LOL Someone is still wasting space on these?
Bose 901 Review Well Done.
78 responses Add your response
I found after 40 years of Hi End I have just relaxed into enjoying the music again with a pair I picked up for $300.00 dollars. I have found the reviewers thoughts to be right on. That's what I love about the hobby. Enjoying the fact they play anything you throw at them. A good front end delivery and they will.surprise you. Add a good room and your good to go.
|
Interesting. I have owned every series except 3 and 5. I still own 4 pair. Series 2 were always my favorites but series 6 is fine too. Still have a pair of them, 2 pair of 2's and a pair of 1's. All are still functional. Not everyone's cup of tea and hated by many but they still can make you smile in the proper setting. Loud rock music is probably best. I haven't used any of mine in years but doesn't mean I never will. My son read somewhere that they are bringing them back. Not sure if it's true but I think they would be a hard sell as the negativity has been pushed so hard for so long. It's funny though how many real audiophiles admit to enjoying listening to them back in the good ol days. Always makes me smile. |
I just bought an Aesthetix Calypso Signature tube preamp. It will be one of the best pieces in my system, probably the best piece. I'm still waiting for it, sometime this week. I use a Cary PH 301 tube phono preamp, old but very damn good. When needed for my lowest LOMC cartridge, I use an SAEC SUT, very good. My amps are two Parasound HCA 2200 II amplifiers, John Curl design, 250wpc @ 8 ohm. They are very strong amplifiers but getting old too. My main turntable is VPI HW 19, Mk II, was Mk III but had to downgrade to original bearing and spindle. Old but still a very good TT. I use an old 20 bit Denon CD player. Whether any of this qualifies for really good front end, I don't know. It has provided me with many years of happiness. The guys here would have to tell me if it qualifies as "really good". I know that at least the Cary and the Calypso do, not sure about the rest. I moved to a log house 12 years ago and the 901's have been in storage since then and even some time before, as I switched to AR 9 speakers about 21 years ago. I really appreciate them and their overall abilities but they lack the punching power of 901's. Overall response is far better in AR 9's and plenty of other speakers but the 901's are capable of some things that most others are not. I have never heard drums sound or feel more live and real than from a pair or two of 901's, properly placed and properly driven. Placement and power are key. Many others can outshine them in many ways but they just do some things like nothing else that I've ever heard. They can become "very big", bigger than anything else I've ever heard. Some say "too big" but I think it's all to do with placement and proper usage. I never used the equalizers either which goes against everything you ever hear. Any time I tried the EQ's, I thought they sounded awful. When I bought my first pair back in 1975, the salesman told me I would not need the EQ because I had plenty of power with a Crown DC 300A amp. I believed him and was very happy with that system for several years. They did have to be played loud to be appreciated. This may be because I never used the EQ but at high volume, they performed just as you say and surprised an awful lot of people over the years. I have moved on but I do miss certain things as mentioned above. Enough so that I bought all the ones that I have now, mostly about 20 years ago. |
hersch I'll give it a try next time I set up a pair. I've been toying with the idea of it anyway. I also like tubes on the pre side, been waiting for years to get an all tube pre that I can use with the CD player. I've always criticized CD's for lacking warmth, a sense of life and other general dislikes. All that said, some can be very good. Hoping some tubes in a really nice preamp will help. On the vinyl side, I've been in love with the Cary tube phono pre for years. I don't stream anything, don't own a DAC. I'm hopelessly lost in the 20th century. Anyway, next time I set up a pair, I'll give the EQ a shot. 90% say it's a must. The guy who talked me into AR 9's in the first place, also was a 901 owner, an EE and audiophile who used to hang out on the asylum, as did I. He went by Skeptic. He couldn't believe that I didn't use the EQ. I started a conversation about 901's on there over 20 years ago and it led to about a 3 month long thread. I started by saying "I like 901's, wanna fight?". I did so because it seemed that every subject led to long winded arguments about the most mundane subjects, most of which were simple differences of opinion, not facts. It was both amusing and annoying but I met a lot of interesting people. |
The tube pre will take the edge off the harsh thing that digital can bring... I would like to make a suggestion for your your streaming entry( if you wish to go there) Here is the gear. Used Arcam Rblink Bluetooth ($75.00 usd) An Ipad mini used if you wish. (Cheap) Spotify music streaming. ($10.00 or so a month) The secret cause here is the Ipad mini sound signature and I have proven it to others live in a Demo. It images incredibly and the Bass out is perfect. Your system will "Jam" with incredible musicality in every genre. Don't chase details and resolution to the point of "skipping" tracks. It is then a miserable hobby. Cheers!
|
@hersch8888 : Spotify is lossy audio. Try instead Tidal or Qobuz. |
I don't like Hi rez audio...but thank you for the rec! I've tried it...I find d it's "cut.and paste audio" It's akin to TV these days where you get that "Soap Opera " effect video.
Like hi rez audio " it.doesnt jam" does not exude the right emotion...
Just like you can't replace an old song on.an old AM radio... Hi rez is just numbers to my ears.
Cheers! |
I remember an old buddy of mine using a pair in his band. I think they were used with the horn mikes. I think 802's were more often used that way, since they had 8 drivers, all front side. My wife and I sold T shirts at the Chicago fest in 1980 and they had a stage full of them. It was a big Bose push at the time, some ridiculous number of the Bose amps (1801's I think) and pairs of 802's. 32 pairs or so, might have even been double that. It was a helluva lot of speakers. Can't remember. It was kind of impressive but it did lack bass, compared to the other stages that used normal PA stacks and such. Still, it was kind of fun to see and hear.
|
ericreyn Per the series II manual, you can hook from preamp output to EQ input and EQ output to amplifier input. This avoids the tape loop. On series II EQ, you have both options but with separate amp and pre, it says not to use the tape loop. I don't think I ever tried it that way and could be why I hated the EQ. I'll have to look at my series VI EQ but I'm sure the same applies there. Interesting thought that I may have used them the wrong way for so many years. I know there are tons of people out there who will say that there is no right way to listen to them but most of these guys never heard them correctly. I'm sure they will disagree but...........whatever. Don't know what series you have but foam surrounds tend to go bad on series 4 the worst. They had a buy back program and put people into series 6 for a huge discount. I bought a pair of junk 4's just to trade in and got my 6's that way. It was $400 for the trade with Bose. I think the retail was around $1500 at the time. |
The real problem is they don't do what Amar says they should do because on a good recording the room ambience is already there and besides adding in the sound bouncing around the room is merely adding a new distortions. Ad to that the frequency response is a comb filter as Gordon Holt showed half a century ago in his review. It's OK to like them so long as the term fidelity is not used to describe them. |
Well, at least we have permission to like them. Thanks. :) Just kidding around, no worries here. I did move on from mine many years ago but I never got rid of them. They are capable of some very interesting things. That is not a rave review, just an acceptance that they are fun to listen to for some interesting effects and they are able to play very loud as well. Again, not high end praise, just something different.
|
LMAO @ghdprentice |
| Post removed |
@sls883 , I remember back in the early '80s when I was in the Air Force I had a buddy who had a pair matched up with some big Japanese amp and we all thought the same thing. These crank and they are great! When he had outdoor parties at his place, he would move his system outside, and I do remember that his system would broadcast! |
Every speaker I have ever heard brought something unique to the show. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. Sometimes wow! But they all let you hear the music from a different perspective. That being said, my experience with the 901’s was in the barracks in Germany when one of my buddies had to have them (because of the hype) and my experience was not good because he had no clue how to set them up properly and if he did there was no way to do it in a dorm room! I always wondered what they would’ve sounded like if they were properly set up. I did find the EQ colored the sound but that was expected but you can color the sound with a paint choice. I’m sure that would be the case with something that mostly bounces the sound off of the walls. I’ll bet if you set them up properly they would sound cool in their own right. They most likely would be a novelty item for me but fun to play around with nonetheless! Most importantly, ETM! Cheers |
In high school I could not afford them so we built what we called 1801s. We doubled the size. My friends brother was a MIT graduate so he figured out the size of the speaker, internal volume, etc. and they worked really well. We used an 18 band EQ with them. They were pretty amazing for the price we built them for. I wonder where they are today? Happy Listening. |
A very entertaining, well-written article. Just another reminder why I chose a career path as a hifi peddler and speaker nerd, rather than a wordsmith. I am working on an article (to be released shortly?) in defense of 901s from the unique perspective of one who has turned the speakers (and EQ) inside out and performed some significant performance mods. I also want to get "real" and disclose that there is just so much you can do with "mid-fi" 4 1/2" drivers slinging 89% of the signal off (untreated) back/sidewalls. The Bose 901 design is the polar opposite of my patented design. That being said, "getting things out of the way that make them sound worse" did reveal some nuance, delicacy, and focus that compelled me to strap myself onto the listening chair for an extended period of time and genuinely enjoy the experience. The new Bose/Mac relationship got my wheels turning. How about a set of $45k Mac901s with 9 x 50 watts of onboard active amplification, DSP, and audiophile-grade full range (up to 20 kHz) drivers? Optional pedestals? Of course. This time with amplified compact subs/passives with useable output below 20 Hz. I’d trade of couple of cars I don’t drive very much these days for a set. |
I own a pair of Lifestyle 901s, these are basically series VI speakers with the amp and equalizer built into the base of one of the speakers. They are very rare piano black and mine are in minty condition bought new in 1999. They sound very good for some kinds of music if they are properly set up. They require a solid, clear wall, meaning no obstructions. I prefer 16" distance to the back wall and 3' or more to side walls. They sound similar to sitting in the back of a large hall. This works for orchestral pieces, particularly classical, but don't expect to be able to locate a soloist. If you like the intimacy of a jazz quartet and are not worried that you can't locate the individual performers, 901s sound fine. They are tone accurate. So the alto can be differentiated from the tenor, for example. If you listen closely you may even be able to hear the difference between the Steinway on the right from the Bosendorfer on the left. But the difference between the Steinway B and the Steinway D? No. Oh, the the pianos will sound big, BIG, wide as the room big. Everything sounds big. If you like your Ella to sound 10' wide these are the speakers for you. Those who claim Bose 901s have no bass must have been listening to ones being played without the equalizer in the circuit. Minus 3 db at 34 Hz is the measured fact. The nine 4" drivers on each side have roughly the equivalent cone area of one 12" driver. In summation, Bose 901 speakers are good sounding speakers, in many ways spectacular ones, circa 1970. They fill the room with pleasant sound. Wanna have a party? They are difficult to set up correctly, however, and they cannot be considered serious audiophile speakers in 2025. |
Salesmen that didn’t carry the brand would recite ’no highs, no lows, gotta be Bose’. Anyone that ever heard them set up decently knew better and it says more about the person labelling them than it says about the speaker.
The 901 VI driven by an old Realistic STA 235b receiver was the last system I owned that I completely enjoyed! Like a car or truck system after the upgrade, I’m not analyzing the sound because I’m too busy enjoying it. That’s what the 901 is. |
Backwards Listening "A number of Bose enthusiasts enjoy listening to 901s “in reverse,” allowing the eight drivers mounted on the rear of the cabinet to face the listening position. My spirit of investigation encouraged this tact, but it was not my favorite position. There’s slightly more HF extension, but the big, expansive soundfield that makes the speaker so enticing simply disappears." I bought the second pair I've owned about 15 years ago fresh from a factory rebuild under warranty, 901VI. They are used in my four bay 1000' garage as background to my many projects. They will flat out rock and they get slammed at least once a week. Yes I play them backwards and yes they are driven by SS ARC amp and tubed ARC LS-15 feed by a Blusound Node or if necessary by a (wince!) Panasonic 100 cd carousel. They sound amazing in a space that is all concrete, way better than they should. No, they don't come close in any respect to the main rig. But and its a big BUT they sound better than some other main rigs I've heard throughout the years. I am gracious...realizing how much emotion many of us have tied up in our rigs so I remain silent. Regards, barts
|
Dr. Amar Bose introduced his new Bose company and premiered his sole product, the 901s, in mid-May 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, just a couple of weeks before RFK was shot and killed at that same hotel. It was at the large, national annual Hi-Fi show, with exhibitor booths in the large hall and in dedicated hotel rooms rented out to exhibitors. Dr. Bose had a room to showcase and introduce his 901s. Julian Hirsch was there, and as he did monthly, he would write his review which appeared a couple of months later in the HiFi Stereo Review magazine - the classic magazine of that era, and his review is still a classic. Not far from the Ambassador, on Olympic Blvd. between Vermont and Western, was International TV which had a large listening room with walls of dozens of amplifiers, receivers, and loudspeaker systems, all the biggies of those days, Fisher, Kenwood, Marantz, JBL, Altec, AR, etc. They had it wired so any turntable, receiver, amp, tuner or loudspeaker pair could be A/B compared with the flip of a switch. I would spend many hours in that room listening. I had just turned 15, but I was also at the Ambassador. I sat and stood in that room for 6-7 hours, listening to the original Bose 901s. I moved around and then stood still while the "men" came and went, adjusted what was playing and while I listened in on their comments and talk, making observations with one another, then checking my own listening to theirs. I considered the "point source" issue that, regrettably, requires someone sit in a specific listening spot to "get" the ideal sound--something I never experienced at concerts or live venues. (Those were the days of Jefferson Airplane, Donovan, Paul Revere and the Raiders, occasionally the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. ABC Studios where they played and taped in the afternoons to a live audience was 1/2 mile from my junior high school.) I was astonished at something I never got when I was comparing other sound systems, not even my beloved JBLs could match. (In those days, JBL was headquartered in the Atwater neighborhood about 1 1/2 miles from where I lived, before they moved to Northridge.) None of the conventional systems were possible of producing clearly audible stereo separation when I was standing directly in front of, and close to, either the right or left speaker. You simply could not distinguish, hear, one channel if you were standing directly in front of the opposite channel. With the 901s I was astonished to not only hear it, but equally loudly and clearly. The sound was tight, it was definitive, dynamic, and it was all encompassing. It was all there. There was no need for a sweet spot; indeed, requiring a "sweet spot" ever after became, for me, a definition of an inferior system, for what good is a system to be enjoyed alone? Or where you can't wander about a room without offending the system? As to the "lacks bass," well, that may be said about the bottom octave from 20-40Hz, but not above. As to the highs, I cannot recall any deficits. The memory of those days caused such a impact that I have never forgotten the experience. I was a kid, but I sensed there was something going on at the time, something that I had no clue what would become. As a subscriber to the HiFi Stereo Review, I devoured Julian Hirsch's review, clipped it, and saved it. Since those days I have subscribed to open baffle design, but those only project 50/50 rear/forward (not Bose's formula 8/1), and have neither the dispersion to fill the voids to the sides of the drivers nor the power offset to do so, and so do not create the spacious concert hall sound or live concert sound as the 901s. In the late 1970s I built similar cabinets and used two 8" drivers in the rears, but as a college student didn't have the budget to get the drivers needed, and while that would have projected 2/3rds to the rear and addressed dispersion, there are impedance issues that affect the power distribution. I've considered inserting a balance control to direct more power to rear drivers, while also directing more to the front if I wanted point-source, but never spent time to figure it out. I have considered using the legendary JBL LE-8 drivers that are flat to 20k, but haven't gotten around to doing so. That would put three 8" drivers on each R-L side, and move a lot more air, or six 8" total. You just can't fool Mother Nature's physics to move enough air for satisfactory bass. To me, the Bose 901s are a continuing enigma. Surely there are better drivers today, better crossovers, equalizers, etc. than then. The Review above is a fair review and very well done. My only comment might be that, in fact, instead of playing down the 901s with a "what do you expect for $1,400?"-type attitude, I would suggest that they may outperform many systems for multiples of their price. The sound, when they are set-up right, wasn't anything to mock. Not because they didn't check all the boxes of the purists, but because, in my opinion, the boxes that too many purists set-up to check miss the mark and miss the musicality of the sensory experience. My two-cents worth, IMHO anyway.
|
In 1976 I had just moved to a new place. My new buddy upstairs had a pair of 901's. I was running a Dynaco SCA-80 I had built into a pair of the omni-popular Dynaco A-25's so I was eager to listen to these hyped-up speakers. On site, I couldn't figure what the big deal was. They were supposed to send sound all over the place and I had to hold my tongue about what I heard. Imagine, now, I was a neophyte. He and I took a trip then down to a hi-fi joint in Jacksonville. The were running a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10's they had mounted up in the corners of the ceiling. That was the end of the story for me, finis. They were playing "Dreamboat Annie". After my next move, the DQ-10's were in my house along with a Threshold 400A. Congrats to Bose for still being able to make those things. Why, I don't know. |
last time I heard them was in 1985 at a club in San Antonio. I remember they were playing The Honeydrippers album, it sounded mellow with a tizzy edge, the imaging was amorphous, the bass extension decent, but the overall sound was intriguing at the least. I would have loved to have put on some of my own test tunes to evaluate them more properly. I've never lived in any construction that had the proper dimensions or wall material for them to sound their best. |
Once upon a theme.... Being young and mobile in terms of where I was living shifted like it could, there was only one space I really got to place them properly on the long wall...and stomp the accelerator Down; volume to max in a space 14 x 24 x 8. All feet, and all subject to the mind set of the '70's.... Not a lot you could do that would piss or freak the neighbors....'damn college kids from CSU Humboldt'....short of a late-night punctuation with a slide shotgun, which we did have the sense NOT to do.... Marantz 2270 with the eq in the tape loop, 12 g. speaker lines, 'decent' for the era IC...AR TT with a Stanton 681EE cart... I don't remember What I was playing, but my landlady ( a young woman who lived inn the small house behind 'ours' (2 housemates, not present at the time) walked in..... Now, Vikki was our ages at the time and not given to just cruising in without the knock...which she correctly figured wouldn't have been heard, anyway. But she had an observation of the moment to share.... "I know you don't know this....but before I left my house, walked pass and to the mailboxes and back (ea. way +/- 50+ yards) to your door... The panel lights on the 2270 dimmed with the bass line.... YES, 901s' at the time could handle power...a sales dude once told me 'we threw a kilowatt a side at a pair once...they acted like it wanted More.' Yup, not SOTA, then or now. They need to be experienced, like Jimmy said...
|
I am curious if anyone remembers the 901 demos back in "the day." One very impressive demo to prove the durability of 901s was to take pure AC right from the wall outlet to the inputs of the 901s. Flip the switch and "BRRRRRRR" for a half a second. Then, the sales rep would exclaim: "270 watts!!" We've heard the "popular" comments from the competitors: "No highs, no lows ...". Here's another, when prompted: "They sound great. As long as you don't try to play music through them." Quick 901 story: We have a second home on a lake. Across the cove, about 50 years away is a nice(r) home with the beautiful boat house. My neighbor (we'll call him "Tim") knows he has the most expensive and elegant home in the cove -- and, the most awesome stereo. "Tim" often blurs the definition of a "subdivision" and inserts "resort" and "party central" into the classification. "Tim's" stereo is made up of a big boy Pioneer SX1280, and 901s. So far, so good. Except .... the Bose 901s are hanging in the corners with the faces pointed towards "Tim" and his guests. In theory, this seems viable. In reality, not so much. The 901s hang UNDER the soffits of the boathouse. So, when it's party time at the "Tim Resort" he cranks up the music loud enough to satisfy his "louder ... LOUDER" guests, totally numb to the fact that 89% of the sound is being "shared" with the rest of us. Anyone who has spent time on a lake knows how sound reflective water is. This is the ultimate execution of Bose Noise-Cancelling principle. It cancels ALL sounds in my vicinity and replaces them with "Tim's" playlist for the evening. This would be somewhat tolerable if I were a strong advocate of "Tim's" choice of music genre. I'd scratch my fingernails on a chalkboard, but no one would hear.
|
They came out just as my HiFi journey began, in 1968. I was initiated in the AR/KLH/Dynaco sector of the audiosphere, and went to the Grand Central listening room to hear the 32Hz organ pipe (overtones) of Also Sprach Zarathustra played in a room far too small to support such a wavelength. Later, I heard a pair of Series IIs reproduce a live recording of the West Point marching band through a pair of MC-2300s, and THAT sure was cool. But as I learned more about audio I came to dismiss them as High Fidelity…especially after the Series III were introduced. Truthfully, I haven’t tried any of them in a long while. I credit Bose with several positive contributions to the audio field…popularizing the concept of subwoofers, noise cancelling headphone technology, and the Lifestyle Jewel Cube w/AdaptIQ. But his genius was always the marketing of a fundamentally fraudulent notion, using the prestige of his MIT position to make bank. Not a fan of that. |