Home > Consumer Reviews > Bose 3-2-1 GS Series II DVD Home Entertainment System - DVD surround system - radio / DVD - silver

I'm going to keep this relatively simple and just cut to the facts of my own personal experience with this system.

The sound is amazing in my apartment. Even though it's not "true" surround sound, I can clearly hear things coming from the rear left and right spaces in my living room. Check out the intro bit to "Tenacious D's The Pick of Destiny" for a great example of what this system can do in regards to a surround effect.

I have never had any problems playing any discs in this sytem with regards to it reading the discs themselves. DVDs, DVD-Rs, DVD-Audio, and CDs have all played without a hitch. My iPod also sounds great playing through this system.

There were a couple times where the disc tray wouldn't open because my son had gunked up the playable side of a DVD with sticky fingerprints, but a SOLUTION IS GIVEN IN THE PRODUCT MANUAL ITSELF for rectifying such a situation. It takes all of two seconds to "fix," and this wasn't Bose's fault at all.

The picture quality is as groovy as any I've seen on a higher-end model. Personally, I don't own an HD TV, so I don't care about the hookups regarding that. It looks stellar on a standard def set. That's all I need it to do in regards to that.

I don't care that it doesn't have a headphone jack. I bought this thing to fully hear and experience some great sound. I got what I paid for. When I had a house, I had a full 5.1 system with the speakers wired behind me and everywhere else. Guess what? I still prefer this sytem.

I have my TV set on a standard entertainment console that I got at IKEA. The two main speakers I have sitting in front of the TV's speakers (I have the TV speakers shut off). It's perfect separation to my ears and provides all the effects flawlessly, with no need to find a "sweet spot" in my living room to sit in or any of that hoo-ha. I was amazed at this player's sound even while standing in the adjoining kitchen and at a perpendicular angle.

This is a rare high-end purchase where I've never felt bad about making a monthly payment. It's everything I hoped it would be and then some. Hardcore audiophiles are going to gripe about technicalities till they're blue in the face. This system is obviously not for them. And for the reviewers saying you can get a 39 dollar DVD player that's just as good, I say you're full of it. I've had a numnber of those, and yeah, they play DVDs just fine, but they don't offer an outstanding audio experience like this system.

To finish, I'd like to say that the setup was a snap, and I was able to easily integrate my Tivo and video game console with no problems whatsoever. Bose has made a great product here, period.

Very satisfactory add on to a home theater system. It was mistakenly advertised as having HDMI outputs, but works fine with component setup for video and optical for sound.

I first starting looking into the Bose 321 system about 3 years ago; however, once I read the reviews I backed off. Instead I bought an Onkyo home theatre system and was quite happy with it.

Fast forward 3 years and my Onkyo was no longer working properly. So, I started looking around and I saw that Bose made a second generation 321 system. Even though it's a lot more than comparable 2:1 systems, I read better reviews for it so I decided to get it.

I have to say that I've been very happy with the Series II 321 system. The sound is incredible and it is a lot better than my previous Onkyo. I've had this for about a month and I'm very, very satisfied with it. Quite honestly, I'm not sure why there are any negative reviews with this product.

Anyway, if there's anyone that's on the fence with getting this, get it and you won't be disappointed. Cheers.

I have not had one single problem. I dont even have my speakers set up like they suggest and the sound is awesome. Some people have talked about DVD door not opening but nothing here. I am still blown away these little speakers pack such a huge sound. Is it as good as a 5 speaker system that would cost more? No, duh. This system takes 5 minutes to set up and is super user friendly. Sounds exactly like it did in the store. Very happy, buy it if you are thinking about it.

I purchased this system after hearing it. The overall sound is excellent, as expected from Bose. Two things cause me to downgrade the star rating so far: one is that it mysteriously shuts down completely every few hours. That is not that big a deal; hit the button on the well-designed remote and it's back on.

The second issue is huge for me: There is no headphone jack nor any audio outputs. Listen to sound through speakers or don't listen. This is such a boneheaded design decision that if it hadn't been confirmed by Bose tech support I would still have a hard time believing it. Yes, it's my fault for not checking, but, for a system otherwise perfectly designed for small spaces, i.e. apartments, bedrooms, etc., it seems idiotic.