Bose 901

Most audiophiles are not familiar with the original Bose 901s. Every subsequent version of the 901 has been a step down. And other Bose speakers are, from the audiophile viewpoint, inferior from the get-go. (The tiny cubes do have some merit for inconspicuous background music). This is why Bose is the whipping boy of Audiogon.

In the right room, with something like a rough brick wall to bounce the sound off, and a very powerful amplifier to cope with the drastic low end boost, and the right kind of large soundstage music, they can sound great. But these are too many restrictions. Besides, the original version is long gone...only the shape remains.
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Eldartford, you are right about the brick wall come to think of it. I always heard these in the Barracks which were block walls. I was in Korea drinking Ginseng wine and popping Tilidons (morphine). What a freaking mess I was and at least half of my company. I was a helicopter mechanic. I was on flight status at fort Campbell KY. I got shipped to Korea and I am watching all of these helicopters flying around and going poof in the air and fall to the ground. I said to this guy, "what is going on here". He said," You don't want to be on flight status over here, everyone is all f-ed up". What a great army we had back then :-)

I'm not a bose adept either. I was rather curious if there is some positive aspect regarding the 901's sound. To me musicality is more important than let's say accuracy or a good pin point imaging (where is pin point imaging good for by the way: a grand piano doesn't sound as if it is coming from a point source. It sounds rather big and a bit diffuse). I'm sure the 901 also sounds diffuse and "not" pin point. But do you think the 901 sounds "musical"?

Dazzdax, My 901 three series were very musical, their rolled-off top end made early cd's sound much better than they were. They had fair-good bass response and the huge wall of sound was a plus for the types of music I enjoyed in those days...Rock and roll!

Life was one big party and the 901's were great party speakers IMO. The only speakers I've owned (and still do own) that were better party speakers...My 9 year old VMPS Supertowers!

Dave

Dazzdax...The 901 did have one of its drivers facing the listener, and the imaging was not as bad as you might suspect. The earlier time of arrival of sound from the front speaker probably made it dominant with regard to imaging.