I had a pair of AR2ax as my first speakers and they were among the early, great speakers. but in grad school was able to buy the 901I II's. No comparison for party sound. The 901s filled the room in a stone house with 2 1/2 ft thick stone walls and in apartments my wife and I lived in.
No accurate soundstage but Great Wall of music sound from anywhere in the room. Seems to me they cost me $1100. Used today for $3 - $4 hundred they'll be hard to beat. Recommended 100 wpc but I never cranked close to that, even in the stone house.
watch out not only for the surrounds but make sure you get the appropriate equalizer. Bouncing 8 speakers off the back walls required a boost in treble. Anyone who says no base can't be real, though. There is even a button on the equalizer to filter out the lowest frequency signals. Bars and small outdoor venues would make maximum use of their 275 watt power handling turning them around to blast the back 8 speakers directly out.
if you go for them, check the sound with the equalizers. Just like my B&O 8002 needed a rebuild because of dried out caps, the Bose equalizer needed recapping because of a serious hum it developed. I bought a used equalizer then went to the other extreme with a set of Thiel 2.4 with the Thiel SS1 sub for pure accuracy. There's no comparison but the Thiel combined for well over $3k used v $300? Buy the Bose if that's your budget.
No accurate soundstage but Great Wall of music sound from anywhere in the room. Seems to me they cost me $1100. Used today for $3 - $4 hundred they'll be hard to beat. Recommended 100 wpc but I never cranked close to that, even in the stone house.
watch out not only for the surrounds but make sure you get the appropriate equalizer. Bouncing 8 speakers off the back walls required a boost in treble. Anyone who says no base can't be real, though. There is even a button on the equalizer to filter out the lowest frequency signals. Bars and small outdoor venues would make maximum use of their 275 watt power handling turning them around to blast the back 8 speakers directly out.
if you go for them, check the sound with the equalizers. Just like my B&O 8002 needed a rebuild because of dried out caps, the Bose equalizer needed recapping because of a serious hum it developed. I bought a used equalizer then went to the other extreme with a set of Thiel 2.4 with the Thiel SS1 sub for pure accuracy. There's no comparison but the Thiel combined for well over $3k used v $300? Buy the Bose if that's your budget.