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TonyP
 
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Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Peter Sammon wrote:

huge snip


I really don't know where to begin, so I'll basically end. I have heard
901's of various models with various amps and pre amps. I don't know
where you would hear Legacy and bose at the time. Same with B&W's or any
other "hi end" speaker. I would be interested in this place where I can
compare the 901's to something like my Von Schweikert VR4's (which most
certainly go deeper and sound better than the 901's). If you like them,
fine. That is your choice. They were "different" when first introduced.
Great marketing certainly sold a lot of them. But to say that their
"equalizer" introduces less distortion than a crossover network, well,
where are the facts (read: numbers) to back this up?
You like them. I don't care for them.
But, it is a matter of choice. You made yours, I made mine, and others
will make theirs.
Listen first. Listen long. Then decide. It's like all those people that
love those little bose acoustamates (?). They are terrible sounding and
way overpriced. But, they offer what those that don't know how music
sounds, the wiz-bang effect. Tizzy highs, screatching mids, and of
course, bloated muddy mid bass passed off as bass.
Hey sorta reminds me of 901's!

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Geoff Wood
 
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Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Peter Sammon wrote:
http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100

In 1968, I took an old Philco record player and turned it into my
first hifi record player by installing a Shure M3D stereo magnetic
phono cartridge and then adding a preamp and low powered amp and


Are you really an enthusiastic (but-misguided) Bose-user, or a part of the
Bose Inc marketing department. It never looked objective, but now this
tripe is popping up several times with changed subjects, across a bunch of
newgroups, it is starting to look like SPAM.

Or is it all really a tongue-in-cheek joke ?

geoff


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Joseph Oberlander
 
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Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Peter Sammon wrote:

God, what a lot of blather. Are you sure you aren't an employee?
You sure sound like one.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE specs are not ever offered by Bose because one of the
founding principles was that they offer little or no value to the
audiophile! Bose simply observed that great specs certainly did not always
coincide with equally great performance.


Like their Acoustimass system which has a +/- 12 db efficienty and a complete
hole from around 180-200hz? Or their noise cancelling headphones that work
about as well as a simple pair of earplugs(and mangle the sound just as much)

The EQ is silent with no perceived extraneous noise. The only noise that
will be revealed is amplifier hiss or such sound in an analog mastered
recording. Some digital recordings even have modulation noise and you will
recognize such flawed CD's immediately!


Q: why do studio monitors, elctrostatics, and even movie theatres all not
use any EQ? Perhaps because the speaker is accurate enough to not need
artificial mangling of the sound to be listenable?

(snip 3 pages of shill blather)

I did compare my Bose to these
speakers! While I did so, the high end salesman tried to tell me what was
wrong with them [like most of us audiophiles he was very opinionated]! I
simply smiled as my 901's outperformed these great speakers on every single
CD used for this audition!


I know people who think that their squidded-out Civic street racer is
better than a Porsche 911. Lol.

(snip more blather)

I can't believe someone actually spent two hours typing that crud in
to post it.

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New Account
 
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Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

No Highs, No Lows, must be Bose has remained true
since 1968. No imaging either. Great to demonstrate
doppler effect though.

Bose did keep after Consumer Reports in the courts all
the way to the Supreme Court for 14 years a bad review.

For some reason they did not go after J. Gordon Holt for
his not so flattering review in Stereophile.

http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/425/



"Peter Sammon" wrote in message
...
http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100

In 1968, I took an old Philco record player and turned it into my first
hifi record player by installing a Shure M3D stereo magnetic phono
cartridge and then adding a preamp and low powered amp and sealing the
entire deal by building these gigantic enclosures for a pair of Jensen duo
cone 8" speakers that cost a grand total of $20/Pr. This was my
introduction to stereo hifi and a new audionut had been born!

This was also the year that the now famous Bose 901 DIRECT/REFLECTING
speaker system graced the audio world with a courageous unorthodox design!
Had it not been for Dr. Amar Bose and this speaker, who would have caused
so many speaker designers to even give stereo imaging the slightest
consideration!????

Believe it or not, I wasn't even aware of the design at that time. In fact
it wasn't until 1972 when I was stationed in Alaska for the USAF that I
took to picking up a few stereo magazines including CONSUMER GUIDE and
STEREO REVIEW and then ventured into the local hifi shop in Fairbanks that
my first encounter with the 901 took place.

When the salesman put on an album by a band called Chase, The 901's that
were suspended from the ceiling immediately shook the room and the clarity
was awesome! Stereo everywhere yet I could distinctly identify each
trumpet, guitar, percussion and voices with better separation than I had
ever experienced! The amplifier driving the speakers at the time was none
other than Bob Carver's creation...the Phase Linear 700. The love affair
had begun and I purchased my first set of Bose 901's.

In 1983 I upgraded to SERIES V and just recently to SERIES VI...the

subject
of this review. It is a solidly well built speaker system throughout!

The Bose 901 SERIES VI features a 21" x 12" x 13" cabinet with curved
fronts and two angled panels in the rear. The two angled panels each
contain four 4 1/2" drivers while one single driver is placed toward the
center of the front panel.

Thus the reason for the model #...9 drivers total with 1 in front. The
design is appropriately designated as direct/reflecting with 89% of the
sound projected from the rear and the remaining 11% coming out of the
front. This proportion was the finding of Dr. Bose's MIT team when

studying
various halls where LIVE PERFORMANCES were featured.

The impedence is a solid 8 ohms across the musical spectrum and should
prove to be a most stable load for whatever amplifier one chooses but
choose wisely as this speaker is extremely picky about what drives it and
I'm not referring to just power alone! It is quite conceivable that a

given
50 watt amp could sound better with the 901's than a competitive 200 watt
amp!

The small drivers themselves boast heavy magnets and high quality voice
coils as they must move an enormous amount of air. The multi chambered
ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure vents the speaker in a most unusual way with air
speeds exceeding 60 mph! Three ports or jets protrude through the rear of
the 901 enclosure.

Because of the use of small full range drivers, an active equalizer which
is absolutely essential to the system is used in place of the normal
CROSSOVERS that introduce distortion no matter how well engineered. The

901
EQ simply smooths out any bumps or irregularities in the system's power
response.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE specs are not ever offered by Bose because one of the
founding principles was that they offer little or no value to the
audiophile! Bose simply observed that great specs certainly did not always
coincide with equally great performance.

The OWNER'S MANUAL is quite extensive and written in several languages. It
also gives special instructions for mounting the 901's on pedestals or
hanging them from ceilings.

The speakers are rated to handle amplifiers of 10 to 450 watts of clean
power but do not induce amplifier clipping as this will kill any speaker
regardless of the rating or how well it is made! DYNAMIC RANGE is rated at
106db...well above the 90db capability of the best digital sources!

The two finishes that are available are black ash and light walnut. I

chose
the light walnut for mine with dark brown indestructible grills that are
absolutely seductive looking!
Optional PS6 pedestals are available. Pedestals are also offered by others
and you could save some money but make sure they support your 901's
properly. Two foot high end tables offer a sturdy and childproof support

of
the speakers also.

The bottom of each 901 speaker reveals a circular cutaway that surrounds
the two heavy duty knurled nut speaker terminals that hold speaker wire
like no other arrangement I know of. It is very secure and should make for
a lifetime of good connection to quality OFC speaker wire. This wire is
available from Kimber Kable and AR but for my money MIRASONIC.COM has the
best stuff at super low prices that can truly make an audible difference.
There is no substitute for controlled well defined bass and clear mids and
highs. Good wire can accomplish that! It's been proven.

After patching the 901 EQ into my TAPE MONITOR circuit on my humble
Parasound integrated amplifier with the supplied patch chords and then
carefully setting up the speakers in my living room I was able to listen

to
my vast collection of CD's into the wee hours of the morning night after
night as I simply could not get enough of the beautiful sound the speakers
project! A new TAPE MONITOR is provided on the EQ to replace your old one.
Adjust the MID BASS and MID TREBLE slider controls moderately for room and
source compensation.

DO NOT MIX AND MATCH WRONG EQ's FROM VARIOUS SERIES MODELS AS THE SOUND
WILL BE INCORRECT AND DO NOT USE WITH OTHER CONVENTIONAL UNEQUALIZED
SPEAKERS FOR HOME THEATER!!!!

901 EQ AND SPEAKER SERIES COMPATABILITY:

SERIES I and II...ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION design from 1968-1976
SERIES III and IV...ACOUSTIC MATRIX design from 1976-1983
SERIES V and VI...ACOUSTIC MATRIX design from 1983-Present day

Do not deviate from these guidelines as 901's are available in used
condition over the internet. Undoubtedly as you read this review, someone
is selling a SERIES IV 901 with a SERIES VI EQ or a SERIES II EQ with a
SERIES III speaker and will result in total dissatisfaction with the
product on the buyer's end.

Also beware of the phony 901 look alike LDL 749 speakers that were
manufactured from 1970 to 1974 without EQ's but did not equal the 901
quality sound. I almost purchased one of these systems back then but
thankfully did not but beware as they can easily be peddled as 901's. They
do resemble the Bose to a great degree. I think someone from the original
Bose/MIT group jumped ship to make these imposters.

As for the subject of speaker placement I can only suggest that you
experiment a bit and rid yourself of any normal distance you would keep
between conventional LEFT and RIGHT STEREO speakers as the 901 is anything
but conventional itself! I really do believe that the LOVE and HATE stems
from the fact that the 901 sound can change drastically in the lower
frequencies when not setup properly! Alas, I have found the 901's to sound
best on 18" high pedestals and out 18" from the REAR wall along the SHORT
wall of my listening room as compared to the LONGER wall. I think this is
better than hanging the speakers from the ceiling where the bass tends to
get lost. Experiment...experiment...this is the key!

Because of the angled rear panels, the "middle sound" will be quite strong
and stable eliminating the typical "sweet spot" rules. You can separate
these speakers miles apart from each other and in fact should do so within
reason to get great stereo separation!

By doing so, you'll not only widen the fantastic soundstage but also
eliminate any possibility of losing left and right channel detail. Don't
worry, you will not have a "hole in the middle" effect. This way also gets
you to move the 901's closer to the adjacent walls. Just keep the wall
behind the speakers relatively free of drapes and teddy bears.

Hanging the 901's from ceilings more than ten feet from the ground is not
recommended as the sound may get obscured a bit and imaging along with

deep
bass lost. In other words, if you have a ceiling like the Sistine Chapel,
forget it!

The sound of the 901 SERIES VI is really special and downright seductive!
Regardless of the many genres of music that have been played thru my

901's,
the SOUNDSTAGING is such that never have I experienced a wider higher
portrayal of various performances with equally impressive depth! You can
literally point to every instrument in the orchestra or follow a soloist

as
he or she moves about the stage in front of you [e.g. Tony Clarke-"The
Entertainer" as he as he moves to and fro banging his tambourine...it's
really something to behold!]

The break-in period for the 901-VI went very nicely with the drivers fully
seated after six months. Be careful not to push them too hard at first and
do not introduce amplifier clipping. By the way, this break-in period
applies to owners of older 901 models that have had their foam surrounds
replaced [Simply Speakers on EBAY has a wondertful kit for under $50].

I love it when people say that the 901's can't go deep. Just checkout the
opening low pedal note in the movie "2001-A Space Oddysey" and see if it
doesn't rattle every window and loose floor board in the house! Or

checkout
Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" at the four minute mark. Just MIDRANGE
speakers, huh? No, what's happening is that the ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure
is moving huge amounts of air! That's what gives you bass...not just the
physical size of the driver. Why do you think many top notch speaker
systems like Win Burhoe's SILENT SPEAKERS or the Spendors use such small
drivers and are still able to produce such deep notes? It's because the
cabinets have special sophisticated chambers that create significant air
speeds. Also the drivers have powerful motors in their voice coil and
magnet assemblies.

All other systems seem to be fat sounding in the bass...even the biggest
most expensive ones! Forget about subwoofering the 901 as it is not
necessary in the right room! Put your wallet away and be happy with the
fact that you own a fantastic 40Hz gut puncher!

Telarc's CD of "Carmina Burana" is so dynamic with the voices and

orchestra
bringing forth massive but clear emotional sound thru the 901's. Midrange
and high notes are crystal clear thru the speakers when they are truly
present. That brings me to another point...that the 901's only reproduce
what's in the recording itself and very little of anything else! BUT YOU
GOTTA LISTEN TO THEM FOR YOURSELF. YOU MAY NOT AGREE WITH MY FINDINGS AS
THE 901 IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.


The EQ is silent with no perceived extraneous noise. The only noise that
will be revealed is amplifier hiss or such sound in an analog mastered
recording. Some digital recordings even have modulation noise and you will
recognize such flawed CD's immediately!

The speaker has an uncanny ability to reveal eveything! Beware as this is
certainly a double edged sword for the Bose. I have one CD of Barry

White's
Greatest Hits that on the song..."You're The First, The Last, My
Everything" where this older recording used a poor microphone for Barry's
voice that can sound downright harsh! Yet the orchestra behind him is very
nicely portrayed. You will certainly stay up late the first night checking
out all of your library to see what's good and what isn't.

I'm not kidding when I tell you that the 901 can distinguish between a

good
MIC or a bad one. You can even hear "poof!" sounds from microphones that
were not properly screened and windproofed! Just listen to a variety of
radio broadcasts or checkout the "Buddy Holly Collection" CD of remastered
recordings and listen for yourself.

That is how revealing the 901 is. I dare say that many of you will not

like
the speaker because of this very fact. The quality of your amplifier and

CD
player will also be unveiled for whatever it is. Use good quality power as
the 901 likes heaps of it! Yes, it can play quite loudly but sounds
wonderful at a whisper.

That high current Onkyo/Integra stereo only receiver should be wonderful
with the 901's! I'm not so sure about some other massed produced brands.
Certainly super audiophile expensive MONO BLOCKS will be at their best
also.

If you listen to JAZZ 88 in the Newark, NJ area you will hear non smeared
percussion and wonderful vocalists with plenty of plucked basses and super
sweet highs all naturally portrayed thru the 901's. The cymbals are so

darn
natural! TRANSIENT RESPONSE is exemplary! I love the fact that I can hear

a
kickdrum change tone or every subtlety and overtone on various recorded
music. The simple striking of a trianglular bell can raise the hairs on my
back!

Accuracy of musical timbre is important and with the Bose you get plenty

of
it. You haven't heard the Beatles until you've heard "Sgt Peppers" played
thru the Bose 901! There is a rather nice CD entitled "Atmospheres-Celtic
Voices" featuring ambient waterfall sounds along with various seductive
strings, tom toms, woodwinds and basses. This Irish music CD is worth
seeking out as it reveals changes in the stringed bass's tones and
subtleties that can be a very useful tool for speaker evaluation! You can
probably pick it up for around $8 or less! The 901 sounds wonderful with
this recording!

But don't just take my word for it...listen for yourself! You may or may
not agree. That is how controversial this speaker is! Speaker auditioning
should be fun and pleasant so don't let snotty proprietors and extremely
opinionated sales people stand in your way. Some of the hatred stems from
the fact that Bose seems to pursuit competitors in court quite often and
also even went after a negative reviewer...and that's not right. We are
free to print how we feel about a product and should have no fear of
repercussion!

But as a maker of great speakers I think Bose does very well indeed and
their customer support is unbelievable! I have had some nice chats with
both Bose field and customer service reps.

Look, my feeling is that a truly great speaker can involve you in the
performance so well as to summon all your emotions as I have felt many
tears in my eyes when listening to beautiful music thru the speakers.
Telarc's "Rite Of Spring" has a tympani gut puncher at around the ten
minute mark that can make your heart jump out and if you hold a tissue

over
one of the 901's ports it will fly out of your hand! Yet the orchestra
sounds so sweet as to make you cry or stand up and exclaim...BRAVO!...as

it
does on CBS MASTERWORKS' "Nutcracker" w/Michael Tilson Thomas conducting
the New Phiharmonia Orch.

There are many bigger more expensive models costing well over $5000 a pair
but I don't really consider some of these Gigantors to be appropriate for
the average listening room. We don't have auditoriums for listening areas
do we?

Well the 901's have served me well in some of my rooms over the past

thirty
years and can sound great in rooms big or small if the acoustics are
correct for them. If your listening room is smaller than average and full
of curtains then look elsewhere for your special transducer. In larger
rooms with solid walls or undraped windows the Bose 901 SERIES VI will be
at its best! The fact that their current price is still within reason for
such great performance at $1500 is a credit to Bose. The USA engineered
speaker is now being crafted in Canada which lays claim to such fine
outfits like Mirage, PSB and Paradigm.

Although the system is not always setup properly in malls and generally

not
available through high end dealers, don't let that fact stop you from
seeking the speaker out. My advice is to find someone locally who owns a
SERIES III thru VI system and ask for an audition in the home where they
reside. There is simply no substitute for auditioning the 901's in an
actual home! You can also go online at BOSE.COM to place an order and use

a
12 month payment plan that makes it so much easier on your pocketbook.

A Special Note To 901 Owners And Perspective Buyers:
Do not be discouraged or put off by those who feel this speaker system is
overrated or hyped up. Trust your own ears! No amount of poetic flowery
descriptive double talk can truly make a given speaker system sound great.
Neither can impressive manufacturer's specifications! Listen for yourself.

Compare the speakers to the best of the best like the B&W NAUTILUS 801's
and 802's but also the biggest most expensive Tannoys, Martin Logans,
Definitives, JBL's, Allisons, Bostons, Polks, Legacy's or any other brand
you can think of as I have and see if you agree with my findings. Isn't it
most interesting that some of these lovely sounding models cost up to ten
times the price of the 901 or more! I did compare my Bose to these
speakers! While I did so, the high end salesman tried to tell me what was
wrong with them [like most of us audiophiles he was very opinionated]! I
simply smiled as my 901's outperformed these great speakers on every

single
CD used for this audition!

What a great audition but the salesman knew he had lost his battle! Who
needs someone telling us what we should be hearing while auditioning
speakers or any piece of audio gear? It is our decision. We know what to
listen for! Just beware of this little trick when you decide to bring a

901
system into a high end store. They don't like Bose!

This silliness began in 1971 when J Gordon Holt gave the original Bose 901
a somewhat negative review. He did however bring up some good points but
was off the mark on the 901's sounding "fat" in the bass as they are
anything but that! However, the battle lines were drawn. This review
sparked the "Love/Hate" of the Bose 901 speaker system and you can link to
the entire review from my profile page. Just so you have an idea of where
Mr. Holt is at...he loves the sound of the B&W 801. I thought that this

was
rather ironic as this model [although great] has been tagged by myself and
others as a bit overwhelming and "fat sounding" in the bass
frequencies...again...room acoustics like it or not will affect various
speaker models more than we sometimes are willing to admit!


With the proper amplifier and room your reaction may very well be like
this..."I may be living in a different world from everyone else but if
so...DO NOT wake me up! I'm having too much fun listening to music the way
it was meant to be heard with this heavenly speaker!" With the wrong amp
and improper room you will probably feel that you've been ripped off and
Bose is full of nothing but hype.

I recommend the speakers highly with the condition that you fully audition
them in the right situation but be aware of the fact that many of you will
find yourselves wondering why you even bothered to give the beasts a
listen! For those of you in this situation I highly recommend the
Vandersteen 1C speakers at a slightly lower price. The Vandersteens are
wonderful sounding in just about any room you can think of and are
available at fine high end stores like John Rutan's Audio Connection of
Verona, NJ [see the link on my profile page].

Bose states that the 901-VI was engineered by passionate music lovers.

This
fact is so highly obvious once you give the speaker a listen in an
appropriate setup [and the Bose Store may very well not be the best!]. It
seems like no other speaker system delivers powerful accuracy quite like
this one!


  #5   Report Post  
New Account
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

No Highs, No Lows, must be Bose has remained true
since 1968. No imaging either. Great to demonstrate
doppler effect though.

Bose did keep after Consumer Reports in the courts all
the way to the Supreme Court for 14 years a bad review.

For some reason they did not go after J. Gordon Holt for
his not so flattering review in Stereophile.

http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/425/


"Peter Sammon" wrote in message
...
http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100

In 1968, I took an old Philco record player and turned it into my first
hifi record player by installing a Shure M3D stereo magnetic phono
cartridge and then adding a preamp and low powered amp and sealing the
entire deal by building these gigantic enclosures for a pair of Jensen duo
cone 8" speakers that cost a grand total of $20/Pr. This was my
introduction to stereo hifi and a new audionut had been born!

This was also the year that the now famous Bose 901 DIRECT/REFLECTING
speaker system graced the audio world with a courageous unorthodox design!
Had it not been for Dr. Amar Bose and this speaker, who would have caused
so many speaker designers to even give stereo imaging the slightest
consideration!????

Believe it or not, I wasn't even aware of the design at that time. In fact
it wasn't until 1972 when I was stationed in Alaska for the USAF that I
took to picking up a few stereo magazines including CONSUMER GUIDE and
STEREO REVIEW and then ventured into the local hifi shop in Fairbanks that
my first encounter with the 901 took place.

When the salesman put on an album by a band called Chase, The 901's that
were suspended from the ceiling immediately shook the room and the clarity
was awesome! Stereo everywhere yet I could distinctly identify each
trumpet, guitar, percussion and voices with better separation than I had
ever experienced! The amplifier driving the speakers at the time was none
other than Bob Carver's creation...the Phase Linear 700. The love affair
had begun and I purchased my first set of Bose 901's.

In 1983 I upgraded to SERIES V and just recently to SERIES VI...the

subject
of this review. It is a solidly well built speaker system throughout!

The Bose 901 SERIES VI features a 21" x 12" x 13" cabinet with curved
fronts and two angled panels in the rear. The two angled panels each
contain four 4 1/2" drivers while one single driver is placed toward the
center of the front panel.

Thus the reason for the model #...9 drivers total with 1 in front. The
design is appropriately designated as direct/reflecting with 89% of the
sound projected from the rear and the remaining 11% coming out of the
front. This proportion was the finding of Dr. Bose's MIT team when

studying
various halls where LIVE PERFORMANCES were featured.

The impedence is a solid 8 ohms across the musical spectrum and should
prove to be a most stable load for whatever amplifier one chooses but
choose wisely as this speaker is extremely picky about what drives it and
I'm not referring to just power alone! It is quite conceivable that a

given
50 watt amp could sound better with the 901's than a competitive 200 watt
amp!

The small drivers themselves boast heavy magnets and high quality voice
coils as they must move an enormous amount of air. The multi chambered
ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure vents the speaker in a most unusual way with air
speeds exceeding 60 mph! Three ports or jets protrude through the rear of
the 901 enclosure.

Because of the use of small full range drivers, an active equalizer which
is absolutely essential to the system is used in place of the normal
CROSSOVERS that introduce distortion no matter how well engineered. The

901
EQ simply smooths out any bumps or irregularities in the system's power
response.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE specs are not ever offered by Bose because one of the
founding principles was that they offer little or no value to the
audiophile! Bose simply observed that great specs certainly did not always
coincide with equally great performance.

The OWNER'S MANUAL is quite extensive and written in several languages. It
also gives special instructions for mounting the 901's on pedestals or
hanging them from ceilings.

The speakers are rated to handle amplifiers of 10 to 450 watts of clean
power but do not induce amplifier clipping as this will kill any speaker
regardless of the rating or how well it is made! DYNAMIC RANGE is rated at
106db...well above the 90db capability of the best digital sources!

The two finishes that are available are black ash and light walnut. I

chose
the light walnut for mine with dark brown indestructible grills that are
absolutely seductive looking!
Optional PS6 pedestals are available. Pedestals are also offered by others
and you could save some money but make sure they support your 901's
properly. Two foot high end tables offer a sturdy and childproof support

of
the speakers also.

The bottom of each 901 speaker reveals a circular cutaway that surrounds
the two heavy duty knurled nut speaker terminals that hold speaker wire
like no other arrangement I know of. It is very secure and should make for
a lifetime of good connection to quality OFC speaker wire. This wire is
available from Kimber Kable and AR but for my money MIRASONIC.COM has the
best stuff at super low prices that can truly make an audible difference.
There is no substitute for controlled well defined bass and clear mids and
highs. Good wire can accomplish that! It's been proven.

After patching the 901 EQ into my TAPE MONITOR circuit on my humble
Parasound integrated amplifier with the supplied patch chords and then
carefully setting up the speakers in my living room I was able to listen

to
my vast collection of CD's into the wee hours of the morning night after
night as I simply could not get enough of the beautiful sound the speakers
project! A new TAPE MONITOR is provided on the EQ to replace your old one.
Adjust the MID BASS and MID TREBLE slider controls moderately for room and
source compensation.

DO NOT MIX AND MATCH WRONG EQ's FROM VARIOUS SERIES MODELS AS THE SOUND
WILL BE INCORRECT AND DO NOT USE WITH OTHER CONVENTIONAL UNEQUALIZED
SPEAKERS FOR HOME THEATER!!!!

901 EQ AND SPEAKER SERIES COMPATABILITY:

SERIES I and II...ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION design from 1968-1976
SERIES III and IV...ACOUSTIC MATRIX design from 1976-1983
SERIES V and VI...ACOUSTIC MATRIX design from 1983-Present day

Do not deviate from these guidelines as 901's are available in used
condition over the internet. Undoubtedly as you read this review, someone
is selling a SERIES IV 901 with a SERIES VI EQ or a SERIES II EQ with a
SERIES III speaker and will result in total dissatisfaction with the
product on the buyer's end.

Also beware of the phony 901 look alike LDL 749 speakers that were
manufactured from 1970 to 1974 without EQ's but did not equal the 901
quality sound. I almost purchased one of these systems back then but
thankfully did not but beware as they can easily be peddled as 901's. They
do resemble the Bose to a great degree. I think someone from the original
Bose/MIT group jumped ship to make these imposters.

As for the subject of speaker placement I can only suggest that you
experiment a bit and rid yourself of any normal distance you would keep
between conventional LEFT and RIGHT STEREO speakers as the 901 is anything
but conventional itself! I really do believe that the LOVE and HATE stems
from the fact that the 901 sound can change drastically in the lower
frequencies when not setup properly! Alas, I have found the 901's to sound
best on 18" high pedestals and out 18" from the REAR wall along the SHORT
wall of my listening room as compared to the LONGER wall. I think this is
better than hanging the speakers from the ceiling where the bass tends to
get lost. Experiment...experiment...this is the key!

Because of the angled rear panels, the "middle sound" will be quite strong
and stable eliminating the typical "sweet spot" rules. You can separate
these speakers miles apart from each other and in fact should do so within
reason to get great stereo separation!

By doing so, you'll not only widen the fantastic soundstage but also
eliminate any possibility of losing left and right channel detail. Don't
worry, you will not have a "hole in the middle" effect. This way also gets
you to move the 901's closer to the adjacent walls. Just keep the wall
behind the speakers relatively free of drapes and teddy bears.

Hanging the 901's from ceilings more than ten feet from the ground is not
recommended as the sound may get obscured a bit and imaging along with

deep
bass lost. In other words, if you have a ceiling like the Sistine Chapel,
forget it!

The sound of the 901 SERIES VI is really special and downright seductive!
Regardless of the many genres of music that have been played thru my

901's,
the SOUNDSTAGING is such that never have I experienced a wider higher
portrayal of various performances with equally impressive depth! You can
literally point to every instrument in the orchestra or follow a soloist

as
he or she moves about the stage in front of you [e.g. Tony Clarke-"The
Entertainer" as he as he moves to and fro banging his tambourine...it's
really something to behold!]

The break-in period for the 901-VI went very nicely with the drivers fully
seated after six months. Be careful not to push them too hard at first and
do not introduce amplifier clipping. By the way, this break-in period
applies to owners of older 901 models that have had their foam surrounds
replaced [Simply Speakers on EBAY has a wondertful kit for under $50].

I love it when people say that the 901's can't go deep. Just checkout the
opening low pedal note in the movie "2001-A Space Oddysey" and see if it
doesn't rattle every window and loose floor board in the house! Or

checkout
Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" at the four minute mark. Just MIDRANGE
speakers, huh? No, what's happening is that the ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure
is moving huge amounts of air! That's what gives you bass...not just the
physical size of the driver. Why do you think many top notch speaker
systems like Win Burhoe's SILENT SPEAKERS or the Spendors use such small
drivers and are still able to produce such deep notes? It's because the
cabinets have special sophisticated chambers that create significant air
speeds. Also the drivers have powerful motors in their voice coil and
magnet assemblies.

All other systems seem to be fat sounding in the bass...even the biggest
most expensive ones! Forget about subwoofering the 901 as it is not
necessary in the right room! Put your wallet away and be happy with the
fact that you own a fantastic 40Hz gut puncher!

Telarc's CD of "Carmina Burana" is so dynamic with the voices and

orchestra
bringing forth massive but clear emotional sound thru the 901's. Midrange
and high notes are crystal clear thru the speakers when they are truly
present. That brings me to another point...that the 901's only reproduce
what's in the recording itself and very little of anything else! BUT YOU
GOTTA LISTEN TO THEM FOR YOURSELF. YOU MAY NOT AGREE WITH MY FINDINGS AS
THE 901 IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.


The EQ is silent with no perceived extraneous noise. The only noise that
will be revealed is amplifier hiss or such sound in an analog mastered
recording. Some digital recordings even have modulation noise and you will
recognize such flawed CD's immediately!

The speaker has an uncanny ability to reveal eveything! Beware as this is
certainly a double edged sword for the Bose. I have one CD of Barry

White's
Greatest Hits that on the song..."You're The First, The Last, My
Everything" where this older recording used a poor microphone for Barry's
voice that can sound downright harsh! Yet the orchestra behind him is very
nicely portrayed. You will certainly stay up late the first night checking
out all of your library to see what's good and what isn't.

I'm not kidding when I tell you that the 901 can distinguish between a

good
MIC or a bad one. You can even hear "poof!" sounds from microphones that
were not properly screened and windproofed! Just listen to a variety of
radio broadcasts or checkout the "Buddy Holly Collection" CD of remastered
recordings and listen for yourself.

That is how revealing the 901 is. I dare say that many of you will not

like
the speaker because of this very fact. The quality of your amplifier and

CD
player will also be unveiled for whatever it is. Use good quality power as
the 901 likes heaps of it! Yes, it can play quite loudly but sounds
wonderful at a whisper.

That high current Onkyo/Integra stereo only receiver should be wonderful
with the 901's! I'm not so sure about some other massed produced brands.
Certainly super audiophile expensive MONO BLOCKS will be at their best
also.

If you listen to JAZZ 88 in the Newark, NJ area you will hear non smeared
percussion and wonderful vocalists with plenty of plucked basses and super
sweet highs all naturally portrayed thru the 901's. The cymbals are so

darn
natural! TRANSIENT RESPONSE is exemplary! I love the fact that I can hear

a
kickdrum change tone or every subtlety and overtone on various recorded
music. The simple striking of a trianglular bell can raise the hairs on my
back!

Accuracy of musical timbre is important and with the Bose you get plenty

of
it. You haven't heard the Beatles until you've heard "Sgt Peppers" played
thru the Bose 901! There is a rather nice CD entitled "Atmospheres-Celtic
Voices" featuring ambient waterfall sounds along with various seductive
strings, tom toms, woodwinds and basses. This Irish music CD is worth
seeking out as it reveals changes in the stringed bass's tones and
subtleties that can be a very useful tool for speaker evaluation! You can
probably pick it up for around $8 or less! The 901 sounds wonderful with
this recording!

But don't just take my word for it...listen for yourself! You may or may
not agree. That is how controversial this speaker is! Speaker auditioning
should be fun and pleasant so don't let snotty proprietors and extremely
opinionated sales people stand in your way. Some of the hatred stems from
the fact that Bose seems to pursuit competitors in court quite often and
also even went after a negative reviewer...and that's not right. We are
free to print how we feel about a product and should have no fear of
repercussion!

But as a maker of great speakers I think Bose does very well indeed and
their customer support is unbelievable! I have had some nice chats with
both Bose field and customer service reps.

Look, my feeling is that a truly great speaker can involve you in the
performance so well as to summon all your emotions as I have felt many
tears in my eyes when listening to beautiful music thru the speakers.
Telarc's "Rite Of Spring" has a tympani gut puncher at around the ten
minute mark that can make your heart jump out and if you hold a tissue

over
one of the 901's ports it will fly out of your hand! Yet the orchestra
sounds so sweet as to make you cry or stand up and exclaim...BRAVO!...as

it
does on CBS MASTERWORKS' "Nutcracker" w/Michael Tilson Thomas conducting
the New Phiharmonia Orch.

There are many bigger more expensive models costing well over $5000 a pair
but I don't really consider some of these Gigantors to be appropriate for
the average listening room. We don't have auditoriums for listening areas
do we?

Well the 901's have served me well in some of my rooms over the past

thirty
years and can sound great in rooms big or small if the acoustics are
correct for them. If your listening room is smaller than average and full
of curtains then look elsewhere for your special transducer. In larger
rooms with solid walls or undraped windows the Bose 901 SERIES VI will be
at its best! The fact that their current price is still within reason for
such great performance at $1500 is a credit to Bose. The USA engineered
speaker is now being crafted in Canada which lays claim to such fine
outfits like Mirage, PSB and Paradigm.

Although the system is not always setup properly in malls and generally

not
available through high end dealers, don't let that fact stop you from
seeking the speaker out. My advice is to find someone locally who owns a
SERIES III thru VI system and ask for an audition in the home where they
reside. There is simply no substitute for auditioning the 901's in an
actual home! You can also go online at BOSE.COM to place an order and use

a
12 month payment plan that makes it so much easier on your pocketbook.

A Special Note To 901 Owners And Perspective Buyers:
Do not be discouraged or put off by those who feel this speaker system is
overrated or hyped up. Trust your own ears! No amount of poetic flowery
descriptive double talk can truly make a given speaker system sound great.
Neither can impressive manufacturer's specifications! Listen for yourself.

Compare the speakers to the best of the best like the B&W NAUTILUS 801's
and 802's but also the biggest most expensive Tannoys, Martin Logans,
Definitives, JBL's, Allisons, Bostons, Polks, Legacy's or any other brand
you can think of as I have and see if you agree with my findings. Isn't it
most interesting that some of these lovely sounding models cost up to ten
times the price of the 901 or more! I did compare my Bose to these
speakers! While I did so, the high end salesman tried to tell me what was
wrong with them [like most of us audiophiles he was very opinionated]! I
simply smiled as my 901's outperformed these great speakers on every

single
CD used for this audition!

What a great audition but the salesman knew he had lost his battle! Who
needs someone telling us what we should be hearing while auditioning
speakers or any piece of audio gear? It is our decision. We know what to
listen for! Just beware of this little trick when you decide to bring a

901
system into a high end store. They don't like Bose!

This silliness began in 1971 when J Gordon Holt gave the original Bose 901
a somewhat negative review. He did however bring up some good points but
was off the mark on the 901's sounding "fat" in the bass as they are
anything but that! However, the battle lines were drawn. This review
sparked the "Love/Hate" of the Bose 901 speaker system and you can link to
the entire review from my profile page. Just so you have an idea of where
Mr. Holt is at...he loves the sound of the B&W 801. I thought that this

was
rather ironic as this model [although great] has been tagged by myself and
others as a bit overwhelming and "fat sounding" in the bass
frequencies...again...room acoustics like it or not will affect various
speaker models more than we sometimes are willing to admit!


With the proper amplifier and room your reaction may very well be like
this..."I may be living in a different world from everyone else but if
so...DO NOT wake me up! I'm having too much fun listening to music the way
it was meant to be heard with this heavenly speaker!" With the wrong amp
and improper room you will probably feel that you've been ripped off and
Bose is full of nothing but hype.

I recommend the speakers highly with the condition that you fully audition
them in the right situation but be aware of the fact that many of you will
find yourselves wondering why you even bothered to give the beasts a
listen! For those of you in this situation I highly recommend the
Vandersteen 1C speakers at a slightly lower price. The Vandersteens are
wonderful sounding in just about any room you can think of and are
available at fine high end stores like John Rutan's Audio Connection of
Verona, NJ [see the link on my profile page].

Bose states that the 901-VI was engineered by passionate music lovers.

This
fact is so highly obvious once you give the speaker a listen in an
appropriate setup [and the Bose Store may very well not be the best!]. It
seems like no other speaker system delivers powerful accuracy quite like
this one!




  #6   Report Post  
Arny Krueger
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

"Peter Sammon" wrote in message


The small drivers themselves boast heavy magnets and high quality
voice coils as they must move an enormous amount of air.


Myth number one: A reasonable number of small drivers can move as much air
as a single large one, all other things being equal.

The hidden agenda is linear stroke.

Let's compare a 4" driver and an 8" driver. How many 4" drivers does it take
to move as much air as an 8" driver?

The naive answer is 4, presuming that cone area is proportional to diameter,
squared. True for theoretical geometry, not true for speakers.

Speakers have flexible surrounds and a fraction of the area of the surround
must be deducted from the area of the cone. However, the width of the
surround is not proportional to the diameter of the speaker, but rather is
dependent on the designer's goals for maximum linear stroke. IOW an 8"
speaker with a certain linear stroke will have a surround that is a certain
width. If the 4" speaker has the same linear stroke, then its surround will
have to be the same width. However, since the diameter of the smaller
speaker is quite a bit smaller, the surround takes up a greater proportion
of the diameter of the speaker. IOW, the area of the actual moving part of
the smaller cone is even less than proportionately smaller.

For small speakers, it may take 5 4" speakers to have the same moving cone
area as an 8" speaker due to the loss of effective moving diaphragm area
because of the width of the surround.

Secondly, smaller speakers, all other things being equal, don't have the
same linear stroke as larger speakers. Speakers tend to scale in all
dimensions. Not only is a 4" speaker half the diameter of an 8" speaker, but
it will have half the linear stroke, all other things being equal.

In short, it might take as many as 10 4" speakers to have the air-moving
capacity of a single 8" speaker, all other things being equal.

The multi
chambered ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure vents the speaker in a most
unusual way with air
speeds exceeding 60 mph! Three ports or jets protrude through the
rear of the 901 enclosure.


Knowledgeable speaker designers know that high air velocity in ports is
anathema. High air velocities lead to higher turbulence, and turbulent flow
tends to be noisy flow. One sign of a quality ported speaker is a large,
low-velocity port.

Because of the use of small full range drivers, an active equalizer
which is absolutely essential to the system is used in place of the
normal CROSSOVERS that introduce distortion no matter how well
engineered. The 901 EQ simply smooths out any bumps or irregularities in

the system's
power response.


Plan B: build a system that is essentially acoustically flat. Not mission
impossible in this day and age.

Now for the seriously damning facts about the Bose 901. When the 901 was
built, not that much was generally known about optimizing the performance of
arrays of small drivers. It turns out that arrays of small drivers can be a
real can of worms, if smooth, well-balanced frequency response is desired.
I'm quite sure that if Bose were to design the 901 today with a clean piece
of paper, they'd do it quite a bit differently.

Probably the most serious problem with designs based on ad-hoc collections
of identical small drivers is that they can have very rough frequency
response (lobing and comb-filter effects) when you move slightly off-axis,
and they can also have frequency response that is a strong function of
distance from the speaker to the listener. There are ways to manage these
problems with generally involve putting the drivers on curved baffles,
and/or adjusting the level and/or frequency response of the drive to the
various drivers. However, the classic Bose 901 design really does neither of
these things well.

Here's an AES paper that points out these problems and potential solutions
in some detail:

Author(s): Keele, Jr., D. B.
Publication: JAES Volume 38 Number 10 pp. 723·748; October 1990
Abstract: The Bessel array is a configuration of five, seven, or nine
identical loudspeakers in an equal-spaced line array that provides the same
overall polar pattern as a single loudspeaker of the array

One important point is that the no way is the Bose 901 a Bessel array.
A second important point is that of all the Bessel arrays analyzed, 5
drivers in a row was found to be the only one that was recommended.








  #7   Report Post  
Tim S Kemp
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Peter Sammon wrote a massive amount about an expensive pair of
underperforming speakers.

If I wanted overpriced speakers that sound "nice" but don't reproduce music
how the sound engineer intended it to be reproduced I think the B&O beolab 5
would be my choice, they sound good. The 901 Bose does not give the crisp
response across the frequency range that's required or the power and
transient response that you get with real loudspeakers. They still sound
"good" but then so do many 150quid radio / CD players and mini audio
systems.

I dare say that if music was recorded with the intention of playback on
limited bandwidth reflected audio systems then they'd be a good idea - they
also work well for background music but then there's cheaper options there
too.

I hear no highs, I feel no lows, it sounds like crap, it must be Bose....


  #8   Report Post  
Dave Plowman
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

In article ,
Peter Sammon wrote:
This was also the year that the now famous Bose 901 DIRECT/REFLECTING
speaker system graced the audio world with a courageous unorthodox
design! Had it not been for Dr. Amar Bose and this speaker, who would
have caused so many speaker designers to even give stereo imaging the
slightest consideration!????


Strange. You've obviously never heard decent stereo imaging, as the 901 is
*utterly* incapable of producing it.

--
*Pride is what we have. Vanity is what others have.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn
  #9   Report Post  
Mark D. Zacharias
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

This guy posted the same to rec.audio.misc and started the usual Bose
flameout. I don't suppose the guys here will ignore him, but he's obviously
a troll or maybe even sells Bose. Why else would he come onto groups of
technically competent people who he obviously knows will disagree and
deliberately dispense this bull****?

Bose speakers are designed so that unknowledgeable people can spend lots of
money to impress their unknowledgeable friends.


Mark Z.

--
Please reply only to Group. I regret this is necessary. Viruses and spam
have rendered my regular e-mail address useless.


"Peter Sammon" wrote in message
...
http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100

In 1968, I took an old Philco record player and turned it into my first
hifi record player by installing a Shure M3D stereo magnetic phono
cartridge and then adding a preamp and low powered amp and sealing the
entire deal by building these gigantic enclosures for a pair of Jensen duo
cone 8" speakers that cost a grand total of $20/Pr. This was my
introduction to stereo hifi and a new audionut had been born!

This was also the year that the now famous Bose 901 DIRECT/REFLECTING
speaker system graced the audio world with a courageous unorthodox design!
Had it not been for Dr. Amar Bose and this speaker, who would have caused
so many speaker designers to even give stereo imaging the slightest
consideration!????

Believe it or not, I wasn't even aware of the design at that time. In fact
it wasn't until 1972 when I was stationed in Alaska for the USAF that I
took to picking up a few stereo magazines including CONSUMER GUIDE and
STEREO REVIEW and then ventured into the local hifi shop in Fairbanks that
my first encounter with the 901 took place.

When the salesman put on an album by a band called Chase, The 901's that
were suspended from the ceiling immediately shook the room and the clarity
was awesome! Stereo everywhere yet I could distinctly identify each
trumpet, guitar, percussion and voices with better separation than I had
ever experienced! The amplifier driving the speakers at the time was none
other than Bob Carver's creation...the Phase Linear 700. The love affair
had begun and I purchased my first set of Bose 901's.

In 1983 I upgraded to SERIES V and just recently to SERIES VI...the

subject
of this review. It is a solidly well built speaker system throughout!

The Bose 901 SERIES VI features a 21" x 12" x 13" cabinet with curved
fronts and two angled panels in the rear. The two angled panels each
contain four 4 1/2" drivers while one single driver is placed toward the
center of the front panel.

Thus the reason for the model #...9 drivers total with 1 in front. The
design is appropriately designated as direct/reflecting with 89% of the
sound projected from the rear and the remaining 11% coming out of the
front. This proportion was the finding of Dr. Bose's MIT team when

studying
various halls where LIVE PERFORMANCES were featured.

The impedence is a solid 8 ohms across the musical spectrum and should
prove to be a most stable load for whatever amplifier one chooses but
choose wisely as this speaker is extremely picky about what drives it and
I'm not referring to just power alone! It is quite conceivable that a

given
50 watt amp could sound better with the 901's than a competitive 200 watt
amp!

The small drivers themselves boast heavy magnets and high quality voice
coils as they must move an enormous amount of air. The multi chambered
ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure vents the speaker in a most unusual way with air
speeds exceeding 60 mph! Three ports or jets protrude through the rear of
the 901 enclosure.

Because of the use of small full range drivers, an active equalizer which
is absolutely essential to the system is used in place of the normal
CROSSOVERS that introduce distortion no matter how well engineered. The

901
EQ simply smooths out any bumps or irregularities in the system's power
response.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE specs are not ever offered by Bose because one of the
founding principles was that they offer little or no value to the
audiophile! Bose simply observed that great specs certainly did not always
coincide with equally great performance.

The OWNER'S MANUAL is quite extensive and written in several languages. It
also gives special instructions for mounting the 901's on pedestals or
hanging them from ceilings.

The speakers are rated to handle amplifiers of 10 to 450 watts of clean
power but do not induce amplifier clipping as this will kill any speaker
regardless of the rating or how well it is made! DYNAMIC RANGE is rated at
106db...well above the 90db capability of the best digital sources!

The two finishes that are available are black ash and light walnut. I

chose
the light walnut for mine with dark brown indestructible grills that are
absolutely seductive looking!
Optional PS6 pedestals are available. Pedestals are also offered by others
and you could save some money but make sure they support your 901's
properly. Two foot high end tables offer a sturdy and childproof support

of
the speakers also.

The bottom of each 901 speaker reveals a circular cutaway that surrounds
the two heavy duty knurled nut speaker terminals that hold speaker wire
like no other arrangement I know of. It is very secure and should make for
a lifetime of good connection to quality OFC speaker wire. This wire is
available from Kimber Kable and AR but for my money MIRASONIC.COM has the
best stuff at super low prices that can truly make an audible difference.
There is no substitute for controlled well defined bass and clear mids and
highs. Good wire can accomplish that! It's been proven.

After patching the 901 EQ into my TAPE MONITOR circuit on my humble
Parasound integrated amplifier with the supplied patch chords and then
carefully setting up the speakers in my living room I was able to listen

to
my vast collection of CD's into the wee hours of the morning night after
night as I simply could not get enough of the beautiful sound the speakers
project! A new TAPE MONITOR is provided on the EQ to replace your old one.
Adjust the MID BASS and MID TREBLE slider controls moderately for room and
source compensation.

DO NOT MIX AND MATCH WRONG EQ's FROM VARIOUS SERIES MODELS AS THE SOUND
WILL BE INCORRECT AND DO NOT USE WITH OTHER CONVENTIONAL UNEQUALIZED
SPEAKERS FOR HOME THEATER!!!!

901 EQ AND SPEAKER SERIES COMPATABILITY:

SERIES I and II...ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION design from 1968-1976
SERIES III and IV...ACOUSTIC MATRIX design from 1976-1983
SERIES V and VI...ACOUSTIC MATRIX design from 1983-Present day

Do not deviate from these guidelines as 901's are available in used
condition over the internet. Undoubtedly as you read this review, someone
is selling a SERIES IV 901 with a SERIES VI EQ or a SERIES II EQ with a
SERIES III speaker and will result in total dissatisfaction with the
product on the buyer's end.

Also beware of the phony 901 look alike LDL 749 speakers that were
manufactured from 1970 to 1974 without EQ's but did not equal the 901
quality sound. I almost purchased one of these systems back then but
thankfully did not but beware as they can easily be peddled as 901's. They
do resemble the Bose to a great degree. I think someone from the original
Bose/MIT group jumped ship to make these imposters.

As for the subject of speaker placement I can only suggest that you
experiment a bit and rid yourself of any normal distance you would keep
between conventional LEFT and RIGHT STEREO speakers as the 901 is anything
but conventional itself! I really do believe that the LOVE and HATE stems
from the fact that the 901 sound can change drastically in the lower
frequencies when not setup properly! Alas, I have found the 901's to sound
best on 18" high pedestals and out 18" from the REAR wall along the SHORT
wall of my listening room as compared to the LONGER wall. I think this is
better than hanging the speakers from the ceiling where the bass tends to
get lost. Experiment...experiment...this is the key!

Because of the angled rear panels, the "middle sound" will be quite strong
and stable eliminating the typical "sweet spot" rules. You can separate
these speakers miles apart from each other and in fact should do so within
reason to get great stereo separation!

By doing so, you'll not only widen the fantastic soundstage but also
eliminate any possibility of losing left and right channel detail. Don't
worry, you will not have a "hole in the middle" effect. This way also gets
you to move the 901's closer to the adjacent walls. Just keep the wall
behind the speakers relatively free of drapes and teddy bears.

Hanging the 901's from ceilings more than ten feet from the ground is not
recommended as the sound may get obscured a bit and imaging along with

deep
bass lost. In other words, if you have a ceiling like the Sistine Chapel,
forget it!

The sound of the 901 SERIES VI is really special and downright seductive!
Regardless of the many genres of music that have been played thru my

901's,
the SOUNDSTAGING is such that never have I experienced a wider higher
portrayal of various performances with equally impressive depth! You can
literally point to every instrument in the orchestra or follow a soloist

as
he or she moves about the stage in front of you [e.g. Tony Clarke-"The
Entertainer" as he as he moves to and fro banging his tambourine...it's
really something to behold!]

The break-in period for the 901-VI went very nicely with the drivers fully
seated after six months. Be careful not to push them too hard at first and


do not introduce amplifier clipping. By the way, this break-in period
applies to owners of older 901 models that have had their foam surrounds
replaced [Simply Speakers on EBAY has a wondertful kit for under $50].

I love it when people say that the 901's can't go deep. Just checkout the
opening low pedal note in the movie "2001-A Space Oddysey" and see if it
doesn't rattle every window and loose floor board in the house! Or

checkout
Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" at the four minute mark. Just MIDRANGE
speakers, huh? No, what's happening is that the ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure
is moving huge amounts of air! That's what gives you bass...not just the
physical size of the driver. Why do you think many top notch speaker
systems like Win Burhoe's SILENT SPEAKERS or the Spendors use such small
drivers and are still able to produce such deep notes? It's because the
cabinets have special sophisticated chambers that create significant air
speeds. Also the drivers have powerful motors in their voice coil and
magnet assemblies.

All other systems seem to be fat sounding in the bass...even the biggest
most expensive ones! Forget about subwoofering the 901 as it is not
necessary in the right room! Put your wallet away and be happy with the
fact that you own a fantastic 40Hz gut puncher!

Telarc's CD of "Carmina Burana" is so dynamic with the voices and

orchestra
bringing forth massive but clear emotional sound thru the 901's. Midrange
and high notes are crystal clear thru the speakers when they are truly
present. That brings me to another point...that the 901's only reproduce
what's in the recording itself and very little of anything else! BUT YOU
GOTTA LISTEN TO THEM FOR YOURSELF. YOU MAY NOT AGREE WITH MY FINDINGS AS
THE 901 IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.


The EQ is silent with no perceived extraneous noise. The only noise that
will be revealed is amplifier hiss or such sound in an analog mastered
recording. Some digital recordings even have modulation noise and you will
recognize such flawed CD's immediately!

The speaker has an uncanny ability to reveal eveything! Beware as this is
certainly a double edged sword for the Bose. I have one CD of Barry

White's
Greatest Hits that on the song..."You're The First, The Last, My
Everything" where this older recording used a poor microphone for Barry's
voice that can sound downright harsh! Yet the orchestra behind him is very
nicely portrayed. You will certainly stay up late the first night checking
out all of your library to see what's good and what isn't.

I'm not kidding when I tell you that the 901 can distinguish between a

good
MIC or a bad one. You can even hear "poof!" sounds from microphones that
were not properly screened and windproofed! Just listen to a variety of
radio broadcasts or checkout the "Buddy Holly Collection" CD of remastered
recordings and listen for yourself.

That is how revealing the 901 is. I dare say that many of you will not

like
the speaker because of this very fact. The quality of your amplifier and

CD
player will also be unveiled for whatever it is. Use good quality power as
the 901 likes heaps of it! Yes, it can play quite loudly but sounds
wonderful at a whisper.

That high current Onkyo/Integra stereo only receiver should be wonderful
with the 901's! I'm not so sure about some other massed produced brands.
Certainly super audiophile expensive MONO BLOCKS will be at their best
also.

If you listen to JAZZ 88 in the Newark, NJ area you will hear non smeared
percussion and wonderful vocalists with plenty of plucked basses and super
sweet highs all naturally portrayed thru the 901's. The cymbals are so

darn
natural! TRANSIENT RESPONSE is exemplary! I love the fact that I can hear

a
kickdrum change tone or every subtlety and overtone on various recorded
music. The simple striking of a trianglular bell can raise the hairs on my
back!

Accuracy of musical timbre is important and with the Bose you get plenty

of
it. You haven't heard the Beatles until you've heard "Sgt Peppers" played
thru the Bose 901! There is a rather nice CD entitled "Atmospheres-Celtic
Voices" featuring ambient waterfall sounds along with various seductive
strings, tom toms, woodwinds and basses. This Irish music CD is worth
seeking out as it reveals changes in the stringed bass's tones and
subtleties that can be a very useful tool for speaker evaluation! You can
probably pick it up for around $8 or less! The 901 sounds wonderful with
this recording!

But don't just take my word for it...listen for yourself! You may or may
not agree. That is how controversial this speaker is! Speaker auditioning
should be fun and pleasant so don't let snotty proprietors and extremely
opinionated sales people stand in your way. Some of the hatred stems from
the fact that Bose seems to pursuit competitors in court quite often and
also even went after a negative reviewer...and that's not right. We are
free to print how we feel about a product and should have no fear of
repercussion!

But as a maker of great speakers I think Bose does very well indeed and
their customer support is unbelievable! I have had some nice chats with
both Bose field and customer service reps.

Look, my feeling is that a truly great speaker can involve you in the
performance so well as to summon all your emotions as I have felt many
tears in my eyes when listening to beautiful music thru the speakers.
Telarc's "Rite Of Spring" has a tympani gut puncher at around the ten
minute mark that can make your heart jump out and if you hold a tissue

over
one of the 901's ports it will fly out of your hand! Yet the orchestra
sounds so sweet as to make you cry or stand up and exclaim...BRAVO!...as

it
does on CBS MASTERWORKS' "Nutcracker" w/Michael Tilson Thomas conducting
the New Phiharmonia Orch.

There are many bigger more expensive models costing well over $5000 a pair
but I don't really consider some of these Gigantors to be appropriate for
the average listening room. We don't have auditoriums for listening areas
do we?

Well the 901's have served me well in some of my rooms over the past

thirty
years and can sound great in rooms big or small if the acoustics are
correct for them. If your listening room is smaller than average and full
of curtains then look elsewhere for your special transducer. In larger
rooms with solid walls or undraped windows the Bose 901 SERIES VI will be
at its best! The fact that their current price is still within reason for
such great performance at $1500 is a credit to Bose. The USA engineered
speaker is now being crafted in Canada which lays claim to such fine
outfits like Mirage, PSB and Paradigm.

Although the system is not always setup properly in malls and generally

not
available through high end dealers, don't let that fact stop you from
seeking the speaker out. My advice is to find someone locally who owns a
SERIES III thru VI system and ask for an audition in the home where they
reside. There is simply no substitute for auditioning the 901's in an
actual home! You can also go online at BOSE.COM to place an order and use

a
12 month payment plan that makes it so much easier on your pocketbook.

A Special Note To 901 Owners And Perspective Buyers:
Do not be discouraged or put off by those who feel this speaker system is
overrated or hyped up. Trust your own ears! No amount of poetic flowery
descriptive double talk can truly make a given speaker system sound great.
Neither can impressive manufacturer's specifications! Listen for yourself.

Compare the speakers to the best of the best like the B&W NAUTILUS 801's
and 802's but also the biggest most expensive Tannoys, Martin Logans,
Definitives, JBL's, Allisons, Bostons, Polks, Legacy's or any other brand
you can think of as I have and see if you agree with my findings. Isn't it
most interesting that some of these lovely sounding models cost up to ten
times the price of the 901 or more! I did compare my Bose to these
speakers! While I did so, the high end salesman tried to tell me what was
wrong with them [like most of us audiophiles he was very opinionated]! I
simply smiled as my 901's outperformed these great speakers on every

single
CD used for this audition!

What a great audition but the salesman knew he had lost his battle! Who
needs someone telling us what we should be hearing while auditioning
speakers or any piece of audio gear? It is our decision. We know what to
listen for! Just beware of this little trick when you decide to bring a

901
system into a high end store. They don't like Bose!

This silliness began in 1971 when J Gordon Holt gave the original Bose 901
a somewhat negative review. He did however bring up some good points but
was off the mark on the 901's sounding "fat" in the bass as they are
anything but that! However, the battle lines were drawn. This review
sparked the "Love/Hate" of the Bose 901 speaker system and you can link to
the entire review from my profile page. Just so you have an idea of where
Mr. Holt is at...he loves the sound of the B&W 801. I thought that this

was
rather ironic as this model [although great] has been tagged by myself and
others as a bit overwhelming and "fat sounding" in the bass
frequencies...again...room acoustics like it or not will affect various
speaker models more than we sometimes are willing to admit!


With the proper amplifier and room your reaction may very well be like
this..."I may be living in a different world from everyone else but if
so...DO NOT wake me up! I'm having too much fun listening to music the way
it was meant to be heard with this heavenly speaker!" With the wrong amp
and improper room you will probably feel that you've been ripped off and
Bose is full of nothing but hype.

I recommend the speakers highly with the condition that you fully audition
them in the right situation but be aware of the fact that many of you will
find yourselves wondering why you even bothered to give the beasts a
listen! For those of you in this situation I highly recommend the
Vandersteen 1C speakers at a slightly lower price. The Vandersteens are
wonderful sounding in just about any room you can think of and are
available at fine high end stores like John Rutan's Audio Connection of
Verona, NJ [see the link on my profile page].

Bose states that the 901-VI was engineered by passionate music lovers.

This
fact is so highly obvious once you give the speaker a listen in an
appropriate setup [and the Bose Store may very well not be the best!]. It
seems like no other speaker system delivers powerful accuracy quite like
this one!



  #10   Report Post  
George M. Middius
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901



Dave Plowman said:

Strange. You've obviously never heard decent stereo imaging, as the 901 is
*utterly* incapable of producing it.


If the worst you can say about 901s is they don't image well, you
haven't got a lot to say.





  #11   Report Post  
Dave Plowman
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

In article ,
George M. Middius wrote:
Strange. You've obviously never heard decent stereo imaging, as the
901 is *utterly* incapable of producing it.


If the worst you can say about 901s is they don't image well, you
haven't got a lot to say.


Only wish I could say the same about you.

--
*Time is the best teacher; unfortunately it kills all its students.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn
  #12   Report Post  
Nutter
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 22:57:23 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

snip

It was such drool and bull**** that I've decided to snip the whole
post. I am no expert on sepaker design, accoustics or physics, I trust
my ears and common sense.

Common sense tells me that most audio engineers use direct radiating
speakers for 'monitoring' their creations, therefore it makes sense to
me to use the same 'design' of speaker to hear their work.

My ears tell me that Bose (accross the range) sound overly bright,
with little to no definition of mid-range and a total lack of anything
approaching quality bass. If they (901's) were priced at £100 they may
just be worth it, if only for the 'unique design'. I would guess that
ANY speaker of direct raditaing design, of a similar price would
outperform them.

I'll stick to B&W's thanks very much. At least most of their design
decisions are based on scientificly sound principles of accoustics,
physics and materials.

Ray.
  #13   Report Post  
Tim S Kemp
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Bose speakers are designed so that unknowledgeable people can spend
lots of money to impress their unknowledgeable friends.


Bose and B&O - HiFi for the deaf....


  #14   Report Post  
barry
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Now I really like my KEF reference speakers....
and I spent ages listening to many speakers before I decided to buy
them.They cured me of being a "hi-fi " addict I now just listen to the
music.The only trouble is it takes two people to move just one of 'em.
....but coupled with a REL sub and some other 7 speakers provides good
surround for dvd etc and great stereo by themselves.
I'm a KEF fan but wouldn't write too much more than that.



However I have to say that this thread must be commercially
generated......who else would bother to write such a diatribe??....Bose
whatever it sounds like ( average to me ) also LOOKS so bloody awful.
Have you seen their radio thing you get advertised in the likes of the
telegraph supplement??
Looks like a 1950s breadbasket!

Well it takes all sorts.........
As they say in France one mans fish is another mans poison !

Barry










"Tim S Kemp" wrote imessage
...
Bose speakers are designed so that unknowledgeable people can spend
lots of money to impress their unknowledgeable friends.


Bose and B&O - HiFi for the deaf....




  #15   Report Post  
Ian Bell
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Nutter wrote:

On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 22:57:23 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

snip

It was such drool and bull**** that I've decided to snip the whole
post. I am no expert on sepaker design, accoustics or physics, I trust
my ears and common sense.

Common sense tells me that most audio engineers use direct radiating
speakers for 'monitoring' their creations, therefore it makes sense to
me to use the same 'design' of speaker to hear their work.

My ears tell me that Bose (accross the range) sound overly bright,
with little to no definition of mid-range and a total lack of anything
approaching quality bass. If they (901's) were priced at £100 they may
just be worth it, if only for the 'unique design'. I would guess that
ANY speaker of direct raditaing design, of a similar price would
outperform them.

I'll stick to B&W's thanks very much. At least most of their design
decisions are based on scientificly sound principles of accoustics,
physics and materials.

Ray.


I have often seen Bose pseudo science ads and noted that they fail to
mention prices. Presumably they are stupidly expensive? Just how much do
they sting the idiots who buy a pair of 901s??

Ian



  #16   Report Post  
Ian Bell
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

barry wrote:

Now I really like my KEF reference speakers....
and I spent ages listening to many speakers before I decided to buy
them.They cured me of being a "hi-fi " addict I now just listen to the
music.The only trouble is it takes two people to move just one of 'em.
...but coupled with a REL sub and some other 7 speakers provides good
surround for dvd etc and great stereo by themselves.
I'm a KEF fan but wouldn't write too much more than that.



However I have to say that this thread must be commercially
generated......who else would bother to write such a diatribe??....Bose
whatever it sounds like ( average to me ) also LOOKS so bloody awful.
Have you seen their radio thing you get advertised in the likes of the
telegraph supplement??
Looks like a 1950s breadbasket!


I have seen them often enough. They never mantion prices. Just how much do
they ask for one of those plastic radios??

Ian

  #17   Report Post  
S888Wheel
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

I have often seen Bose pseudo science ads and noted that they fail to
mention prices. Presumably they are stupidly expensive? Just how much do
they sting the idiots who buy a pair of 901s??

Ian


I believe the suggested retail price is in the neighborhood of 1500 bucks. I
think they are usually discounted. A lot of people have been taken for quite a
ride with this product.
  #18   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 17:06:38 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

Peter Sammon wrote in
:

http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100


I love it when people say that Bose is not taken seriously by the rest of
the industry...of course if you are referring to the so called HIGH
END...there is a great reason why...because the high end hates Bose and the
901 and generally will go to great lengths to deter people from giving the
speakers any credibility by using the same stupid excuses like "older
technology", Direct/Reflecting sound obscures the image rather than
enhances it, no direct competition in the particular store of purchase etc.
etc. I, for one DO NOT play politics


You just did.

THUD
  #19   Report Post  
Captain Fire Farter, The
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 09:25:18 -0500, George M. Middius
wrote:

Strange. You've obviously never heard decent stereo imaging, as the 901 is
*utterly* incapable of producing it.


If the worst you can say about 901s is they don't image well, you
haven't got a lot to say.


I would add that they don't sound well, note.

--
td
  #20   Report Post  
Captain Fire Farter, The
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 17:06:38 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

I love it when people say that Bose is not taken seriously by the rest of
the industry...of course if you are referring to the so called HIGH
END...there is a great reason why...because the high end hates Bose and the
901 and generally will go to great lengths to deter people from giving the
speakers any credibility by using the same stupid excuses like "older
technology", Direct/Reflecting sound obscures the image rather than
enhances it, no direct competition in the particular store of purchase etc.
etc. I, for one DO NOT play politics nor will I succumb to these ploys by
the so called experts who have their noses too high in the air that they
cannot even smell what life is made of. Thanks anyway for your comments.


No--I would say they're not taken seriously because they sound utterly
****.

--
td


  #21   Report Post  
MINe 109
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

In article z,
Captain Fire Farter, The wrote:

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 17:06:38 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

I love it when people say that Bose is not taken seriously by the rest of
the industry...of course if you are referring to the so called HIGH
END...there is a great reason why...because the high end hates Bose and the
901 and generally will go to great lengths to deter people from giving the
speakers any credibility by using the same stupid excuses like "older
technology", Direct/Reflecting sound obscures the image rather than
enhances it, no direct competition in the particular store of purchase etc.
etc. I, for one DO NOT play politics nor will I succumb to these ploys by
the so called experts who have their noses too high in the air that they
cannot even smell what life is made of. Thanks anyway for your comments.


No--I would say they're not taken seriously because they sound utterly
****.


Gotta love the "older technology" bit! I can think of older designs I
like better.

If one affixed a giant cardboard cone to the front face of an ESL 63
901-like sound might result.

Stephen
  #22   Report Post  
Kalman Rubinson
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 20:01:47 GMT, MINe 109
wrote:

If one affixed a giant cardboard cone to the front face of an ESL 63
901-like sound might result.


How about a complete cardboard front cover with an asymmetrically
placed 5" hole?

Kal
  #23   Report Post  
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901



Ian Bell wrote:

barry wrote:


Now I really like my KEF reference speakers....
and I spent ages listening to many speakers before I decided to buy
them.They cured me of being a "hi-fi " addict I now just listen to the
music.The only trouble is it takes two people to move just one of 'em.
...but coupled with a REL sub and some other 7 speakers provides good
surround for dvd etc and great stereo by themselves.
I'm a KEF fan but wouldn't write too much more than that.



However I have to say that this thread must be commercially
generated......who else would bother to write such a diatribe??....Bose
whatever it sounds like ( average to me ) also LOOKS so bloody awful.
Have you seen their radio thing you get advertised in the likes of the
telegraph supplement??
Looks like a 1950s breadbasket!



I have seen them often enough. They never mantion prices. Just how much do
they ask for one of those plastic radios??

Ian


I'm pretty sure it's in the neighborhood of about $400 US

  #24   Report Post  
Roy
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901


"Peter Sammon" wrote in message
...
Peter Sammon wrote in
:

http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100


I love it when people say that Bose is not taken seriously by the rest of
the industry...of course if you are referring to the so called HIGH
END...there is a great reason why...because the high end hates Bose and

the
901 and generally will go to great lengths to deter people from giving the
speakers any credibility by using the same stupid excuses like "older
technology", Direct/Reflecting sound obscures the image rather than
enhances it, no direct competition in the particular store of purchase

etc.
etc. I, for one DO NOT play politics nor will I succumb to these ploys by
the so called experts who have their noses too high in the air that they
cannot even smell what life is made of. Thanks anyway for your comments.



Yes, he IS a troll




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----
  #25   Report Post  
Roy
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901


"Peter Sammon" wrote in message
...
http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100


Bose states that the 901-VI was engineered by passionate music lovers.

This
fact is so highly obvious once you give the speaker a listen in an
appropriate setup


Nonsense

[and the Bose Store may very well not be the best!]. It
seems like no other speaker system delivers powerful accuracy quite like
this one!


Nonsense




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----


  #26   Report Post  
Nick Gorham
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901


However I have to say that this thread must be commercially
generated......who else would bother to write such a diatribe??


Not saying this is the reason, but I remember these from years ago.

http://www.mwillett.org/troll.htm

--
Nick

  #27   Report Post  
Kalman Rubinson
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 22:57:24 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

I recognize these sorts of posts. You've spent thousands of dollars on
fine expensive speaker wires, esocterically engineered speakers, the
"right driver", the right "name" on the front of the cabinet etc. You
have no choice now, either admit to years of being wrong or steadfastly
standing your ground in the face of the science, popularity and audio
technology Bose puts before you.


I find it hard to believe that you think you can convince anyone with
your wordy posts when listening is the only criterion. Those who have
listened have made their choices. Mine is not the 901. Yours is.

As long as you enjoy the music. Cheers!


Is that an end to this?

Kal
  #28   Report Post  
Captain Fire Farter, The
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 20:01:47 GMT, MINe 109
wrote:

No--I would say they're not taken seriously because they sound utterly
****.


Gotta love the "older technology" bit! I can think of older designs I
like better.

If one affixed a giant cardboard cone to the front face of an ESL 63
901-like sound might result.


Imagination has been good to me, but on this occasion I think I prefer
not to imagine.

--
td
  #29   Report Post  
Captain Fire Farter, The
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 20:44:59 -0000, "Roy" wrote:

"Peter Sammon" wrote in message


Yes, he IS a troll


Noh!

Hey, I used to be called you.

--
td
  #31   Report Post  
Robert Morein
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901


"Peter Sammon" wrote in message
...
http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100

[snip]
Bose states that the 901-VI was engineered by passionate music lovers.

This
fact is so highly obvious once you give the speaker a listen in an
appropriate setup [and the Bose Store may very well not be the best!]. It
seems like no other speaker system delivers powerful accuracy quite like
this one!


To avoid being a laughingstock, I suggest you emphasize that the above is
your own opinion.

Virtually no one would agree with you, and the impression you made on the
stereo salesman was completely in your own mind.

When these speakers were originally designed, little was known of modern
acoustic theory, which firmly established that bouncing 89% of the sound off
the room walls may be intended to be a beneficial effect, but is actually a
severe degradation.

The 901's do not conform to modern theory or practice, and are notably
inferior to practically any modern speaker sold at more than a moderate
price point.


  #32   Report Post  
TonyP
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Peter Sammon wrote:
I love it when people say that Bose is not taken seriously by the rest of
the industry...of course if you are referring to the so called HIGH
END...there is a great reason why...because the high end hates Bose and the
901 and generally will go to great lengths to deter people from giving the
speakers any credibility by using the same stupid excuses like "older
technology", Direct/Reflecting sound obscures the image rather than
enhances it, no direct competition in the particular store of purchase etc.
etc. I, for one DO NOT play politics nor will I succumb to these ploys by
the so called experts who have their noses too high in the air that they
cannot even smell what life is made of. Thanks anyway for your comments.


You're welcome. Now, to listen to speakers that put the 901's to same.
My little Advent Marbl's.....

  #33   Report Post  
Kalman Rubinson
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 03:10:11 GMT, TonyP
wrote:

You're welcome. Now, to listen to speakers that put the 901's to same.
My little Advent Marbl's.....


Is that a typo or a Freudian slip?

Kal

  #34   Report Post  
TonyP
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

Peter Sammon wrote:
I recognize these sorts of posts. You've spent thousands of dollars on
fine expensive speaker wires, esocterically engineered speakers, the
"right driver", the right "name" on the front of the cabinet etc. You
have no choice now, either admit to years of being wrong or steadfastly
standing your ground in the face of the science, popularity and audio
technology Bose puts before you.


I know that this HAS to be a troll. But anyways, my speakers don't have
anyone's name on them. Von Schweikert VR4's. Wires? Shotgunned
Audioquest Indigo 2's (not much money). And, they sound so much better
than any Bose. Any.

As long as you enjoy the music. Cheers!


You can hear some semblance of music with the Bose. I hear more.

  #35   Report Post  
Kalman Rubinson
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 03:15:49 GMT, TonyP
wrote:

But anyways, my speakers don't have
anyone's name on them. Von Schweikert VR4's.


They have Albert's name on them.

Kal


  #36   Report Post  
MINe 109
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

In article ,
Kalman Rubinson wrote:

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 20:01:47 GMT, MINe 109
wrote:

If one affixed a giant cardboard cone to the front face of an ESL 63
901-like sound might result.


How about a complete cardboard front cover with an asymmetrically
placed 5" hole?


The cardboard mod has merit, if only because one could remove it and be
left with an ESL 63.

Stephen
  #37   Report Post  
Mark
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 13:50:59 +1300, "Geoff Wood"
-nospam wrote:

Are you really an enthusiastic (but-misguided) Bose-user, or a part of the
Bose Inc marketing department. It never looked objective, but now this
tripe is popping up several times with changed subjects, across a bunch of
newgroups, it is starting to look like SPAM.

Or is it all really a tongue-in-cheek joke ?

geoff


A Bose 'review' is a sure-fire TROLL.

  #38   Report Post  
Tim S Kemp
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

x Nonesense. They are base upon sound engineering principles, so sound
in fact the US Air Force has depended upon Bose equipment.


yeah - for noise cancelling headsets, not for quality audio....


  #39   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 22:57:24 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

dave weil wrote in
:

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 17:06:38 -0000, Peter Sammon
wrote:

Peter Sammon wrote in
:

http://www.epinions.com/content_105506836100

I love it when people say that Bose is not taken seriously by the rest
of the industry...of course if you are referring to the so called HIGH
END...there is a great reason why...because the high end hates Bose
and the 901 and generally will go to great lengths to deter people
from giving the speakers any credibility by using the same stupid
excuses like "older technology", Direct/Reflecting sound obscures the
image rather than enhances it, no direct competition in the particular
store of purchase etc. etc. I, for one DO NOT play politics


You just did.

THUD


I recognize these sorts of posts. You've spent thousands of dollars on
fine expensive speaker wires, esocterically engineered speakers, the
"right driver", the right "name" on the front of the cabinet etc. You
have no choice now, either admit to years of being wrong or steadfastly
standing your ground in the face of the science, popularity and audio
technology Bose puts before you.

As long as you enjoy the music. Cheers!


Actually, it soumds more like you've got years of emotional investment
to justify.

Nothing wrong with that, mind you. But trashing others to try to build
up *your* investement is pretty ****ty, if you ask me...
  #40   Report Post  
Arny Krueger
 
Posts: n/a
Default My equipment review of the Bose 901

"Peter Sammon" wrote in message


"Robert Morein" wrote in
:



When these speakers were originally designed, little was known of
modern acoustic theory, which firmly established that bouncing 89% of
the sound off the room walls may be intended to be a beneficial
effect, but is actually a severe degradation.


Agreed.

The 901's do not conform to modern theory or practice, and are
notably inferior to practically any modern speaker sold at more than
a moderate price point.


Agreed.

Nonesense. They are base upon sound engineering principles, so sound
in fact the US Air Force has depended upon Bose equipment.


OK, so some USAF marching band has some Bose SR equipment.

I have been an AUDIO enthusiast for over 34 years and have had a ton
of fun owning and listening to various well-made systems at all price
levels. I've owned or had the pleasure of seriously auditioning in my
home many respectable manufacturers' models including the said 901's
and Vandersteen's 1C w/the 901 as top reference and 1C as a second!



I can see how someone who favors the bloated imaging of a pair of 901's
could fail to appreciate the tight imaging of Vandersteens.

Bose is base in cutting edge science. Science, sound engineering and
physics not magic!


I think you would do well to try to rebut my deconstruction of the 901
technology, as I presented in another post.

Here it is again:

Myth number one: A reasonable number of small drivers can move as much air
as a single large one, all other things being equal.

The hidden agenda is linear stroke.

Let's compare a 4" driver and an 8" driver. How many 4" drivers does it take
to move as much air as an 8" driver?

The naive answer is 4, presuming that cone area is proportional to diameter,
squared. True for theoretical geometry, not true for speakers.

Speakers have flexible surrounds and a fraction of the area of the surround
must be deducted from the area of the cone. However, the width of the
surround is not proportional to the diameter of the speaker, but rather is
dependent on the designer's goals for maximum linear stroke. IOW an 8"
speaker with a certain linear stroke will have a surround that is a certain
width. If the 4" speaker has the same linear stroke, then its surround will
have to be the same width. However, since the diameter of the smaller
speaker is quite a bit smaller, the surround takes up a greater proportion
of the diameter of the speaker. IOW, the area of the actual moving part of
the smaller cone is even less than proportionately smaller.

For small speakers, it may take 5 4" speakers to have the same moving cone
area as an 8" speaker due to the loss of effective moving diaphragm area
because of the width of the surround.

Secondly, smaller speakers, all other things being equal, don't have the
same linear stroke as larger speakers. Speakers tend to scale in all
dimensions. Not only is a 4" speaker half the diameter of an 8" speaker, but
it will have half the linear stroke, all other things being equal.

In short, it might take as many as 10 4" speakers to have the air-moving
capacity of a single 8" speaker, all other things being equal.

The multi
chambered ACOUSTIC MATRIX enclosure vents the speaker in a most
unusual way with air
speeds exceeding 60 mph! Three ports or jets protrude through the
rear of the 901 enclosure.


Knowledgeable speaker designers know that high air velocity in ports is
anathema. High air velocities lead to higher turbulence, and turbulent flow
tends to be noisy flow. One sign of a quality ported speaker is a large,
low-velocity port.

Because of the use of small full range drivers, an active equalizer
which is absolutely essential to the system is used in place of the
normal CROSSOVERS that introduce distortion no matter how well
engineered. The 901 EQ simply smooths out any bumps or irregularities in

he system's
power response.


Plan B: build a system that is essentially acoustically flat. Not mission
impossible in this day and age.

Now for the seriously damning facts about the Bose 901. When the 901 was
built, not that much was generally known about optimizing the performance of
arrays of small drivers. It turns out that arrays of small drivers can be a
real can of worms, if smooth, well-balanced frequency response is desired.
I'm quite sure that if Bose were to design the 901 today with a clean piece
of paper, they'd do it quite a bit differently.

Probably the most serious problem with designs based on ad-hoc collections
of identical small drivers is that they can have very rough frequency
response (lobing and comb-filter effects) when you move slightly off-axis,
and they can also have frequency response that is a strong function of
distance from the speaker to the listener. There are ways to manage these
problems with generally involve putting the drivers on curved baffles,
and/or adjusting the level and/or frequency response of the drive to the
various drivers. However, the classic Bose 901 design really does neither of
these things well.

Here's an AES paper that points out these problems and potential solutions
in some detail:

Author(s): Keele, Jr., D. B.
Publication: JAES Volume 38 Number 10 pp. 723·748; October 1990
Abstract: The Bessel array is a configuration of five, seven, or nine
identical loudspeakers in an equal-spaced line array that provides the same
overall polar pattern as a single loudspeaker of the array

One important point is that the no way is the Bose 901 a Bessel array.
A second important point is that of all the Bessel arrays analyzed, 5
drivers in a row was found to be the only one that was recommend


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