My Bose speakers

Someone gave me a pair of 501s many years ago and they were simply terrible. It had some sort of dial on the top that moved what looked like a piece of a spatula over the tweeters or something. The woofer farted if I fed it any kind of bass and it just didn't sound right.

 

That dial was to aim the first reflections. It sounds like there was something wrong w/ that pair. My friend's pair sounded nice. That was 30+ years ago tho.

 

Yes 6, 2 larger drivers & 4 tweeters.

 

Friend 'o mine owned a pair of 901s and swore by them. He used to feed them music with an expensive japanese amp and looked at me and ask : Do they sound terrific or what ? I never had the nerve to tell him how much I thought they sucked

 

Actually it appears more like "garden testing" - actual field testing would require more acreage. Don't bias the test.

D.D.

 

Well, that just shows to go ya: Beauty is in the eye...or ear... of the beholder.

 

Have you heard a pair of 601's? A different warmer sound than the 901s.

 

Have not. The 901s sounded dull to me. I prefer livelier speakers.

 

Had a Bose car system for a couple of years but it was lousy, basically the cheapest $2 paper cone speakers money could buy, fed by a heavily equalized signal that made things all phasey and sucked amp power. That was the Bose secret to car high(er) fi (and apparently a premium price tag also). Subwoofer on the rear shelf was interesting though, more like a flat pancake with some strange voice coil arrangement that was pretty neat but not built for high power handling. Gutting the eq and getting better speakers made things so much better.

An uncle had an old 301 pair circa late 70s that sounded pleasant enough. Was in a den system, a cozy little room. He had one of those funky Garrard Zero-100 turntables also. That was not audiophile by any means but was a nice little easygoing system you could listen to for hours.

 

I got a pair of 601 series II speakers this past year. I had the surrounds replaced. I originally was using the Yamaha M-60 amp with a Carver C-5 preamp that I bought with the speakers. The Yamaha died and it was cost prohibitive to have them repaired. So I found a nice Rotel RB-990BX on Craigslist. The 601's can handle power that's for sure. I don't think the room they are in really shows them off to their potential. The highs tend to be kind of bright for my taste.

 

What's the room like? That's what I love about my 601s, very clean and easy on the ear highs. I'm surprised that the highs are bright on your system.

 

It's in a basement. The room is L-shaped. The stereo is in the outside corner of the L. The end of the room they are facing have a bed and nightstand and a desk. The walls are bare. There is carpet. Certain albums sound better than others.

 

Assuming I'm visualizing correctly, I would say the room/speaker placement is the issue. I don't think you'd be getting the benefit of the reflective speakers on the highs. Placed properly the highs are sublimely sweet, in fact, with a well recorded album they can sound 'surround' like.

 

Another year, and they're still there...



Missus was cleaning up the garden, so I switched the stereo on and enjoyed a refreshing drink in the backyard whilst evaluating the Bose speakers.

Punchy, highs are a bit subdued, which seemed agreeable for the squirrels. The enclosures are getting even more tattered and threadbare, seams are starting to swell nicely.

 

What an awesome thread, Sid.

 

Some things just last the test of time.

 

Feature article in next months
@TONEPUB ?

 

I have a friend who had a pair of those. They finally blew apart playing The Clash at 11. Clipping is a bitch.

 

I'm looking forward to future posts regarding "The Mozart Effect: Twice the Azalea Blossoms", "Garden Speaker Toe In - Overrated?", "Ferns, the Forgotten Wall Treatment"....

 

I think the 601s were basically like two 301s in one cabinet.

 

Not really, I've got a pair of 301s that I used briefly as rear spekers in a surround set up, which I abandoned after a short time. When my 601s were in for repairs I used the 301s.

I found that the 301s were decent for a pair of $300/$400 speakers, no trouble filling a large room, however the bottom end was obviously tweaked up and they were nowhere near as accurate as the 601s. They are what they are, decent I would say budget, speakers.

The 601s Series II, sound very real, fantastic crossovers and it appears, from what I've read, that Bose really nailed it with the Series II 601s, it's the best speaker they have developed by a mile. I've read that even the Series I fell well short of the Series II. I bought my 601s about 30 years ago and I love them. As I've said the 301s are OK, I don't really like the 901s and their cube stuff is just garbage.

I'd be very surprised if there was much of the 301s in the 601s (at least the Series II).

 

New definition of "break in".

 

I bought a pair of 401's around 1990 that I had until I sold them 6-7 years ago when I got my rebuilt Advents. They served me well during that time, and through several moves, and seemed to thrive in weird room shapes, I'm sure due to the direct-reflecting feature.

I never got the intensity of Bose hatred. It's funny that this hobby is very much "if it sounds good to you..." except when it comes to Bose. Then ther must be something wrong with you. Go figure.

Anyway, someone was thrilled to give me $300 for 20 year old 401's, and is I'm sure enjoying them as we speak.

 

Have you heard all the Bose speakers (I mean the real ones, before the little cubes)? I've never heard 601's, but have heard all the other '01's and always thought my 10.2 series II were better than any of them, w/ the possible exception of the 901's, which sounded better, but only heard them at an audio show, so not a fair comparison.

 

I've heard my 601s, 901s, 301s, another set of 01s (cannot remember) and their outdoor speakers.