Troubleshooting a Bose Lifestyle 50 System

This past week we had a couple of calls about one of the older, most popular Bose systems, the Lifestyle 50. The Lifestyle 50 system was manufactured up until 2003 and had 4 separate zones with a touch screen remote control, the PMC-1. Our clients had 2 different issues, the first, the entire system wouldn’t play, and the other, one zone wasn’t working. If the entire system isn’t working, most likely it’s one of 2 issues, the remote control or the MRI are defective. The MRI is the small black box where all the wires connect. Those 2 components are the only 2 parts that are common to the entire system. If the remote doesn’t light, change the batteries. If the problem persists, the remote or MRI are defective. Unfortunately, Bose no longer services or has replacement parts for the Lifestyle 50. If one zone isn’t working, it could be one of 3 issues, an unplugged cable, bad amplifier, or bad MRI. To check the cables, confirm all 4 output cables are connected on the back of the MRI. If the cables are properly connected, then the MRI or the zone amplifier are defective. As mentioned earlier, Bose no longer has replacement parts for the Lifestyle 50. The good news, if you need to upgrade your Lifestyle system to a new Sonos system, the existing wiring can be used in most cases. Depending on the type of speakers, some speakers may be used for the upgrade. For help in upgrading your Bose system, call 888-775-2673. Please visit our website @ www.wbsouth.com.