Why might Bose 601 Series III fetch so much on ebay?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by SpeedMorris, Oct 10, 2019.

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  1. SpeedMorris

    SpeedMorris Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Iowa
    My wife's brother will probably need/want to sell his pair due to a move, so I peeked at eBay and saw typical sales prices of $600-800 and sometimes over $1000- combined with $150-200 in shipping. He hasn't played them in 20 years it seems like, but my nutshell memory of them is "loud, but rather crude". Fairly full bass, but not deep. (Maybe some of it was his CD collection.) They certainly didn't image in his room, which may have just been too small. They're also about as ugly as speakers come (garage specials) and many of the eBay models appeared to be pretty stained up.

    It would be wonderful if he could make something of a killing, but I was rather shocked. I'm guessing that the "loud 'n proud" and "sound from everywhere" aspects must be the key and that Bose looks to have moved on to a 601 series that flopped in comparison.
     
  2. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    Bose is highly regarded due to marketing efforts to the masses. The fact they make a good (and pricey) noise cancelling headphone has reinforced other marketing efforts. I kind of get it. Bose are louder than you would expect. But, people who prefer reproduced imaging put their money toward other speakers.
     
  3. Mike from NYC

    Mike from NYC Senior Member

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    Why? Because PT Barnum was correct.

    Too much stupidity about all this vintage stuff and people are willing to pay stupid $$$ to own it, especially the $$ they ask for mediocre old TTs
     
    Tim 2, PhilinSC, timind and 3 others like this.
  4. SpeedMorris

    SpeedMorris Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Iowa
    I was going to posit that they may be popular items for meth labs...
     
  5. jbmcb

    jbmcb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Troy, MI, USA
    Looks like it's a two-way design with a forward-firing woofer and an omnidirectional array on top. Who knows, it might actually sound OK. It's probably a better design than having a bunch of forward-firing full range speakers, as in the 901.
     
  6. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    "Asking" and "getting" are two different things.

    Have you seen any actual sales at those prices?
     
  7. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    The 901 only has one forward facing speaker
     
    Bill Mac, PhxJohn and jbmcb like this.
  8. Be forewarned; the 4 bass drivers are notorious for surround foam rot and will likely need to be redone. Even if unused and intact, you could likely press a hole in the surrounds or watch them crumble with a good blast of music. Nice to look at but real world sales are usually in the 2-300 range.
     
    Tim 2 and displayname like this.
  9. sjsanford

    sjsanford Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I see at least 2 auctions in progress right now where the current bid is $500+
     
  10. There's also a number of BIN 601'S from $1500 to $2400. Lots of crazies with pie in the sky pricing everywhere. At the same time, I can search my local kijiji and find a pair for $200 as I type. The P.T Barnum credo is alive and well.
     
  11. heyMo

    heyMo Forum Resident

    Location:
    LKN west, NC
    Have not heard the 601's, but owned a pair of the 501's. Thought they sounded pretty good at the time. However, I don't remember, but I may have been enjoying a cool glass of Kook-aid at the time.
     
  12. SpeedMorris

    SpeedMorris Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Iowa
    Just "sold" on completed items. It does seem bizarre, especially considering the appearance of some of them. (Trailer park chic.)

    Not only are there absurd "sold" prices ($827, 1000, 790, 650, 900, 810, 870, 810, 1075, 1026, 735, 885, 610 and my favorites, 1500 and 1775), but the shipping is $100-200.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2019
  13. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    A fool and his money are soon parted.
     
  14. clhboa

    clhboa Forum Resident

    I have a pair of 601 II's. I got a good deal on them. I need to clear out some stuff and have been thinking about selling them. I have had all 4 surrounds professionally replaced. I've been thinking of asking 550 and then entertain offers on Craigslist. I too have seen some of those prices on ebay. They seemed awful high to me but what do I know?
     
  15. SpeedMorris

    SpeedMorris Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Iowa
    I guess I never reported in: The wife's brother got $1100 last November. I had our local tv-stereo-electronics store handle it, so they and ebay got cuts, of course. There was a buy-it-now for $1300, an offer for $1000 and then an accepted counter at 11. The store went for first offer, maybe 2-3 days after the listing was made.

    The seller had been thinking of taking them to the dump before I stepped in. I then cleaned them up nicely. No thank you; only a "boy, they (dealer and ebay) sure took a lot for themselves". I should have offered to drop them off at the dump myself.:rolleyes:
     
    vegafleet and clhboa like this.
  16. TubeMon

    TubeMon Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Monterey, CA
    Never give a sucker an even break.
    Or wisen up a Chump!
     
  17. clhboa

    clhboa Forum Resident

    I've read before (somewhere on the interweb) that vintage Bose has a big market in Asia. Not sure how true this is but there are a lot of demo video's of Bose 601's from Asian countries on youtube.
     
  18. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    If you see a lot actually sold then that is what they are going for. I would not pay for them but then I pay for other vintage stuff that some people could think I am equally crazy. There are collectors for some of these kind of things -no matter how bad they might sound- and that might be pushing the prices up.
     
  19. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    I always thought of 601's as "poor man's Shahinians" ... maybe not anymore. What's an old pair of Obelisks going for now?
     
  20. Ilusndweller

    Ilusndweller S.H.M.F.=>Reely kewl.

    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    The 601-2 were my second "real" speaker after some PSB Alphas (mid 90s). I thought they were pretty good until I got my B&W CDM-1SE. Huuuuge upgrade. I refoamed the Bose woofs but did not replace the caps. The Bose did serve me well for 2-3 years though, I power them with a Luxman M-120a and had a 10" Velodyne servo sub from the early 90s helping out on the low end.
     
  21. Never underestimate the power of desire, and never assume you know another persons limit.

    As for a "good" price, this is what I have some to understand.
    It really does not matter what you think the item is worth, where the value should lie, or what someone else should ask or pay.
    If the buyer and seller come to an agreement, THAT was a good price, for that item, on that day, between those two people.

    Yes, with the power of the interwebs thingamajig, you can compile some selling trends and get a general range....but, your sale is what really matters to you.

    When it comes to a hobby, toy, or want item, it is best to not interject your value system onto others.
    I know some who spend HUGE money on golf clubs and associated gear.
    I know some who spend HUGE money on old car parts...sometimes seemingly worn out old car parts.
    I know some who spend HUGE money on audio equipment.
    I know some who spend HUGE money on home furnishings...and the list goes on and on.

    None of these people really understand why the other is spending so much on that junk...but if you can understand THEY have a desire for that junk, then all seems to work out okay.

    You can't get brand new BOSE 601 speakers. This means the aftermarket is the only place to find such things.
    Those who have 601's dictate the starting point for sales of 601's.
    Those who desire 601's create demand for such things.
    Somewhere in the middle the two make an agreement and 601's change hands.
     
    macster, timind and LA2019 like this.
  22. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    After being in this hobby for years, reading in on reviews and burning through a bunch of equipment it’s easy to forget this is an impossibly complicated hobby for a beginner.

    I help friends out that are getting started quite a bit, in fact just this past past weekend a friend was asking about Bose speakers and he thought I was kidding when I said their speakers are not well liked by those that are even remotely serious about equipment. He honestly had it in his mind that Bose was the premiere high end brand. And honestly for him, buying a pair of 601’s would be the most amazing equipment he has ever owned, he would love it.

    hi-fi is an insiders game, most brands are unknown, stores are virtually nonexistent and it’s really uncommon to even have a friend that’s into it. If by some random circumstance the thought of adding floor standing speakers to your living space for something other than watching TV comes up as a good idea, Bose is a brand people will know and look for. And...what most of us have come to accept as the cost of doing business for a good pair of speakers is completely unreasonable to a beginner. The thought of spending a couple grand on speakers to even a guy with a $3,000 a month mortgage, a boat and an RV sounds like a fools expense. Why spend that kind of money when an amazon Alexa sounds just fine?

    so basically, you don’t know what you don’t know, the callus for spending money develops over time and 601’s sound pretty amazing if you’ve been living on a BT powered speaker or sound bar. Also, there is no way to tell someone Bose blows without sounding like a douche. And more than likely, without being a douche.
     
    Byrdsmaniac, clhboa and timind like this.
  23. Dr. Funk

    Dr. Funk Vintage Dust

    Location:
    Fort Worth TX
    I found a pair of 601 series III at an estate sale around 10 years ago...I gave $100 for them, cleaned them up and used them for about 6 months. I ended up trading them for a dirt bike (Yamaha 250).

    They are decent sounding and I can see why some would want them for sake of nostalgia.
     
    timind likes this.
  24. clhboa

    clhboa Forum Resident

    I just sold my clean + refoamed 601 II's for $430. I asked $500. Seemed fair enough.
     
  25. vegafleet

    vegafleet Forum Resident

    I dont know what series mine were, but I was very, very happy with them. Stopped using them when I bought a pair of Infinity Alpha 50s, which did sound better.

    I stored away my 601s in a closet for years, then got the bug to use them again and noticed that the foam surrounds were kind of crispy so I spent about $300-$400 in replacement woofers (this was not well thought out) that I installed myself. The speakers must have been 10 or more years old by then.

    They did sound ok, but not better than the Infinitys. I did have a blowout with them a weekend I had to myself at home. BLASTED David Gilmour's Remember That Night Dvd. They do get very loud and stay clean. Hey, it was 8 tweeters working!

    Shortly after, I gave them to a friend of mine from work.

    Edit: Series III, Series IV was a totally diferent design.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2020
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