Bose has released its first home theatre sound bars that stand out from the crowd of wireless speakers, though still no AirPlay support.
Bose’s first sound bars to market are the CineMate 1 SR and the Lifestyle 135, sold at a premium of up to US$2,500. The typical iPod-attach unit is there, but Bose still isn’t playing nice with Apple’s wireless technology.

Cinemate 1 SR

Set to hit stores in early October according to Bose Australia, the CineMate 1 SR is a typical sound bar in its multi-driver bar design, though stands out with its dual-orientation support, wireless subwoofer pairing and Bose’s propriety audio technology.

While many other premium sound companies have latched onto the Apple bandwagon with AirPlay connectivity for iOS users, Bose has taken a conservative stance on its products.

Hi Fi dealers across Australia have felt the strain as customers have shifted their sights from Bose to newer systems with networking, wireless and multi-channel sound.

The CineMate speaker can either be wall-mounted or laid down on its side with its ‘Fleximount’ audio processing system tailoring the sound to perform the same in different physical positions. On the inside sits five drivers over a wired grill to disperse the sound along the 93cm unit, with a wirelessly linking subwoofer to cope with the low-end grunt.

Though there’s no HDMI for lossless Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio inputs according to testers at TechRadar.

For that you’ll need the Lifestyle 135 which is the premium unit at US$2,500, housing four HDMI inputs, AM/FM tuner and an Apple device dock.

Bose has gone Bluetooth with a tiny speaker announced in mid-September called the Soundlink Mobile that connects to any Bluetooth device rather than solely Apple on the back of AirPlay. But at the same time, as a Bluetooth device rather than Wi-Fi, the range is severely limited.

The Soundlink Mobile houses four main drivers and two small woofers under its hood, powered by a lithium-ion battery that’ll push out up to eight hours of music.