Bose 901s Interesting speaker to play with

Shadowfax

Shadowfax

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Just for fun I picked up a pair of Bose 901s with stands and EQ on Saturday for $100. I set them up in the main rig with the EQ directly between Pre and Amp as opposed to the tape loop. Wow, what amazing sound they throw and lots of bass. I don't have the proper room and walls for perfect setup, but in this configuration, they are decent. I tried the setup with the Tape Loop, but either I did it wrong, there is an issue with that part of the EQ box, or my Pre Tape Loop is funky. They sounded like crap and I could not get them adjusted to sound good in any sense. So I set them back up between pre and amp and everything they had to offer came back. I also tried, for the fun of it, to turn them around since most of the sound comes out the back, but they were then too bright and the bass god muddied. I will play around with them but will put them back on the market for someone more enthusiastic about them and with the right room can enjoy them.
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Cool, I remember when they were all the rage back in my college days. They could play loud and had a unique sound. Nice pick up for a vintage system. You may need to clean the EQ with deoxit and replace some caps.
 
I had never paid any attention to them over the years, but always saw how people loved them. The grills need a little attention, but overall they are in nice condition. I have been looking at value because I really can't keep them and don't need them. Interesting that the EQs sell for $75-$100, the Stands also go for about $100. From my current research, they are Series IV but appear to be wood veneer and not vinyl covering. They are pretty heavy.
 
I'm not surprised they sound decent, properly set up they should. The perceptual research that lead to the design was quite pioneering at the time and turned out to be largely correct given what we know today. Unfortunately, the execution of the design OTOH shows some age.
I'm sure it was a most fun $100 spent!

cheers,

AJ
 
I owned a pair in the early 70's that were hung from the ceiling in my 40x50x12' commercial photo studio in SF and driven with a Luxman integrated tube amp. They were awesome! Fond memories. Tower Records at Bay & Columbus was a short distance away. KSFR was a wonderful local classical FM station that morphed into KSAN, a pioneering album/rock station. My love of jazz came from listening to KJAZ, an all jazz labor of love by it's owner Patrick Henry. All gone.

The Bose 901's are a bi-polar design that mimic planar speakers and led me to Mirage M-1's in the 80's and later Sound Lab electrostatics.
 
Where do they hide exactly what series they are? I think they are series 3, but with a series 4 EQ. Is the exact model and series under the Pedestal Stand mounting flange where the speaker connectors are?
 
I had a pair in college. They were virtually indestructible and were great for us college kids. Paired with a Yamaha 300wpc receiver we had a lot of fun.
 
Shadowfax said:
Just for fun I picked up a pair of Bose 901s with stands and EQ on Saturday for $100. I set them up in the main rig with the EQ directly between Pre and Amp as opposed to the tape loop. Wow, what amazing sound they throw and lots of bass. I don't have the proper room and walls for perfect setup, but in this configuration, they are decent. I tried the setup with the Tape Loop, but either I did it wrong, there is an issue with that part of the EQ box, or my Pre Tape Loop is funky. They sounded like crap and I could not get them adjusted to sound good in any sense. So I set them back up between pre and amp and everything they had to offer came back. I also tried, for the fun of it, to turn them around since most of the sound comes out the back, but they were then too bright and the bass god muddied. I will play around with them but will put them back on the market for someone more enthusiastic about them and with the right room can enjoy them.
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Said this for years , they need power too because of the EQ , best to play them with 200-300 watts per channel in the right room beat 75% of so called hi-Fi speakers ...
 
a.wayne said:
Said this for years , they need power too because of the EQ , best to play them with 200-300 watts per channel in the right room beat 75% of so called hi-Fi speakers ...
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I think they are really liking the juice from my Counterpoint NPS-400. I love the bass, which my big Clearfields lack.
 
Back in the day a “stacked pair”; driven by a Phase Linear 700, was a fun system for rock or any music that needed to get loud for enjoyment.....

Cheers......
 
My buddy had a pair that sounded like crap . Then , a few weeks later we figured out the EQ wasn't hooked up correctly . Then they rocked pretty good .
 
I removed one of the pedestals last night to find they are a Series IV and have Walnut Veneer.

Series I----1968 to 1973, acoustic suspension (sealed cabinet), drivers use 4 fasteners each to hold them in place
Series II---1973 to 1976, acoustic suspension, improved high frequency response. Drivers use 4 fasteners.
Series III--1976 to 1978, Acoustic Matrix (ported cabinet--takes less amplifier power to drive to the same volume level) Drivers use 3 fasteners.
Series IV--1978 to 1983, Acoustic Matrix, improved high frequency response. Drivers use 3 fasteners.
Series V---1983 to 1987, Acoustic Matrix, drivers use 3 fasteners.
Series VI--1988 to present, Acoustic Matrix, drivers use 3 fasteners. This is current production, as of April 2013 its $1,398.95 list price includes two speakers and an active equalizer, with shipping and sales tax additional, of course. Bose has periodically put the speaker system on sale for about a hundred bucks off, and some eBay vendors are not charging tax and shipping, which helps a lot.
 
Shadowfax said:
I removed one of the pedestals last night to find they are a Series IV and have Walnut Veneer.

Series I----1968 to 1973, acoustic suspension (sealed cabinet), drivers use 4 fasteners each to hold them in place
Series II---1973 to 1976, acoustic suspension, improved high frequency response. Drivers use 4 fasteners.
Series III--1976 to 1978, Acoustic Matrix (ported cabinet--takes less amplifier power to drive to the same volume level) Drivers use 3 fasteners.
Series IV--1978 to 1983, Acoustic Matrix, improved high frequency response. Drivers use 3 fasteners.
Series V---1983 to 1987, Acoustic Matrix, drivers use 3 fasteners.
Series VI--1988 to present, Acoustic Matrix, drivers use 3 fasteners. This is current production, as of April 2013 its $1,398.95 list price includes two speakers and an active equalizer, with shipping and sales tax additional, of course. Bose has periodically put the speaker system on sale for about a hundred bucks off, and some eBay vendors are not charging tax and shipping, which helps a lot.
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If you haven't done so already you should pull the grill off the back and check the drivers for foam rot. I had a pair of series 4s back in the 80s that developed the dreaded rot. Bose sent me a new pair of series 5 speakers for a fairly minimal charge and my old speakers.
Unfortunately I sold them without even listening to them. I wouldn't say they are underrated, but they are under appreciated.
 
Once I followed the recommendations and hung my series VI from the ceiling 2'x2'x2' from the corners I got some really balanced sound that went LOUD with a realistic sta- 235b 55wpc receiver! I would probably still be quite happy with them had a neighbor introduced me to hifi.
 
Amar Bose was a professor at MIT and no dummy. As I remember, the secret was that he used really cheap, small full range speakers, a bunch of them, with all but one facing backwards. Part of the secret was by using such cheap speakers, they were not at all matched in frequency response, and their errors tended to cancel out each other, particularly since the vast majority of the sound came from reflections from the rear walls. I remember than Bose was a marketing genius and he also was very famous for suing Consumers Reports for writing a non glowing review of the speakers (something about the sound wandering around - probably from all the reflections). Some of my friends in college or grad school (sometime in the mid to late '60's IIRC) got ahold of plans to build speakers using the Bose 901 model. Lots of very cheap little speakers maybe 5", maybe even from the same source as Bose, and some rudimentary cabinet with eight speakers pointing backwards, and one pointing forward. I heard one pair - it looked pretty crude (not the fine cabinet finish of a real Bose 901). I don't remember that the sound was memorable, maybe not too far from the real thing. The real hifi fans were using AR and KLH sound (interestingly, like Bose, originating in Cambridge, MA).

I looked up Amar Bose in wiki. He died at the age of 83 in 2013, with a net worth of $1 Billion. He is one of the only billionaires (maybe the only one if you don't count Akio Morita founder of Sony) to have made his fortune in hifi equipment.

Larry
 
I purchased a pair of 901’s series II’s in 1975. They were everyone’s dream speaker back then. I paid $500 for them without stands. A handsome sum in 1975. I loved them for about two years. I eventually ran them with the Apt-Holman preamp and a BGW power amplifier. The BGW was great, the Tom Holman preamp was a rock and roll preamp. At a price of about $900 it should have been better. But I digress. In time I realized the 901’s did nothing but midrange. Back then I bought a tweeter array that looked like tiny 901’s. Dont remember who made them, but they were a big help. Bass was what you would expect from 4” drivers. Very well damped but no balls. The active equalization took a big toll on the amplification. The raising and lowering of a tonearm could turn into a disaster when actively equalized. They need a large listening room and their focus is blurred at best. When turned around they present more detail but are overly shrill. I have heard all the iterations of the 901’s since and found them all to be midfi. I wish I could say they were a great speaker for their time, but the AR’s and Advents had it all over them. I remember being in Crazy Eddies and hearing the AR LST’s. I was more into status then and less into good sound. The AR LST’s were so good, I might have still had them today. I still pine away for the AR’s (any model, but the 11pi’s were better than great). I kept the 901’s for seven years and sold them with the stands and tweeters for $500. I got the status, but that’s about it. My first hifi mistake. Believe me there were many more after that.........
 
I had a friend who owned a pair. They were hung from the ceiling of his ranch style home with decorative chains. He drove them with a phase linear 700. The setup was terrible and he played it at ear splitting volume. Never got to hear them setup properly.
 
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