Bose 501 Series IV tower speakers

I inherited a pair of Bose 501 Series IV tower speakers in pretty good condition. I replaced the outer foam on thee woofers and they look and sound good as new now. I am wondering, how good/average/bad are these speakers? I love how they sound, but I do not know what the general concencus is in the audio community on how well they stack up compared to other speakers. Any insight would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

 

Bump.

 

If you like them then thats it, don't worry what others think. You will find a fair amount of Bose bashing on the web. I have two Bose equipped rooms here and for the most part they are just fine. A wave radio CD plays music for five year old twins (Mickey Mouse clubhouse music) and the other is a mongrel AM5 system in my bed room used for background music Pop and Country. Bose is not known for ultimate detail or ultimate neutrality but for an acoustic "stereo everywhere" effect which can be fun. Again, if you like them just enjoy them.

http://www.oaktreevintage.com/Stereo_Speakers.htm < Scroll down to see a re-foamed pair for sale.

 

For those among us who are visually stimulated.

 

The 901s could produce very powerful bass for their size, teamed with a good amp.

 

I want to have the 901 experience some day.

 

They are what they are. I never cared for them.

 

I passed up a pair of these at the Salvation Army to day for $50. Now I wonder if I shouldn't have gotten them. Ah, naw. Too big.

 

They sound pretty good and easily fill a large room with tunes. You can buy replacement outer foam for the woofer to get them working good as new again for cheap. Sounds like a steal of a deal if you want a pair of good speakers for your garage or a big room in your basement.

 

I was never a big fan of them either, but I would take them in a heartbeat if they were free, the sound is important to the listener, if you like them don't worry about it, enjoy them

 

I still have a set that I bought when I graduated High School. I loved their sound back then and I was wondering if it was worth the trouble to re-foam them. I have also wondered if there is a modern speaker that would work well with that cabinet. They are still in almost like new condition and I am not the one to throw stuff out because it is old.

 

I would highly recommend just re-foaming them. I bought mine here: http://www.simplyspeakers.com/speaker-foam-repair-new-edge-it-kits.html

It is fairly simply. They have tutorial videos that are easy. My Bose sounded like crap before refoaming them, largely because the foam was torn on both! Now, they sound and look like new. So, for < $40, they are fully repaired. Again, I highly, highly recommend buying the foam from Simply Speakers and refoaming!

 

Thanks for the advice. Would you re-cap the crossover as well?

 

I didn't do any re-capping. Above my current skill level and I just didn't want to do more. If you can, go ahead and give it a shot, but you should probably get by just fine without doing it. Just re-foamed them, put that extra goop you can buy for a few more bucks on them to help them last longer (you'll read about it on Simply Speakers), and put them back in the towers. I took the front off of my towers because the woofer was rubbing on them after the repair, plus I like the look of the visual woofers and tweeters.

 

When I was in college my roommate had Bose 601 Series II speakers. Along with a Harman Kardon integrated amp. Certainly was enjoyable to listen to. In college you're going to deal with non-ideal speaker placement and non-ideal small rooms. The Bose speakers did their thing as they were designed to do even with non-ideal placement. Had fun. Great to have a roommate with toys like that. The speakers weren't good for detail retrieval and listening for low-level detail differences in recordings or equipment. They were designed to deliver a certain style of listening experience. Enjoy them for that. They filled the room and you didn't have to worry about sweet spot listening. Which was a good thing because the sweet spot was occupied by a study table in the middle of the room rather than a listening chair. It was impossible to sit in the sweet spot because the study table was not movable.

 

I have a pair of 601 series II in my basement. I am powering them with a 200wpc Rotel amp through a Carver C-5 pre-amp. Some albums sound great on them, some sound like crap. I had all 4 of the woofer surrounds replaced. While Bose recommends placing them close to the wall I've found they sound better out in the middle of the room. The highs are too bright against the wall. Certain cds need a bass boost from my eq. I think the room they are in isn't ideal but I have to make do. I've found that the sweet spot for them volume wise (with cds) is between the 7 and 9 0'clock position. Anything louder and they tend to fall apart. Not distort just sound crappy. I would love to hear them set up in a room like Bose suggests to see if that would improve the overall sound. As things are they aren't perfect but they are a decent placeholder until I can upgrade. Just for refenence a few cds that sounded terrible were "The Notorius Byrd Brothers" Legacy remaster and the Legacy Remaster of "The 12 Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus". It was like the mid range had been gutted. I recently tried the remaster of Genesis' "Invisible Touch" and there was zero bass. Weird. A few that sounded great were the new Bad Company "Deluxe Editions" and the ZZ Top complete Warners set. I 've also found old country reissues by Bear Family sounded pretty sweet on them too (especially the Texas Troubadours instrumental disc). Sorry to highjack the thread. Just wanted to thow my Bose experience into the ring.

P.S. I really like my Bose noise cancelling headphones. They may not be perfect but they do a nice job while I'm running a machine at work or mowing the grass.

 

The sound with the 601 Series II speakers certainly had issues. The speakers were up against a wall near corners (long narrow dorm style room). We dealt with it as college students do. By just accepting it for what it was. Could have been worse.

I was in a fraternity. The house party speakers were Klipsch Cornwalls set up in a large basement. Those speakers sounded better. Much better. Really better. But you cannot fit Cornwalls in a four person dorm style room. The Bose speakers weren't ideal for audiophile listening. I wasn't in a position to complain. And why would I? We studied and played music. Good times.

Mostly I just wish I had the headphones I have now back then. Headphones and headphone gear now are so much better. College me would have really been enjoying headphones listening like that while I studied late at night.

 

I like my speakers when I want to listen to the radio or something that doesn't require more intensive listening. If I want audiophile listening, then I listen with headphones. So, overall, I'm happy with these speakers, especially since I 'inherited' them.