Bose 901 sound test by TonePub?

After all of these years,,, this thread has brought the 901s back into my mind. Anyway, here are some reviews I found just now..

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-Direct-Reflecting-Speaker-System/product-reviews/B0006B5V6G/ref=pr_all_summary_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

And, for those that don't know, there are 8 rear firing 4" full range speakers with hefty magnets. And, there is 1 4" full range that fires forward.

I just found this photo..



Placed properly, I always liked their full soundstage. Because of the design, it is a must to have the right room for them, obviously.

The last time I heard 901s was 1984. I have no idea what my opinion of them would be now if I listened to set.

 

The materials are cheaper now...
-Bill

 

But you do have an idea of what to expect - as do I (since I heard them a few times in the late '70s). The principle has not changed - reflected sound, heavy use of the equalizer.

 

Boo-Boo Records in San Luis Obisbo had a pair swinging from their ceiling, last I looked. You can keep looking for that "Phantom Image" 'cause it ain't there. "Phase-y" just about covers it.

 

Whether it's "ok" to enjoy music that is reproduced inaccurately might be debated, but there is no rational argument to be made for paying over $1,000 for a cheaply constructed product that is marketed as reproduced music the way it should be heard. I'll continue to be insulted on behalf of those consumers who've been hoodwinked.

 

According to that Audiocircle thread, there are Bose 901's being tweaked to compete with the best that Wilson and Audio Note have to offer. I feel like we're all losing sight of that fact.

 

Just being devil's advocate here (I've never owned any Bose gear): if you're at a music club, say about the size of the typical Olive Garden restaurant and you've got a seat roughly in the middle of that club, how well will a person be able to discern the sound emanating directly from the band i.e. sitting @30ft from the various instruments, will that audience member be able to clearly hear the drum set over THERE, the lead guitarist THERE, the keyboard over THERE etc? What about someone sitting 60ft back? Or sitting to the side 40ft away?

In my own experience, in such a venue mostly what I've heard is a "cloud" of sound, similar to what the 901s and other brands of speakers produce. Speaking of other brands, there were many other companies in the 70s and through the 80s that sold speakers that "sprayed" their sound around the room in various ways, so it's not only Bose that thought it was a viable method to reproduce music at home. For example, Sonab, though they used a much different system. And of course the Ohm Walsh speakers which used, and still uses, that truly omnidirectional/vertically-oriented "ice cream cone" driver. Then there were - and still are to a lesser extent - all those speakers back then with a rear-mounted tweeter to add "air" to the front-radiated sound.

I've always wondered if some companies who sell conventional speakers (just plain ol' woofers and tweeters mounted on one side of the enclosure) deliberately design them to produce slightly blurry imaging to help "take the edge off" the recorded sound and give it a subtly more organic quality, similar to what is heard at a live venue........

 

Those OHM Walsh Speakers and the Magnapans have hard "Phantom Images." So that's not the real issue here. The simple fact is that the Bose brand is more about marketing than about value per dollar. If you've got the amp for it, Magnapans will do what the Bose 901 claims to do, only better and cheaper.

 

Here is a pic of my office system about 8 years ago. I had totally gone through them replacing all the rotted foam with the V-roll cloth surrounds and refinishing the walnut cabinets. They worked well for having tunes in my office. Now while not bad for that, they would not compare to the detail and imaging I get from some of my home systems that use speakers like: Martin Logan Prodigy, Klipsch Jubilee, Mark & Daniel Maximus Mini and JBL's of various pedigree.

 

And for reference sake: for most types of music I think a bipolar speaker like those sold by Definitive Technology - conventional woofers & tweeters mounted front and back - sound quite good because of their combination of stable stereo imaging and cloudy sound quality, but like Magnepans (dipolar) they still need to be placed properly for best sound. But for me 901s are too picky about their location in the room for best sound and to me they would seem to need a really large & unobstructed rear wall and mostly unobstructed side walls to sound their best, not something many people can offer in my experience.

 

When I first heard these at a friends place in the '70s, that's exactly what he had. Really solid walls (Besser blocks - a.k.a. cinder blocks), long wall placement, totally unobstructed wall behind and side walls, a Commonwealth turntable, valve amps. The room made the most of the Bose reflected sound principle and it really did sound good in a Phil Spector way.

 

Bose Surroundings

When testing, place in front of brick, or wood and brick, or ferns, for effect.
Hanging from macrame, of course, with chocolate brown padded carpeting all around, and some burnt orange furniture.

 

One of the oddest speaker designs ever, along with speakers like the Shahinian Obelisk. A few years back, I had an obsession with omni- or multi-directional speakers; but in the end, I stayed with your standard front-firing woofer and tweeter designs.

Somehow those omni designs really evoke the past: hence the macrame, ferns and shag carpet references...

 

Back in the '70s a friend of mine had an amazing Sansui quad sound system, and he had 4 SF-2 omni-directional speakers ( http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-ViewAdLargeImage?AdId=339873598 ). I really liked how they sounded (much better than Bose 901s, IMO), but never had the loot to buy four of my own. I'm not sure if I'd still like the sound nowadays, but I'd love to hear them again, just for the fun of it.

 

Holy Smokes!!! Were you one of my buddies back in Tucson??!!! You frickin' nailed it!!!!!!!!!! Wowee!!

Hey! Pass me that pitcher of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, would ya?!

 

^ I'm sort of surprised they don't re-style the 901s to at least increase their visual appeal. I say that because while I personally like mid-century modern styling, I know many people just think "thats' old fashioned" when they see it and then combined with - their words not mine! - how "large" the 901s are, this cannot help their sales any.*

And this is just at the Bose store I visit (FYI last time I was there was maybe back in July 2011), but having the 901 demo speakers crammed right next to a wall along with all their conventional/non-Acoustimass speakers - much less expensive speakers I might add - cannot be helping their image among many shoppers. And they are the walnut versions with brown knit grill cloth, which to me looks rather frumpy....despite black being much more prevalent in other brands of speakers right now (as I said earlier, I think the all black 901s with the Bose black pedestals look pretty cool). Then to make things worse sonically I think, they are being powered by what IMO is an underpowered, @$400 A/V receiver. Sheesh aren't these supposed to be their flagship speakers?


* I've seen many posts on HT forums where people refer to standmounts with just one 6.5" woofer as being "large"!

 

I have heard them without the "magic box" (equalizer).

My father paid the "Geek Squad" from Big Box, to install his new home theater, and also, to put his vintage 1979 stereo, featuring the Bose 901s, back together in the same entertainment center, but separate, just for music.

Well, the know-nothing Geek Squad told Pops that he didn't need that Bose equalizer, and so they put it all together without it. When I heard the end result, it was appalingly bad. All mid-range, no bass, no treble. Like a giant clock radio sound. Maybe thats where the 'no highs, no lows, must be Bose' line came from.

 

Your wife wanted the Bose 901s? That must have been the first divorce in Steve Hoffman.tv history where the wife ended up with the big speakers

 

Lol! She didn't know 901s from any other 01s. I also walked away from the Onkyo Amp, the Micro Seiki TT, Sony Cassette Deck, and Burwen 1201A.

 

The 901's, with the chromium-magnesium stands, good wiring, an appropriate cinder-block rear wall, wood-slat side wall, deep pile carpeting, a comfy Eames chair, maybe some good Phase Linear Amps driving them, hooked up to an Akai or Teac Reel-to-Reel, playing Pink Floyd and Yes in an endless loop, well, you get the picture...

They really sound pretty good, but I would say, a little trippy.
The ocean/wall of sound, the blurred phasing, the bulging midrange and flabby bass, and, with enough power, a surprisingly large sound-field.

They are a product of their time.
What do you want?

 

Okay. Did you have (1) bad legal advice, (2) major guilt complex, or (3) better stereo components in reserve?

 

I want them installed higher off the ground than the chrome/mag stands allow. I've heard them both ways. Once the 901s were put on top of a big bookshelf unit, a foot off the back wall, about 10 feet apart, things started sounding much, much better.

 

And don't forget the lime green lampshades!

 

We've actually done it a few times... This isn't the first.