They look great

Sound like crap

These have got to be the worst speakers I have heard in my life for this price range.Need I say more?
This junk was replaced by JBL S312.Same price but wow what a difference.Im not a BOSE basher but these are truly a waste of money and complete junk.I ended up selling these to a unsuspecting individual for $250.

Similar Products Used:

JBL S312

Sleak design, good base, large sweet spot, clean highs

nothing really that I can pin point

Well to tell you the truth I got these speakers for FREE, I have a large 4 speaker Acoustic Profiler Center, 10" Acoustic Profiler Sub and Acoustic Profiler Rears, and the 501's compliment my system perfectly, they add good mids and highs to 2 channel audio and are wonderfull in 5.1 DD/DTS movies. I suppose If I had paid a whole smack of money, I may expect more, but I didn't, and I don't think that these speakers deserve such a low rating.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, PSB, Acoustic Profiler, Cerwin Vega's

Footprint

Price, Bass reproduction

I have to agree with the other reviews here--these speakers
are mediocre, and for the price they leave a lot to be
desired. The 501's seem to be limited by the small size of
the main driver speaker. Even though I got these speakers
cheap a couple of years ago, I was not satisfied with them
and am selling my 501's.

I have to admit, at one point in my life I was thinking about buying these speakers without even listening to them. Bose really has a good advertising department. Anyway I went to my local Circuit City and spent one hour listening to these speakers. I had brought my own Cd's and listen to quite a few. I am glad I took the time to listen to these speakers. I ended up buying a pair of Infinity's 2000.6 series. The bose 501 seems too "fake". At no point was I impress with their speakers. The sound was nothing like the ad's they promote. It sounded shrill, boomy and downright ugly. We hooked up the Infinity's to the same receiver and it was like night and day. Save your money and buy real speakers. Bose 501 sounds bad and are really overprice!

I evaluated this speaker in the presence of 4 like-pricedmodels from B&W, Castle, Jamo, and JBL. The system electronics
were relatively top-notch, including e.g. an Audio Note
DAC-3 and expensive European transistor amplifiers.

The 501's build quality is clearly sub-standard. Cheap
spring-loaded speaker terminals (all the other had at
least 5-way binding posts, and some even had gold-plated
bi-wire terminals). Housing is cheap and thin medite or
so (contrast this to the Castle's real wood veneer).
The speakers weigh next to nothing: with just one hand
I lifted each one out of its packaging.

Al low-to-medium listening levels, the 501 sounded relatively
innocuous. Deep bass and real treble were missing. Bass
and midrange were opaque and lacked detail (compared to
every other speaker in the group). Treble was quite
sweet.

At high levels, the bass retained its quality, but mid and
treble got extremely shouty and crappy.

In every respect and at all times, the 501s sounded
the worst of the group. Add to this their sub standard
build and their equal (high) price. This forces the
verdict: 3 stars represent the group average.
The Bose gets **.

takes up little space,nice airy sound. clean midrange

bass is very subdued.placement of speakers can be a problem

i have it hooked up with a 12" subwoofer and the results are very good. i have a carver pre-amp with a holographic processor and the sound is great

They are better than the speakers on my T.V.

Weak bass, bright as hell.

I don't know what I was thinking when I bought these speakers. You need a sub to get any bass in your room at all. The even worse part is that any decent sub will drown out these speakers. Don't get sucked into the Bose name. Their speakers are the most overrated equipment you can buy.

Similar Products Used:

Polk audio JBL Infinity

hands down the most outstanding speaker I've ever heard

when I turn my 13" TV's speakers on it drowns out these awesome speakers

I did a lot of research before investing my money in a high end audiophile home entertainment system. And in every audio magazine my eye was caught by the ads from Bose. The descriptions give you an excellent understanding about how much hard work and innovation goes into Bose speaker technology. Their speakers are so advanced that it uses reflected sounds to radiate the sound waves. This radical new technology is so advanced that other manufactures don't even try to do it, that's because they leave high-end audiophile technology to the masters of sound: Bose!!

These speakers are da bomb!!!

Before buying Bose I was using a pair of Teac bookshelf speakers that came with my Teac home theater entertainment unit with an integrated cd player, AM/FM radio tuner, and high current amplifier. I may have spoiled myself a bit with buying the Teac amp, I mean 25 Watts per channel is a lot of power but I could not resist. Teac has an exceptional price/performance ratio - I dare you to find a cleaner, more pure and natural sounding amplifier in it's price range.... trust me you can't, to get any better you will have to spend in upwards of $400 to get any noticable improvement in sound. Teac speakers are no slouches either, those thing can kick out the tunes like a grunge rock and roller! And trust me on this, I have been listening to music for years and years.

But now I am a Bose owner and I am undoubtedly in pure audiophile heaven. When I hooked up the 501's to the Teac unit and heard the first few notes of "Baby, One More Time" by Britney Spears my jaw dropped to the floor. I was in awe. I couldn't believe my ears, it was as if Britney was right there in the room singing live for me!! Yeah, Baby!

The Bose Direct/Reflecting speaker system really works. You have to hear it to believe that such unimaginable clarity and stereo imaging is possible in such a value-oriented audiophile speaker. I don't know how Bose do it, but they are the masters!

Before buying Bose I was auditioning other speakers such as the highly acclaimed Aiwa SP100 tower speakers, and The Radio Shack Home Speaker Unit. But neither of those speakers came anywhere close to Bose. The Aiwa's perhaps were too bright on the upper end of the audio spectrum, the treble notes were always harsh to the ear. The Radio Shack on the other hand were very strong in the bass notes (almost as good as Bose), but I think they had way way too much midrange. I like my music with lots of loud boomy bass and slightly muffled treble notes that don't quite hit the highs enough to be considered bright. And for that type of sound the Bose 501's are incredible.

I could hear things in songs that I never hear before, a subtle guitar pluck or whisper, even in songs I've listened to hundreds of times. I was able to hear every pluck of the guitar strings out of "Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers. But there's one thing that made no doubt in my mind that Bose was the speaker for me - the outstanding stereo imaging! These speakers are so accurate that if I listen to them a few feet away from the boxes and close my eyes I can pinpoint exactly where the speaker is. Even some of the disgustingly overpriced (but even higher quality) speakers such as Cerwin Vega have stereo imaging problems, they are so poor in this regard that they almost project a 3D image of the sound, yuck!! Who in their right minds would spend hundreds of dollars on speakers that throw sound out in weird directions like that. When I want audiophile speakers I want pinpoint accurate stereo imaging sound so that I can tell exactly where the sound is coming from.

Anyways, I think I am beginning to ramble on about how amazing 501 Series V Direct/Reflecting speaker technology really is. Out the door with my old Teac speakers, I have found my one true love of my life, Bose 501!!!!

2 thumbs up from me!!!!
(well I'll use stars cause there is no thumbs :)

Similar Products Used:

Teac, Aiwa, Radio Shack

Small Footprint

EVERYTHING ELSE!!!!!!

For the money to sound factor, these are the worst speakers ever!!!! Too bright, no lows. I think that these are the worst items that I have ever purchased (and I've owned two 80's Dodge cars!!!) Never, ever buy these unless they are given to you or are under $50. Anybody that says that these sound good have not stepped foot outside a Bose store long enough to hear anything else.

Similar Products Used:

That dosent matter

Deep Bass, Clear and smooth treble, adds to the texture of music.

None apparent

I have had these speakers for a while now and they are still great. I know that there are a lot of Bose Bashers out there but shut your mouth right now because, this is an older model from the time when "Bose really was one of the best" It presents any kind of music you ask it to, and with liveliness and zeal. They look fairly nic too, although some may consider them a tad bit large. (circa 1985)