Bose Solo review

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Verdict:

Improved audio over your TV, but limited inputs aren’t ideal for set-top boxes

Review Date: 26 Oct 2012

Price when reviewed: £349

Buy it now for: £349
(see more store prices)

Supplier: http://www.comet.co.uk

Reviewed By: Tom Morgan

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

User Rating

Bose’s solo is (by Bose standards) an entry-level speaker system. It’s a speaker bar designed to sit underneath your TV, replacing the internal speakers with something a little more powerful.

As with most Bose products, the Solo has a minimalist, sleek design, and it should go nicely with any TV, although the company recommends the speaker for use with a 42in or smaller set so it doesn’t end up dwarfed. Internally, there are four speaker drivers and two bass ports. It’s not a surround- sound system, but it should still provide a noticeable improvement over the limited drivers built into most flat-screen TVs.

Around the back, connectivity is limited to optical and coaxial digital inputs and a single stereo phono analogue connection. There’s also a USB port and 3.5mm jack socket, but these are for service use only. There are no HDMI inputs or pass-throughs, so you’ll need a source with the right outputs or you’ll have to run an output cable from your TV to the speaker. This is more fiddly than just passing HDMI through the Solo, but most TVs we’ve seen have some kind of optical or analogue output for stereo sound. All the cables you need for the inputs are included in the box, so you won’t have to buy them specifically for the system.

An incredibly basic remote control is included with the system, with buttons for power, mute and volume control. As the Solo is compatible with universal remotes, you could use one to control both TV and speakers to simplify your AV setup, but without an HDMI connection there was no way to use the Anynet+ universal function on our reference TV’s remote control.

For everyday broadcasts, the Solo speaker is an improvement over integrated TV drivers. It produced clear audio with ample volume, as well as a decent amount of bass. It worked very well with digital radio, with minimal distortion from the high end even during electronic and heavy rock tracks.

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User comments

Missed the point

I somehow feel that the reviewer has somehow missed the point of this system. A single audio input from the TV does allow you to hear you Set-top box, Blu-ray, DVD or anything else that's plugged into the TV. The TV sends the sound to the system for whatever is on the screen.
The Solo is aimed at people that don't want lots of speakers, cables, functions setup options or hassle. It's aimed at people, of which there are a lot, that just want to have better sound when they are watch TV. The Solo does exactly that with ease.
Yes you can buy a 5.1 Home Cinema with Blu-ray and iPod dock with Smart TV functionality and a toaster thrown in for good luck too but that is not what a lot of people want or need.

By Licker on 5 Dec 2012