Re: Bose 901I’d like to nuance the Bose 901 evaluation in this thread - intrigued also by the ’super bose’ system described above by g_nakamoto .
I used 901 mk 2 in the 70s and 80s. Were they bad? Well, in some respects, not others. I eventually changed to conventional speakers later, including Dynaudio Consequence.
So what about the 901s? I found that:
1 They needed to be setup exactly right. The wall behind the speaker played a surprisingly large role - solid slightly uneven brick wall gave the best sound (e g better than a wood wall).
2 They sounded good on "big music". Turn on Pink Floyd, and my friends would be impressed, back in the 70s. Even more so, when I changed from a Revox A78 2 x 40 w amp to a Yamaha 2 x 120 w, resulting in better and beefier sound. "Beefy" is maybe the catchword here. Not pinpoint by any means. But quite impressive.
3 What eventually drove me nuts was the equalizer supplied with the 901 speakers. Yes, it flattened the frequency curve, but it just did not sound good. I came to hate it, and in the last years, I often just disconnected it, even if the frequency curve then became A-formed. I never found a good alternative equalizer. At that point, and listening to the gradually improving conventional designs among my audio friends, I sold them, and bought speakers resembling Proac 3.8, and later, the Dyn Consequence.
But this is a nuanced story of an interesting product which wasn’t "terrible" or "deeply flawed" even though it had a lot of problems.
We had a lot of fun, back then, I could bring the 901s to parties, plus a good amp, and they would certainly get people dancing.
It is not really surprising that the 901s sound very different depending on the wall behind them. They mainly play "through" this wall - through reflected sound. I did read the engineering concept texts made by Bose, for the innovative 901s - but even for me, it was a surprise to hear them - should we say - "grasp towards pinpoint" - optimally placed with a totally solid stone / cement back wall, and also, a wall with some uneven dispersion, like a brick wall where the bricks are maybe half an inch out from the cement. I discovered this, bringing them along to an event at the University of Oslo. I never heard them that good, at home.
No affiliation to Bose - or anyone.
I used 901 mk 2 in the 70s and 80s. Were they bad? Well, in some respects, not others. I eventually changed to conventional speakers later, including Dynaudio Consequence.
So what about the 901s? I found that:
1 They needed to be setup exactly right. The wall behind the speaker played a surprisingly large role - solid slightly uneven brick wall gave the best sound (e g better than a wood wall).
2 They sounded good on "big music". Turn on Pink Floyd, and my friends would be impressed, back in the 70s. Even more so, when I changed from a Revox A78 2 x 40 w amp to a Yamaha 2 x 120 w, resulting in better and beefier sound. "Beefy" is maybe the catchword here. Not pinpoint by any means. But quite impressive.
3 What eventually drove me nuts was the equalizer supplied with the 901 speakers. Yes, it flattened the frequency curve, but it just did not sound good. I came to hate it, and in the last years, I often just disconnected it, even if the frequency curve then became A-formed. I never found a good alternative equalizer. At that point, and listening to the gradually improving conventional designs among my audio friends, I sold them, and bought speakers resembling Proac 3.8, and later, the Dyn Consequence.
But this is a nuanced story of an interesting product which wasn’t "terrible" or "deeply flawed" even though it had a lot of problems.
We had a lot of fun, back then, I could bring the 901s to parties, plus a good amp, and they would certainly get people dancing.
It is not really surprising that the 901s sound very different depending on the wall behind them. They mainly play "through" this wall - through reflected sound. I did read the engineering concept texts made by Bose, for the innovative 901s - but even for me, it was a surprise to hear them - should we say - "grasp towards pinpoint" - optimally placed with a totally solid stone / cement back wall, and also, a wall with some uneven dispersion, like a brick wall where the bricks are maybe half an inch out from the cement. I discovered this, bringing them along to an event at the University of Oslo. I never heard them that good, at home.
No affiliation to Bose - or anyone.