Sound quality: Bose's Solo 15 Series II delivers sound quality that falls in the good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite obvious shortcomings. Bass has decent impact and definition, but it doesn't go particularly deep. Midrange is edgy, slightly grainy, and lacks body. Treble is extended, but prominent, thin and sizzly. Overall sound is somewhat metallic, processed, sterile, and slightly harsh. It gives the impression of being open and airy, but only does a so-so job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded) and fine detail which leaves music lacking in complexity. The dialog mode sounds gritty, constricted, and bass-shy. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the optical, coaxial, analog and Bluetooth inputs. The sound base can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very good overall. The steps to program its universal remote to control a TV are quick, easy, and straight forward, but are not intuitive so the instructions included with the unit need to be used. The system comes with optical digital and stereo analog audio cables for TV connection, a coaxial digital audio cable must be purchased separately if that's the way you want or needed to connect your TV. If the soundbase's universal remote has been programmed to control a TV's functions the soundbase can work seamlessly with that TV. The remote is uncluttered and the controls are well labeled. The soundbase console lacks controls but it can be set to automatically turn on when it receives an audio signal and off after it hasn't received a signal in a while. Its display consists of indicator lights that can be seen from a typical listening position but require the instructions to decode. The source display consists of patterned lights - one of which indicates power status, changes color to indicate when the DSP (digital sound processing) effects mode has been turned on, and provides a visual indication when muting has been engaged or that the volume has been adjusted. There is no volume level indication.
Features setup and ease of use: Good overall. The remote is uncluttered and the controls are well labeled; while it can switch between Bluetooth and a cord connected source to the soundbase, but can't switch between the cord connected sources (although the soundbase has three different types of cable connections, only one is intended to be connected at a time). The soundbase console lacks controls but it can be set to automatically turn on when it receives an audio signal and off after it hasn't received a signal in a while. Its display consists of indicator lights that can be seen from a typical listening position but require the instructions to decode. The source display consists of patterned lights - one of which indicates power status, changes color to indicate when the DSP effects mode has been turned on, and provides a visual indication when muting has been engaged or that the volume has been adjusted. There is no volume level indication. Pairing of a Bluetooth device required a long push of a well marked button on the remote - easy and straight forward.
