Bose 901 Speaker Placement

I recently moved and found the perfect room for my first-generation Bose 901 speakers. (In my previous place, they were hooked up but not really arranged properly properly due to space limitations.)

The current room is large, with wood floors, thick plaster walls, and high ceilings.

I know that the manuals suggest aiming the back toward a straight wall, but after doing some experimenting in this room, I think they really sound better with the backs facing into corners. The rear corner of each speaker is about 18" from the respective wall corner, but due to the shape of the speakers, the two rear panels end up being spaced a little closer to each wall at the sides.

I realize that acoustics vary greatly from space to space. I am just curious if anyone else has tried this.

Thanks in advance.

 

My friend's best placement was to put them in his closet, true story. He wondered why he ever bought them.

 

Thanks. There is no closet in this room, so that is not an option.

 

The most important thing to get the best out of your 901s is that back wall must be solid - and it sounds like you have that. I heard the 901s in a few different places and they never really clicked for me, but one friend in Australia had them in a decent sized room with a Besser brick back wall (similar to cinder blocks) with a very fine Commonwealth turntable and that system just rocked. And that was the sort of music he liked. Just a huge sound. This was in the mid '70s.

 

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not serious, i trust all ye who enter here have a sense of humor.

 

Yes, one must place 901s adjacent to a nice reflective brick wall so the sound bounces all over and mimics the Empty Church DSP preset from a home theater receiver.

 

my cousin had his on stands just below the 5"5 height, about 3 foot away from his back wall, they were ok. bass was lacking a bit, but not bad for 13 2" drivers, or whatever they use. great acoustic speakers !

 

Thanks all. I mostly listen to acoustic-based music - jazz, symphonic, film scores, bossa, old-skool Latin. I use an EQ and bring down the midrange to get more bass and highs out of these speakers, but they sound really great with this music in this space. I am just curious if people have experimented with corner placement.

Also, importantly, I have all mid-century modern furniture, and these speakers, with wood grain, blond speaker grills, and black pedestals, just look killer in this room with the furniture.

 

Most of us have a sense of humor, but not all participants are funny.

 

Do they still make 901's? I've often thought it would be fun to have a pair for awhile just to see what all the fuss was about.

 

No idea. Mine are series 1, and I have been told that these were the best. Not sure why.

 

I had a friend in 1972 that had pair and his setup sounded great. I've never understood the dislike for these speakers and wonder if some who criticize them have actually heard them. I've never owned a pair but if someone wants to give them a try then why not. I belive my friend from all those years ago was powering them with a pretty powerful amp but I forget the make. Actually it might have been 73.

 

I checked the Bose site and I couldn't find the 901s. It's a shame because they were an icon.

 

They stopped producing 901s a couple years ago. Some comment about their placement on TONEAudio magazine. Have you got their own equalizer as well?

 

count me in the pro-bose camp

TV sound system is bose and car system is bose and they both sound just fine.

 

Yes, it is a shame. I remember hearing them in the early seventies and thought they sounded pretty good. It is sad that some of the companies from back in the day continued to sell stuff that was not all that good. Bose probably peaked with these just as one could argue Advent peaked with The Advent and Thorens peaked, depending if you are an idler person or a belt person, with their tables of that era. I wonder how much Bose still actually ties back to that era in terms of the way it approaches design and engineering. I am guessing not much.

 

The first time I heard the word about Bose was in conjecture with their accoustimass speaker system, which after hearing it myself I must confess that they deserve every disparaging comment. They are so bad it isn't even funny. However I never listened to the 901 but reading the review article I realize that Bose tried to make something new and deserve credit for having the balls to try.

 

The best way would probably be with an added tweeter and a subwoofer, maybe with the speakers turned around so you have 8 out the front, disable/bypass four of the drivers on half the box, and rotate the box 90 degrees. Or put them outside, so you don't have to hear the back's capricious output.

You could make a Polk SDA by wiring the outside four speakers out of phase and driven by the opposite channel.

Thanks to computer modeling, we now know that if you're putting nine drivers together, you need to array them in a more clever way than Bose did.



About the same time that these speakers came out, some of the students in Massachusetts found out where the drivers were being bought from and built their own dorm room copies for 1/8th the price.

 

No, I am using a generic EQ but am happy with the results.

 

Interesting. That piece suggests corner placement, but Bose apparently did not, based on what I have found.

 

The 901 looks like it was designed to be put in a corner. I thought they sounded great in years gone by. Just a classic look and design, and very unconventional back in the day. I'm tempted to check ebay and CL to see what they go for these days.

 

I know you were trying to be funny, but they employ (9) 4.5" full range speakers.

 

Are you actually replicating the EQ used in the Bose unit?
Or merely eqing it to taste?
I found the EQ curve and there is quite a bit of eq employed.

Bose 901 Series 1 Active Equalizer Repair [Vintage Hi-Fi]

Mailbag: Is The Bose 901 Equalizer Really Necessary?

Some very interesting information!

 

I remember the first time I heard the 901s. It was in a record store in Nashua, NH and man they sounded good pumping out Bell Bottom Blues.

Years later I bought a pair of the 901 series IV while stationed in Greece. The houses were solid concrete so they had plenty of reinforcement. I hung mine from a very high ceiling with chains and man would they crank.

Foam rot was inevitable with the series IV, but Bose had a very liberal replacement policy and I got a pair of series V at a very reasonable price. I sold them without ever hearing the new series. My question for the OP is, have you checked for foam rot?

 

To taste. I will check out those links though.