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
   First....I have joined many others in criticism of Bose speakers in the past. I'm not sure what your aim is here. To purchase the 501's as superior speakers to the 901's or just to see what other opinions are?
   Many years ago I went down the Bose path. Decent sounding speakers for my setup. I started with the 301's (bookshelf) and then ended up with 901 series III. Wasn't overly impressed since I bought them used and wondered if something could be better. After reading online, and given the age of the speakers, I opened the cabinets and found the foam surrounds were deteriorated. Bought a refoam kit and installed. Speakers didn't sound any better. (501's with age may suffer as well). 901's are useless without their dedicated EQ.
   So, not knowing your intent, if you want the ultimate from Bose speakers inspect the surrounds if you intend to buy some. I will state again as others have.......Bose is a mega company with a super marketing operation. But...their products are mediocre and over priced. Much better products can be found elsewhere at a less cost.

I also had the Bose 901s series 3 and still have a pair of 301’s. I bought my 901’s in 1980 when I was in the Army in Germany- I liked them but difficult to setup correctly I switched to B&Ws 803’s in 1993 and found B&Ws much better for all kinds of music. Today those have been ungraded to Wilson’s Watt 8’s which is another step up. Bose was good in the 70’s and 80’s but could not compare today with so many better speakers 
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).