Bose 901's in an acoustically treated room?

cleeds, thanks for digging out that review.  Anyone with interest in the 901s should find it worthwhile reading.

And while it may be more complementary than my memory recalled, Holt did express several reservations.  But first I would note that review was from 1971.  Perspectives on speaker spacious sound have certainly evolved since then.  Particularly with influence by HP in TAS for specific soundstaging.

Regarding Holt's opinions, here are a few quotes:

"But we were less impressed by some other qualities of the 901"

"Thus, some 901 installations will have deep, tight, and quite well-defined bass, while others (in the majority) will exhibit uncontrolled bass resonances"

"It is our feeling, though, that Dr. Bose is either oversimplifying his explanation of what the 901 does or has drawn some dubious conclusions from his basic premise"

"This tremendous gain in spatial effect is not, however, achieved without some sacrifices.   .   .   .   to create such monstrosities as 2'-wide singers and 8' guitars."

"What is, we feel, a more serious shortcoming of the 901 principle is that it subjects the direct sounds in a recording to the same reflective process that enhances the recorded spatial material."

" .   .   .   but we would characterize it as unexceptional in all other respects."

And that is why I remembered the review overall as not rating the 901s highly.

Thanks for the link to Holt’s review.  I read that years ago and had pretty much forgotten about it.

How nice that he actually took the time to give it an in-depth review rather than just dismissing it outright as many do nowadays.  In the end what I got out of it is it does some things well and others not so well.  Pretty much like any other speaker out there.

Years ago I had a pair of the Series VI in a small apartment living room driven by the Aleph 3 and the Rogue 66 preamp.  Listening to George Winston’s solo piano record was an awesome experience.  I have not heard a solo piano sound as good as that rig did in that room since.

 

Sounds like a fun experiment. Please post some pictures if you have time....

We, who know and appreciate the 901s, love to hear discussions like this. The fact is that all speakers benefit from room treatments as all rooms are different. And that includes the 901s. Although most of the sound is reflected, it's even more critical to be careful with the placement of diffusion and absorptive materials. To say that the reflective nature of the 901 is redundant since recorded sounds were reflected anyway shows just how little some people know about recording; as it's a fact that all recorded sounds are tightly controlled during the recording process. When I hear my 901s using a test disc for stereo separation, voices recorded in the left channel, the right channel and the center are all clearly defined within the space that a normal human being would occupy. Stereo separation and placement within a sound stage are all well defined. And speaking of bass, it appears that detractors who complain about no low bass are talking about wavelengths beyond the range of human hearing. When I hear an upright bass, I can hear the strings vibrating against the board. It sounds like an upright bass. You'd have to spend a prohibitive amount of money to get better sound than the Bose 901s in a properly treated room. Room treatments for Bose 901? Yes, absolutely. 

The 901 owners that i have crossed always reported that they sound better when the back is turned toward the listener... Go figure.