Small footprint, cool looking, but would look better with real wood veneer. Good bass response

NO Midrange!!!!

Not a well-balanced speaker. Missing a great deal of midrange. The overall tonal balance is off.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 301,701 B&W 605,603,CC6,LM1

Size, Sweet Spot

Not good for Surround Sound applications

For the price, these speakers have a lot of good qualities. They take up hardly any floor space. You can fit them pretty much anywhere and since the tweeters are angled, you get a sweet spot no matter where they are. If I could buy the Bose Cube speakers by themselves, I would expand this system for total surround.

Similar Products Used:

none

none

Vocals sound like the singer is singing into a tin can

I was out looking for speakers today. I heard the 501s. I must say that they are by far the worst sounding speakers I have ever heard in my life. I could hear a muffled voice and pretty clear highs and that was about it. I could not believe that people really buy these speakers. the salesman even tried to tell me that it was a waste of time to listen to them. Now I don't care what store you go to, no salesman is going to try and talk you out of buying something unless it is really that bad. The bass was muddy and muffeled as well. I heard a pair of KLHs selling for half the price and the sounded much better. Do yourself a favor, avoid these speakers at all costs. Sure they look kind of cool, but the sound bad, really bad.

Similar Products Used:

JBL Cerwin-Vega

Size, Power

None that I can think of

I see alot of people talking about this speaker as if it were the worst piece of audio equipment ever made. Well let me tell you about my extensive use of these speakers.

I had an Onkyo stereo receiver hooked up to the 501's when first purchased. I heard nothing but great sound come out of these speakers with the Onkyo. I listened to Yanni live at the Acropolis turned all the way up and they performed very well. Never once did they crack or show signs of effort. The bass on these speakers seems more than adequite in my opinion.

I unhooked the Onkyo and puchased a Denon AVR-1400. The 501's still perform flawlessly. I can turn this Denon all the way to it's peak volume db setting and I cannot hear anything to make me say I'm dissappointed. They do a great job for movies and music from my experience.

I will say this though. I have all monster cable speaker wire with banana clips going from receiver to speakers now. this increased my bass by a factor of 2. Now i find myself turning the bass down sometimes.

I paid $514.00 for these speakers. It was alot for me to spend at the time but I don't regret for one second buying these speakers. Anyone who hates these speakers probably can't stand listening to anything in this price range anyway. They could have been cheaper, but overall--I beat on them pretty hard and they've taken everything I've dished out.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 401, Pioneer, JBL's

very spacious sound; mid range good;highs are very good.

bass is very low;need a sub woofer to balance it out.

overall i would rate these speakers as very good,although for the price[ 520.00] a pair,you could probably do a little better. the correct placement of the speakers is very critical and a bit of work.

Nice speaker to bridge the gap to something nicer.

Lack of clarity, and sound definition in the high range.

Well, I felt compelled to write a review. I think that these speakers have a palce in the world. I started my system years ago with a JVC reciever and KLH's from Costco.

I enjoyed it for many years, and a friend I ghave the KLH's to enjoy them as we speak.

I then recieved as a gift the 501 floorstanding. They a slightly older model, and I immediately loved them. On the first day I was dissapointed of bass response but overall thought they were a step up.

I am trying to say that my ear has gone through progression. Not to mention over the years my budget on such commodities has increased. These Bose were a good intermediate, and as such tuned my ear to want the lower lows and higher highs.

I recently purchased JBL S412's S-Center and S36's for rears, and at 1000$ are possibly the best value on the market. I will love them for a few years, until my budget or ear dictates a change. As most audio enthusuast will tell you no speaker is for a lifetime, and your taste and ear will change. Until then enjoy your bose.

Similar Products Used:

KLH 12" floorstanding .. Costco

I have read all this Bose bashing, and I have to believe that much of the criticism is disingenuous. I have owned the 501s for more than a year. The sound is fine in my small living room. The bass is superior to or equal to most speakers I have listened to in the price range. It is a round booming bass, which I prefer to a tight bass. Honestly, I am at a loss when I hear or read data and criticism such as "the 2 inch'twiddler' drivers are incapable of anything over 16~18 kHz" or "Because it's sharply cut off above 14.5 khz, and below 40hz." I am a casual listener, so I have no use for that knowledge. I was also satisfied with these speakers because I bought them new for only $300 rather than the usual retail of $520 at Best Buy. I came to this Web site, as we all did, to get some non-commercial information on available products. For the most part, the reviews have been useful. But enough with the Bose bashing, at least for the 501s. They are not bad speakers.

Small footprint

Sound, cheap costruction

These speakers are just plain bad even for Bose. Very muddy and boomy sound at best. Speakers are very placement sensitive due to the rear firing mid/bass driver. Highs are not reproduced well and midrange vocals are practically non-existant. Listening to these speaker for too long (10 minutes or more) with any kind of volume is fatigueing. Way over priced for the sound quality. Have not heard any speaker in this price range that is worse than the 501 Series V. These were an upgrade for me when I bought them and I must admit that I was taken in by the Bose name. I must have had an ear infection the day I listened to them because I plunked down the cash. There are a myriad of speakers out there that are the same price or less that sound 5 times better. Do yourself a favor and listen around before you buy these. I recently upgraded to Infinity Composition Overture 2 $700 on UBID. A huge difference in sound quality.

P.S. Any one wanna buy a pair of 501's Series V??? Cheap???

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, Klipsch, Accoustic Reasearch, JBL

they stand up

poor build quality, spring clips, paper tweeters, can't see the woofer, poor freq response, Bose makes it.

After owning a pair of Bose 601 speakers for close to 20 years I wanted to own another Bose product. I was certainly not about to spend the money on the 901's, so I auditioned the 501 at my local Frys store, all by myself in the Bose room. I think I have heard better speakers in a cheap stereo T.V. Where is the bass? I think Bose has taken the Acoustimess design and made a floor standing speaker out of it. Whatever happened to the original 501 speaker? You know, the one with the 10" woofer and bass you could feel? Bose has certainly gone downhill in the last 10-15 years.

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Bose 601

Nothing, a Waste of Materials & Energy

Everything

These have got to be the Worst sounding speakers for $600. Two cheap, 3 1/3 inch speaker cones ain't gonna cut it for the mids and highs in a speaker of this price and this is evident when you listen to the speakers. They sound like CRAP. Place these speakers next to any other non-Bose speaker in it's price range and I'm sure you'll hear what's missing. These speakers are a joke and a complete waste of materials and energy.

Similar Products Used:

JBL, B&W, Acoustic Energy, PSB, QEF