Just curious: BOSE 901

(no flames please!)
I'm just curious if anyone remembers back in the late 60's , early 70's when THE mid-fi speaker to own was the 901. It certainly looks and works differently than most speakers of the day.
I've never heard them but I was hoping some folks here might have some stories (good or bad!).

 

I remember them. I always lusted for them, but could not quite figure out why they needed an EQ to go with them. As I got older, and SOUND POWER did less for me than detail, I understood.

Today, I avoid Bose at all costs. Too bad they are in many new cars. (Personal opinion here, that's all)

 

When I first saw them (early '70s), I thought they were facing the wrong way. I had a friend with just the right sort of concrete bunker that made the most of the direct-reflecting Bose system, but the equalizer demanded a lot of power, and they were not suited to anything but large-scale works. They impressed me, but in a very limited way; the rest of this fellow's gear was very good, and that contributed to the excellent sound. In rooms that could not withstand reflecting the energy correctly, the sound was mushy.

 

Harry Pearson, founder of "The Absolute Sound", says that he was inspired to create the magazine, in part, because of a powerful adverse reaction to the sound of Bose 901's. "Boo Boo" records in San Luis Osbisbo has a pair up and they sound awful.

I Do remember "back in the day". This was the beginning of lots of new speaker designs. Stax was coming out with their state of the art earspeakers and also was marketing some loudspeakers as well. I think this was the time when a lot of big Planar designs appeared. There was a German speaker---Ohm---with these big floor-standing omni speakers featuring inverted "Ice Cream Cone" drivers (the elongated metalized back of the speaker cone was what you were listening to), powerful bass and surrealily huge imaging. I recall they were a weird load that flamed out a few amps back then.

 

I've seen 901s in sound reinforcement configurations where the eight drivers actually face out to the audience.

 

I absolutely LOVED the 901 Series II in the early 70's. IMO, it's the last good speaker Bose ever made. Build quality was excellent and the sound was well-balanced. Strong, deep bass (if you had the watts) and smooth, extended highs. The speakers seemed to literally "disappear." The only reason I got rid of them was because I moved and then had a smaller room. So at the time, I couldn't accommodate the space the speakers needed behind them (and to the sides).

Quite a different story with the subsequent versions of the 901: all downhill starting with Series III. And by the time Bose got to Series IV, there was no resemblence to the speakers I owned. They were "hollow" and nasally. Couldn't believe how bad they were compared to the original 901's and the Series II. Seems they started tinkering to strive for efficiency and the sound is what suffered. Add to this the use of cheaper components and you have a downhill slide all the way.

 

I have heard several pairs of 901s in my life, and to my ears they sound horrible. Above all they are terribly bright-sounding, to the point of being relentless. I had an audio salesman friend back in the 70s who would always talk people out of buying them, even though they were the most expensive speakers in the store, and yielded the biggest commission for him.

I do know a gentleman in Florida who claims he has been able to extract the best possible sound from 901s, and he swears by them. I've never heard the set-up, but I know a couple of other people who have, and they say he's on to something. For starters, the speaker placement is very unorthodox, and counter to Bose's own recommendations. I also think he has built a special pair of stands for them. But my experience with them otherwise has always been very negative.

"No highs, no lows...must be Bose."

 

Around 1978, a liitle store in town bought a boatload of discontinued 901 drivers and offered them in various line array configurations in cabinets of his own manufacture. They were forward-facing without any EQ. I bought a single driver pair for use in the car and was quite happy with them: I've often been tempted to try this again with 901's with trashed cabinets if found cheaply enough.

 

I bought a pair in 1975 (i believe) along with a Pioneer SX-1010 receiver with 100 WPC. I loved them. I didn't use an equalizer, I'm not even sure one came with them. They sounded great to me...deep base and loud. But at 23 years of age, that's all I needed. As I got older, I began to realize there was sooooo much more to music then loudness.

I can only say that the earlier 901's were a great speaker. I can't speak fot the newer versions.

 

I bought a set in the late seventies and loved them. I also replaced the foam surrounds myself 15 years later. That is a lot of work.... 18 drivers....The speakers were driven my my Sansui amp and tuner, AU and TU 717's I think, a lovely memory.

 

A buddy of mine, had an older brother who had a pair of 901's in the early 70's. I remember going over to his apartment to see them. He (the older brother) also had the EQ box that came with them. I'm guessing this was in 73 or 74. I remember liking the sound of them. I also remember my friends brother, complaining about the pain it was to set up. The speakers had to have the right reflections and EQ, etc.

 

Going from memory: a single 901 driver had an impedance of only 0.9Ω; connected in series, this made up 8.1Ω impedance. Also, the voice coil wiring was flat, but wound on edge, in order to get more windings onto the coil. IIRC, this was done to lower the overall impedance but make it more efficient.

 

My father bought a pair of 901's, series III, in 1979. I was 14 at the time and I remember going with him to the electronics store in town to audition them. I thought they were absolutely amazing in the store, all set up perfectly, hanging from the ceiling. I have no idea what kind of amplifier was used there.

He set them up in our family room, which was fairly large, about 28 x 17 feet, on top of a large bookcase against the wall. There was only about 1-1 1/2 feet at the most of space behind them; they were about 11 feet apart. He had a JVC 301 60-watt receiver power them.

The odd thing about the set up was...I distinctly remember the equalizer that came with the speakers said Series IV, even though the speakers were Series III.

I used to love to crank this system up....the deep bass was amazing, so long as you didn't push the amp into clipping. The receiver had a 5 band graphic equalizer with a 40 hz(?) low-bass that could really boost the bottom. I would stand on a chair and feel the air being blown out the ports in the back at certain passages; it felt like a fan!

A few years ago, the sound started to go downhill fast and we found out that the foam speaker surrounds were rotting and falling apart. One speaker had about half the speakers replaced.

Last year, the other speaker had the same problem. My father contacted Bose, and they replaced the entire system completely at no charge. Unfortunately, my mother was tired of them on top of her bookshelves and made my father set them up inside the bookcases, facing backwards, like giant bookshelf speakers. So I can't really compare these new ones with the old. The JVC receiver still works perfectly. I am hoping I inherit these speakers at some point. Dad's hearing is not what it used to be.

 

Yeah, it's the early 901 versions (and those only) that sounded so good. I can't tell you how many people were amazed with my Bose Series II/McIntosh amp combo. It sounded great.

It's really too bad the 901's aren't what they used to be. I'd love to have my original Series II back now that I have the room for them again. Would sure be interesting to hear...

 

Did the original Bose 901's or the Series II share the common problem of the speaker surrounds rotting away? I wonder how many of the older 901's are still in use? Maybe I should check eBay....

 

I guess it would depend on whether or not the original 901s used foam surrounds or not. Just about any speaker with a foam surround will have a rot problem--Advent is another one known for surround replacements. Parts Express does sell a surround replacement set (18 foams!) for the 901. I would think a person would need a lot of patience to attempt that on their own!

 

My uncle had a pair of the first 901's. HE HAD THEM POWERED BY MACINTOSH EQUIPTMENT IN HIS BASEMENT (APPROX 17X30). He never could get them to sound
like they did in the showroom of Tech Hi Fi, so he traded them in.

 

Around 1973 Harvey electronics in NY was running a demo of the then new Quadraphonic systems. I remember going in for the demo. They were playing a 4 channel R2R as the source through what I remember as Mac amplifiers and were using 2 pairs of Bose 901's. I was blown away at the time. Unfortunately the system was well beyond the cost for me as a 19 year old in college.

 

When Consumer Reports wrote that the 901's produced a strange, floating around the room, sound stage, Bose sued and would not let go. It forced Consumer Reports to provide more "objective" textual reports.

Richard.

 

Send in the the lawyers! That sounds scientific and objective.

 

Always liked the look of them... did have a pair of 301s in the early 80s not bad but not great. I had a pair of db+'s as well wish I kept those...great speaker and cheap about $300 a pair back then. Was running both pairs with a Nikko amp back in the day.

sean

 

I've only heard the 901s once, at a Best Buy of all places & which were properly set up (i.e. the eight rear-facing drivers facing the wall; EQ fully hooked up thorugh a huge JVC integrated amp*).

They sounded pleasant, with O.K. highs but slightly boomy bass. I'll put it this way: if someone gave me their pair and I had a room to set them up in properly, I would keep them, but only for music. IMO having all that sound "sprayed" all over the place isn't good for HT use.

* even the manager didn't why BB had these beautiful 100 watt/channel integrateds (three actually) for their demo room, though he said the stores up north sold them: black with cherry wood end panels & metal faceplate; huge power supply with two filter capacitors each the size of juice cans; and a built-in DAC that worked in conjunction with the internal preamp. When the DAC encountered a certain type of signal, it would instantly "customise" the power amp's settings for the best possible amplification. I saw these back in 1992(!) and wished i could have bought one when they remodeled the store a few years later.

 

The Series I, and I think the Series II used drivers not made by Bose, and they had cloth surrounds.

I owned a pair of the original Series I's, back "in the day", and they sounded good at the time, but ultimately sold them, and bought a pair of Altec A-7-500's ! Talk about change of pace!

John D

 

Interesting you mention Boo Boo Records. The one and only time I have heard Bose 901's was at Boo Boo's. This was probably around 1977. At the time I had Bose 301's and wondered about the 901's. My friend and I were both unimpressed.

Mark