Bose Soundbar 500 with Built-In Amazon Alexa

I just purchased this soundbar. It is a great piece of engineering. The bar is very slim, with a pretty small footprint, yet when you listen to the sound, the depth and layering is apparent. The soundbar 500 produces a very clear dialogue and when you turn up the volume to near max the sounds are not harsh on the ear.

I bought this for my family room, which is about 20 ft x 20ft or slightly larger and it fills the room. It’s great because it is compact enough to look like part of the TV when fit underneath, and adds to the aesthetics.

I also paired the soundbar with the Bose Bass module 500. It is an awesome addition that makes you feel like you are right there in the action. At the same time it isn’t overpowering which is great.

This is a great soundbar to put in a theatre room or social gathering area.

Very nice piece by Bose.

Sound bar 500 ,Sound quality is great will be adding the sub and the external speakers later ,most of the time Alexa and the remote gets disconnected.
Remote doesn't work while music is playing or connected to TV, have to use the app to control the volume.Major issue is with the application as i have to use sound touch for Cine Mate 520 and Bose Music app for the new Sound bar 500 . if these app can be integrated with one that would be awesome..

I've always wanted a soundbar from bose and I finally got one. I always trust bose when it comes to sound and performance. This soundbar is worth every penny.

withoutived my Bose Soundbar 500 and when I took it out of its box, the look, the feel was smooth a nice finish and premium. Getting the soundbar out of the box, was again I almost feel the excitement of something magical within my hands. After taking the soundbar out of its box, I hunted for its cables, so there is a headset (come to that later), HDMI cable, remote control and obviously the power. The HDMI is an ARC lead which most TVs usually have an HDMI with next to it an ARC in brackets (Audio Return Channel). ARC is a setting which allows the soundbar to interface with any devices connected like a PlayStation, Xbox, Sky+ HD watching on my TV as the sound can go straight into the soundbar without any hesitation. My LG is a 47” from the 2012s, soundbar is in the middle which is lovely, so I was lucky that I didn’t have to buy an optical lead. Once I connected all the cables, I then installed the Bose Music app on my android and iOS, powered on the Soundbar and took me minutes to set everything up.
This is where I come back to the headset, so they give a headset with a very long cable with a small phono plug, this is where you connect into the port of the back of the soundbar names ADAPTiQ. This is to configure the soundbar to fit the sound inside the room. You sit in different locations of the room to enhance the sound of the room. So, Alexa, I use to have an Echo dot, so I registered my account within the Bose Music app. This whole setup took me about 15 minutes. Now for the fun part, In my head, I was thinking what to try first, Star Wars intro theme or The Avengers. I chose the Star Wars theme and had the volume to medium-high and WOW, I got the fun effect. I felt the sound, the moment and the sound did not distort, I was over the moon. Next was the Avengers film, and to my surprise, I felt like I was in a cinema re-living the movie for the first time.
The next thing was to see how the integration Alexa worked from inside the soundbar and with my surprise she listened and did what I asked, while you said “Alexa”, she turned down the volume of what you are playing in the background, waited for you to say something and gave you the response. Then the volume restored of what you are playing. I own Philips hue lights and everything I could have done with my Echo dot could do similar but with more sound and interactivity.

With my Sony 65 af8 amazing sounds I just love it !

I wanted this to use as a home cinema system that would not take up huge amounts of space. It does this brilliantly. The sound quality is superb and the ease of use makes setup simple and hassle free. The only issue I had regarding setup is that it didn't come with an optical cable which would have been nice to be included in the box. I ended up connecting via HDMI (ARC) to my TV which obviously worked fine once i realised which HDMI I was supposed to plug into but this was more of a technical ignorance on my part.

The Alexa connectivity and ability to voice command is a very nice feature but as yet I have not worked out how to turn down the microphone sensitivity and this means that pretty much wherever I am in the house it hears me and therefore over rides other alexa devices around the house. In addition, it doesn't seem to recognise that I have a spotify account linked, even though my other Alexa devices do. Therefore when I ask it to play music it says it cannot find it in my library, yet when i go on the app, i can play through spotfiy.

I bought SB500 and bass module500. In fact, the setup was rather tricky; however, I am deeply impressed at the fabulous sound which is not more crisp and crystal clear. One issue is the control from my android phone: while Bose Music app can cast to SB500, Amazon Music app cannot. In the Amazon app, I can select SB500 and get the message "connected to SB500", but in the Amazon app the circle spins endlessly and no sound. Please give me an advice.

Using the bose sounder on my screen in porch with Tv and music. Works extremely well. I suggest you download the manual and use the manual when you hook your system up to your TV. It is perfect for my porch and the sound is excellent.

Wow. Music hasn’t sounded so good in our household.

The sound quality, supported by the bass module is absolutely fantastic!

I found the set up easy via the app, particularly the set up and sync with my amazon music account.

On to Amazon - the Alexa functionality and voice recognition is superior we can literally shout “Alexa” from other rooms in the house.

The amazing thing with this product for our house, is that the sound bar can now do it all - play our music using Alexa and provide an incredible experience when watching movies and sport! We have a large open planned living space and the sound just travels into every corner!

Super impressed, as have our family and friends been.

I’m a stickler for design and from packaging to look and feel it’s brilliant, the cable ports are neatly positioned too.

If you’re thinking about investing in a sound bar - get the Bose 500. Incredible

The Bose 500 has a clear and crisp sound, with this it makes very desirable to listen to not just movies as well music or radio. This device can work connected directly to a TV or using as a standalone device connected to your favourites apps like Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer or TuneIN for worldwide radio. You can control the Bose 500 using the remote control or Bose Music app from your device or with a simple help from a voice command using Alexa you can access anything without any major fizz. The Adaptiq audio calibration helps the sound to be directional to any corner of the room it won’t matter which position you are the sound will come clear and crisp. Using the voice commands still not for everyone but with Alexa built in it will help you in major tasks or queries that you might want for information or even playing a quiz game with friends still brings a lot of fun times. If you have a small or medium room or don’t like big devices around the house the Bose 500 would be the ideal device for you. If you are a big movie enthusiast and want the listen the best of Dolby Atmos or Dolby HDR I would recommend adding the additional accessories like the Bose Surround Speakers and the Bose Base Module 500.

The sound bar is incredible. Classic bose quality, extreme volume. You can us it for normal TV, movies or as a wireless speaker with it coming up as an option on Spotify as a speaker. Alexa is also very useful. Such a sleek design, and will improve your home cinema hugely.

The Bose Soundbar 500 is a fantastic sounding premium soundbar. The design is very elegant and premium looking. When it arrived unboxing and setup was very straight forward, and instructions were easy to follow. Most setup and calibration of the speaker takes place on your iPhone through the Bose app. The build quality and materials used feel very premium and long lasting. The sound quality on this speaker is fairly good, treble and mid ranges sound crisp. However, bass noticeably lacks which is the main downfall of this product. I would highly recommend getting the Bose bass module 500 along with the soundbar and adding this makes a significant difference. Adding the base module significantly increases the low range sounds and overall the whole system sounds much more complete with it. Having Alexa built into the Soundbar 500 is very helpful because I am able to get her to play my music from Spotify which sounds amazing. I would defiantly recommend this to anyone looking for a premium soundbar but would emphasize buying the bass module 500 along with the Soundbar 500. Overall excellent sounding speaker with a premium looking finish and feel, would highly recommend.

Premium packaging and sturdy build quality.
Disappointingly there is a lack of HDMI passthrough meaning no on screen UI for setup and settings, also unable to plug any devices directly into the sound bar. To set the sound bar up you must download an app and pair the sound bar, it took 3 or 4 attempts before the app recognised the sound bar. once paired the app is slick with options to increase voice volume and adjust the sub if paired. other features are available such as spotify and tunein radio. To calibrate the sound you need to wear a connected headset which then fires various sound frequencies from different positions in the room.
Onto the sound, well what can i say, this is where bose blew me away. Sound is clear with a perfect balance of highs and mids, detail is superb and never overpowered. Voices are clear and crisp even at low volume.
Alexa is a great addition working almost every time, It also has spotify connect allowing you to cast music straight from your phone, music starts playing almost instantly even when the soundbar is off. It would be nice to have something like google cast to allow multiroom connectivity without being completely tied to the Bose ecosystem.

If you are looking for a simple but great sounding soundbar this is for you.

A great addition for my 42" TV setup which provides a fabulous home cinema sound experience. Setup is all done via the Bose Music app, which for me went smoothly and was a simple process. The app will connect the Soundbar to your home Wi-Fi network so you can use music streaming services and Alexa. In addition to setup the app can be used to control shortcuts on the remote, its possible to associate playlists or albums to one of the remote preset buttons with is a nice feature. The sound produced is impressive, films or music it gives a nice "full" experience which fills my lounge. The Alexa addition is a nice touch. Once linked in with my account i could easily command Alexa to play music, give weather reports and add notes to my todo lists. If you prefer there is an option to mute the microphone to stop the Soundbar listening in on conversations. I would say the only drawback is that the bass is a little lacking, i think to have the "full" experience its needs to be linked with the separate bass 500 speaker.

Bose expresses the usual sleek design and build quality you would expect from one of their products.

Nothing short of what I expected from Bose. The crispness of sound wether watching a favourite series, movie or sport is unbelievable. Having heard a few sound bars in action I was concerned I wouldn’t get the ‘surround’ sound effect compared to a traditional 5.1 surround system. I was wrong! Very easy to setup through the bose music app on iOS and the adapt iq for setting the system up to your room. Easy to use Spotify through the app too, although none of the tailored daily mixes for your profile appear on Bose apps which is a bit frustrating.

This sound bar is a severe upgrade from my previous system and I am almost completely satisfied. The sound is excellent and provided much more lower frequency quality over anything I’ve ever owned. The Bose Music app is easy to use but seems to be missing a pretty important function, and that would be changing the source. It is in no way possible to switch freely between the different audio sources on the devce, from any physical source you are able to change to a wireless one but you cannot change from a wireless source to a physical one without using the remote control. I have also attempted to set the TV, the optical source, as a preset in the app but this only provides a drop down message saying that is it unable to be set. An explaination of why this is not possible would make this issue seem less deliberate.

I just bought soundbar 500 and the base great system. I own Acoustimass 7 &3, wave system plus Lifesyle35 and as always you get what you paid for and with Bose is the Excellent system. Only one disappointment and that is no Google assistant. Hope it comes soon.

I was asked to review this system, I’m so glad i was! I love most everything Bose and this does not disappoint.
I can stream my phone music to this or i can use Spotify or Amazon music services to listen to muisc. All i have to do is ask Alexa to “turn it up” or “down” or play whatever song I want to hear and she does it. I can ask her questions and she answers, That’s pretty Cool!
The sound is amazing from this sound bar, but with Bose I expected nothing less. IIts also a sleek looking piece of electronics and I use love the way it looks in my house. It is not over powering in design and fits in nicely with my decor.
I am to understand that if I buy a few accessories, I can also get Alexa to control many things within my house it’s by the sound of my voice. How cool is that!
I will be sad when I have to return this unit, however it will be something i will buy.
This si a no brained But this unit without reservation!

I am very impressed with the speaker. From the sleek packaging, that kept it protected to the actual sound.
Setting it up with the app was extremely easy. The only hang up I had was for a few days I could not get Alexa to register online, it insisted that I didn’t have an Alexa account, when I do. After two days, it linked correctly and has been fine since.
The speaker is extremely well made, not too heavy, but heavy enough you notice the quality.
The sound is incredible. I’ve used it on my TV, Apple TV and Xbox. Pairing it with the device is very easy, just pushing the Bluetooth button on the remote makes it work perfectly. I decided to use it in my bedroom, and the sound is great. I was unsure about the headphone process in the setup, but am impressed that it actually had reason. All areas of my room has even, perfect sound quality. The Alexa makes it easier to turn the volume up and down, pause and play too. Talking to it to play music from another app is fun as well. It does not control our lights and thermostat like other Alexa products. I’ve owned a few Bose products and this has been my favorite. The sound quality is absolutely perfect.

I am reviewing this item as a package with the Bose Bass Module 500. The soundbar is very physically appealing. It's slim, sleek, and non-obtrusive. The bass module is similarly appealing. It's compact but definitely packs a punch.

Set up and controls:
Setup was extremely easy through the app. You add the Soundbar first and then you pair the bass module. Anyone with a smart phone should easily be able to set this combo up. The Adaptiq audio calibration is equally easy. It's as simple as plugging it in, putting it on, and sitting in various areas of the room. Adjusting the bass, treble, and center channel is also very easy through the app. There is no fine tuning, but I didn't expect that from a soundbar package. It's a simple +/- 10 function that you can use to adjust your settings. The dialog option through the app is also great when there is a lot of background noise in the source audio/video. Sliding your hand across the top of the soundbar to adjust the volume is a great idea!

Sound:
The sound is fantastic through the device. I tested it using podcasts, music, and movies. The audio is crisp and clear. For heavier bass music, such as hip hop, the bass module gives a nice punch without being too overbearing. If you want it to be bass heavy, that is easily remedied by turning up the bass settings through the app. Surround sound comes in crisp and it actually sounds a lot better than most soundbars I've used in the past. It's not 7.1, but it gives a premium all around sound from the soundbar.

If there was one item I would change, it's the indicator light on the front. I wish it was more pronounced and easier to see. In daytime or when there is a lot of external light, it's difficult to see the light on the soundbar. This can be especially annoying when trying to figure out if the soundbar is actually on. I have also had intermittent issues (maybe three times) where bluetooth has disconnected while audio is paused. I cannot say with certainty that it's the soundbar and not the source device, but I have not had a similar issue using headphones, car audio, or other bluetooth options.

Overall, I consider this a very good soundbar with the caveat that you need the bass module with it if you want good, quality sounds for movies and music.

In general, my listening purposes are very wide spread. I listen to mostly Hip-Hop/Rap, and a bit of EDM, but of course when I have friends over I listen to Pop and Billboard hits in general. Besides my music habits, my watching habits consist of the local channels (I don’t pay for cable). I watch either the local news or Sports broadcastings. All of my other watching habits happen on my streaming device.

The SoundBar was kind of a pain to set up because I just unboxed it and just tried connecting everything and assuming it just started up. What I should have done was read the manual! It told me to simply download the mobile app (iOS in my case), which walked me thru the whole process. Unfortunately there was a moment when the speaker disconnected and I had to redo the process. I also had to update sound bar right out the box. After that, it was smooth sailing.

With the setup I opted to use the ADAPTIQ feature. This allowed the sound bar to adapt to my room by sitting at certain spots, where I’d most likely sit and watch TV. It was a gnarly experience with the noises it made to bounce off the walls, I felt like I was living in the future. Not entirely sure if it actually helped with the sound but I’d like to think so.

The SoundBar looks very clean. While it’s a minimalist design, it’s still very sleek. Not bulky at all, very lightweight, surprisingly for the sound quality it puts out. The app is very nifty and I’m mind blown technology has come this far since my original stereo is outdated. It takes only a few seconds to boot up. It’s great that I can adjust the volume, treble, and bass right in the app and the change registers basically immediately. The convenience of this system is great. I have an Apple TV and when I turn it on, the Sound bar and TV all turn on. When I turn off the speaker, the Apple TV and TV turn off.

One thing that confused me in general about this Bose experience was the use of Presets in the app. I'm capable of figure things out but couldn't figure how to create presets to use with my Bose system. If there was a tutorial or FAQ in the app for that and other features, that would be very helpful. Also, sometimes there would be a status that says that the speaker is disconnected from my phone, but would instantly reappear. All other aspects of the app were great. It is easy for others to connect to the Bose speaker, easy to adjust the Bass & Treble. Such a breeze connecting Bluetooth devices as mentioned. Once a device is initially connected, you just toggle it to connect it or disconnect it. I wish my Apple Music could connect but that's probably out of Bose's control.

This SoundBar really fills up the room without obnoxious bass or any sort of distortion, and the sound quality as you should expect from Bose. As a Sound Bar alone, it might not produce enough bass for your major house party, but for casual entertainment and movie night, it is enough, or even for a board game night! Sometimes, I like to turn on the news partly just to hear current events going on and partly just to have background noise. So with dialogue mode, it makes so easy to hear the narration of the news without the sound effects overpowering and startling me.

I have been using the BOSE - SOUNDBAR 500 with the BOSE BASS MODULE 500 for a few weeks now and I have to say I am really impressed.

I have tried it with my Games console, bluerays, tv both Films and Sport and I have used its connectivity to Spotify functions a lot as we love to play music in our house.

Setting up was ok, not the easiest as it didnt want to find my network for a while, but this could easily have been an issue with my wifi rather than the soundbar itself.

I tried out the Alexa function, and this seemed to work seamlessly most of the time! However, this has its downsides as now my little boy loves asking for 'Baby Shark' do do do dodo...

Anyway. Overall this is a clean, classy soundbar that looks great and sounds perfect... as you'd expect for a Bose product (and the price tag). It may seem expensive to some, but if it is within your price range, I would certainly recommend it. You will not be disappointed.

I would recommend ensuring you have the ARC HDMI function with your tv, as this makes everything more seamless. It still sounds great through the Optical though.

I would also recommend purchasing the Bass Module, as I feel it needs this bit extra when watching action films and playing on action games. Improves the the sound even further!

For me the sound is the most important feature a sound system,and the sound from this speaker is great,it fills the room ant the claerity is excellent

I brought this about a week ago, I can't believe how much power this thing puts out! the size would lead you to believe the bass module would be needed for bass... but you'd be wrong. it has strong bass and good highs with a single HDMI connection to my tv. Alexa does have issues picking up my voice though.

Had my Bose Soundbar 500 just over a week now & i'm so pleased I bought it. My films have a new dimension to them now & definitely sound better, but the transformation of my streamed music sound is beyond compare! With Alexa built in I can literally shout from my kitchen to the lounge & ask for a track in my head via Amazon Music & my house is immediately full of great sounding music. But it's not just the sound of my music that has benefitted, my film watching experience has improved immeasurably too. Suddenly the action on the screen has immersed me & it feels like i'm on set! Honestly one of the best purchase decisions I have ever made, if your music lacks depth & quality & your films need livening up, this is the soundbar for you!

The soundbar 500 is a perfect size if you have a small sized living area and a small TV, mine is only 39”, so this is ideal. I have tried the older 300 soundbar before and it is massive compared to this. That doesn’t mean it loses out volume wise, the 500 can go really, and I mean REALLY loud.
Setting the soundbar up was pretty straight forward using the Bose Music app on my Samsung. It found it right away and I had no issues connecting it to my WiFi. I did find the android app pretty useless after that though, it always took at least 3 goes to reconnect it to the app and sometimes it just wouldn’t connect at all. I found I had to use my Ipod touch to connect instead, which then seemed to kick the android app into gear. All in all IOS seems to work seamlessly and as usual android is an after thought
Sound wise I have mixed feelings over the soundbar, watching TV is great. The dialogue enhancer really brings out the best of the soundbar. Everything is crystal clear with just a slight harsh tone that I am sure will go once the speakers bed in. I have paired this with the optional subwoofer, which sounds great but I don’t think it’s really needed for my small room as the built in bass is more than capable.
Musically the soundbar is very good but I don’t think it’s much of an upgrade to my old 3:2:1 system with the soundtouch wireless link adapter attached. Acoustically it’s a very pleasant sound that fills the whole room and is especially good when listening to classical music.
The biggest let down is the lack of services it uses. While usual services like Amazon are available it does not connect to my music library on my laptop like Soundtouch does and I find this very disappointing. I know Airplay 2 will be available next year with the ability to connect to your itunes library but what about users that don’t use apple? No NAS connectivity either which is very poor as it the fact you can’t multiroom with any Soundtouch devices. Why bring out new speakers that make your other Bose speakers redundant?
Another excellent feature is Alexa, the soundbar seems to pick up your voice with ease no matter where you are in the room and only fails if the music if very, very loud. It integrates very well and is so much better than the tinny little Alexa speakers available. All in all this is a very nice soundbar for small rooms but I don’t think it’s an upgrade over the old Soundtouch speakers

The soundbar 500 is sleek, light and a ultra thin size! I have a 42" TV, so this matched perfectly to my living room. I was surprised how loud the music could play and how easily it was to set the soundbar up. The soundbar has an Alexa feature and I found it so easy to pick up my voice (despite my strong accent). I had no issues with connecting to Wifi or tv, however I had problems with the actual soundbar during music playing.
Unfortunately, the soundbar kept stopping the music for 2 seconds every minute using any phone that was connected to it. I am not sure whether this is a faulty within this product I tested, but I was very dissapointed that it kept happening. I would highly recommend this product to anyone who is looking for big sound.

I got this product as the previous sound bar was lacking in performance. I heard the sound quality from the Bose and it’s amazingly clear even at lower volumes. The nice slim low profile which is actually smaller than my previous sound bar produces such a great range of sound. The product setup with the app is really good albeit Alexa at the moment seems to be at an early stage in the product life and to be honest isn’t the best. I’m sure future software updates will sort this out.
I have tried the bar with and without the bass module and I must say the ba4 is great without it but it adds another level to the user experience when using the product.

The sound bar and module combined produces a great quality sound. The set up itself did prove to be quite difficult in linking the 2 together, however we eventually worked it out and got it set up. Both the Sound Bar and Module are designed well and they suit well in our lounge. It has a built in Alexa, however i was disappointed that it would not connect directly to spotify as it states it isn't supported even after connecting my phone to the device. Overall it is a great bit of kit and i would recommend to anyone that is considering a sound bar.

I've had this Bose soundbar 500 for about a week now and the sound! Reminds me of the theater. Nice design, nice remote, it's thin enough to sit under my tv and looks nice. Was easy enough to set up after the update. App was easy to download, took a little while to figure out but the website was handy to help. I'm really liking my Bose soundbar 500.

The Bose Soundbar is designed perfectly to fit into any setup. Well packaged in the box, easily served up with my Sharp TV. The sound is good using the soundbar along but not as deep as with some of the other Bose great products. Once I paired it with the Bose Base Module, WOW! The level of sound from all sources extremely improved and makes for a perfect pairing.

I love the easy setup, connecting to WiFi and being able to use Alexa and other music apps. I just wish it allowed you to cast from the Amazon music app. Once Bose works that capability out with Amazon, this would be perfect. Using the remote, I can easily switch back and forth between sources. The remote is small and to improve for night time enjoyment, the buttons needs a backlight as it's hard to see in a dark or dim lighted room at night. Bose, with a few fine tweaks, you will have hit another homerun with this delightful soundbar. I love it's size as it idea for any setup.

On initial setup, the soundbar didn't seem to want to stay connected to my wifi and the app kept losing connection from my android device. But after a couple of days, it all settled down and has been a pleasure since.
Initially we couldn't get any sound out of the unit and then realised I hadn't plugged it into my HDMi ARC connection. Once this was sorted, it banged into life.
The sound is clear and true and adds depth to any program or film being watched.
My kids have mastered its' operation straight away and I haven't seen the remote since!!
It is sleek and sits below the TV, without intrusion. It is solidly built and seems that it will last for many years to come.

I received this product a month ago to test and review. I am quite a tech-savvy student and my dorm is kitted out with many smart devices.

The unboxing experience was pleasant and everything had its own little place. Bose always nails this. One thing I immediately noticed about the product is that the power cord is really short. Overall it is certainly well built, sturdy, and very sleek. I got the gunmetal grey one, and in the soft LED light it looked stunning.

My issues started with the setup. My WiFi requires smart speaker devices to provide their MAC address in order to be whitelisted. Bose does not give you that out of the box. After several hours on the phone with customer service, I figured I would set it up using my 4G hotspot and hope it shows me a MAC address then. Luckily it did, but it made the whole process a lot longer than it should've been. Easily avoided if they printed the device's MAC address on it with the serial number or print it on the documentation.

Needless to say, the sound of quality you get from Bose is rarely beaten. Clear, crisp audio, and deep bass. Really pleased with the sound and the AdaptiQ works really well to balance the sound based on your room. Truly surround sound from what seems like a stereo source.

The 'Alexa' and smart speaker cabalities work really well as well, and the app makes it really easy to control. You can even set your favourite Spotify playlist as a preset on the remote.

Been using it for about a month now and very happy with it. Wifi disconnects sometimes and rewuires a quick reboot but I guess thats expected from anything these days.

Price could be dropped a little bit, maybe the offer the soundbar and bass module together for the same price tag rather than separate.

Having taken delivery of the Bose Soundbar 500 about two weeks ago I am providing my initial impressions of the speaker.
As usual with Bose products, on removing the device from its protective packaging its high quality is immediately apparent, as is its weight. The Soundbar is relatively long and slim and sits unobtrusively in front of the TV.
The provided instruction manual, basically just one page, does not give encouragement to set up the Soundbar but does actually provide all the information required for installation. Rather than use the provided HDMI cable I used my original optical cable to connect the TV, the only other connection required being to the power supply. The next step is to download the Bose Music App. which is available for both Android and Apple devices. This app then takes you through the rest of the installation process. At one point the Soundbar needed an update and everything seemed to stop apart from a light on the bar strobing from side to side. Unsure as to what was happening I looked on line and found a much more detailed manual which told me that the unit was updating. This manual has been consulted for help a number of times since.
At one point during the setup you have to wear a headphone type device sitting in five different positions within the room. This device is called ADAPTIQ and is connected to the Soundbar to set up the unique acoustic requirements within the room.
To complete the setup the speaker was connected to my Spotify account.
At this point the Soundbar 500 was ready to use and first impressions were that the sound reproduction are excellent, just what I have come to expect from Bose products. As it is still early days I have not managed to try out the Soundbar with a full range of film/music/talk types, but what I have tried leads me to the comment at the start of this paragraph.
One irritating niggle that I have found is that at least once during every use the sound volume decreases and Alexa makes some comment despite her not being consulted, this happens even when the people in the room are not talking.

Super simple to set up, and typically minimalist (though still purty) design, I have the Soundbar paired with the Bass Module (even easier to pair / set up, because wireless), and on first test shook loose some plaster from my living room walls because I turned it up to 11.

As I had previously been using an amp and (Bose) speaker separates the Soundbar feels limited in its connectivity options, and I haven’t yet managed to plug all my devices in through the TV and get audio out from all sources for some reason. However, this is just an ‘operator error’ and I’m sure I’ll resolve it (possibly by buying a new TV...) soon.

Despite these first world problems, when managing to actually get audio out - BASSTASTIC! Excellent quality as you’d expect, and both units combined make listening to music a particular joy (for me, not for my neighbours though).

You could spend less and get a similar set-up, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as awesome as this. Oh, and Alexa is baked in to boot. Bosh!

The setup for the device is bizarre, using a wired headset to “calibrate” the speaker. It took way longer to get it working than it should have. At first, I had sound bar on the middle shelf of my tv stand. The sound was bad, probably due to the fact that it was sitting directly on a glass shelf. I moved it up so that it was sitting on the base of the tv, and it sounded much better. In my opinion, this is a design flaw. You should be able to place the speaker on any surface and have it sound just as good. Alexa set up worked fine and I’m able to play music through the speaker, but weirdly, Alexa speaks back through a different device in my home. Overall, I’m happy enough with the sound (once I got it set up and placed correctly) to give it 4 stars.

Recently purchased both the SoundBar 500 and the 500 Base units to pair with my Samsung QN55Q7F Flat 55” QLED 4K UHD 7 Series Smart TV 2018.
Set up with the app was easy and fast.
Sound quality of the Bose 500 Bar and Base is excellent when connected and working.
I am only giving this a 3 star because I am constantly loosing connection between TV and devices. I have to unplug and reconnect. Can't seem to identify the issue.

Paired it with the 500 bass module, was hoping to get TV and Audio solved with wireless connection. Setup and running it extremely easy. TV sound is good, but music leaves something to be desired. Needs a good pair of bookshelf speakers to make it work well with music

First impressions were when delivered was wow this is smaller than any other soundbar I’d had in the past, so started unpacking and was really impressed in how well protected this was - so if anyone is worried about it coming to them damaged, don’t be! It is more than enough protected!

So, it’s out of the box and now thinking how a good piece of kit it looks, previously owning the SoundTouch 300 this until is a lot lighter and smaller in length and not a worry of it falling off and the glass top getting smashed or anything like that.

Once all connected using App (download from either App Store or Play Store) and leads provided as I wanted to see the quality of what actually comes in the box and positioned. I was quite impressed in how for such a small unit the sound is very clear, crisp
and Quite deep in base tone!

The unit itself doesn’t need much to set up at all and once used to controls on App it was very easy to use. The integration of Alexa is also really good and fun to use in only hearing about it before, so a lot of fun had their with family choosing songs and different music sites to use i.e Spotify, Deezer etc! mmmmmm yes waking up to noisy kids was really funny at times and giggling from them also.
So all in all first impressions are good from this new compact unit from Bose.

I purchased this a week ago, since I got it configured it has been great. The directions or should I say absolute lack of them was terrible. Spent several hours going through the internet and Bose Tech Support to get it configured. There were essentially no directions included included, those that were included did not work. There were supposed to be batteries included for the remote, they were missing. If you are not technically inclined setting this up is going to be a challenge. All that said, once I got it configured it has been a great addition. I will be adding the Base and Remote speakers in a few weeks.

I tested the Bose Soundbar 500 for over two week and my first impression on the soundbar 500 was a bit disappointing since it was made out of smooth plastic. The Soundbar 500 itself was relatively easy to connect with some devices but not others and with Alexa voice build-in system, it was interesting. Nonetheless, the app was a little bit complicated as it took me a few tries before it I could get the Soundbar 500 recognise and connect to the devices.

Once connected, it worked without any further flaws, producing clear audio, but decent bass for considering Bose is known also for the build in bass. Perhaps a build-in subwoofer may have improved the quality of the Soundbar 500. Having tested other soundbars, I was not particularly impressed with the Bose Soundbar 500 as it lack few but key features; among these included limitation on Alexa's skills in addition to incompatibility of Soundbar 500 with Spotify. Moreover, I feel a small head-on display would certainly be useful feature, and may also enhanced the simple appearance of the Soundbar 500 considering it looked less sophisticated that the devices it was connected to, particularly Samsung smartTV. Nevertheless, I would still recommend Bose Soundbar 500 to family and friends, but would hope Bose would improve the Soundbar 500 further in near future.

I've actually used the previous model of the soundbar and so I was quite excited when this version came out and I was looking to upgrade. The device itself is really sleek and minimal, doesn't bring much attention to itself unless it needs your attention.

Set up was not as easy as I'd hope since the app wasn't letting me sign in at first but eventually got through it.

The Good:
- Really easy to set up presets for the different ways you want your sound system to work for movies, music, etc..
- Very sleek, minimal
- Easy to sync with additional modules like the bass module
- Sound is superb, calibration really helps. I am able to hear dialogue over sound effects no matter where I'm sitting.

The Bad:
- Setup requires that you use their app, which is kind of annoying. If I didn't have access to a network connection it seems I wouldn't have been able to set it up at all
- It's very quiet. Like the sound from my TV can actually outplay the soundbar. The previous version of the soundbar seems to be much louder than this one. I know that Bose is known for quality but it should also be able to amplify the sound enough to fill a large living room. I might just use this in my bedroom and use the old soundbar for the main living room.

The most complicated thing to set up ever. Doesn't connect to the app properly the headset doesn't work and the bass subwoofer won't work either.

The first thing to say about the Bose Soundbar is it does not fail to disappoint in the look and feel of the product. As would be expected from a Bose product it looks fantastic, finished to a really high standard and would not look out of place in front of any TV setup regardless of the size.

The second area where it does not fail to deliver is in the sound quality. We have used the soundbar for both music and movies and wow it can really deliver a punch. When combined with base module you get even more performance. We were only able to crank it up just over half way for fear of shaking the walls and upsetting the neighbors, but this was more than enough. No noticeable degradation in sound quality which is always a bonus.

The one area which was really disappointing and frustrating and which has led to the 3 stars was the actual initial setup of the soundbar. The process went well enough at the start in terms of downloading the Bose app and connecting to the WiFi etc but where it ran into major problems was in setting up the ADAPTiQ feature of the soundbar. The idea is you put on a funky headset and sit at your optimal viewing position and then it will take sound recordings at various levels and then adjust the speaker to provide optimal performance. The system failed to recognize the headset initially which took 4 or 5 attempts before it did. But even then it kept reporting that that it could not hear anything. Eventually it told me there was a problem with the headset and to contact customer support. This is certainly not what i would have expected. The remaining sections of the setup also felt clunky and a bit broken after that in terms of the app not performing as expected. Which again detracted from the overall experience.

So overall a fantastic sounding speaker which looks amazing but may need some refinement on the setup.

just bought this useless system great features on paper but all useless if you cant connect to the wifi.
my unit will not connect despite reloading the app resetting the router it will not connect i am returning the unit

I purchased this 2 weeks ago. Since then have spent time on the phone with service and searching for answers.

When it works, the sound is great. Unfortunately, the when it works is not too often.

As others have pointed out, the manual for set up is fairly useless.

I never was able to get it to connect to wireless so for set up purposes I connected it to a wired connection. BTW, the support tech tried to discourage me from attempting wireless because wired was better. OK. No need to pay for wireless if I'm actually buying a wired speaker.

Once wired, I was able to get it set up and working for an hour. Then it went into an infinite update loop. Had to hard reset it and start over.

Then I got it to work again, and Alexa stopped responding. The tech had me verify that the mic was on (yes it was). When that wasn't the problem, he had me unplug the speaker for 10 seconds. That actually fixed the problem.

For an hour. Alexa stopped responding again. And the app disconnects. On a very regular basis. And since Alexa doesn't work you have to use their provided remote to turn things off.

As a result, I'm returning it until Bose can figure out it's issues.

It's a shame, because the sound has always been there. They have the engineering down, but the customer facing elements are poor. Hopefully the company realizes that their engineering isn't going to win the day.

I tested the Bose Soundbar 500 for over two week and my first impression on the soundbar 500 was a bit disappointing since it was made out of smooth plastic. The Soundbar 500 itself was relatively easy to connect with some devices but not others and with Alexa voice build-in system, it was interesting. Nonetheless, the app was a little bit complicated as it took me a few tries before it I could get the Soundbar 500 recognise and connect to the devices.

Once connected, it worked without any further flaws, producing clear audio, but decent bass for considering Bose is known also for the build in bass. Perhaps a build-in subwoofer may have improved the quality of the Soundbar 500. Having tested other soundbars, I was not particularly impressed with the Bose Soundbar 500 as it lack few but key features; among these included limitation on Alexa's skills in addition to incompatibility of Soundbar 500 with Spotify. Moreover, I feel a small head-on display would certainly be useful feature, and may also enhanced the simple appearance of the Soundbar 500 considering it looked less sophisticated that the devices it was connected to, particularly Samsung smartTV. Nevertheless, I would still recommend Bose Soundbar 500 to family and friends, but would hope Bose would improve the Soundbar 500 further in near future.

I had many Bose sound systems before. This one is the worst one I ever have. The sound quality is similar with my Samsung TV's built in speaker.