Upgrading to a Lifestyle AV35 Control Console

## LSPS III

If you want to upgrade your receiver you have to know what receiver your subwoofer supports.

I made this table to help you know what works together:

2001-2006

PS18 / PS28 / LSPSPS18II / PS28II / PS38 / PS48 | 2001-2004AV2818, 28, 35
2006-2016

**PS18III** / **PS28III** / **PS35III** / **PS38III** / **PS48III** | 2004-2009AV18 / AV38 / AV4818III, 28III, 35III, 38III, 48III35IV, 38IV, 48IV
2007-2010MC1V10, V20, V30
2010-2013AV20 / **AV35** (20W)135, 235, T10, T20, V25, V35

### Product Labels

I searched for the LSPS III mentioned in this link, but like the person who posted it, I could not find it either so I think that's the generic name of the subs.

**PS18 III**

**PS35 III**

**PS48 III**

If you have one of these, that means you have the correct sub to receiver cable. So all you will need is to purchase the most recent compatible Bose Receiver along with the remote and power supply to get it to work.

### Why are there multiple subs with different names

TLDR: They are the exact same speaker, but each model has a different pre-installed EQ for a specific type of speaker.

Full: The LSPS subwoofers include a pre-installed EQ calibrated for the specific speakers the system is packaged with. This EQ is changed and stored on the subwoofer after the AdaptIQ process is finished. This means that any supported Bose speaker can use any LSPS subwoofer after AdaptIQ has been calibrated.

In 2004, Bose added the PS38, & PS48 so that each sub would have the same model name of the system it came with (eg LS38, & LS48). In 2006 Bose did the same for the LS35 III with the releases of the PS35III.

\*models that will work with the AV20/AV35 have been bolded

### Purchasing a LSPS III

If you wish to upgrade your subwoofer to a LSPS III then you will need 4 items:

1. A working LSPS III.
	* There are multiple model numbers, any will work (PS18III / PS28III / PS35III / PS38III / PS48III)
2. A shielded male to male 9-pin mini-DIN "Audio input cable" to connect a Lifestyle system media console with the bass module.
3. C7P "figure-8" power cord
4. An AdaptIQ headset with RCA plugs.
	* This will connect into the AV20/AV35 and allow your subwoofers EQ to be adjusted for your speakers and the rooms acoustics.

## 4K, ARC, CEC, & Atmos

The AV20/AV35 is a 1080p receiver from 2010 and does not natively support 4K, ARC, CEC, or Atmos 3D positioning info. If you don't know what ARC & CEC mean:

* ARC allows for HDMI to send sound from a TV to a receiver.
* CEC allows you to send commands like change channel, power, etc via an HDMI cable.

Yet the AV20/AV35 is far more modern than AV18/AV38/AV48 / MC1 receivers with many improvements over them. Including 4 HDMI inputs built into the receiver (3 on the rear and 1 on the front).

Probably one of the most important improvement is the AV20/AV35 supports lossless audio formats, including LPCM. LPCM allows the AV20/AV35 to play DTS-MA, DD+, Atmos (aside from 3D positioning on Atmos/DTS:X), etc; as most connected devices are able to losslessly convert those unrecognised formats to LPCM, so you can listen to best audio quality possible. So you should change all audio settings on your 3rd party devices to LPCM.

There are even ways to use this system with 4K media and still get the best sound possible.

## Option 1: Upgrade the Bose Receiver

For this option to work, you need to have a LSPS III (PS18 III, PS28 III, PS35 III, PS38 III, or PS48 III) subwoofer.

p.s. to others reading: if you do not have that sub and do not wish to purchase one, you cannot use this option, but you can still use Options 2 or 3. I will let you know that you can still use your older Lifestyle CD system or Lifestyle/321 DVD system with a modern 4K TV.

The last Bose Receivers that worked with your sub is the AV20 & AV35 (Information about the differences between the AV20 & AV35 found here). I will talk about the AV35 as they were released at the same time and the AV35 is the most feature-rich. The only drawback is they are 1080p receivers, but that does not mean you can't use this with a 4K setup, far from it. I explained it all in this post

Bose at one point offered a Lifestyle AV35 Control Console Upgrade Kit to allow customers with compatible subs to upgrade their older Bose receivers. Some in this community have done this themselves.

### AV35 Versions

It looks like the AV35 receiver was sold from 2010 until 2016. But halfway through its production, the AV35 was modified.

1. 2010-2013: BoseLink multi-room
	1. Please read this post about Boselink as the AV18/AV38/AV48 expansion room remotes are incompatible with the AV35.
	2. There are ways to use some Boselinked speakers without having a compatible receiver connected to them.
2. 2013-2016: SoundTouch/WiFi multi-room (You need the external adapter for wifi)
	1. There are two generations of the adapter. The SoundTouch Series II wireless adapter includes Bluetooth, but neither feature AirPlay.
	2. FYI. Bose sold another item called the SoundTouch Wireless Link adapter. This has a confusingly similar name but is not designed specifically for Bose SoundTouch receivers.

Both have the exact same AV35 model number but Bose did add a "**STCH**" to the bottom right of the label to show it was a SoundTouch version. You can also discover which version you were looking at by checking the wattage. The BoseLink one requires 20W of power, while the SoundTouch version requires 35W of power.

But we do know that it uses the same sub as the one you have.

### Requirements

Remember you need to purchase 3 or 4 items to make the AV35 work with your LSPS III:

1. AV35 receiver (there are two versions of the AV35)
	* BoseLink multi-room (20W)
	* SoundTouch/WiFi multi-room (35W)
		1. 35W version with SoundTouch Series II wireless adapter.
2. RC35T-L or RC-X35L RF remote
3. AV35 power brick (20W/35W)

Here is a link to an unboxing video of a Lifestyle ST535 showing what's included in a complete system.

After you have connected everything:

1. Update the AV35 once you get it all connected and powered on.
	* This will update the LSPS III as it is connected to the AV35. The LSPS III might need an update to work with the new receiver, as AV35 support was added to the LSPS III with version 010700 (the latest update is version 010900). Without this update audio issues might arise (all modern equipment need updates to work with new technology).
2. Re-do AdaptIQ for your new setup (if you can).

## Option 2: Bose Dealer Upgrade

I found this place that **was** offering to upgrade older Lifestyle systems to the Lifestyle 600, what's great about this is that system supports 4K. They briefly wrote about it here. They say they are a Bose Authorised dealer, so I'm guessing that's how were able to offer this service. If they are not local to you, I would find the nearest Bose dealer and ask them if they still have any Lifestyle 600 upgrades available.

As of 2021, Bose has discontinued all SoundTouch systems, including the Lifestyle 600 upgrade program.

## Option 3: Acoustimass 10

> H12Mike wrote:Could the Acoustimass module be replaced with an Acoustimass 10 module?
>
>

I'd say if you don't like the options above and wanted to go for the Acoustimass 10 just purchase a new or second-hand Acoustimass 10 and don't bother searching for the subwoofer by itself. It will be a lot easier to do as people typically sell the whole system, not just the subwoofer.

But if you only wanted to keep the cube speakers and you found an Acoustimass sub on eBay. It looks like the Acoustimass 10 V is the most current model. I did find its owners guide, but sadly I didn't manage to find any serial numbers for the series V by doing a quick search this time. Though I did find one for the series III.

It seems that when I compare the two manuals the series V uses newer speakers. That is true for the newer lifestyle systems, but they always used the same sub, so I am unsure if you should get this version or the series IV that uses your speakers.

I think that this is a cosmetic change, but since I am unsure I'd say go for a series IV. This version uses the same double cubes you have on your 28. Don't go for the Acoustimass 6 III as it uses single cube speakers. There doesn't appear to be an Acoustimass 6 series IV currently.

Looking over the manuals I am not sure what the difference between the series III & IV are, maybe it's an EQ difference or no difference at all. Since the 6 never got a series IV I'm thinking it's the same sub. Maybe someone else here can let me know as I couldn't find an answer using Google.

If you went this way you can upgrade to any receiver you like as long as they use speaker cables and a bass pre-amp.