If I had a dollar for every speaker I have listened to in car and home I would be a rich. I just helped a neighbor out with a brand new set of 901 series VI.He was hooking them up to a very cheap 50 watt amp thru the supplied Bose Eq and man did they sound bad. We hooked them up with the bose supplied Eq to my 500 watt Carver amp and played some cd's on a denon transport. WOW did these speakers come alive. I then tested them using a test cd and I must admit they sound great. I have never been much of a Bose fan until now. My personal speakers of choice are B&W. These 901 need to be pushed with some clean power, otherwise you are wasting your time and money. I listened for quite a while and the only minus I hear is the lack of sub response, which these speakers were not designed for that. Add a subwoofer and you would have a great sound system.

I'm dirt poor, which is like hell in the audio business, I'm a poor college student with a good ear. Oh the curse! Let me tell you a little story that will amuse you who will post yet another 1 star rating for this pair of speakers.
My friend who knew nothing about audio-anything wanted to listen to some speakers. So I took her to a high end audio place. She's looking, (we haven't begun listening yet) and then she made the comment "Man, if I had money, I'd buy me a pair of Bose. They are the speakers I want!" Dead silence. All conversations in the room stopped. A customer made the first move about 30 seconds afterwards. "Is that your girlfriend or wife?" he asked. "Hell NO!" I replied. He patted my back and gave me a firm handshake, and said "Hhew, you had me scared for a moment." Then the sales people refused to service me. I had to explain for about an hour to everybody in the place how she is tone deaf and ignorant, etc...

And tone deaf she was. She liked the Bose systems. But then again, she couldn't tell the difference between a Denon mini and a AIWA from circuit city. She couldn't tell the different between the Kenwoods at Circuit City and a pair of DynAudio Contours. So, this is the profile of a person who thinks Bose 901's are great. Label buyers, not audiophiles.

My little pair of B&W DM302's BLOW THE CRAP out of these. We won't even talk about what a pair of Vandersteens will do to utterly devastate these crappy 901's.

I might not be able to afford the best speakers in the world, but at least I have my dignity, and I don't own a pair of 901's.

Those who think this is the greatest thing since Heidi Klum, go to a real hi fi audio store, bring your 901's (because they won't sell them there, I can promise you that!!!) ask them for a pair of Dynaudios in the same price range, or maybe a pair of vandersteens. If they have a pair of Klipsch, why not, about 60% the price of a pair of 901's. Listen to your 901's, then one of those, then your 901's again. Oh, yeah, hope your wife didn't wash that pair of jeans with the receipt for the Bose in it.... Weep bitterly, try to get a refund, and get some real speakers.

"Many are those who follow the path of destruction..." (Bible) Funny, I didn't know Jesus owned a pair of 901's...

The vast majority of people who buy Bose products . . . new or used . . . do not use this web site. Those of you who are obsessed with speading "The Truth" should consider a different avenue, perhaps passing out leaflets in front of Bose retailers. The souls you are trying to save do not come here.
It's interesting that obsessive/compulsive audiophiles rarely,if ever, get ridiculed or criticized with the same ferocity and venom for spending $1,000s on exotic cables or on other products with metaphysical powers but pity the poor slob who buys some Bose speakers and has the nerve to say "Hey, they sound good to me." I have no arguement with people who think Bose products sound terrible and are grossly overpriced. Fine. I happen to agree. The problem is the unmitigated arrogance, intolerance and pompous attitude often displayed by people who use this site as a means of claiming intellectual superiority. Give it a break!

Bought a pair of slightly used Bose 901 IVs at a garage sale for $200 to use as side channels in a 7.1 channel surround system. Don't need frequency extremes in sides are intended to fill the front to back image of the in my listening room which is 26 feet deep. The non-directional, direct reflecting characteristics of the 901's fill the front-back soundstage seamlessly and serve my purpose very well especially at the price I paid.
And, for all the audiophile elitists out there, I know that the ideal surround set-up is "identical speakers" or ones from the same Mfg . . . my other 5.1 channels are all Vandersteens. While, I still think Bose products at thier MSRPs are a joke, my $200 used 901s are doing a 5 star job on the "sidelines".

The problem with this review section, it is being severely abused by people who don't understand the significance of the rating. One guy gives the Bose 901's 5 stars, based on the fact he paid $200 for them.
Ok pal, wake up.
Bose 901's and EQ cost WELL over $1,200 sometimes $1,600. They DO NOT rate 5 stars, they get 1 star because they are worth $200, but not many times that...that is misleading.
As far as an RSAC tester goes- name ONE record lable in the history of time that would use Bose to produce their product? NONE!!! They can't. Any speaker that incredible poor cannot be used in RSAC situations.
ONE star yet again---the TRUTH.

Just bought a pair of new 901's from Bose factory store. It sounds like a real concert when I put on a Yanny's CD in my living room. Then I saw all the reviews on this site...
Unconvinced that I got the most ban for my buck, I went on auditioning in a number of "high end" stores. None of these stores gave a shopping experience as pleasant the Bose store did. A lot of the sales reps are just like the people who gave Bose one star out of five on this site.

Bose 901 sounds a lot better than a lot of speakers that are thousands of dollars more expensive! Over, few other speaker of comparable price or sound quality can fit into the trunk of my car, not to mention how they will fit into my living room.

If iMac was designed not to look like a computer, I would say Bose 901 is still the only speaker that doesn't look like a speaker.

If someone wants to find a better value than the Bose 901, enjoy shopping! I have tried and I am really tired of it. Now the 901's are in my living room and I like them very much!

Ever since 1971 when I heard Bose 901's for the first time, I wanted a pair. But there always seemed to be more important things to spend my money on. My first pair of speakers were Suoperscope's (1973), Fisher w/15" woofers(1977), KLHtowers (1993). Some low end stuff, huh!!

Then I went for the good stuff, figured to spend about $1500. But by then I had heard enough good sounding speakers to know better then to WASTE my bucks on 901's. I'll put my Paradigm Monitor 7's and Velodyne CT-120 sub against 901's 24/7. Total price for these speakers, about $1100. Added CC-350 center, Mon 3's rear, and a big screen TV.....Home Theater.

THE BEST THING I NEVER DID WAS TO BUY BOSE 901'S!!!

My father has a set of Bose901 series II's. I remember that even when they came out they were well though of, in being innovative, and were among the first speakers that alerted the public to the fact that a disperse soundfield could be a pleasant thing to listen to. Problem is 901's are notoriously hard to place in a room correctly. When they're not at the right height, and positioned right, they sound like sh**. When everything is good however, they make some music sound downright sensational, almost. I remember reading reviews back then that said it takes a little bit of getting used to (the Bose sound), the lose imaging but gain in their ability to envelop you in sound. Now for many this wasn't a problem, especially those who really wanted to listen to rock, and even for symphonic music, but for chamber music, and softer passages they suck.
When it came time for me to buy speakers I looked at the Bose901's and after about three minutes decided that I hate their sound for the music I like. But they're old speakers, an old design and the updates have been dissappointing.
The newer versions are terrible and cheap looking. I can't understand why they
still put them out when they're not perpared to work on the design.

The AM5's which everyone was astounded by when they first came out were a pretty cute idea but an old one which Bose deserves credit for ressurecting. Sat-subs are very popular these days. Bose just botched the implementation.

Bose are good for clock radio's and their wave boombox but after that there's
little that makes you want any of their other speakers. Even the clock radios are over priced. Hopefully Bose will wake up the fact that their new designs suck and go back to being the innovators that the once were.

R-S

A lot of bose bashing here.
I used to play a lot of classical music myself, and even have a royal schools of music degree.

I have several sets of speakers, among them a pair of 901 VI's. Definetly not the best speakers available, trebles and upper mids can tend to be harsh and lack the final bit of transperency. But they do do one thing well. It's fun to listen to them, they somehow make music come alive. I have them in my relaxing room where I like to read and listen. BTW: I had my ears tested recently. I still hear upto 16KHz. How many of you hear that well?

Base? Some people comment that 4 1/2 inch drivers can't produce base. True. BUT an array of small drivers can produce more and deeper base then the single driver could. If you don't believe it, ask any physicist specialised in wave-mechanics. The 901's have two 4 driver arrays in the back. Pretty decent base.

These wretched speakers are incredibly expensive here. Since I do not follow ad hype I was able to evaluate them level headedly. They are grainy, with poor focus, no detail and poor bass. And to the German fellow: my audiometric exam indicates I hear up to 20khz, and I say the most violence Bose does is between 16 and its upper level of 17. There is NOTHING to hear above that.
Since every speaker on te market at the price does well better in all areas, the sad Bose 901's get 1 star.
Boom and sizzle does not make music live: it kills it.