thoughts on the bose 501 speakers


before i bought my bose 901 seies 2 speakers, i had the 501's! any comments on this model??
128x128g_nakamoto

Showing 2 responses by oldaudiophile

g_nakamoto, my thoughts:  You are a brave soul for asking "any comments on this" on a site such as this!  Given your purchases of the 501 and, thereafter, the 901, I would hazard a guess that you like jazz and music with a solid midrange.  Properly placed, those speakers certainly deliver in that department.

I bought my first quality audiophile system in 1972 on a poor student's limited budget.  After spending most of it on a receiver (Sansui 2000X) and turntable (Philips 212) I settled on a pair of Studiocraft speakers (made by Bose in those days).  The shop had a wonderful policy allowing full trade-in value on those speakers toward a purchased of more expensive ones if purchased in the next 365 days.  A year later, I returned to that shop to upgrade the Studiocraft and spent several hours A/B'ing many pairs within my budget range.  It was a large shop with a huge inventory (Tech Hi-Fi Cambridge, MA).  Those were the good old days for audio shops.  I A/B'd pair after pair and worked by the process of elimination.  I very much enjoyed EPI, AR, Advent and others but eventually whittled down the competition to Bose 501 and Ohm C.  I listened to those for a long time because I liked them both very much.  Eventually, I chose the Ohm C largely because, to my ears, I thought they were a bit clearer, more dynamic and did a better job with acoustic instruments, especially acoustic guitar.  Regardless, the 501 were very nice speakers, indeed.  Just for fun because I certainly couldn't afford it at the time, the salesman had me A/B the 901 with the Ohm F to see what I thought.  The amplifier used, as I recall, was either a McIntosh or Phase Linear.  I didn't have to listen long.  My ears definitely preferred to Ohm F largely for the same reasons.  As you are probably already aware, speakers, more than any other components, are a very individual and subjective choice.  Different ears like different sound(s).
g_nakamoto, if you are considering upgrading or replacing your 901, certainly understandable given the MAC lineup you have, go do some serious critical listening, under controlled conditions, of speakers in your budget range and worthy of that MAC equipment.  Your ears will tell you everything you need to know.  However, by all means, unlike sheridanmartinj, please do your critical listening without weed in your ears.  Though the Bose 501 weren't ultimately to my liking way back then, they certainly did not "seriously suck".  That's only one opinion and you know what they say about opinions, don't you?  They're like anuses.  Everybody has one.