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All system go

Kieven Yim

It's small, simple, has just two speakers and a subwoofer, but performs like a much bigger system. We're talking about the new Bose 3.2.1 GSX DVD Home Entertainment System.

The base unit is sleek and minimalist, and features an AM/FM tuner, CD and DVD player, plus a 40GB hard disk that can store 200 hours of music. The speaker elements work in tandem with Bose's TrueSound surround digital processing circuitry and Videostage 5 digital decoding technology to create a 'field of sound' similar to 5.1 speaker systems.

Setting up is easy because the system comes with only three wires and a power cord. But the sockets are proprietary - which you might discover when connecting the speaker cables. So, if the cables provided aren't long enough, you'll have to contact Bose for longer lengths.

At the back of the unit is a fairly extensive set of audio and video connectors, including RCA-audio, coaxial and optical digital audio inputs. S-video and composite video inputs and outputs are present for connecting video devices such as VCRs, set-top-boxes and games consoles. There's also a single component connector for high-definition TVs, plus a Boselink connector that links the 3.2.1 GSX to other compatible Bose devices for multi-room audio.

The system will play CD-R/ RW, SACD, MP3 CDs, VCD, and DVD+/-R/RW. One thing it won't do is import MP3 music or DVD movies onto its hard disk. Bose uses its own audio compression technology for converting CD music to digital audio, so, unfortunately, if you have your music collection on MP3 or iTunes, you'll have to convert it to CD-audio to import it.

Once imported to the hard disk, you can use Bose's 'intelligent' play-list generator called uMusic. It 'learns' your musical tastes and plays what it thinks you'll like. It does this by noticing the songs you listen to completely, the ones you skip, and with the special '+' and '-' buttons on the remote control, you can indicate whether you like a song or not.

So how does it sound? Although many two-speaker surround-sound simulations fail to provide any semblance of rear-channel audio, the Bose 3.2.1 GSX's broad, expansive sound field was a surprise. Surround-channel sonic elements weren't as localised as they would have been with an actual 5.1-channel speaker setup, but there were a few moments when it sounded as if rear speakers were in play.

In terms of video performance from DVDs, we found the pictures to be sharp and crisp. The thunderous bass coming from the subwoofer was comfortable without being deafening.

Overall, this is not a bad system, although probably more suited to bedrooms and studies rather than big living rooms. Bose has taken time to make this system easy to set up and operate, but with a price tag of HK$18,800, it's rather pricey.

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