Bose TV Speaker Soundbar Review

The Bose TV Speaker is a 2.0 soundbar from Bose's 2020 lineup. This manufacturer specializes in soundbars that are simple to set up and can be expanded down the line. However, this uniquely small bar is designed specifically to work with a TV as its main sound enhancement feature is dialogue enhancement. The Bose TV Speaker competes with the Bose Solo 5, the Sony HT-S100F, and the Sony HT-S200F.

The Bose TV Speaker is a very small soundbar. It looks very sleek as it has a smooth plastic top while its front and sides have a metal grille with fine holes to protect its speakers.

There are no subwoofers in this setup. However, you can purchase the Bose Bass Module 500 or Bose Module 700 to add a subwoofer to the mix. Note that they can't be used wirelessly with this bar. You need to purchase a connection cable, which is sold separately.

This soundbar is remarkably small. You shouldn't have any problems fitting it between the legs of a 55 inch TV. It's also not tall enough to obscure your TV unless the screen sits flush to the table.

The back of the soundbar has one opening for the power cable and the inputs. As there are also universal holes on its underside, you can easily wall-mount this soundbar.

The Bose TV Speaker has a great build quality. Even though it's partially made of plastic, it feels sturdy and solid. Its metal grille is sleek and gives it a more premium look and feel than the fabric wrap used by the Yamaha YAS-109. The universal mounting holes are even covered with removable rubber screws, which is a nice touch.

• Manual
• Optical cable
• Remote with battery
• Power cable

The Bose TV Speaker has a decent stereo frequency response. It lacks some low-bass, so you don't feel the deep thump and rumble in bass-heavy music or action-packed movies. However, the rest of the range is quite neutral and balanced, so vocals and lead instruments are reproduced clearly and accurately. As a result, it's suitable for listening to lots of different types of audio content.

The Bose TV Speaker comes with a bass adjustment feature to help you customize its sound. However, its default sound profile already falls within the desired range for listeners who prefer a more neutral sound, so we don't recommend adjusting its settings unless you want a different sound profile.

The Bose TV Speaker has an alright stereo soundstage performance. You may perceive the soundstage to be wider than the bar itself. However, it doesn't sound that focused, which makes objects sound like they're coming from more general or diffused areas rather than accurate, pinpoint locations.

Update 09/21/2020: We've discovered a value input bug that would cause the Dynamics box results to be slightly off. All soundbars reviewed since January 30th, 2020, have been updated.

The Bose TV Speaker has alright stereo dynamics. It doesn't get very loud, and at max volume, there are a lot of thumping and compression artifacts present, especially in the bass range.

The Bose TV Speaker has a good THD performance. There's some distortion present in the bass range at both normal and max volume. At normal listening volumes, the rest of the range falls within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. There's a slight jump in THD at max volume, but this may not be too noticeable with real-life content.

The Bose TV Speaker is a 2.0 setup, and it doesn't have a dedicated center speaker. Instead, it uses its left and right speakers to create sound in the center, which sounds more diffused and less clear than a discrete center channel. That said, its frequency response is quite balanced in the mid-range, so voices are still reproduced clearly and with detail.

The Bose TV Speaker has a poor surround performance. As it's a 2.0 setup, it has to downmix surround content into stereo to play it, which doesn't result in the most accurate or clear representation of objects in the surround image. Audio seems like it's coming from in front of you rather than from speakers placed all around you. Also, its frequency response is rather bass-heavy, which can muddy voices in your surround content.

The Bose TV Speaker has a bad selection of sound enhancement features. You can adjust its bass, which gives you a bit of control over its sound, but it lacks more premium features like an EQ. There's also a dialogue enhancement feature on the remote that helps make voices more crisp and clear. For a 2.0 setup with some EQ presets, check out the TCL Alto 3.

The Bose TV Speaker has a couple of physical inputs. It has an HDMI ARC so you can hook it up to your TV, as well as an AUX input so that you can connect it to older devices that may not have other connectivity options. There's a USB port, but you can only use it to service the bar with updates. Unfortunately, you can't use it as a hub between your TV and other devices like a Blu-ray player.

Update 01/13/2021: We re-evaluated our methodology for ARC support and concluded that DTS and Dolby Digital+ support should be reported the same over an ARC connection as over an HDMI IN and Optical connection, so we updated our results from "Yes" to "No". Some TVs, like the one we initially used for testing, may convert this content, but other TV brands may not. Ultimately, your experience may vary depending on your TV.

The Bose TV Speaker supports Dolby Digital content via its ARC port. However, it doesn't support eARC or Dolby Atmos, which can be disappointing for movie fans.

The Bose TV Speaker only supports Dolby Digital via Optical, which is commonly found on Blu-ray discs as well as streaming platforms.

The Bose TV Speaker has an incredible latency performance. Thanks to its low latency via its ARC and Optical ports, you shouldn't notice a delay between the audio you hear and the video you see. As a result, it's suitable for watching movies and videos over these connections. However, some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience can vary.

The Bose TV Speaker has passable wireless playback options. It only supports Bluetooth, but at least you can play your favorite music from your smartphone wirelessly. If you're looking for a Bose soundbar that supports Apple AirPlay 2, check out the Bose Smart Soundbar 300.

This bar doesn't support HDMI so it won't be able to do video passthrough.

The Bose TV Speaker's interface is extremely simple. There's a light that turns on when you're connected to your TV via HDMI ARC or Optical as well as a light to show when you're connected via Bluetooth. The light blinks when you adjust the volume or when you're on mute. The light also turns green when you have the dialogue enhancement feature on.

The remote is very straightforward. As the bar itself doesn't have any controls, and there's no companion app, you can control all of the bar's features from here. Note that the bass button can adjust the bass up or down two levels from its default setting.

The Bose TV Speaker shuts off after about twenty minutes of inactivity when connected via Bluetooth. However, if you have it hooked up to your TV, the bar shuts down after 2.5 hours of inactivity. You can also use your TV remote to control aspects of the bar like volume and power it on/off.