Design, Sound, clarity. They never let you down.

Once again, if you want bass, and lots of it, use a second speaker or speakers. Bose 501's are excellent, old Kenwoods, Sansui, anything with big bass speakers.

Hello stereo heads, Bose has been making 901's for quite some time. And they have done it well. It seems that the biggest complaint is that thumpers or bumpers, whatever you want to call them, want a lot of bass. I think I may have the answer for you. I have a pair of Bose 501's that I use with my series 6, 901's. You can have the best of both worlds. I listen to everything from the 40's to the 70's and beyond. Some of the music requires heavy bass, if that being the case, don't slam 901's for puttting it out for you, they are not bass reflecting speakers. They are reflecting speakers. Most audiophiles use more than one set of speakers anyway. Try it, then let the bose niners work for you. They are Bose. That's why people still pay what they do for Bose 901's. Just my thoughts. In the old rabbit hole in Colorado..Rich

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Crown, Carver, Scott, Marshall

Pure sound filling ever space in the room. Everyseat is a good seat. No sweet spot seating. Jazz and Live music lovers dream.

Not made for loud ear pericing rock or rap. With Microphone in artist mouth. Eq need special hookup.

I am using 901 series 4 as rear channels and series 6 for fronts and the Bose 802 1995 Model as the center. And a yorkville 200p power sub. The bose fill the room . Every seat is a good seat. On the movie Loin Heart where dragon talk off screen and fly over head will show the true sound of being engulf in sound. Because sound is bounding off the wall you will not pin point which speaker sound is coming from. The 802 uses the same drivers as the 901 it's just a professional loud speaker. Built for LIVE MUSIC. Speakers do need highend power amp or receiver. Not the cheap sonys of pioneer packing 120 or 200 watts by book per channel. Also the 901 s are not made for rock and roll or rap music. This is a speaker made for true sound enjoyment. Jazz lover will seat and go though albums or cds all day and night. The big drawback is the EQ is needed no matter what someone may say its not. This unit do not have a crossover inside the cabinet. And all the receiver today isleaving it up the the receiver to do soundfields. No EQ for optial or coax sound. Must go into unit before amps. You will love or hate the sound. This is a speaker for ones that love the sound of pure music. No false bass or extra highs to help room eq problems. The bose EQ will let you make the right ajustments for this kind of problems.

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901 series 2 with bose 550 receiver in office.

Enormous presence and dynamic range. Controlled bass. Very "live" like. Attractive and not excessively large.

Imaging is not as precise as with "studio" speakers, but I really don't care much about this. In real live performances the imaging is already affected by sound reflections, so I do really notice all that much imaging in real live performances anyway. I do agree the electronic equalizer probably could benefit from more state-of-the-art design and components. I'd also like to see perhaps an integrated tweeter somewhere in the array, but that would take away from the beautiful symmetry with 9 exactly equal speakers in each array. That's about all I can think of.

OK, I'm going to give my view. I've ready many owner and expert reviews on many speakers (901, B&W, MBL, etc). I've listened to many, many "high end speakers". Out of about 5 years of effort, I found one consistent truth. Each lisener has his/hers own subjective preferences. I've taken a physics approach (my background). From this perspective, the 901's are certainly unique. They try to optimize electronically to produce "live" sound. Otheres, rely on enclosed resonance cavity parameters to achieve what I will call "studio" sound. The real difference here is "live" means many sound reflections and "studio" means carefully suppressed reflected sound. The 901's and the MBL (101E) really go for the reflected sound. I personally prefer this because this the basis for almost all live music. (I also have a resonance cavity based set of loud speakers that produce the "studio" sound, mostly for entainment and choice, but these comments focus on the 901's.) Certainly the 901's are very sensitive to the room and their placement in a room. Very sensitive! They also require very high current amplification (I use Rotel). But for me, over all these sound the best. Especially for any classical recording. Jazz is very good too. Rock & Roll can be very good depending on proper room placement and amplification. (I'm not in to Hip Hop/Rap, etc at all.) Anyway, for live sound I've not found anything better at a reasonable price. (Certainly the MBL's follow in a highly undated version of the 901 sound spread principle, but they are simply ridiculously priced for my ears. I do however respect they're continued refinement of the "live" sound prinicple started by the 901's.) Good forum, good opinions (both ways), and I wish you happy hunting for your ideal sound preferences.

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Never had any problems.

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Polk
B&W
others

Small, attractive, can be hung. Quality sound, large power handling.

If you like music with a disproportionate bass thump, these probably aren't the speakers for you.

Hi Folks:

Well I thought I would weigh in. I had a pair of series II's for about 25 years and enjoyed them everytime I listened to them. I got a pair of VI's a couple years ago and sold my II's to a friend along with The Carver Receiver. He loves them.

Of the people I know that own these speakers, including myself, they all aquired them because they heard them at a friends house, and were amazed at the large, quality sound coming from such a small package. I particularly like hanging them from the ceiling, up and out of the way. (I have a small living room)

I will reiterate, you do need a quality amp with ample reserve power (is 'headroom' the right word?) and you need to give them room all around the speaker. My Carver receiver quit on me one day so I purchased a Harman Kardon 2-channel (120 watts per) receiver, (HK3480). I hooked it up and turned it on, I was not happy. The sound was flat, lifeless, no 'punch'. If this is what the bashers heard out of their Bose than I can't blame them for their reviews. These speakers are power suckers and if you don't give it to them you will not hear their potential. I now have a Carver TFM-35 magnetic field power amplifier and they shine once more.

I also think there is something to be said for every driver in the box producing the full range of the music spectrum, rather than different size speakers producing different sounds that mix to produce what you hear.

My 2 cents worth, thanks for reading.

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A friend had a pair of 901 Series II's that the surrounds gave out on, He sent them to Bose and they sent him Series VI's for half price, around $750.

Turn em up as loud as you want...as long as you have the power.

These bone heads talking smack about em.......................

I have a set of Joseph Audio Infinite Slopes...series II. They crank...so do my Bose 901's! All this crap about how Bose 901's are junk....I think these guys either can't afford a good set, or don't have the right spot to place them....like appartment...........BIG PROBLEM...if you want to crank it up!!! 901's Rock!!

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You name it...........

Sound quality, especially for the price is great. Rather efficient with the power

Bass is thin.

I purchased a used set of 901SeriesVI with stands and equalizer for $600 and have been using them for 9 months. My room is LARGE at 1850 square feet. This room has unusuallly good acoustic properties. I am driving these speakers with 120 watt Sherwood and SVS dual firing sub. The sound is quite good , couldn't ask for a better fit in the room. The reflected sounds is great at all sound pressure levels. The bass on its own surely is weak and is noticed when I turn the subwoofer off, but the overall balance and clarity is great. BTW these used speakers appear to have been used harshly by the previous owner, bent stands, wood needed refinished, peanuts blew out of the ports with the music playing loudly, wood delaminating....but they really sound great!

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Many speakers over the years, Advents, Various towers, Wharfedales, Quads, Planars, etc

The 901 always seems to generate interesting comments. Occasionally some of them reveal the writers as wrong on facts which casts doubt on their more subjective conclusions. The reviewer below believes the 901's have spring connectors and that is just factually wrong. I actually wish mine did have spring connectors. Its not easy getting to the heavy duty thumbscrews on the bottoms of these speakers. But they are definitely not, repeat NOT spring connectors. Bone jarring bass? Yes you can have bone jarring bass if you add a $2000 sub to your system too. My 901's reproduce bass freqs just fine but as with any speaker capable of producing bass frequencies it matters where you put them. Its definitely true of these speakers. Even though the previous reviewer was demonstrably wrong on at least one relevant fact and the jury could legally disregard all his testimony because of that, his caveat (if you can call "just forget about it" a caveat) concerning home theater applications is worth some research. Unless you have an extremely large and flat video display you may have trouble getting these speakers close enough to the sides of your screen to avoid hearing the sound appear to jump accross the gap when it pans left or right. Bose will tell you more or less the same thing. its not just mindlessly slamming them as "silly". There are real technical considerations to integrating these into home theaters. Finding a AV receiver with Pre-out/main-ins? Not easy. Using an additional amp if you cant? Not easy. I have mine set up to be switched out (to a timbre-matched surround set) when watching movies (the gap thing...) but back in as the front R/L when for listening to music. Not easy... but worth it. Still loving them for stereo or fronts with 5.1 SACD stuff but heed Bose's advice against home theater use. Rules are made to be broken here in the audio fun-zone but if you break this one be prepared to fuss around for awhile. And if you get frustrated give up before you get it right don't get back on here and blame the speakers...

Bose 901s offer a good ‘soundstage’ presence.

The ‘reflective’ nature of the sound waves allow pleasurable listening room-to-room (IE: the sound waves migrate around corners and through rooms, often producing another ‘soundstage’ within a separate room.
This described from a friend as the brilliance of Dr. Bose‘s research and described by him as the ‘Ghost‘.)

The speakers can take it ! Due to the large array, one can pump upwards of 200 watts per channel, and the speakers will eat it up in stride, without distortions.
You will have to leave the room, before these speakers peak out !
Conversely, the speakers also respond well to the 25-45 watt range, producing as much energy as the enthusiast needs.

When properly set up, the speakers will ‘disappear’ with only the ‘stage’ remaining.
One will not hear sound from the speakers, but from a ‘virtual soundstage’.

Bass is not faked.
Those who enjoy the true sound of ‘drum skins’, or bass guitar ‘pickups’, will enjoy the ‘truth-in-image’ of the 901s. These are not digital speakers, they respond to true sound and not ‘faked’ digital enhancements.

They look marvelous on their stands !

I do not like the ‘screw terminals’ on the bottom of the speaker, which barely tolerate 14 gauge wire.
For those with BIG Amplifiers and wanting 12-14 gauge oxygen free hookup, the screw terminals are not that adequate.

The Bose EQ still relies on ‘dated’ amplifiers, with such a thing as a ‘tape monitor’.
Duh, any of you still use tape?
(Well I still use Akai 4 head and DBX cassette, but I’m old!)
They need to update their specs.

901’s are not suitable to Home Theatre systems, and Bose should not even propose such, they need remain a ‘stereophile’ system.

If you are a ‘bass head’, ‘hip-hop’ culture enthusiast, forget it, Bose is not for you as it will not produce those ignominious 15Hz thumps in your chest, without overriding their EQ, which will produce nothing but an overpriced mess for you.

Speaker placement is critical, and room size is critical. Bose should offer better documentation for potential buyers. If you do not own a home, or room large enough, or ‘vibrant’ enough for Bose speakers, you will never hear the true potential of this equipment.
If you mis-place these speakers, or place them in an ill-sized room what you will get is mud.

$1500 is pricey for entry level enthusiast/audiophile, other less expensive speakers are available and will perform good in less demanding room requirements.
Bose should differentiate their price with more information as to what is required to make these speakers ’sing’.

Let me begin with three things, that have any relevance in a review.

1. The ‘biological condition’ of the reviewer’s ears.

I think we’d all agree we each have different hearing abilities, based on biological and genetic conditions.
Where one person’s hearing may be more attenuated because of such factors, another’s may actually be damaged from childhood diseases, or decibel overpressure.

2. The ‘training’ of a reviewer’s ears.

Nothing beats experience. Unless a listener/reviewer has had some elements of music education, how can they possibly have the knowledge of whether what they are in fact listening to is accurate?

How can they know whether a note is flat, sharp, dull, or the pitch is off?
Without musical experience through some form of education (either self-learned or taught) the reviewer may lack the ability to distinguish the difference between a loose drum-skin, a poor speaker response, a poor transcription, or just amplifier error.

Also a listen/reviewer must have a broad range of listening experiences to benchmark their educated ear.
These experiences should include the gamut from actually producing music to learn notation, to listening to performances live, to experiencing different instruments live, to recording , editing, and evaluating, the outcomes , variances, and nuances from such endeavors.

For a valid review, the listener/reviewer who has not listened to a wide variety of music of different genres and evolutions, is probably ill equipped to offer the best advice.

3. The ‘technological’ experience.

So many listeners/reviewers tout their enormous experience with different audio equipment, as if this were the mark of expertise. While truly we are here to evaluate system audio performance, I would offer the caveat that the ’biggest toys’, do not always equate to ’expertise’.
Most modern components are very advanced and ’reasonable’ performers.
For what use is a .0025THD, versus a .01THD, when the average, even ’audiophile’ is amiss to accurately distinguish the two in theatre ?
What truly matters is ’good sounding’ music, and this is not within the realm of some anechoic chamber, but in the listener’s ears, and what those ears bring to the experience of listening.

The Bose 901, is a system not for everyone. At $1500 MSRP, it is a mid-scale investment, and a purchase I would only recommend AFTER you listen for quite some time, to hear, if this is what you want in a speaker.

It took me around five years of listening to a friend’s 901s, before I decided they were what I wanted.
I had owned everything from flat panel ES, to horns, to 12” tri-cones, all of which are gone now.

My current system is simple. A vintage Sansui AU717, Marantz PMD321, and Bose VI 901, and I love the sound.

-Loud
-Natural Sounding

-Lack of Bass
-Bad Reviews

Still not bored with them yet. I've had my 901's for about... seven or eight years and they're still my babies. I have the shiney black one's by the way, I'm special. It is true that these speakers crave wattage, I couldn't beleive what difference it made going from 100 watts to 250. It's true that these spekers don't put out the powerful bass that you would expect for what you pay, but what would you expect from a full-range speaker. I'm not saying these speakers have no bass, It's just the bass is less punchy and more natural sounding. If you like your music with Punch like I do, you HAVE TO add a subwoofer. I don't care, It dosen't bother me too much. My 901's and 250 watt 12" Cerwin-Vega sound awsome together. There is still room for more power, I'm thinking about stepping my stereo up to 300 watts a channel. Perhaps the coolest thing about these speakers is how the sound coming from them is more spacious sounding then most stereo speakers. Guess thats what your really paying for.

- Clear vocals and midrange in general
Direct/reflect sound is interesting, but so was the spacial expander button on my Realistic 12 band EQ that I bought in the 80's. Don't laugh but it sounded nice with dance music but even back then I was not confused enough to consider that high end sound.
- 901's really can stand enormous power levels. But let's be realistic here, the 500 watts of clean power out of my Crown amp is being sent to 9 drivers for an approx 55 watts of power per driver. My Minimus 7's from back in the day could handle 40 watts themselves and sounded amazing for their size and 69.99 price tag. If you are feeding the Bose 901's with 200 watts does this really impress you that each driver is handling 22 watts?
- Unique stands and shape of speakers give the speakers a 'conversation piece' characteristic.
- No issues with speaker foam rot *yet*

- Build quality, just embarrassing. Spring clips for speakers connections? Paper cones with foams edges just waiting to rot? Cheap veneer finish?
- Useless for dance or bass heavy music, but my opinion on this point could be skewed if you note some of the other equipment I own above. My father thinks they have a lot of bass.
- Room placement for any speaker can make a big difference, but these 901's are insane for this. Believe the other reviewer's when they say that even moving the speakers 6 inches one way or the other totally changes the sound
- No imagining, none. Reflected sound is NOT imaging people, sorry.
- I will sign off by saying that I strongly encourage people out there to listen carefully before actually purchasing the 901's. Who knows you may like them and if you do, I respect that.

Wow. Is there any other audio product out there that gets such extreme reviews? I can only bet that someone that is reading this is waiting to see if I am a Bose basher or praiser. I am neither, but please believe me when I say I have over 30 years of audio listening experience with everything that could be considered high end or mid or low end.
The facts are the facts. One man's listening pleasure is another man's displeasure.
Believe people when they say that the room, and placement are critical for getting nice sound. I say nice sound, but I have to say that while the sound is ok for the most part, it is not high-end nor is it worth the money that these cost whether new or used.
Build quality is embarrassing. 9 paper cone midrange drivers, heavily equalized to 'try' and produce 20 to 20,000 Hz is just an embarrassment. Spring clips for connections?
The sound, as I say is ok. But to the reviewers who say these speakers can produce low freq bass, well I take extreme issue with that. I have a Paradigm Servo-15 for low bass, not to mention a pair of Klipschhorns AND Cerwin-Vega RE-38's. Have I made my point yet? I know what low accurate loud bass is. Truth be told, my CV's kick the crap out of any speaker I have heard for bass, but that is another review.
I can honestly see why many people could love the sound of the Bose 901's. My father does. However he is also of the mentality to leave the bass and treble controls (just forget about a regular eq for him) in the off position because he does not like loud music, 'altered' music, nor does he like dance-music type bass. He does like the artificial imaging that the Bose speakers attempt from silly reflections. To my father's credit he does not consider himself an audiophile nor would he argue that my other equipment mentioned above does not just totally outclass the Bose 901's.
Forget about the 901's in a HT setup, just forget about it.
Forget about using the 901's for a party with some trance, hip-hop or dance music.
I have some really diverse jazz and blues cds that sound ok with the 901's, the silly direct/reflect characteristics of these speakers add a nice ambience when used for low level background music.
Vocals are accurate and clear, as they should be for (9!) midrange drivers.
I only bought the 901's in the first place because my father was excited about them, and I had enough money to get them even with all my other gear.

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You name a speaker company, I have either owned it or listened critically to it.

If you want bone jarring loud bass then buy the big Cerwin-Vegas

If you want real imaging I really like Martin-Logan (I realize the price tag)

If you want HT speakers then buy the Paradigm speakers and Servo-15 sub

If you want to buy the Bose 901's then do not use any of these reviews as a basis for your decision, but please set aside a lot of time to listen to these before you buy them. If possible take them home for 2 weeks for a no pressure audition in your own home. I gave the 901's a '1' for value rating because of the embarrassing build quality. I gave them a '2' for overall rating because they provide nice background music for everyday sound, or parties (but do you really need to spend ~$1000 dollars to do this?!!?)