look up:)

weak bass( you need powered subwoofer)

very good product....musical scene is very wide....incredible power .....naturality....interesting styling...

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Bose 601,Nordmende 100,Audio research,Bose 301,Bose 100,omni audio

The most natural sound reproduction

none

I must say, the controversy surrounding these speakers is astounding. First off let me start by stating I have recently graduated from one of the best music schools in the country with a bachelor's degree in music performance. I have always been interested in the Bose 901 because its concept reflects that of the results of Dr. Bose's research conducted at the concert hall. Dr. Bose wanted to emulate the ambience of the concert hall in a speaker system that could be used at home. How did he achieve this? Well, 11% of the sound directly impacted the listener in the concert hall (one driver in front) while 80% reached the listener indirectly. Being a classically trained musician these speakers naturally appealed to me. I recently saw some Bose 901 series II speakers posted on ebay from a local merchant so I jumped at the opportunity to hear these famous speakers there is soooo much talk about. I must tell you, the experience excited me so much, I am beginning my search for the iconic Bose 901's. The voices sounded very natural, the strings rich, the brass and winds true in timrbe, a solid but tight bass, as well as crisp clean highs. These speakers seam like the perfect fit for the classical enthusiest. Probably the most difficult instrument to reproduce on a speaker and retain it's orginal tonal quality is the French Horn. I must say, the famous horn solo in the opening of Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel never sounded better! My expererience with the Series II left me puzzled to as why there is so much controversy over these speakers. Are people more concerned about the equipment and not the sound? Is it because Bose is not trendy to the true audiophile? Is is because the artificial lows found in hip-hop music are not reproduced to the defening levels required!!! I feel this might be one of the biggest complaints about the 901's. People want more Bass. Well, the speakers were designed at with the concert hall in mind. Orchestras play in concert halls and rap artists typically don't. Buy speakers that will give you the best result for your musical taste. If you listen to hip-hop, these may not be the speakers for you. Yes it is a bit silly you have to run the speakers through an equalizer to compensate for the 9 full-range (mid-range) drivers. However fs you want true realistic sound that comes from acoustical sources, these are the speakers for you! Now I only had a brief encounter with these speakers and I am sold, I reccommend you listen to them with your ears to see if you agree with my impression.

Musical and with little fatigue.
Excellent for listening "out of the sweet spot" and in large rooms that will be occupied by many others.
Small and appear to have high WAF.
Great value, especially used.
Compact yet capable of high spl levels.
Can be hung from the ceiling (for those with little cone pokers)
A great speaker for those that just what to get lost in the music, without regard to all the clinical, over analyzation and concern for every minor aspect of the equipments operation.

Need good quality, high power amplifer for the best performance.
The equalizer is a bit cheezy.
Missing the sparkle of a good tweeter.
Somewhat room depend for good response.

Like some many other reviewers, I must admit to liking the 901 even though Im not suppose too. I remember listening to a pair in the early 70s, powered by Phase Linear 400s and being astounded at the output of these little, unconventional speakers. I was in my teens and just starting to acquire true hifi equipment. My mentors- friends dads were into "real" hifi and so I went the audiophile route and purchased JBLs, Marantz etc and have been "upgrading" ever since. Now, years later and tiring of the whole audiophile equipment game, Ive become a music lover and not an equipment chaser. So after seeing a pair of pristine 901 Series Twos for sale, I thought I would give them an honest chance. I purchased a well regarded QSC pro amp with 200wpc and gave them a try. Well, I was quite shocked that they sounded as good as they did! I listened to Jazz, Rock, Bluegrass and some Ambient/Trance stuff. All sounded musical and very enjoyable. The bite and punch they have is similar to my horns, but without the "in your face" type of radiation. . I think that the reflected sound really helps to eliminate some of the fatigue that higher decible listen can produce. They also have that big sound that planars have. Another excellent attribute is that they dont have a sweet spot as such. Because of the reflected sound, being off-axis of the speakers doesnt diminish the balance and the frequency response too much. It changes, but doesnt degrade like most speakers. So for multi-listeners, they are great.
If set up correctly and fed plenty of clean power, they are truly a musical speaker. I tried five other amps and found that tight, solid bass reproduction with clean midrange really requires adequate power. And for the Series II, I would say 100wpc minimum. I wont say they are as accurate or as detailed as most of my other speakers, but they are an easy listen and have a spatial presentation that gives them a presence that is unlike any other speaker Ive owned.
Im planning on replacing all the old caps in the eq and upgrading all the switches and connectors. I think that should have a very positive effect on its operation and sound. I will not be selling all my other speakers just yet, but I will be spending alot of my time with these.

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A/D/S

Look different
Articulate highs and mid range

This review is for the Bose 901 series IV. I purchase a set of them off of ebay as a fixer up project as they required new surrounds. Replaced the surrounds with cloth version and hooked everything up including the correct 901 active EQ. The amp used to drive them is a Carver A500x which is rated at 250 watts per channel RMS into 8 ohms. The speakers sound excellent. Bass response was great up until 125 watts per channel at which point the speakers started to emit some bottoming out sounds when producing very deep base notes. To be fair I am not sure if this is a limitation in the speaker or if it is just age and the fact that they had new surrounds that were not rubber and hence the cone movement may have been altered. I have since started using a 100 watt amp with a subwoofer out and purchased a Anthena 10'' Powered sub unit. This in combination with the 901s is fantastic as the speakers are now only handling the high and mid notes and the sub woofer is filling the room with lots of clean bass.
All in all I would have to say that the 901's are good speakers. Some day I hope to hear a new pair and see what they can do.

Excellent mid range. Wide dynamic range. When positioned backwards with the 8 drivers facing the listener, it provides a very wide dispersed sound filling up the room nicely. Almost no hot spots or dead spots. Sounds big.

Thundering bass, like in movie theaters, is impossible with these speakers, although it will produce low notes. Recommend the use of subwoofers to augment bass. Powered subwoofers would be ideal. Heavy cloth muffles high frequency sounds--recommend replacing with a screen or completely removing the rear cover. Very hard to set up as it uses its surroundings to radiate the sound, even carpeted floors will reduce its efficiency. Use of Active Equalizer makes it impractical to connect regular speakers to tha same amp that drives the 901's. However, subwoofer may be connected to the same amp as the subwoofer system blocks out the damaging high frequencies the Active Equalizer produces. Connecting regular speaker systems with the 901 can burn out the tweeters. Pricey.

I bought this Bose 901 Series V back in the mid 80's when I was still in the military. Back then this speaker technology was one of the cutting edge. Compared to today's technology where audio reproduction and playback became intelligent or digitized, it became apparent that the 901's Direct Reflecting Technology has passed its prime. I still have the 901 and still using them, however, differently than what it was originally designed to be used. First thing I did was remove the back cloth. The heavy cloth horribly muffles the mid-highs and the high frequencies. Instead, I replaced them with nylon screen. Same material that is used in screen doors and windows. Made a big difference in sound. Crisp highs are free to radiate now. Next I turned the speakers backwards. That's right-the 8 drivers are now facing forward toward the listener. And then I added a Cerwin Vega subwoofer to augment the bass. The result: better sounding sound SYSTEM. The 901's wide dynamic range and good mid range reproduction with 8 wide dispersing drivers fills the room with great sounding music. The subwoofer provides the low thundering bass that you can set loud without overdriving your 901's. The highs dispersed wide across the room. With this set up, the 901 is louder. It doesn't rely on reflective walls to deliver its sound. Although the 8 drivers still produces a direct/reflecting effect as the sound hit the side walls of the room, the result is overwhelming. It sounds big, all round--almost no dead spots. Directivity of sound is still present ;you can tell what sounds are coming from the left or right speaker. Its almost like you 're listening in your headphones. You're all engulf in sounds but with almost no hot spots where the sound comes on louder. The fun part is the thundering bass. 10" or bigger subwoofer will complement the big mid range sound of the 901. If you feel your 901 is garbage, before you toss it, try this mod. Use the active equalizer still. Experiment with its placement---wide or narrow. Don't use it in too small of a room. I set mine up in a 15ft x 20ft with an 7 ft ceiling, carpeted wood floor, walls are drywall. Use a heavy gauge good quality speaker wire so you can take advantage of the 901's dynamic range. I thought about selling this speakers this holiday season, but nah.

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Spacious sound ,clear natural sound ,plenty of bass when set up proper,clear highs

Setup

I purchased these speakers because I've always heard of them,I've had other speakers such as PIONEER,SANSUI,JBL,and KLIPSCH .The 901's series 6 gives me a natural sound,that no other speaker has given me, it's very spacious in sound ,the sound is okay ,the sound is clear enough for me to enjoy,there's no such thing as a perfect speaker it depends on the person an their taste,more than a few really dislike this speaker just because of. You need some decent power to amplify these speaker,to make them sound the way they should,I have the Denon DRA -685 Receiver,100 watts high current,plenty of power for these speakers,I really don't play over 30 watts from this amp,A true 30 watts is pretty loud,What a lot of people don't understand with Bose you're paying the hefty price of new technology,and design.There's a lot speaker companies out there suggesting to you why you should purchase their speaker,and why their speaker is the best,Bose never said that their 901'S is the best speaker ever maid,they said that's it's the best speaker that they have made for their company. This 901"s has been around since the late 60"s, still selling to this present day,this speaker have stood the test of time,not many manufactors can say that.If you're intrested in hearing how this speaker sound ,make sure that you listen to this speaker in the proper setup.Please don't audition this speaker @ a Bose outlet store?Over all the speaker (SOUND) pretty good to my ears.

Customer Service

They worked well with me

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None

Pice and availability
Sound quality

Need proper set up
Need moderate power

I purchased a set of Bose 901 Series V with stands and an equlizer last weekend from an enthusiast who was moving to a smaller home.
I set these up in my family room/kitchen powered by a Harmon- Kardon 2100 60w amp with the Bose Eq in line between the amp and a Sony ES preamp.
They sounded incredible
The room is 16 x 30.
I cranked up the volume for a couple of Traveling Wilbruy tunes, the dynamics and the soundstage were breathtaking.
The teenaged alien that lives in our home put on some hardcore rap and his "rage mix" cd- you should have heard the thumping bass- no"musical" intsrament produced those tones but they did shake the house.
All good things must come to an end - my spouse said that the Bose "didn't fit in the room" and she was right. I swapped them out with the KLH model Six's ( great classic acoustic suspesnion speakers!) that I have in our living room.
The Bose here are powered by a Parasound amp of the same wattage. The speakers physically fit better and sounded great.
I listened to the same Wilbruys to campare.
The living room is wider but not as long, about 20x14.
The Parasound doe not seem as powerful and the sound does not seem as dramatic as it had. I will adjust controls and placement to fine tune .
I did listen to a Hydan orchestral piece a couple of times and the sound was beautiful, very natural.
I know that these are not the "best" speakers available- I do not have the resources of Shaquille O'Neal.
Even if I did I dont "need" nuclear powered tweeters or crossovers designed by Jesus.
These speakers can help bring beautiful music into your home at a reasonable cost( and look good- in a 63 chevy kind of way).
If you can set them up correctly and have the electronics to power them they can represent a value.

Can handle lots of power Look cool Sound great in large rooms

Need a powerful Amp with good headroom Not good in small rooms

Found some Bose 901 series II sitting in my parents basement and was about to get rid of them when I decided to check out what they were all about. Its amazing how much controversey seems to surround their performance so I decided to purchase a high powered 250 watt per channel rms Carver Amp and hook them up. They sounded excellent once placed properly in the room. I tried all kinds of music material and was really impressed. Then came the real test, I purchased some reggae with really deep bass and pushed the Carver Amp to 300 watts per channel when peaking during very deep notes. I found that the 901's produced lots of bass but chamber noise became noticeable at just over 250 watts. Needless to say that by that time every piece of furniture in the room was vibrating and I had the bass levels set at an unnaturally high level even for the music material. The great thing with the series II is that their surrounds are cloth and therefore do not degrade like foam. I find it amazing that I could push a speaker from the early 70's that hard so overall I will have to say that given thier sound quality and ability to handle power they are a great find. I have ordered some series IV with rotted surrounds which I intend to replace with cloth surrounds. I hear that the newer acoustic matrix design will elminate the chamber noise that I experieced with the series II so I will post my test result for that series in due course.

Reproduces voices and instruments convincingly!

Let me think.....Hmmmmmmmm.

I purchased my 901 VI when I became disgusted over high end Audio and so called Audiophiles. I knew all Audiophiles hated Bose. This was my rebellion,he..he...he. I used to consider myself an Audiophile, but most Audiophiles seem more interested in the equipment than the music. They are in constant compatition with one another over who has the best equipment and who has better hearing. I, like most Audiophiles did not like Bose speakers, although I did not know why, other than all Audiophiles seem to dislike Bose(I will give you the reason to this a little later),and I was an Audiophile, right? Since the 901s have been around over 30 years, I decided to give them a listen in my own home(Bose has a 30 home trial). I found these Speakers very easy to install, and placement was just as easy. My room is 10'x 12'. I am using Single Ended Triode Monoblock Tube Amps. at 40 watts each. These Amps. use the 300B Tube as a driver, and an 805 as a power Tube. Let me say I did not need any more power than 40 watts. These are 40 quality watts!The sound in my opinion is excellent! The instruments, and the human voice is very natural. I truly want to listen more and more. I am drawn into the music, which is what it is supposed to be about. Keep in mind that everyone has different hearing and different people like different things. Why do you think there are so many different manufacturers? Since you are spending your money, then you should purchase what sounds right to you!!!!!! I would like to point out some things, such as the Bose 901s have been around for over 35 years(with some modifications done by Bose). This is an amazing track record, and I don't think Bose is strictly relying on those individules that are into Hip-hop, dance music, and head bangers! There are a lot more speakers on the market that cater to that type of music. Bose is a multimillion dollar corporation that has the resources to hire the best Acoustical Engineers, best cabinet makers, and has the resources to purchase the most exotic materials. Why do you think Bose has not gone that route? Their flagship is the 901 VIs! If all thses high end $3000.00, $5000.00, $10,000.00 are so accurate, an so good(at least that what magazines like Stereophile would like you to believe), how come these Speaker manufactures change their model lineup every 1 to 2 years? Ask any Acoustical Engineer, and he/she will tell you speaker technology does not advance that rapidly. The high end manufactures are trying to suck you in with the help from Audio magazines. With out Audio companies there would be no magazines. So Audio magazines have a vested interested in trying to get you to continously purchase the newest best thing. One of the reason high end stores and the Salespeople that work their don't like Bose is because you can purchase the 901s directly from Bose. So that cuts down on the stores sales and it's profits. Another reason is because the speakers are mass produced. High end stores and their Sales people like small companies that produce in small quantities keeping the prices high. I'm sure if Bose was a small company producing only limited numbers of 901s at $3000.00 a pair, high end stores would be interested! I remember Stereophile magazine doing interviews with musicians and asking them what type of equipment they used to playback their music on. One musician responded by saying he uses a Sony boombox and felt the boombox convayed all of his music. Another said he uses a Technics rack component system and loves it! I remembered the woman saying she is using an RCA system with Proac Speakers. Not exactly high end and not exactly what Stereophile was hoping for. I do rember one musician having a high end (expensive) system, but this was the exception. What an embarassement, that the people who make the music, are satisfied listening through an inexpensive system, and loving it! Please remember,the words: Slamm,macro-dynamics,soundstage,etc...Do not exist in music. These are buzz words created by writers to draw your attention.Do yourself a favor:go listed to live music, then order the Bose 901 VIs, and see how close they come to producing the instruments. I have never dealt with a better company than Bose. Their customer support is second to none. Real Speakers just play music. And that in my opinion is what the 901 VIs do!

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Other Speakers used? Paragon "The regents", Infinity Kappa 8, Hales Revelation, and others...To numerous to mention.

Musical,scale and drama.Do not sound like boxs.

Need quality electronics to reveal their strengths-certainly not surround sound receivers and cheap/mid priced CD or DVD players.Will only sound good in some rooms.Solid masonary walls with a slightly textured surface seem to work best.

Reading these reviews is very interesting.Unfortunately most of them have been written by real punters who probably have never heard a decent system.For starters you can never hope to get decent sound from any system unless you have a really good digital or analogue source,and this usually means that you have to pay at least $2500 U.S..Rubbish in means rubbish out and the vast majority of C.D. players sound really bad.They simply don't have any convincing image depth or precision.In this regard even cheap SACD or DVD audio players are much better although the limited software on these,at this stage means they are not worth bothering with. I borrowed some 901s from a friend.Over the years I have owned and used all sorts of speakers from BBC type monitors,Edgar horns,Klipsch,Quad electrostatic,Tannoy dual concentics and various other point source devices.I know what good imageing is. I was amazed to hear that the 901s in a favourable setting actually do image pretty well.On good recordings voices do hang in space between the speakers and you can distinctly hear backing vocals arranged pricicisely within the soundstage.This certainly isn't as sharply etched as you get from an electrostatic or point source but of course there are many people who would also argue that this degree of sharpness is actually a studio contrivance and that you will never hear this sort of thing in a live performance.I tend to agree but this doesn't mean it is still not very enjoyable,and something that a lot of audiophles get addicted to.Its also interesting to note that some of the most highly regarded reference speakers like the Yamaha NS1000,NS1200 and ATC,probably because they use dome mids,also do not have this sort of image precision. What the 901s do well is convey scale,dynamics and emotion in the music and outside of an enourmous full range horn system do orchestral music better than anything I have heard. There is a purity that comes from useing fullrange drivers and no crossover and the 901s show this. So even a hardenned audiophile like me can enjoy these.They are certainly one of the most musical speakers I have heard and if you listen mostly to orchestral music these really should be heard.The caveat here though is that you should never buy these unless you have tried them in your own home because in the wrong room or even room location they can sound terrible.

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None really-these are very much ther own thing.