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Bose 901...really

The good book says that there is a time and place for everything. Even Bose 901s?

I am building a pool house addition to my house, 36 X 26 with a cathedral ceiling about 24 ft. The entire interior is hard surface wood, glass, and concrete, so it will be very reverberant. I want to install a set of multichannel speakers. For the fronts, I am all set, with NHT1259 woofers in a 3 cu ft wall cavity, along with three Dynaudio monitors, mounted on the wall. (I have all this on hand). The rear wall includes a very large set of windows. They say that if the world gives you lemons, make lemonade. Why not use that expanse of glass and wood as a reflector for Bose 901s? I have a hunch it would work quite well. And the darned things a cheap as speakers go these days.
eldartford

Showing 9 responses by inpepinnovations

inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
Who among us has a 'typical' living room or listening room? I knew that the 901s would do well in your 'special' environment. As for imaging, especially for solo instrument, you need to orient the speakers with 'opposite' toe-in, i.e. the inner four speakers relecting more to the center.

Salut, Bob P.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
If you get the Bose 901s, get the version used for outdoor concerts, which should mitigate against any humidity problems. They should work fine in those conditions and the equilizer does give you some control over the brightness caused by the glass surfaces. Not sure about what the price might be for used outdoor 901s.
BTW, I have found the 901s to be excellent rear channel speakers for home theatre, due exactly to their 'direct/reflecting' properties and healthy bass.

Salut, Bob P.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
Eldartford, I will not take that bet, because I feel that the Bose will do fine in the environment that you are describing. If you run full bass to the rear speakers (Bose, I presume) you will be surprised at the amount that these can render.
I still use the 901s in my 'B' system and they run flat to 30 Hz easily and the equaliser is quite usefull, which you will see (hear) when you start setting up your system in that highly reflective surfaced room. They are also quite sensitive, so power will not be a problem. I run mine off a Dynaco ST-70.
Salut, Bob P.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
Eldartford, I think that your results reflect (excuse the pun)more your room than the overall response of the Bose. In my secondary system where I use the Bose 901s, I did not find the 630 peak nor the severe rool-off in the highs. I did find, however, a +6 db peak at 40 Hz and about a 6db/octave rolloff in the highs starting at about 8000 Hz.

My room is a typical 14 by 12 room with 10 ft ceiling, not the very 'special' room that you are running the Bose 901s. The larger the room, I think, the more the highs will be rolled off.

I am a bit surprised, however, at your comment on the loud bass. What makes you think that the bass is 'overloaded'?

Curious,

Bob P.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
Eldartford, perhaps you are overloading the input to the pre-amp? can you increase the gain on your power amp so that you can reduce the signal necessary to drive the amp. Then the Bose equalizer need not output so much and you can reduce the output from the additional equalizer. But I am sure that you have thought of this and are worried about the noise that might be introduced by this solution.

Also, close mic readings are not want you want anyway. At any rate you seem to have 'tamed' that broad boost with the extra equaliser. Now you just ned to work on the Bose eualizer overloading distortion problem.

Salut, Bob p.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
My original 901s were the II version - acoustic suspension with the resonance pushed up to 200 Hz. The equalizer compensated and the boost at 20 HZ was about 40db. They sounded very good and bass was flat to 30 Hz, but I did need to drive it with a HK Citation 16 and the meters showed 200 watts on peak pipe organ music.

The switche to a more 'efficient' vented model was a step backward in my opinion.

Bob P.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
Rodman, I have exactly the same recording and experienced the same sensation with my 901-II and the HK citation 16 setup. 16 small speakers in array can move a fair amount of air without needing extensive excursions in the voice coils. Granted I played back at 93db peaks and my room wasn't the largest, but it was capable of bass to 20 Hz. The 901-VI that I have in my #2 system do not seem to have that same capability, however, which is probably due to the 'vent' design as opposed to the sealed or acoustic suspension of the 901-II design.

If carefully installed and under the right conditions, the Bose 901s are not as bad as audiophiles would have others believe.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
Eldartford,
While the Bose 901-VI fit the bill in my number 2 system (driven by Crown D-150 amp), my number 1 system has Totem Mani 2 speakers driven by (egads) a Nakamichi 600 power amp.
Talk about not being wed or influenced by 'only one way to get good sound' thinking! Ultimately, it is the sound that counts and not what 'audiophiles' think about 'too cheap to be good' solutions.

Bob P.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
Wireless, there are no tweeters to blow.
My experience with the Bose 901 in 'normal' rooms is that I usually have to rolloff the top end with the help of an equalizer to get the sound that I wish at the listening location. In listening I look for natural tone to violins and snare and cymbals, not the 'hot' tone that seems to be the fad these days. If you attend symphony concerts you might be surprised at how 'not hot' and not-detailed sounding the violins are, but yet you will not want for soft beautifull tone.
There is the old joke about the audiophile attending a live concert and complaining that there wasn't enough bass nor highs.
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