| Customer Reviews Collected from bose.com |
Bose - CineMate 15 Home Theater Speaker System - Black
Average Customer Rating:
4.6
Rating breakdown 52 reviews
5 Stars
36
4 Stars
11
3 Stars
5
2 Stars
0
1 Star
0
Customer Reviews for Bose - CineMate 15 Home Theater Speaker System - Black
Customer Rating
4
Small Wonder
on September 27, 2015
Posted by: AK
Gender:Male
Introduction
Great product from Bose, considering the size factor. I have heard couple of Bose products (and own them too) and find them nice only because of their compact size. Great sound? May be considering their size, but not if you compare it with other Hifi brands like Polk, KEF, Elac etc (they are of course bulky). So the question is what’s so good about it? Indeed, you get sound bar of various companies like Sony, Samsung, LG, Cambridge, JBL, Harman Kardon, Boston Acoustics, Energy, Bose itself (Solo and many more at the price 1/3rd of it). Bought this at the Bose store with the usual more than courteous staff.
Cinemate 15 Vs Solo 15
The sound clarity is extremely good. No doubt. Extremely good quality speakers. There are four speakers in the array. Two in the front and one in each of the sides. This does give you some nice immersive experience. I was comparing it with the Solo 15. Solo 15 comes with 5 speakers and 2 rear bass ports. 3 speakers in the centre and one each at the side. This actually does give Solo 15 a great advantage as the sound is audibly separated and has a wider sound stage. Sound clarity seems extremely good on a Solo 15 but low on bass, owing to the non availability of the subwoofer. But, trust me, had Solo 15 been with a subwoofer, I wouldn’t think twice to buy it.
The sound clarity is extremely good. No doubt. Extremely good quality speakers. There are four speakers in the array. Two in the front and one in each of the sides. This does give you some nice immersive experience. I was comparing it with the Solo 15. Solo 15 comes with 5 speakers and 2 rear bass ports. 3 speakers in the centre and one each at the side. This actually does give Solo 15 a great advantage as the sound is audibly separated and has a wider sound stage. Sound clarity seems extremely good on a Solo 15 but low on bass, owing to the non availability of the subwoofer. But, trust me, had Solo 15 been with a subwoofer, I wouldn’t think twice to buy it.
Sound of Cinemate 15
But a movie requires sound that has punch, lot of lows, rumble, voice clarity and finally some subtle details like fire crackling, car door closing or some faint sounds that usually sound well in a movie theatre. Cinemate 15 converts your room to a mini theatre. It is not as good as a surround sound (especially if one has heard a Dolby Atmos demo) but nevertheless, the sound is quite good. It is not fair to compare it to a 5.1 surround system as well.
But a movie requires sound that has punch, lot of lows, rumble, voice clarity and finally some subtle details like fire crackling, car door closing or some faint sounds that usually sound well in a movie theatre. Cinemate 15 converts your room to a mini theatre. It is not as good as a surround sound (especially if one has heard a Dolby Atmos demo) but nevertheless, the sound is quite good. It is not fair to compare it to a 5.1 surround system as well.
Subwoofer
This has a wired subwoofer, although wireless subwoofer has become industry standard. Even the cheaper sound bars of other companies offer them. The wired subwoofer has its own advantages (not that I am griping about sour grapes). Many have complained about subwoofer dropping especially due to interference. The connections to the subwoofer from the main unit looks something like RS-232 Serial port interface. May be Bose should have thought about a better way than that. The bass can be adjusted by a knob behind the unit.
This has a wired subwoofer, although wireless subwoofer has become industry standard. Even the cheaper sound bars of other companies offer them. The wired subwoofer has its own advantages (not that I am griping about sour grapes). Many have complained about subwoofer dropping especially due to interference. The connections to the subwoofer from the main unit looks something like RS-232 Serial port interface. May be Bose should have thought about a better way than that. The bass can be adjusted by a knob behind the unit.
Inputs
Cinemate 15 has 3 inputs. A standard RCA analog input, a Digital Coax and a Digital optical. Only 1 input can be used at a particular time. Connecting two inputs leads to no sound from the cinemate system. An RCA stereo cable and a digital optical cable is included in the setup.
Cinemate 15 has 3 inputs. A standard RCA analog input, a Digital Coax and a Digital optical. Only 1 input can be used at a particular time. Connecting two inputs leads to no sound from the cinemate system. An RCA stereo cable and a digital optical cable is included in the setup.
I connected all my inputs to the TV (Blu-ray, a separate DVD, Apple TV and Satellite) and connected the TV back to the Cinemate 15 using the given cable. I also tried connecting a Digital Coax cable (I had an existing gold plated Belkin) directly from my Blu-ray player as well. I preferred the sound from the coax cable. Hands down, it beat the optical cable coming out from my TV. This was quite surprising. To verify this, I bought a Bandridge Optical cable and found that the quality of the supplied cable was just basic. Not the audiophile grade at all (If not QED, Chord or inAkustik at least provide a better one should be decent enough). Yes, there are indeed losses induced due to TV, but the supplied optical cable was really very bad. I tested the system using all the above sources. The TV channels sound better, the blu-rays sound brilliant. My TV supports PCM mode when I connect any device to it. I tested Blu rays of Transformers - Age of Extinction (The scene where Galvatron has a fight with Optimus and is then captured), Tron Legacy (where Sam Flynn rides his Ducati), Total Recall (when Douglas Quaid and Melina are chased by cops on the freeway), Goldeneye (Entire movie), Quantum of Solace (The car chase in the first scene). They sounded well. The Transformation of Galvatron, the sweet sound of Ducati, background score of Total recall sounded pretty good, the car chase at lake como wasnt the best as it sounded in the theatre, but was still pretty decent. The best part is that the dialogues are quite clear even when you have the movie on, as compared to other soundbars where there is a constant need to crank the volume up during dialogues and bring it down during other times.
I tested a few Dolby Tracks (some Dolby enabled VOB files) on the Cinemate 15 and it was neat. But then, this is where I felt that a little spacing between the speakers on the side would have made it more wonderful. But then, it does increase it's length preventing Bose being so compact.
Remote
The Bose Cinemate 15 has an all in one remote. It controls almost all devices except my Philips DVD player. The remote is good, but extremely bulky and heavy. Also, not all functions are programmable. Or I didn’t know how to. For example it doesn’t shift to next chapter on my Sony Blu ray player, it just skips 15secs and CC button doesn’t bring up the subtitles.
The Bose Cinemate 15 has an all in one remote. It controls almost all devices except my Philips DVD player. The remote is good, but extremely bulky and heavy. Also, not all functions are programmable. Or I didn’t know how to. For example it doesn’t shift to next chapter on my Sony Blu ray player, it just skips 15secs and CC button doesn’t bring up the subtitles.
Finally, The good, the bad and the ugly
Good
1. Nice compact sound bar with a extremely good sound quality
2. Decodes Dolby digital (Played some dolby tracks to test it)
3. Great Bass and excellent theatre sound effects
4. Quite compact
5. Good voice clarity in movies
Good
1. Nice compact sound bar with a extremely good sound quality
2. Decodes Dolby digital (Played some dolby tracks to test it)
3. Great Bass and excellent theatre sound effects
4. Quite compact
5. Good voice clarity in movies
Bad
1. Expensive with respect to features offered by competitors.
2. No bluetooth and airplay
3. Inputs should have been switchable.
1. Expensive with respect to features offered by competitors.
2. No bluetooth and airplay
3. Inputs should have been switchable.
Ugly
1. Bad optical cable provided
1. Bad optical cable provided
I hope it helps people to make a decision before they buy.
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com
Customer Rating
5
WOW
on December 26, 2016
Posted by: MS
Gender:Male
Got one for Christmas. Turned on the Sound of Music. It was amazing, like I was hearing it for the first time. Love it!
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com
Customer Rating
5
Full and rich sound from a compact system.
on September 29, 2015
Posted by: ParatrooperChad
Gender:Male
I am very picky when it comes to the fine details of all types of music. From the deepest lows to the highest of highs. I want to hear it all, and I want it to be in balance. The Cinemate 15 gives me that balance. I like the manual adjustment available on the sub-woofer, as well as the crisp and clear sound no matter what music I'm listening to. The Cinemate 15 fits nicely on top of my cable box and is barely noticeable(except for the amazing sound.) I added the optional Bluetooth adaptor and can now easily listen to music from my computer and phone. A+ to Bose for a quality system that is very affordable.
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com
Customer Rating
5
Great sound, difficult remote
on December 26, 2015
Posted by: ktmets
Gender:Male
While I love the sound -- especially the bass-- I found the remote extremely difficult to program to operate my TV and U-Verse box. While Bose gives you a list of codes to program the remote, none of those codes worked. The instructions tells you to use the code finder, but doesn't explain how to do that. If someone can tell me here, that would be great. Thanks!
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com
Customer Rating
5
Exciting sound
on December 11, 2015
Posted by: vr15853
Gender:Male
I bought this system a few days ago and the install was very easy. The best part is when I turned on the system and all I said was WOW! What sound comes out of this small unit and not to forget the deeeeeep sounds that comes from the Subwoofer. Amazing!
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com
Customer Rating
5
Great sound
on February 6, 2016
Posted by: Todd71
Gender:Male
I bought this system for my living room. The sounds fills the room and it is hard to believe that all of the sound comes from such a small speaker.
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com
Customer Rating
5
Great and easy to use
on November 23, 2016
Posted by: Guss
Gender:Male
Easy to install and configuration, the universal control connectivity is really good, appletv, tv, and cable, now.
Sound Quality is perfect
Sound Quality is perfect
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com
Customer Rating
5
Great Product - Better with one addition!
on March 28, 2016
Posted by: owensimp
Gender:Male
As advertised, great sound, simple yet elegant without clutter with one exception. Why not allow an access plug to the speaker to allow music to be played thru ipod, iphone etc. The speaker is powered - what a great functional addition.
Response from bose.comBy Ryan, Bose Service, March 30, 2016
Thank you for taking the time to write your review. We are thrilled to hear that you are happy with the sound quality.
We wanted to let you know that there are a few ways to connect audio devices to the system.
1. For any device with a headphone jack, you can use a Y cable to connect to the RCA jacks on the back of the speaker. You can find those at any electronics store or through our parts team.
2. For smartphones and tablets, you can connect without wires by using our Bluetooth adapter shown here:
http://bit.ly/1QpV2DR
If you have further questions about either approach, please feel free to give a call to our technical support experts. You can reach us at 1-800-379-2073. We are open from Mon. – Fri., 9 AM – 9 PM and on Sat., 9 AM – 7 PM ET.
We wanted to let you know that there are a few ways to connect audio devices to the system.
1. For any device with a headphone jack, you can use a Y cable to connect to the RCA jacks on the back of the speaker. You can find those at any electronics store or through our parts team.
2. For smartphones and tablets, you can connect without wires by using our Bluetooth adapter shown here:
http://bit.ly/1QpV2DR
If you have further questions about either approach, please feel free to give a call to our technical support experts. You can reach us at 1-800-379-2073. We are open from Mon. – Fri., 9 AM – 9 PM and on Sat., 9 AM – 7 PM ET.
Written by a customer while visiting bose.com