Great NEW look, Fantastic NEW sound, Built in amp, 2 knob controls for Bass, and Low Bass sound effects.

Bose should have given the (701 series II) a different name, since it is NOT the same speakers as the original 701.

Wow! Has Bose improved on the 701. Looks like they have been reading the reviews from older post on this site as well as other sites to see what people like and dislike. Like computers, technology even on speakers gets better year after year.
When I first installed the speakers and turned on the music, I was very impressed with the mid and high sounds the speakers put out. I was however concerned about there not being enough Bass until I read the manual and relized I forgot to turn on the power switch built in the back of the speaker that powered the built in amplifier. Once turned on, they started kicking out the BASS. With some slight adjustments to the 2 bass control knobs (built in the speakers as well) I was able to find the soothing sound that pleases my ears.
I was amazed at the crisp sounds at any level, and very pleased to find the HUGE full room sweetspot of listing, compared to the small sweetspots majority of one way facing speakers put out. I highly recomend these speakers and give a thumbs up to Bose.
For those of you who actually own the old 701(not those imposters who just bash the Bose name) visit your nearest electronic store and check these out.

Similar Products Used:

To many to list.

Look neat, lots of bass, "live" sound

Not for everyone. Please read the review.

When I bought these speakers at the end of 1998, I had a smile ear to ear. Nothing even came close to my Bose speakers! But that feeling slowly wore away in the coming years, ultimately driving me to sell them. In order to understand what happened, let's take a look at Bose, the company.

"Direct/Reflecting" technology is the backbone of what Bose believes in. They've spent countless hours studying what
makes live music sound "live," and the 701s create a "live"
effect extremely well. Bose loves to say that at a live performance, only about 11% of the sound is direct to you. The rest of the sound is indirect. Indeed, put on a CD that's a live recording, and YOU ARE THERE. It's really quite amazing! However, after listening to many CDs that are recorded in a studio as opposed to live, you begin to discover a disturbing fact: You don't necessarily *always* want the "live" effect, and the sound becomes annoying.

Do you really think that the sound engineers at a live performance aren't trying to figure out a way to get MORE than 11% of the sound directly to you? To say that this is the perfect scenario because it's "live" is crazy. Furthermore, the act of trying to produce an effect that was
not originally recorded on the CD is introducing coloration to the sound. I didn't appreciate this, as I want to hear the music the way the audio engineers who recorded it intended me to hear it! This is the reason why you will never see Bose speakers at a recording studio. They aren't transparent. If you want to hear a "live" type of effect, simply buy a CD that was recorded live. Don't ask your speakers to simulate live music from a CD that was recorded in a studio.

Now for my next point. Forget about watching movies with these speakers. The reason being the midrange driver placement. It points to the side, folks! Imagine taking a speaker and turning it AWAY FROM YOU! That is, in effect, what is going on. The midrange is *so important* for watching movies. This is where the dialogue comes from. With these speakers, I often couldn't understand what was being said in the movie. Why? Because my speakers are trying to make the movie sound "live" by bouncing the sound off the walls! At the very least, you will need a center channel for movie watching. Still, why waste sound? I want the sound directed towards the *listener*, not what's *around* the listener! What happened to clarity and definition? That idea
was tossed a long time ago. About the time they decided to make the speakers attempt to sound "live."

The 701s do have a lot of bass. However, I wouldn't say it's "good" bass, though. You can turn it up and really have a viceral experience. But listen closer. Is the bass "musical?" Is there any detail? All I hear is sloppy booming. The manual says to adjust how close it is to the back wall to control booming. I couldn't get it to not boom.

Now that I bought a pair of JBL S312s with the money I got for the 701s, I see the light. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's like taking cotton balls out of your ears. Think I'm kidding? Take that pretend midrange driver and point it *towards you*. Imagine how much more clear and detailed it is.

When you buy these speakers, you are paying for the novelty of simulating live music. Great for background music at cocktail parties. I you want to seriously listen to music, I would pass on these, and any other "Direct/Reflecting" speaker system.

Similar Products Used:

Bose is in a class by itself!

For 1000 bucks, there are SO many other, better speakers out there to listen to. These are a rip off. No high quality speaker should use spring clip connectors. BOSE is a dirty, rotten fraud.

Similar Products Used:

Lots

(I have to NOTE that this is to be applied to the NEW Bose 701 II)

There are nor concievable "strengths" that can be attributed to these.

I have never heard anything SO hienous sounding that listed for $1000.

I showed these to a customer who was quite astute at critical listening and he nearly burst into laughter. Standing next to these in the store is a pair of Boston VR-965s, which are the same price as these piles of garbage and sound many times better. They are of the cheapest construction imaginable, and are an incredibly poor value. Investigate other options before you even consider these. Thye are a joke

None at this price

Lack of transparency, fatiguing sound, no bass definition, non-neutral frequency response

I didn't actually buy this pair, but I played with them at the Bose store at the mall. The Onkyo receiver in the middle seemed to tip off that they were easy to drive, but I noticed there was also a seperate power amp on the floor (which most Bose customers do NOT have). That's typical of a demonstration, so I paid it no mind.

A pretty girl came to help me out (certainly helps in the sale in some cases), and showed me through different musical selections. All I can say is that their marketing must be genius to be able to dupe customers into paying close to a grand for these things. There was zero image depth, and in fact, all of the sound appeared to come out of either speaker.

I feel that the average customer who walks in this store has never heard a decent setup before. They don't know that a soundstage can exist in a transparent manner such that none of the sound actually appears to be coming from the drivers, instead from performers situated far behind the speakers. They haven't heard pinpoint accuracy of being able to place a musician's location, as well as height in certain instances. And the biggest kicker is that the average customer doesn't know that this type of sound exists, let alone is accessible for less than $1000 for an entire system, let alone main speakers.

As far as frequency response goes, the bass hits hard, sure, but take a moderately easy to drive track like Dave Matthews' "Two Step" and the running bassline is buried in mush.

I have a strong doubt that anyone who praises these speakers have heard a true quality system, and reading responses to the "Similar Products Used" proves this point exactly.

My system:

Rotel RX-975 Receiver
Marantz CD-48 plus Vibrapods
Clements 207di(A)
Tara Labs Prism interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Clements 107di & 207di, Vienna Acoustics Mozart, Martin Logan Prodigy

clarity, midrange, bass, reflection, size, aesthetics, ease of set up.

grills don't fit well

Two words to describe these speakers, "OH MY". I previously owned the 601 Series III, now about 12 years old. No comparison. These 701's are simply incredible!! A friend told me long ago, Bose suck, buy some Cerwin Vega's!! Ugh, sure if all you want is bass slamming your eardrums, that makes a great choice. If you want to spend thousands of dollars, I am sure you could buy some better sounding speakers. But if you're looking for clear, great looking, and responsive speakers, you can't go wrong with the 701's. Bose Bashers, go back to your coloring books.

Receiver -- Denon AVR 4800
CD Player -- Sony CDP CA8ES
DVD Player -- Toshiba SD 2200
Tape Player -- JVC TDV 711BK
Equalizer -- ADC SS 300SL
Record Player -- Technics SL-Q300
VCR -- GE VG4267
TV -- JVC AV-27730
Surround Spkr -- Bose Acoustimass 7

Similar Products Used:

Bose 601 Series III

clarity, midrange, bass, reflection, size, aesthetics, ease of set up.

grills don't fit well

Two words to describe these speakers, "OH MY". I previously owned the 601 Series III, now about 12 years old. No comparison. These 701's are simply incredible!! A friend told me long ago, Bose suck, buy some Cerwin Vega's!! Ugh, sure if all you want is bass slamming your eardrums, that makes a great choice. If you want to spend thousands of dollars, I am sure you could buy some better sounding speakers. But if you're looking for clear, great looking, and responsive speakers, you can't go wrong with the 701's. Bose Bashers, go back to your coloring books.

Receiver -- Denon AVR 4800
CD Player -- Sony CDP CA8ES
DVD Player -- Toshiba SD 2200
Tape Player -- JVC TDV 711BK
Equalizer -- ADC SS 300SL
Record Player -- Technics SL-Q300
VCR -- GE VG4267
TV -- JVC AV-27730
Surround Spkr -- Bose Acoustimass 7

Similar Products Used:

Bose 601 Series III

They sound GREAT

none

I wish I knew what these people who are giving negative reviews are listening to. These speakers are unbelievable. You can feel the bass vibrating the furniture. I am rediscovering all my CD's on these speakers because I'm hearing things I coould't hear on my previous speakers. I suggest that the negative reviewers couple these speakers to an amp that delivers more than 10 watts per channel. I'm pumping over 150 watts RMS and I can't believe how good they sound compared to other speakers I've heard, regardless of price.NO BASS DISTORTION. NO POPPING. When I put that much power thru my JBL's, they pop like a bag of Orville Reddenbacher's best. The guy who compares these to KLH boxes should connect the speakers to a legitimate power source. I can only guess that this clown has no idea what WATTS PER CHANNEL are. Either that or he has his head up his ass while listening to them. P.S. This is a review of the 701 Series I. I doubt that the series II can compare as the new series has only one woofer. These babies only cost me $299 each and it was the best $600 I've ever spent. GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES GUYS!!!!!!!

They sound GREAT

none

I wish I knew what these people who are giving negative reviews are listening to. These speakers are unbelievable. You can feel the bass vibrating the furniture. I am rediscovering all my CD's on these speakers because I'm hearing things I coould't hear on my previous speakers. I suggest that the negative reviewers couple these speakers to an amp that delivers more than 10 watts per channel. I'm pumping over 150 watts RMS and I can't believe how good they sound compared to other speakers I've heard, regardless of price.NO BASS DISTORTION. NO POPPING. When I put that much power thru my JBL's, they pop like a bag of Orville Reddenbacher's best. The guy who compares these to KLH boxes should connect the speakers to a legitimate power source. I can only guess that this clown has no idea what WATTS PER CHANNEL are. Either that or he has his head up his ass while listening to them. P.S. This is a review of the 701 Series I. I doubt that the series II can compare as the new series has only one woofer. These babies only cost me $299 each and it was the best $600 I've ever spent. GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES GUYS!!!!!!!

None really

the reputation of Bose speakers

In short, these speakers are really really really bad sounding. I took them back. I don't know why my wife, who has never bought stereo gear in her life was conned into buying these piles of junk posing as speakers, but we all make mistakes. The bass sounds like the kids that drive by late at night, boomy and poorly defined. The midrange is muffled, the highs are shrill. Anything that makes a speaker bad, these speakers got it. I built a set of speakers when I was a kid, not knowing what makes speakers sound good, and these 701 serries 2 speakers remind me of how they sound. I still have those speakers in my basement. Bose is a joke and it is sad that people think that they make good speakers. I hope I helped just one person from making the bad choice in buying a set of Bose speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Nike shoes, Budwiser, any other mass market junk product that servives on the strenght of AD's