[Harry Lavo]

"Mike McGinn" wrote in message
...
Sonnova wrote:
On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:34:39 -0800, Mike McGinn wrote
(in article ):

Sonnova wrote:
They 901's were designed to be used with the equalizer. Using them
without an equalizer seems kind of silly to me.



My point was merely that you really can't use them without the equalizer.
With the equalizer they produce a lot of , what sounded to my ears like
bass distortion and doubling. I suspect that the equalizer asked a lot
from the amp too, and if it was too small, I suspect that the bass would
clip the amplifier rather severely. I never liked the equalized bass on
the Bose 901s

.
OK -- I like my 901's and when I last went speaker listening 20 odd years
ago nothing else was nearly as good. Placement is absolutely critical with
these speakers. When I last moved ten years ago I arranged the room around
where the speakers had to go and convinced my wife that is how everything
looked best. ( I get away with a lot. I also have an electronics bench in
the living room.)

They do require quite a bit of power because of the bass boost in the
equalizer -- but this was mentioned in everything I read about them back
when I read Stereo Review as a teen (don't know what they say now). I
drive mine with a Mac MC2105, I would use a pair of MC 3500's if I had the
cash to spare.

Yeah, I'm partial to Macs too. I also enjoy buying as much stuff used as
much as I can.

I had the Series I's, and yes, you are right....the speaker's power needs
were not ignored in the reveiews. As a result, when I bought mine I
upgraded (in power terms) from a Dyna Stereo 70, to an Acoustech 100wpc SS
amp. It was sufficient for a smallish living room, which nonetheless opened
into an open kitchen and dining room giving the bass a 40' dimension in
which to develop.

I really got an excellent sonic presentation from the speakers....they
flanked a fireplace with solid mahogany vertical paneling behind them, and
with a bit of placement tweaking they gave an excellent simulated
soundstage. Later I added two tiny ADC speakers as rears and went matrixed
surround with a Dynaco Quadapter and on live recordings had a
"your-are-there-in-their-space" experience for the first time. This was in
1971.

I got rid of the Bose's and went to stacked Advents in 1972, when after a
divorce, I moved into a garret apartment and had no suitable room setup for
the Bose's. But when I had them, I had really excellent sound.