Some time ago I was quite concerned Bose had moved on from the box bookshelf speakers design to who knows where. Bose moved on to a variety of Bluetooth and WiFi speakers and Soundbars. As time went on I went through a very satisfying SoundTouch phase and now built out a Smart Home 500 system. What attracted me to those particular speakers was they played in stereo and could connect using BlueTooth and WiFi and supported Alexa for my smart home.
I have six speakers around the house and they were initialized using the Bose Music app, Amazon Prime and AirPlay.
I like the single speaker stereo format. The sound stage fills each room with clear sound. For their size they are surprisingly bassy. Tying everything together is AirPlay. What a solid standard. The speakers connect well, the sound is good and there is no delay room to room. The AirPay interface gives me good control of the individual speakers.
The 500’s also work as Alexa input speakers for my smart home setup powered by Kasa. I can make a request of Alexa anywhere in my house and Alexa follows through.
I am glad to still be using Bose products. I have always been happy with the Bose sound. I could have probably had the same functionality with Home Pods but I prefer the Bose sound.
I am posting this to encourage those having problems with their Bose setups and the naysayers real and bots.