Bose Smart Soundbar 600 and other clever Bose soundbars (AV)

The $799.95 Bose Smart Soundbar 600 joins the Bose soundbar family that caters for simple TV speaker replacement to the top-of-the-range $1399.95 Smart Soundbar 900.

Now Bose doesn’t reveal many specifications – a real pain for reviewers, so this is the first look. We reserve the right to make changes.

From what we can tell, it has five speakers – Left/Centre/Right forward-firing and Left/Right up-firing. Technically, in Dolby Atmos (DA) speak, it is a 3.0.2 setup. This means it downmixes DA sound to the speaker’s capabilities.

I suspect that Bose wants you to buy the Bose Bass Module 500 (sub-woofer $649.95) and the Bose Surround speakers (rear wireless speakers $529.95 a pair) to make this a fully compliant 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos soundbar. Although at $1979.85 for the proper kit, there is strong competition from LG’s $2049 S95QR 9.1.5 Dolby Atmos/DTS soundbar or its Smart Soundbar 900 that tops out at $3129.85 for a 5.1.2 system.

All this is all academic – Bose lovers will spend whatever they have to, and I wish them all the best.

First Look – Bose Smart Soundbar 600

Website: here
Manual: Here
Price: 3.0.2 Soundbar $799.55, Sub-woofer 500 3.1.2 ($649.95) and 5.1.2 rear speakers ($529.95)
From: Harvey Norman, Bose and certified retailers
Country of Manufacture: Malaysia
Company: Bose (Est 1964) by Amar Bose in 1964 in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is best known for its home audio systems and speakers, noise-cancelling headphones, professional audio products and automobile sound systems. Bose has a reputation for being particularly protective of its patents, trademarks, and brands and seldom reveals the specifications of its products. The majority owner is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
More: CyberShack Bose news and reviews

Specifications

56.1H x 694 W x 104 D mm D x 3.13 kg – its for smaller TVs.
Ports: HDMI eArc/Arc likely 2.0 as no passthrough is provided, Optical, Power (USB is for service only), Wired Bass module and Wired IR Blaster
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Chromecast built-in
Bose Black metal grill and plastic chassis
Dolby Vision/Atmos format 3.0.2
Wattage: Not disclosed
App: Bose Music – requires a Bose account and all that may entail.
Bose Truespace upscales 2.0 or greater to 5.0
Microphone array for voice assistants
Optional wall mounts
No ADAPTiQ room tuning
Simple Sync compatible with Bose headphones and speakers
Basic remote (not backlit)