meant to be,just the way movie buffs like me want it.Watching a scene from How to Tame your Dragon will make you feel as if you are inside the fire-breathing monster’s den,with roars and growls coming at you from all around.

But even the low notes get similar play. You can feel each strum of the guitar as if you are sitting there and tuning it. If you feel the speakers aren’t giving the right sound for your room,just turn to Bose’s ADAPTiQ audio calibration technology which analyses and adjusts the system’s sound for the size,shape and furnishings of the space — so there’s no need for family arguments about where the speakers sound the best.

Lifestyle 235 comes with the two Gemstone ES speaker arrays,an amplifier,a control console,and a universal remote,which controls your music system and an iPod dock. The system can play audio and video from up to six sources,including Blu-ray disc players,cable boxes and gaming systems.

But all this won’t leave you confused,as Bose’s Unify technology makes the sources work seamlessly together as a single system. On the flip side,the system can’t play anything on its own,except for the built-in AM/FM tuner. So you will have to invest in at least a good DVD player if you are buying the Lifestyle 235. As with other cutting-edge Bose products,the price of the Lifestyle 235 is steep. But for the kind of sound that it can produce,some of us wouldn’t mind the Rs 1,63,013 price tag.

Sound without Speakers

The Bose Videowave is all shock-and-awe. You’ll be left wondering about the source of the sound,as there are no speakers behind this home entertainment system. The Videowave with a 46” 1080p LCD display,happens to comprise a cluster of six high-performance woofers,carefully matched to a new,powerful acoustic Bose Waveguide. A decade of research lies behind this giant screen that produces high-definition sound unlike anything you have heard before. Without speakers or a tangle of wires,the Videowave throws sound in every direction,making you jump from your seat,fearing there’s a lion under it. There is also a state-of-the-art click pad remote which features a built-in sensor and only includes buttons for the most-used functions — the rest of it can be accessed on-screen with a toggle of the remote.

Price is Rs 4,78,013