I wasn't planning on spending the money on the surrounds, but I came across an open box set at my local Best Buy and figured, what the heck. Let's try em.

The speakers themselves look good and feel really well built. The amount of wiring connections and the power brick are ridiculous though. They're not complicated to setup, but it's tedious to do. And to have a power brick to plug in, then to have to run speaker wire from the bricks to the speakers looks messy unless you conceal it all. It's just unnecessary connections and wires in 2023. Quite frankly, it reminds me of home theater in a box setups from the 90's...looks like something you'd setup in a college apartment. Maybe I'm being harsh, but Bose's connectivity on the surrounds is outdated by years.

I set them up on some tall planter stands that we had in storage. They happened to be a good height for ear level placement to the rear and sides of our couch. I ran Adaptiq and gave em a go with various content. From the start, the volume was low from the rears. I get that surrounds are for immersion, so they're meant to be subtle and integrated sounding, but they were almost faint and whispy sounding. I wrapped them in microfiber cloths, set the speaker volume to zero and re ran adaptiq. The volume bumped up nicely and I was able to increase even more via the app. For the most part, I kept them at zero though.

They sound pretty good at times, but never great. With really well mixed content like 1917 or Matrix 4k remaster in Atmos, they did an ok job of handling spatial effects like planes coming in from behind and bullets flying by, but the speakers sound anemic compared to the heft I hear from the soundbar. It sounds uneven in that sense...like the surrounds weren't really designed for the setup and were just an add on.

At ear height, the speakers make the overall sound presentation linear which, I think, conflicts with the bar's goal to create an Atmos like bubble of sound. So you have this big wall of sound with a high and wide soundstage presented by the bar, but the rears change the dimension of the sound bubble behind you...like it shrinks and the overall presentation becomes more linear instead of expanding the sound bubble.

For kicks, I put them on the wall behind us at about 9 feet apart and near ceiling height using painter's tape to hold them in place (I wanted to approximate where I'd want to ceiling mount them) I re ran the adaptiq with cloths placed over them again. The sound bubble did get wider and higher, but, they still sound too linear compared with what the bar is trying to achieve.

Overall, my impression is just...meh. They don't sound bad, but they don't sound well integrated and don't really add much to the experience. In some cases, like with great Atmos content, I think they can detract from the experience. Our TV room is 12x16 with symmetrical walls and 9ft ceilings, so the bar and bass module alone do a great job of creating a high and wide sound bubble. In order to expand and add weight to that sound bubble, the system needs rears with more depth to the sound, better integration in terms of Atmos sound processing/presentation and upward firing drivers.

To me, the surrounds sound like what they are...speakers designed for a traditional 5.1 system, that have been connected to a bar designed for Atmos like immersion. I think they're a mismatch.

I'm going to return them and wait to see if Bose releases something new by 2034.