Very clear sound and good reproduction of all low, mid and high frequencies.

Cheap construction and cheap speaker connections.

A very good set of speakers. I drove them with my Harman Kardon receiver, and the sound is very clear. Bass is also good. Sound is a bit bright though. But I like
it. Excellent with vocal music.

Similar Products Used:

Polk Rti38 and Axion M3ti.

SOUND QUALITY, DIRECT REFLECTING, SMALL SIZE BIG SOUND

Bass but thats what you get from a 6 1/2 inch woofer

These speakers are great!! To all those Bose bashers out there, you guys dont know what you are talkin about. Who cares if its paper cones...who cares what they are made out of at least they get great sound that will kick your brands a**.
The bass is a little weak but what do you expect out of a 6 1/2 inch woofer. All the bose bashers dont listen to quality they listen to bass thats all they care about.
Buy a subwoofer with these speakers or step up to the 301's with the 8" woofer. The 201's can get very loud and dont distort. Dont listen to those bose bashers........they have no clue what they're talking about..Ive listened to all the brands but Bose sounded the best to me. Im not just saying this cauz i love bose... Im saying it because its TRUE. I own the Boston Acoustics A60 which is another great speaker but the 201's beat them in quality. The A60 beats the 201's in bass because of its 8" woofer. Also people say bose overprices their products.........go look at b&w or klipsch......they are far more expensive and some of them only have a 4" woofer..So if your lookin to buy great speakers these are it!!!

Similar Products Used:

JBl KlIPSCH POLK YAMAHA B&W

Great sound, very clear, and for the price you cant really complain much.

None at all. I have followed Bose's everymove, as one can say, and I am completely honored to own audio equipment from Bose

Overall great sounding speakers. I currently have the 301's up front with the vcs-10 center and 161 sorround back setup as a 7.1 with a sony es 7.1 receiver. I like the way they perform all around. I have been brought up to since a child to all sorts of audio and video brands and by far am completely satisfied with Bose. They give you the clarity you need and the indepth of sound you deserve when compared to tower speakers.

Customer Service

Awesome is the only word used here

Similar Products Used:

None, I compared before buying. theres no point in me using any other.....

Smooth midrange,durability, older model...all black cabs look better than newer. good high end from those paper tweeters, that never blow.

Weak room filling base. What do you expect ?

I have the Bose 201's as the front speakers coupled with Velodyne cht-12 sub. and Bose 161's as sides and coax wall speakers for rears in a an Onkyo 7.1 set up.
Previously had Boston Acustics and AR 6bs as mains. (that dates me)
OK here goes Bose Bashers. The 201's are solid for what I expect. Anything bigger than 6" woofer will sound too beemy and they handle the power. CU consistently rates Bose among the most common speakers (Polk, BA, Infinity, Sony, etc) in the upper 25% for accuarcy. (excluding the Bose center channel) they hit it on the money. Smooth midrange and lacking base. (big Vel takes over from here) So my question is, why would you buy a Toyota because CU says they are so reliable but discount their advice on Bose as being an accuate speaker and Mac as being a reliable computer. Oh, you say they are too expensive for what you get...paper drivers. Who cares how they get there..sound matters and where they differ from other speakers CU recommends audition them. What could be more fair ? What B+W got your tongue and sound better at $8k a pair and you say Bose is over priced. B.S. Other speaker companys produce excellent products; BUT NONE will be supperior to any other in every room it's placed in.....the secound most important factor for good sound.

Customer Service

Very good with Lyfestyle 48 system in den.

Similar Products Used:

AR,Boston Acoustics, MCM kit speakers, Bose 161, Velodyne

6 1/2" woofer equals moderate base
Readily availible
Strong resale value
Proven technology
Seem to handle power easily, no fried tweeters
Fabric surround on woofer
Cachet; impresses friends

Uses cone tweeter, rolled off highs
Bass sounds boomy because of "bass reflex: design
No real crossover
Overpriced
No binding posts- limits wire gueage to 16 or so
Thin cabinet- leads to boominess
Designed to sound acoustically pleasing, not accurate, aka mangles music

In all honesty, I can't reccomend these speakers. While still small, their horizontal layout makes them require more space then the conventional bookshelf. Also, the angled tweeter is a gimmick, a bad one at that. It leads to an impression that highs are not present. When playing cassetes, I always get freaked out and think the tape/deck (A Nakamichi) is magnetized. Nope, when I put on a set of Grado sr-80's, the highs are revealed. In otherwords, they seem to under-emphasize frequencies above 10,000KHZ. While they'd be okay at 50-80$, ultimately they are a low end component. The bass is boomy, reminiscent of the boomboxes and minisystems with the now unavoidable "bass reflex" design. The extension is acceptable, but the tonality of it just is not worthy of a 240$ price tag.

If your questioning whether to buy these, take the front grill off. What is revealed is frightening. A 2+ inch cone tweeter!, and a cheap looking 6 1/2" woofer. According to what people who have dissected them say, they don't even have a real crossover. That means the woofer is run full range, being asked to reproduce sounds such as cymbal crashes and falsetto voices. While okay in a VERY cheap speaker, this leads to reduced power handling and increased distortion.

Ultimately, I cannot reccomend these speakers. Shop around, most any brand can trump them at this price-point Also, for about 50-100$ more you could be looking at boutique grade loudspeakers from the likes of JM Labs or Axiom.

BTW: I paid 300$ for the speakers with a nak DR-3 tape deck, nak MB-3 cd player, RE-1 reciever, and 4 sets of thick audioquest cabling.

Customer Service

None needed,

Similar Products Used:

Early 80's Sears W/ 8" woof 3" tweet
Countless mini-systems

-Oversized mid/tweeter (twiddler) opens up smoothly takes on human vocals, string and wind instruments with much detail.

-Lacks low-end bass typical of bookshelf speakers but does not distort at high volume.

Nicely balanced stereo performance, On jazz, soft rock, spanish instrumental music etc. The 201s are easy listening speakers.

design and price

if it is used as front channel or large rooms

these make a good surround sound speakers. but i believe that is the exent of their use unless you live in a dorm room. the sound is very good if placed near walls (or book shelf hence the name)but not in a open room. (used with onkyo 602)

Similar Products Used:

301

Not to much on the bottom end I added a sub , Can't really judge Bose's Mids and treble seperately since they use oversized tweeters but the mid-treble saws seamlessly.

Bookshelf bottom end I'd use a sub

I had recently purchased and did a review on 301's but I wasn't satisfied with their reproduction in the treble region they were a bit muddy sounding , So I exchanged them out for the 201 s.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 301

Sound quality and its capacity to reflex bass. The size is good for every location. Flexible use, as front or surround speakers. The price that I paid, I consider it very fair.

None for me.

Instead of the brand reputation, I think they're an excellent speakers for home use. For someone it may seems expensive and for others cheap. I just feel that they're great products for the price that one pays. There's a lot more expensive speakers on the market, and this sepakers are comparable to those. I installed them with a Denon DRA395 and I never felt that I need a subwoofer.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Onkyo (not so good as their components), Polk Audio, JVC craps, JBL, etc.

Nice high-end definition, look good, nameplate says Bose.

All the things that go along with being mass-market speakers, but cheap enough and sound good if you tweak things right.

Initially I brought these home and was really disappointed - I was used to powered near-field monitors and a 20 year old set of cheap Jensens, and these guys were way too crisp with no bass. Then I read the manual and realized that you can't set these up close to each other right in front of you - they're designed to have a lot of separation and to be put against a wall. Once I moved them, they sounded much better, speaker placement was the key. These aren't designed for accurate stereo reproduction - but they do sound good. I'm very pleased with the detail in the high-end and for 6-1/2" woofers, they carry adequate bass, though you bass-hungry whippersnappers may want to add a sub. The more I listen to these speakers, the more I like - the low-mids might be a bit mushy for some, but for two bills I'm not expecting perfection. Bet these would be nice for the front two in a surround system.