Mediocre sound quality to foist unsuspecting souls into buying them

That after 20 years of "research", these garish nightmares have not changed a bit. They still use the same cheap parts.

I am uphalled that there are only a few 1 star reviews on this posting. I honestly think that if you were to add up the IQs of the 4 and 5 star reviewers and multiply by .01, you would come up with Boses profit margin; ie %80. And those who claim "I've heard B&W DM602s, and the 301s are JUST BETTER" are simply deaf people offering eulogy upon the days before they lost their hearing, a chance for them to feel "more normal". If you are a fan of background noise, then these are for you, if you actually CARE about music and accuracy of reproduction, buying these would be a dreadful mistake. Bose is to fine audio what a GEO metro is to fine automobiles; poor mans dream-- rich mans trash.

I will soon be buying a pair of B&W CDM9NTs, REAL SPEAKERS!!! But I have the utmost confidence in my currently existing DM604s to put the 301s in "their place" THE TRASH CAN! Any speaker that is ubiquitious in a store where washers and dryers are sold can not possibly looked upon with awe... To do so would be to deny oneself what the world really has to offer.

And to those who want to send me hate mail:
I welcome any responses. especially those attempting to put me in my place. However an unintelligable response(what I expect to recieve from bose fans) is likely to be laughed at. If you think that bose is made by god himself, you are wrong, sorry to break it to you. And if you wish to put your wits to the test I appear As "The Anti_Bose in chat room from time to time.

Similar Products Used:

Technics studio monitors. They are similar, but products that I ACTUALLY USE include B&W, Infinity, Paradigm, Revel....

Absolutely everything

They are not expensive enough

Ok....To sum up these great speakers in one word, it would have to be SIMPLY AMAZING!!!
One day I broke down outside of a Circuit City on a cross country trip. It was wickedly cold out, so I decided to go inside a nearby Circuit City while i waited for my tow truck to show up. Being an aged, snobby audiophile, I couldn't wait to go into the "sound room" and pester the peasants who work there by asking completely rediculous and complicated questions about audio.
While I waited for an employee to devestate, i laid my eyes on these beauties. The BOSE 301's!!! :) One word...HOLY COW!!! Instead of pestering the nearest employee, i begged to hear a pair of these fabulous speakers.
Once he fired them up, I fell on the floor and started crying for joy. I couldn't believe what i was hearing! I've never heard such crystaline highs from a 2" wizzer cone. The mids were way better than my Dunlavy speakers. It sounded like the singer was singing from under a sewer cap while the street sweeper was going over him. This is something that i cannot claim from any other speaker! And the bass..... Woahh!! I think i missed a few heartbeats when he played that new Mariah Carey song.
When i asked how much these gems were, the employee told me an abosultely rediculous thing... He said, "all that it will take to put you in these speakers today is $300." After regaining my composure from my first fall, i instantaneously lost control and fell on the floor again, hitting my head on an awesome Bose bass module. After a brief hospital visit, I went back to Circuit City and bought these gems for $15,000.(I felt as if i was stealing something by paying the rediculously low price of $300)
Once i got home and hooked up these babies, i instantly sold me Dunlavys, my Krell monoblocks, Mark Levinson pre-amp, Kimber Select speaker wire and Transparent Reference interconnects. With the money i made from the sales, i bought a killer Tecnics receiver and some Monstor Cable speaker wire and interconnects.
I could not be happier with my new setup. I highly recommend any Bose speaker. Bose Rules!!!

Similar Products Used:

Wilson Maxx, Dynaudio Evidence, B&W Nautilus.....

Well built and assembled
Decent finish

Limited mid-range accuracy

I think that these speakers can provide good "background" music type of listening but nothing close to hifi. I have to agree with most of the other reviewers that these speakers wuold fall in the category of strong marketing to overcome their shortfalls.
Not that they are all that bad, but given their typical selling price, I trust you could do better.

None of my friends consider me a jackass, as I have steered no less than 12 of them away from Bose, and expanded thier horizons into what auio reproduction, vs noise production is. Bose brings on it's flaming Via promises of galactic performance, but instead fetch a stellar price.
If someone tells me "OOOH I have this wicked excellend BOSE system" I reply-"Yes, and I bet you think a Yugo GT is WICKED FAST."
The moral of the story is: Bose and M&K are both speakers. Bose sells more. Does that mean Bose is on par with M&K and the like? No, Bose is the Yugo of the speaker industry whereas M&K is more like a Jaguar.

Great speaker for $300. Nice sound. Does a great job at what it's supposed to do for a bookshelf speaker.

Hard to position them. Too big to fit on a bookshelf. They almost need stands.

I bought them for main speakers in my small living room. They do an excellent job of providing rich sound for casual listening. They really shine in classical music. I have no complaints.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, JBL, Sony, Athena

this is a 360 review (similar to 301)
!!!!!!no ear fatigue when blasted!!!!!!!

none

bought bose 360 system (receiver, phono, and speaks) around '78. speakers seem similar to 301's so i'm reviewing here. never, never had ear fatigue from these -didn't know ear fatigue existed and i "blasted" these puppys for almost twenty years. i could hear "every" instrument playing clear and precise, cymbols, bells, high freq drums, etc -these instruments weren't just subtle in background but expressed clearly in full foreground, plus good base for their size.
few years back the foam surrounds finally went. started buying other speaks (unfortunately? no recent model bose tried) and only ones i found so far without ear fatigue are wharfdale sapphire sp89's (and 83's) -coincidently same as 360's they also have excellent "all" musical instrument definition in foreground. (used 89's for about two years).
its not just me but wife and kids and visitors don't complain when 360's are played "moderately loud". but my ears and others shout "turn that off" with other much more expensive speakers hooked up and turned up. (may take day after for ache to show up).
at low volumes i guess some others are good or better but if you like to turn it up without aching ear drums the bose paper cones may be the answer. (don't remember what the wharf saph89's have for cones but these can also be turned up 'without' ear fatigue).
for "lower volumes" the infinity il60's are extremely excellent -can understand every word people are saying on tv, dvd, etc. even at very low volume and there's a very nice clear all musical instrument foreground definition. but turn them up and ears will ache.
ar312ho's will also make ears bleed if turned up but ok at lower volumes. wish i knew a fix for "bright?" speakers like the 312ho's and il60's -maybe need a tube amp to calm them down. (wharf 89's are used on solid state with "no" fatigue!).
see people saying "no highs no lows..." but the clarity of highs from the 360's equalled the other ear acher speaks i've listened to.
360's are so good i plan to replace surrounds to get back on line.
hope this helps others with sensitive ears like mine.

Similar Products Used:

several others

Great Bose sound at low price. No better speaker for price. Loud volume clarity. Great mid-range bass.

Low-end bass response, but can be acheived by adding an 8" powered sub.

I have had my 301's for 3 years and they've never disappointed me in sound quality. The sound is warm and clear and stereo sound can be heard from any place in the room. They lack low-end bass but what can you expect from an 8" woofer that covers all the midrange and bass. Lower bass response can be achieved by adding an 8" powered sub which will give your system great treble, midrange, and bass. The 301's give awesome midrange bass reponse which makes them perfect for all types music.
I bought the 301's and convinced my friend that these were the best value for a limited budget. Now we have two pairs hooked up in our dorm room and our system rocks. At full power you could probably hear our music a mile away. The bass response is also incredible. The 301's are the best bookself speakers made.

Does what Bose said it should - Stereo Everywhere

Bass - needs a sub. Drivers are made of pressed paper

For the price I paid for these speakers, it was a good bargain. This set of speakers are the only ones from the Bose line-up that truly can produce the stereo everywhere concept - only when placed right. I wouldn't use them for critical listening but for just relaxing they provide a pleasing sound. This is the only Bose system that I can truly recommend (excellent rears in a dolby digital set up).
There are better speakers in this price range (ie Paradigm, Phase Tech. ect) but if you can find them at a garage sale, thrift store or something like that, and find them cheap? Get'em and experiment with them. You just might find something you like

Similar Products Used:

AM7's, AM5'S,Klipsch,Infinity,VPMS,Polk

Full range sound

I primarily listen to jazz in my main system which consists of: front mains = pair of Infinity Kappa 9
rear = pair of Infinity Kappa 8
front amps = pair of Carver Silver 9t monoblocks
rear amp = Carver TFM 45 stero amp

I wanted to get into home theater and I wanted a good rear channel surround speaker. My Kappa 8's were excellent for this but they took up too much floor space and they were overkill for rear home theater. I wanted a speaker that I could mount on the wall on a shelf or a bracket about 6 feet off the floor. Now, I would never be caught dead in a Circuit City looking for music gear...but I wanted a bookshelf speaker and I know they sold Infinity there so I wanted to see what Infinity had in a bookshelf model that I could use for a rear surround speaker. I walked into the sound room and saw a Polk bookshelf model for $600 a pair and an Infinity bookshelf model for about $500 a pair. I listened to them both on the dvd 'Gladiator'....I liked the Infinity model better....I decided not to buy right then because I was on my lunch break....the guy thought I was stalling because of the price, so he says why don't you try these Bose 301...they're only $300 per pair...well, I had already read all of the negative reviews in this forum...they were less expensive than the Polk and Infinity model, how dare he assume I couldn't afford the aforementioned models and insult me by offering to audition the cheap-assed Bose 301's. I said well okay just to patronize him...I just couldn't wait to be able to tell him what a piece of sh*t they were...well of course he played them and they proceeded to kick ass...the more expensive Polk and the Infinity were not in the same class. I bought them and installed them in my home theater as rears hooked up to my Carver 375 wpc amp and they are excellent. I know for a fact that 95% of the people here that give these speakers a bad review have never heard them and think it is fashionable to bash them. For the money, these are good speakers. Because I was biased by what I read in this forum, I almost missed out on a good thing. As you can see by some of the posts here, you can't go by everything you read here...you have to let your ears decide...I'm old enough (47) to not be influenced by peers and what other people think. It may be fashionable to bash Bose to impress your friends..the bottom line is: listen, be honest and go with your ears.. it's still audio...not visual. These same speakers with another name on the label would probably get 5 stars from some of the bashers here. My attitude is: Popularity contests can kiss my ass...I know what I heard and it was good....just be honest and fair.

WARNING!!!
If you are not an ardent BOSE proponent, and you have posted a negative review of a bose product, you may be subjected to the wrath of an individual who goes by the moniker "Mr. Bose". He will come to you in stealth, with a foul tongue and an equally lacking vocabulary totally void of any degree of usefull coherency. This person is evidently either retarted or perhaps a crack adict.

Mr. BOSE: We know your out there, however your cowardice is evident in the fact that you don't give anyone the opportunity to respond to you maniacal ravings. This will not be tolerated. At least When I write a to reviewer I give them a chance to retort. Mr. Bose, it is well that you are devoted to your cause, nevertheless, it is unfortunate that you lack the intelligence to convey your ignorant beliefs. It is advisable that you consult a dictionary which, just in case you weren't aware, is a book which may bestow upon you startling revalations about the mechanics of intelligent expression. I await your response.