I am buying a bose surround sound system. which one should i buy?

Don't buy Bose... Bose blows. The 321 is only 2 speakers so not good for a large room. The lifestyle and acoustimass should both do pretty good in a large room. But in my opinon, don't buy it. You can do sooooo much better with your money.

It's a good thing you don't want to consider all those better brands that cost less. It hurts to think and listen for yourself. I recommend the 3-2-1 system since it does not clutter up the room with real surround sound. On the other hand the cube speakers in all Bose systems are good for those who don't like to hear the high frequencies a real tweeter would impose on the ears.

I cannot and will not ever reccommend any bose system. "No highs no lows, must be bose"

You should buy the one that sounds better than the competition. Compare the specs -- between lets say a Denon or Onkyo receiver with, for example, either Paradigm, PSB, Definitive Technology, Boston Acoustics, or Monitor Audio speakers. Which has better specs regarding THD, SPL, frequency response, damping factor, wattage etc.? You will never know because Bose is the only audio company that refuses to release its specs to the public. Let's compare performance on these systems. Any system that involves the speakers and components mentioned above (or countless other high end brands) will Blow Bose Out of the Water!! Any audiophile will tell you that. Since there are no Bose sound systems that are superior to the competition there are none you should buy. For less money you can get much better sound.

any lifestyle because they kick ***

Bose is a really good system but for the money there are much better systems that can cover the ranges, i would actually do more sound testing in stores that have home theater system rooms that offer sound testing and see what there is offered, you may find that some other sytem sounds better based on what style of surround pleases you...and definately view the types of movies that you will watch and not the demos they offer, but try various types of movies to get a full range of capabilities....keep in mind i find nothing wrong with Bose, i even own a Bose system as well, just not satified with it completely...

I suggest you read the reviews written by Bose owners in the link below. I've said it here before, but I sold Bose for many years and never had a customer who bothered to compare Bose to other speakers think that Bose sounded anywhere near as good as similarly priced speakers. If you neglect to do research and comparison listening you may one day share in the regret expressed by the Bose owners who reviewed their systems (see link). Those who criticize Bose are not mean-spirited people who just decided to pick on a brand for no reason. The choice is yours and if you do not choose wisely you only hurt yourself.

321 is good from what I have read and heard from friends. However they are not Home Theater Enthusiasts most of the time. I however prefrer a Standard 5.1 Home Theater system. I have had many bad experiances buying Cinema systems, where all speakers are included, because most low end ones are very poor quality compared to buying independant speakers. However, the new ones seem to be louder, there sound quality is quite horrible in my opinion. I have a independant made Home Theater. I bought the speakers seperately, and are different manufacotrs. You can do that to build a excellent system for the same price as a Cinema system, and 95% of the time its better sounding. You have to pick and choose what speakers fit to you, because everyones ear is different. I love bass, my dad loves treble, my mom likes a lil of both, so just shop around, and choose what you want.

I have to agree with so many people here. My neighbor bought a Bose system, and as soon as he got it home, he called and asked me to help him make it sound better (read: passable). Never quite accomplished that, although I added an outboard item that helped on bottom a bit. The pros say Bose is an acronym - if it's important, Bring Other Sound Equipment. I have yet to hear great things from Bose, and if anything goes wrong out of warranty, you'll need a second mortgage on your house to make it get well. I would look for other more competitively priced audio gear.