Bose 901

Ahhhhhh, the no highs no lows, Bose.  Always thought they would make the worlds best midrange speaker, add a Heil tweeter and subwoofer to complete the system.  However, in 1978 or so a friend and I went to an old fashioned audio salon in Tempe AZ.  It was a free Bose 901 demo.  The sound room was dead quiet, carpets, drapes, thick cloth couches and comfortable chairs.  All of the electronics were Mcintosh, big macs not small watt amps.  Number one cheat, a reel to reel playing at 15 or 30 ips.  And as MC mentioned the 8 drivers were facing the listeners-not the wall.  The soundstage was huge.  I had never heard Mick and bros Sympathy for the Devil sound this good, sounds popping out of everywhere, it was a great demo.  The sound lacked cymbal sheen/timbre. 

 I had to replace my then ESS Heil AMT4 10inch driver, went downtown Phoenix AZ to the local recon shop.  The owner suggested a pair of used Bose 10inch woofs, instead of repairing the cheap, cheap ESS woof.  He also explained crossovers in detail, especially the air chokes, showed me a huge 25lb copper choke.  3 hours later I left with a pair of Bose 10s.  They were way better than the stock woofs.  You never know til you try.

I remember watching a TV show a few years back - I think it was one of those CSI ones. Anyway, in the living room of a house were a pair of 901's installed backwards with the eight speakers firing into the room! I had to laugh at the obvious gaff but there were no visible wires, so what difference did it really make?
A buddy of mine had a pair back in the '70's. We used to play a game by turning on his system, then blindfolding ourselves and see who could find a speaker in the dark. 

Back in the late 80's while stationed in Germany, I went to a party in Shape, Belgium where the DJ was blasting a pair of 901's that sounded like crap because he was using an EQ other than the Bose EQ.  I asked him why; he said he did not need it and completely dismissed my suggestion that he get one.  Many people made that same mistake, and then complained about the 901 SQ; other's have one and still complain :-).  

For "critical" listening, I'd position my 901's facing and parallel to the back walls about 36" from the both the back and side walls.  The music filled the room and sounded great!  When partying, I'd turn the speakers around and blast away.  I got that idea from a friend who owned a club where he had a pair of Bose 802's sitting on the high stands.  The 802 speakers are designed to face the listener.  They were being pushed by a professional grade Peavy 500 wpc power amp and Peavy mixer, and this huge base speaker.  On the dance floor, the sound was awesome.  Loud enough to party to, but at a volume where you could have a conversation at the tables and bar area.

As i noted earlier in this thread, "... back in the 80's and 90's, I was in stereo heaven" with my 901's.  

I purchased the 901s in 1976.  They were my first good speakers.  I really liked them but the equalizer was confusing and I felt like I had to play them very loud to get all the music I wanted. They did look spiffy though. 

I worked for a high end store in the 70's and the owner decided to try out the Bose lineup. Our showroom was not a favorable place for the 901s. There was a large window in the front of the store that ended up being where we put these things. They still sounded terrible, just not as terrible. I thought the 301 was the only decent sounding speaker in the line. We also sold Sonab for awhile. They were much better than the Bose and appealed to the person who was looking for a different design.