I cant understand how anyone can say that they couldn't feel the bass from these speakers. There are many factors to making these speakers sound good. Were they placed correctly in a large enough room? Were they correctly in phase? Was the equalizer correctly hooked up? What about the other components and cables, were they up to spec? Mine sounded terrible when I first got them home, and took several movements and configurations to get them sounding right. Perhaps they were under powered, they seem to be very power hungry, and the sound seems to just fill in at higher volumes. They can produce very impressive bass for their size, but need power well on the far side of 200 watts rms to do so, besides, people use subs with everything these days, why not. Its true, there are much better values for money, and better sounding speakers, I think they make great fronts in a home theatre, add a good sub and a couple of good Hi end surrounds, perhaps even a centre, and you have great surround sound potential.
Overall Rating: 4, pretty impessive for their size, and for their lack of woofers and tweeters.

Bose 901's are what they are-unique. No, they do not have a flat sound. Theyhave poor imaging, and poorly defined bass. These are not speakers for the
critical, demanding listener. What they do do is fill a room with an inaccurate, but pleasing sound. Please note that an active equalizer is included with these speakers. This system is designed with the "smiley curve" in mind. The bass is boosted automatically during low listening levels. These speakers give the novice listener a full, rich sound. Bose 901's are good for larger rooms in the home where everybody can't sit in the "sweet spot". In my opinion, 99% of people don't know what quality sound sounds like. They like sizzle and oomph. Let them enjoy these speakers for what they are worth- lively and carefree. I once owned a pair. I gave them away to someone when I bought serious, quality loudspeakers. Now I think I should have saved them for my kitchen.

Twenty years ago I heard these incredible sounding speakers in my high school dance and I was left with this memory of 901's being the most amazing speakers ever. Five years ago shopping for speakers my budget allowed for the 601's, although I wanted to purchase 901's.I must say that the 601's sound great. They reproduce a solid bass without overwhelming the mid-range. The treble delivery is crisp and I'am more than satisfied with the 601's. I guess bang for buck i would highly recommend 601 to anyone(the stars are for 601's).

My first high fi product was a pair of Bose 901s. I bought them and then, due to moves, had them stored for about a year. When I landed, I had two homebuilt SuperTiger transistor amps (From Pop Science, I think), a Crown IC-150 pre, an AR TT with Shure V-15 cartridge, AND a Soundcraftsman EQ. This was 1973.
I spent almost ALL listening jumping up and down trying to find the proper setting on that darn equalizer (yes, I had the set it and forget it BOSE EQ too)--- the Soundcraftsman was for EQing each disc/cut.

This was an unsatisfying time. NEVER could get the sound I wanted.

I sold them to a housewife who had NO AMPLIFIER when she bought them. Looking back, I think that was wise on her part.

Since then I've heard a bunch of those tiny little deals they sell with the subwoofer. They make me think of dental offices I've known. Because my teeth hurt. Seriously, I've not heard them do anything even close to good.

Sorry, Bose. I tried to talk my 90 year old mother into a WAVE radio, but she passed.

Bob Wood

Marketing Mastery; Campy looks.

Bizarre imaging effects, one-note bass tone.

These were getting to be all the rage back when I was in the service, early to mid seventies. A guy in our outfit had four 901 series 1's, stacked in pairs. They were driven by two Phase Linear 700 power amps, and a Phase Linear preamp, the one with the noise gate and "holographic spacial enhancer" or whatever it was. We were all into good quality Stero/HiFi then, since very good gear was available to us in Japan or Hong Kong (WOW!),at almost dirt cheap prices. So of course we would do our best to impress each other with the gear we had acquired. So we go over there to hear his rig. I sit down in the sweet spot on the couch, and I immediately found myself enveloped in a weird, very intense force field of Stevie Wonder overpressure. The music was great, but the sound was like hearing the remainder of the instruments as a background, after being pounded into the interior of the bass guitar, actually the bass amplifier's speaker cone, with a huge pile driver. There was no real musical quality in it to me. ( At that time, I listened at home on my four brand new AR 3A's, through a Dynaco Quadaptor, and all topnotch electronics and source gear ). I was able to endure an excruciating five minutes or so of it before I began to lapse into an attack of nausea. I am not kidding. What a very strange sound. Impressive indeed, but I couldn't relate to it. We took our leave promptly, and to this day I still cringe when I see a Bose loudspeaker in person. But I must say it was very, very loud without a trace of any discernible conventional sort of audible distortion. If I were to suddenly find myself in possesion of a pair of Bose, I would properly dispose of them posthaste, or perhaps give them to someone I didn't like.

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NONE!

Clever marketing

Sound positively bites

Owned a pair in the late 70s when I was young, naive, and easily impressed. Heard a pair of DQ-10s a couple years later, and have never looked back. Amazing that they can still sell these things at all, let alone for $1400 or so.

BTW, why do so many of the five-star reviews look like they were cut and pasted directly from Bose product literature?

Will fill the room with sound

accuracy

About 6 years ago, my apartment was burglarized and with it my Bose 901's and all of my audio equipment. Armed with my $10,000 insurance check, I went to Hillcrest HiFi in Dallas. They are the premier supplier in this area. They sell brands like Klipsh, Paradigm, Macintosh, B&O, etc.
When I told the salesman what had been stolen from me, I got the typical negative response that you read below about the 901 system. He explained that soundstage, freq response, imaging, and tonal quality would dramatically improve if I bought some "real" speakers.
Being gullible and flush with cash, I bought a Macintosh/Paradigm/Nakamichi/B&O system and Brought it home. I must admit it had good, clean, un-muddied sound. And the fact that I had spent mega-bucks and had joined the so-called audio elite had me further convinced that I had mage a good decision.
A few months later, the police called to say that all of my gear had been located at the local pawn shop. I went down, paid the pawn dealer what he had in the equipment, and had two stereo systems.
Now I was really in business. I connected my old Bose/Carver system(cheap, mass mkt junk according to the bs you read below) and you know what? The 901's Totally...not just barely, but Totally blew away the Mega-Buck blue-blood system. I brought several of my audiophile buddies over and they were as impressed as I was with the overall superiority of the Bose sound. Fortunately, Hillcrest has a complete money-back policy and I was able to recover my funds spent on my "new" system.
I'll not argue that the speakers may be missing lacking in soundstage discernment and absolute accuracy of sound. Where they excel in in their ability to completely fill a room with sound and completely envelop the listener.
Anyway, needless to say, I developed a perspective about those who badmouth these speakers. Most are trying to justify why they overspent for audio gear and try to fall-back on some technical arguements to support their case. The radical technology in the 901's and the age of the design leaves them at a loss to explain why this product still blows away most products in it's class.
So, if you want to sit around all day with your oscilloscope, listening to test frequencies, go buy yourself some speakers recommended by the "experts". If you want a room that is filled with hard-rockin' mesmerizing sound, take a look at at pair of properly installed 901's.
One last note to those who wish to bad-mouth the quality of the Carver/Bose and the rest, Take a look on Ebay or any other auction site. 8-10 year old Carver and Bose products sell at 60-90% of their original retail value. Some of the other names I've seen thrown around by the aforementioned expets can be had for the price of a door-stop. Any rational person willing to face reality knows that the consumer makes the ultimate determination of value in the marketplace!

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none

Acurate and sound close to Real Music. Good low and high end Reproduction

Must use in STEREO 2 CHANNEL APPLICATION. NOT for HOME THEATER.

I have run my 901 series V since 1985. I use NAD 2200 bought in 1986. CROWN IC 150 Pre-amp bought in 1975. One Must Remember these are made for STEREO,they cannot create a soundstage for dolby Pro-Logic or DoLBY 5.1. When connected to an adequately Powered (100+watts/channel)STEREO SYSTEM with the correct Equalizer and Placed correctly near a reflective Wall,These are absolutely the most Realistic sounding SPEAKERS for Stereo in the home environment,REGARDLESS of PRICE.For home theater I have small JBL satilites (5) and a subwoofer driven by the Technics AX-6 the left and right JBLs sit above the 901s.

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ESS,ADVENT,JBL.

none

no highs at all, no bass at all

These are so expensive to sound so bad. I agree totally with the negative reviews. I had a set and an audio engineer friend helped me get them set up properly. All I heard was noise, and sizzling, grainy sounding highs. I wanted them to sound good. They never did. I returned them for some Paradigm studio 80's. God, these are so much better it's hard to imagine Bose even makes speakers!

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n/a

More fun than most people today can even imagine.

I wouldn't buy them today!

I have not read all of these postings, I stopped at the one from Alan Songer
because, pro or con, it is the only one that made sense. In 1975 at the age of
20, I owned two pair of 901's, a 200wpc
McIntosh amp, Crown IC-150 preamp, AR
turntable and a small stable of tape decks. This was the focal point for my
frequent Pop Culture Festivals and Space
Cowboy Roundups at my (then) New York
home. These were (usually) 72 hour events fueled by chronic quantities of very potent northern california LSD.
Don't laugh, this was more fun than anyone born during that era can even
imagine. The ecstatic joy that the Bose
901's brought to myself and to my friends make it impossible to speak one word against them. In the near 25 years
since then, my hi-fi experiences have
brought me closer and closer to audio
nirvana, sans the mega doses of that
special clear liquid. But frankly, these are the most special audio moments of my life , what else matters?
I thought audio was about brought
pleasure to the listener, I wouldn't buy this product today, but if other
people enjoy these speakers, good for
them. The five stars are for the bliss
these speakers gave myself and my very
good friends 25 years ago. I'll never
forget that, neither will my friends.
Thank you, Amar!