Bose 901 series VI & Yamaha A-S2000

There are certain things in the Bose 901 design that are desirable, especially crossoverless full-range drivers and an array designed to interact with the room. There are many speakers designed to interact with the rom to good effect. Examples include omnis from MBL, Ohm, Mirage, and Duevel, bipolars from Def Tech, and dipoles from Quad, Alon, Martin-Logan, Magnepan, and others.

There are other things I don't agree with. For example, Amar Bose arrived at an 11/89% ratio of direct-to-reflected sound based on his measurements of Boston's Symphony Hall. The thing is, Symphony Hall is one of the most reverberant concert venues in the world. Mirage, on the other hand, has over 25 years research into psychoacoustics and they arrived at a 60/40 ratio of direct-to-reflected sound for their Omniguide-based speakers. I've been living with a pair of those for nearly 4 years and still find them to be engaging and timbre-correct.

I think the Bose concept could be a lot better than it is in the 901 format. Bose has improved their 4" driver somewhat over the 43 years they've been in production, but they could do better. GoldenEar's 4" driver has a cast frame and is light and fast enough to have usable response out to 20KHz. What if Bose made a floorstander with GoldenEar-quality drivers backloaded with a transmission line? What if there was a curved front baffle to angle 5 of these drivers for optimum dispersion and 4 drivers on the back for ambience? With a light, fast driver and transmission line loading, the active equalizer circuit wouldn't have to work so hard and would presumably be less intrusive regarding phase relationships and whatnot.

That said, I have to admit that I haven't listened to 901s for a long long time, and certainly haven't listened to Series VI, so I have no business saying exactly how good or bad their current product offering is. For all I know they've made significant improvements in how resolving and how wide the bandwidth is in their 4" drivers, but I don't know. The current driver still has a stamped frame and the cone material is still blue paper like the Series III as far as I can tell. They've evidently improved the baseline bandwidth, however, because the current active equalizer isn't compatible with Series I-IV.

For $3500 for amp & speakers there are so many great ways to split up the pie. For example, if you like "stereo everywhere" in a more realistic soundfield, you could get a pair of Mirage OMD-15s from vanns.com for $1K (closeout down from $2500) plus a Rogue Cronus Magnum tube integrated amp ($2195). Or a pair of GoldenEar Triton 2's plus any decent integrated amp at $1K or less and you'd have a true full-range system. Or Magnepan 1.7s plus an Anthem 225 or the $1500 integrated amp of your choice.

You could also get a pair of Ohm Micro Tall speakers and an Anthem or Rogue Cronus Magnum integrated amp.

01-10-12: Henryjudy
Thanks all for your valuable inputs.
As a newbie in the hi-fi world, I learn new things everyday. :)
I pretty much made up my mind to buy the Yamaha amp but still not sure which speakers to choose. I guess it would be better for me to buy a pair of used speakers that would match well with the A-S2000 amp. Can anyone recommend any good ones under $1,000?

Mirage OMD=15. It's that much sweeter when you consider that these are $2500/pr speakers (and truly compete there). They give you "stereo everywhere" but sound much more real and work on every kind of music. I've been happily living with mine for 3-1/2 years. At $1K/pair they're a steal. S/b great match for that Yamaha. I recommend bi-wiring or getting better jumpers.

01-11-12: Henryjudy
Mirage OMD15 seems to be a nice affordable one.
88 positive reviews on the vanns.com website are very impressive.

They'll also be a great match with your Yamaha A-S2000. Follow Mirage's instructions on break-in and you'll be richly rewarded.

Tone Audio reviewed the 901 Series VI recently. The verdict? A lot going for 'em, especially at the $1400/pr retail.

Review here.

The Parts Express 901 replacement driver is $18.75 ea. in quantity, less than 1/3 of what Bose charges for an OEM driver. So the drivers are probably worth around $10-11 each wholesale. The Parts Express drivers appear to have about the same build quaiity.

I'd like to see what you could get with 10 higher quality full range drivers in a different configuration such as a tower with 8 drivers facing forward and 2 facing rearward for ambience. The larger cabinet should provide better bass performance with less EQ, and the 80/20 ratio would provide better imaging with more direct and less reflected sound. You'd retain the advantages of the 901 with fewer of the drawbacks--crossoverless sound, large radiating surface, but with more optimized cabinet and more realistic dispersion pattern.

Many of the newer full range drivers have phase plugs, which should improve high frequency dispersion, though you'd probably want to angle the drivers somewhat to improve it.