Bose 901 series VI & Yamaha A-S2000

Guys , I did two tweaks to a pair of these newer series 6 mk2 901's, these speaker drivers are a little different than the older series 901's. With these new speaker drivers they now use different lighter paper speaker cones and they now have plastic dust caps for better highs and they went back to using cloth surrounds again.

I started by taking some very fine sandpaper and going around all the paper speaker cones so the Elmer's carpenter wood glue would stick to the paper cones better. I used a very small art brush and put a very thin coat around the paper cones. I did not put any glue on the plastic dust caps and you have to be very careful not to get any glue on the cloth surrounds. I let the glue dry for 48 hours before playing any music. I waited 3 months before doing my wood stain tweak. I used Minwax wood stain and with this tweak I coated the paper cones and I also coated the plastic dust caps and on the back side of the speaker paper cones I coated that too and also coated the voice coils with wood stain too. I again waited 48 hours before playing any music. Now this part took over a year TO break-in so the voice coil wires would loosen up and then the speakers sounded much better. I next fine tuned the speakers to suit my taste better. It took three more coats of wood stain on the front side only of the paper cones and plastic dust caps before I really loved these speakers. Now these speakers sound amazing with the speakers turned around backwards, BEFORE these tweaks, I did not like them turned around backwards at all. Now these speakers have very nice highs and a very rich mid-range and a very good bottom end too. If Tone Audio only knew what was hiding inside these speakers. I have no idea what these tweaks would do to these older series 901's because they are so different than these latest series 6 mk2's. My QuickSilver GOLD tweak inside my Yamaha a-s2000 amp, has made it sound like REFERENCE GEAR now and that has made these modified 901's really SING like never before.

I stick by my comment that Bose is a MARKETING COMPANY and has no serious speakers for critical listeners. In the 80s I had a pair of 901s which sounded like speakers in a tin can. I sold them and replaced them for JBL112s at the time. Currently I use B& W 802Ds for fronts and B & W CM10GBs for the rears. Crap would be complimenting Bose

@Vernneal: That would rather be an insult to crap. But then; everyone has their own own tastes.

I'm late to this thread and the decision has been made by the OP a while ago I'm sure. First time I heard the 901 speakers was way back before I was an audiophile probably 1969 or 1970. In any case they were the first speaker I "fell in love" with. You don't have to be an audiophile sitting in the sweet spot to love music, the 901's aren't at all about that. Great party speakers that play loud and work well in larger commercial venues where I often came across them rather that big PA speakers like Peavey.

Ok, Ok Bose is a marketing company and a clever one at that. I'd be the first to admit that the value to dollar isn't the best but to ME the 901 speakers, none of the other Bose stuff that I've heard/owned (the 501's which was the most regrettable audio purchase I ever made) were special but those 901's captivated me at a time and place long gone and you never forget your loves. I doubt it was marketing initially that had the public buying into the design. If like me, they liked what they heard and had the 450.00 or so to purchase them, they did. Unfortunately I didn't at the time or would have purchased them on the spot. Hearing them many years later in an audiophile type setting I asked myself, what was I thinking? It really depends on how you listen with the 901's. They get undeservedly poor marks along with the pompous vitriol spewed in their direction from what I would guess folks that never listened to them as intended, or never heard them at all. They are what they are but one thing they're not is audiophile speakers. But as someone mentioned above, they can be a lot of fun. Can't music be about that too?