Clarity, attractive, unobtrusive design, spiffy Rosewood finish, the benefit of direct/refected sound.

none

These are the best sounding speakers I have ever heard. I instantly knew I would purchase them upon hearing them cranked up. I got four to go with my Sony 777ES receiver and I am extremely satisfied. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! (Of course it doesn't hurt to have push/pull amplification driving them.)

Similar Products Used:

Infinity

I have had these for 2 years now. The 301's give off a lot of midrange - great for vocals or for balancing out a system heavy with tweeters and woofers.As an overall speaker I'd give it 2 stars given the cost. It does shine on vocals however when added to a system that already has god base & treble speakers.

I have listened to these speakers in low-end audio showrooms (Circuit City, Best Buy, etc.) and in people's homes and I honestly can't get past their lack of low end, their overpronounced midrange and the sometimes audible resonance that results from the cheap paper speaker cones and unbraced cabinets they use. They actually buzz sometimes at high volumes! However, all people are not created equal in their ability to hear distortion or to discern high-quality sound. There will always be a market for these speakers because a lot of people just don't know any better. I suggest Energy, Paradigm, Pinnacle, NHT and B&W as makers of high-quality small smeakers that don't cost a fortune. Buy the best-sounding speakers you can afford, not the most overpriced and overmarketed name you know (Bose).I give them two stars because they do produce tolerable sound under some limited conditions.

All ears and rooms are obviously different. To my ears and in all my rooms these sound like crap. They are great in a large front room for background party music that you want to sound vague and not distract from conversation though. I never have a problem being distracted by it having an image or anything. I even used them for my surrounds for awhile. Not even good for that.

I own a pair of 301's that I bought for $200 dollars. When I first bought them I thought they were the best speakers I had every owned. And they were, up untill then I only had Boomboxes and separates of equal quality. My only frame of reference to judge my new speakers was against inferior equipment I had owned in the past. About a year after I bought my 301's I bought a pair of Magenpan MMG's suddenly my 301's seemed Horrible. The magenpans made music as were the 301's just made noise in the image of music. A cymbal on the 301's sounded like the air be released from an air compressor tank. Bass notes all sounded the same no matter what kind of music played. The speaker just always produced a boomy sound. The midrange was very muddy and singers did not seem to come through the haze of speakers muddy bass and sizzling tweeters. I would not recomend these speakers to someone who wants to listen to music. I would recomend buying a pair of Magnepan MMG's on the internet. For $500 dollars a pair they are the best deal in the speaker world. Go to WWW.Magnepan.com and see for yourself

Sounds like a bi-polar surround speaker

Very large for a bi-polar surround speaker

I agree that there are better speakers on the market. However, I cannot fathom a rating scale upon which the 301 series III would be given a single or even two stars. Those of you who paid less than $200 for 301s and gave them less than three stars should be quite ashamed of your attitudes. The buyer's remorse you are experiencing could have been avoided if you had simply not purchased them. Yet... as you did purchase them you should see the experience as a very inexpensive life lesson. I just hope that none of you flakes choose your spouses with the same attention to detail. You can pawn your 301s.

Honestly, I can't think of one

Overly forward midrange, harsh on the ears, not worth the price, horrible soundstaging

These speakers sound horrible. I had initially bought into the Bose marketing hype, and took a friend to audition these speakers. I had never heard them previously, but told my friend that these were supposedly "the most respected name in the audio industry." Anyways, suffice to say they sounded horrible. The midrange was way to loud, and the treble didn't extend very high at all. By the way, this is a comment for BRIAN (down below). You wonder who can hear above 14.5khz? According to research, the majority of the population. The AVERAGE hearing range is defined as 20hz-20khz. If you can't hear above 14.5khz, I feel sorry for you, but that doesn't change the fact that most people can. Anyways, back to the speakers. It sounded like there was a significant peak between 3-6khz, giving music a very annoying midrange peak. The bass is pretty weak as well, but for bookshelf speakers, that's to be expected. The soundstaging is very flat and unrealistic, and there is no depth to the music... very two dimensional. As for Dave Dickens down below who claims to have "perfect pitch" and says that because he is some sound engineer, that he is more "qualified" to judge speakers than most people, that whole post is a whole bunch of BS. Nobody has perfect pitch - not even professional musicians. Why do you think they use tuning forks and tone generators to tune their instruments? Granted, most tune their instruments using a single pitch (the "concert a" for orchestra's - 440hz), but that just goes to show that nobody has "perfect pitch." So don't give me that crap about having perfect pitch. As for being more "qualified" to judge speakers because you were a "sound engineer," you yourself admitted that your previous experience with stereo equipment dealt with "boomboxes and the like," so you don't even know what expensive speakers sound like. Bottom line: don't let people try to say that they "know" what good sound is and that Bose speakers are the best. In my opinion, these speakers aren't as bad as people make them out to be, but they definitely aren't worth anywhere near what stores sell them for. But the true way to find out is to listen for yourselves and compare to other brands in the price range (PSB, Paradigm, B&W, NHT, Klipsch, etc.)

Similar Products Used:

PSB, Paradigm, NHT, Klipsch, Sony, etc.

None that i can think of... the Brand name maybe?

Everything, no soundstage, no detail, very bad bass reproduction, terrible drivers.

I can't believe that there are actually people out there who call themselves AUDIOPHILES and really think these speakers sound good. If you haven't listened to other speakers before then please do not submit a positive review about this speaker. Either you are deaf or stupid or haven't heard any other speaker before, that's the only conclusion i can make.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Dynaudio, Kef, Infinity, Wharfedale, Piega, Synthese, Chario, Magnat

Open, immediate, sensational soundstage, enough bass for a small to medium-sized rooms

cheap look & finish for the money

I can say that bose 301 III connected on home-made push-pull
ultralinear valve amp with EL34s sounded georgeous. I know
that two tweeters headed in various directions somebody can call a fake but look at willsons grand slam which also use "ambience" tweeters on the back. My room is 3,5 x 4,5m
and after a long time it was full of sound of real instruments and full-bodied vocals. Listening Material was
of audiphile quality ( acoustic jazz & classical ). CD player was SONY XB-920. One more time I got impression that best sound come from valves and paper-coned drivers.

Similar Products Used:

AR18, some jbl`s ,full range HPD 385 TANNOYS & lowther based
horns

They Kick ASS!

None

I have these speakers in my room and i love them they sound great off my sony str-d865 reciever i have a cerwin vega 10 inch subwoofer and a sony center and rears. The bose 301's sound awsome with music movies whatever i am very satisfied all these "audiophiles" have the thousands of dollars to throw into their front speakers well i dont and for the price i love the bose 301's so there.