Monitor speaker with the best bass at $500 used

Sunnyjim, I have decided to check out the 301s also. I have to find out for myself since there has been so much controvercy about Bose in general. My friend says the bass is insanely good and the speaker presents a big relaxed sound with excellent imaging. They play loud with ease and the speakers are responding well to every system improvement. If the results are as good as I think they will be I am going to write a review.

I'm not a big fan of Totem although my experience is with the Model One. It requires a great deal of high quality power to become balanced. If you are a late night lower volume listener the sound would be lean.

The Vandersteen 1C or 1Ci would fit your budget and requirements and save the cost of stands. I recommend it because I went through monitors from Spendor (S3/5), Totem (Model 1), and Dynaudio (Focus 110 and 140) as well as auditioning ProAc, B&W, other Totem models, etc.--anyhow, I finally realized those tiny boxes just couldn't lay down a realistic foundation for the bottom end when listening to rock and even jazz.

You need to be able to sit a minimum of 7 feet from the Vandies for the drivers to integrate, but that's my only caveat if yours is a small room. Bass guitar and kick drum have real impact, and the bottom end is tight. They're not as tight or deep as the 2CE Sig II (which I used to own) but beat all the monitors I mentioned.

Rrog, I am going to walk over to the Bose store tomorrow and give them a listen. However, when your friend commented that the sound was "big" "relaxed" and excellent imaging, those words seem similar to the way members describe the Ohm/Walsh Talls (38 inches height)....omni directional. It is hard to believe Bose would create a product that is beyond mid-fi. I'll keep you posted.

Regarding, the Totems, even "used" they seem over priced, however the imaging and soundstaging are a marvel I have to confess, I only heard the Totem Hawks, but everytime they sounded great

To Ablang, I had a pair of Vandy IC's about 5-6 years ago. I enjoyed them, but did not think they were overachievers. At the time, I was driving them with an Aragon 4004 MKII amp (200RMS) and a Conrad Johnson PV8 pre-amp. From what I can remember, they sounded pleasant but a bit dull with a limited high-end.....I also had the misfortune of calling Mr Vandy himself about setting the the so-called "rake angle" of the speakers which must be precisely measured, and he berated me for 15 minutues for not reading the one page manual. Unfortunately the 1C are bigger than the Totem Arro, or Staff speakers, and would be awakward in my room along with my main speakers. Thanks

Rrog, I finally got to briefly listen to the Bose 301. The following report is the short (and only) version. Driven by a Onkyo surround receiver and matching CD player, I found the highs to be limited in detail, and also "tinny" sounding; however, bass was above average, and the midrnage was fair. Imaging and soundstaging were what you might expect from Bose's design, but the images were not sharp, and soundstaging was only fair. They were placed horizontally on 14 inch stands, and wired with 18 to possibly 16 gauge wire.

Conclusion. Despite their low price of $328.00, I really believe these speakers would benefit form better electronics, like a NAD 326BBE, or the new Rega BrioR integrated amps. Overall, I think your friend should have his hearing checked and keep his Maggie 1.7's, the Bose 301 is a mid-fi speaker, and is not in the same league with speakers like PSB's Monitor V.6 or the Wharfedale 10.1.... Jim