The 901's were so terrible that Bose reps pulled their products from dealers who set up demos to compare them too decent speakers. I saw this happen when B&W came out with the DM 14 to specifically target the 901. For $100 more than the 901, the B&W had good, accurate bass, a bigger, more accurate midrange sound (although a bit slower than 3 way B&W's with a dedicated midrange), and an really good tweeter. The frequency response was within a half decibel of flat from 80 cps to 19000, and was down only 3db at 65 cps. Although I ran no tone controls on my 4 that were powered by a Phase Linear 400, when I sold a pair to a pal who was given an old Marantz 125 wpc receiver, I realized that a some bass boost was a good thing. There is a reason Bose quit selling through good audio stores: The 901 was very famous and made just about anything sound good when compared to it. They were great for making a lot of noise, but not so good for most music.
Bose 901