Bose 901 series 6 mk'2 with Reference McIntosh Gear...WOW!!

Crossoverless · « **on:** 8 Sep 2015, 06:39 pm »

I heard these 901's with Top Of The Line McIntosh gear and these 901's sounded amazing! It sounded very much like your at a Live Concert!

What's going on here!

I thought these 901's were one of the worst speakers you could buy!!

Photon46 · « **Reply #1 on:** 9 Sep 2015, 12:02 am »

Having heard Bose 901's in many settings over many years, I'd say anyone who thinks Bose 901's are "one of the worst" speakers ever has an axe to grind and isn't being very objective. Conversely, to say they sound amazingly like a live concert makes me wonder what kind of a live concert you might be referring to? Perhaps a rock & roll show at a dive bar where the amplification is twenty year old Crown amps and Peavey speakers?

Seriously, they're not the worst by a long shot and they're far, far from the best.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #2 on:** 9 Sep 2015, 12:13 am »

Looks perfect to home theaters without the mess of 5.1 speakers.

2bigears · « **Reply #3 on:** 9 Sep 2015, 12:43 am »

marketing and misguided ways ,,,, powerful ....

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 01:39 am »

They always seemed like a proof of concept rather than a fully fledged out product. They do sound better with the equalizer. And if you go for that wall of sound effect, I could see how one could prefer them. Not me, but someone, perhaps someone from Bose. They hold their value well if the surrounds aren't rotten and sold with equalizer, even bought new the price is moderate. So yeah, I could see it. However limited the appeal for the general audio community, they're worth a mention.

S Clark · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 02:45 am »

Back in 1977, I heard them sound very musical. A fellow set them up in a small auditorium for a small town community theatre playing French folk tunes on a squeezebox. It created a very open sounding, convincing recreation of an outdoor café in Paris. IIRC, he had a big Phase Linear amp and a 3bx DBX expander. I remember it to this day.

Charles Calkins · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 04:54 am »

The Bose 901's sell for $1,398 today. Just a few bucks more than when they were introduced in the 70's
Bud of mine has them in his kick back and relax summer home. They are maybe 15 or so years old They sound pretty darn good to me. Don't know what amp he has.

Another thing. I've read somewhere that Bose sells more speakers than all the rest of speaker builders combined in a year.
Dr. Amar Bose is no longer with us but he done some very innovative things in audio when he was alive.

Cheers
Charlie

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 11:15 am »

Quote from: S Clark on 10 Sep 2015, 02:45 am

Back in 1977, I heard them sound very musical. A fellow set them up in a small auditorium for a small town community theatre playing French folk tunes on a squeezebox. It created a very open sounding, convincing recreation of an outdoor café in Paris. IIRC, he had a big Phase Linear amp and a 3bx DBX expander. I remember it to this day.

The 901 had a external box only for a heavy EQ, more the DBX expander...

Phil A · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 01:21 pm »

If one likes the ambient sound set-up they might be the ticket for someone. Had a friend who had a stereo store back in the old days and for kicks he had a pair set-up so one could A/B them. Didn't really personally think much of them vs. other stuff either in the same price range or cheaper on his floor (e.g. Celestion, Allisons, etc.). They also need to be set-up correctly in the room. For example, I always wanted a pair of Dahlquist DQ10s, but never had the room where I had the floor space for them when I was considering them (and those were the days when I had one system and no room wide enough). Some speakers are just more picky on the set-up available

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 01:33 pm »

Dahlquist and Bose not talk the same language.
Dahlquist have refined sound.

Phil A · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 01:36 pm »

Quote from: FullRangeMan on 10 Sep 2015, 01:33 pm

Dahlquist and Bose not talk the same language.
Dahlquist have refined sound.

I quite understand. My point was that I just never had the room for them. With 901s, even though I don't like them, someone considering them and who likes needs to have the room to set them up right.

srb · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 02:42 pm »

Although I've owned a speaker with a single rear ambiance tweeter, the Bose 901 design of 11% forward sound and 89% reflected is too diffuse and lacks any defined soundstage. Probably a good thing for a casual party setting, though.

I've never been a fan of limited range drivers with a ton of equalization applied, but my big objection to the 901 systems I heard in the late 70s was that there was too much noise and hiss from the active EQ box which was quite noticeable in quiet passages and between songs. I would guess this was likely addressed and refined in subsequent generations of the system.

Steve

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #12 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 02:49 pm »

Similar noise and hiss also occour in xovers.
Xovers with many parts worse the prob.

macrojack · « **Reply #13 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 02:57 pm »

Bose is now and always has been a hoax. It demonstrates the triumph of marketing over engineering. Yes, it reproduces sound. Yes it definitely can fill a room. But no, it does not convey any of the traits valued by audiophiles.
Back in the 1970s I was a high volume seller and proud owner of the Bose 901. I promoted the cult atmosphere and I derided detractors. But then something happened. I came face to face with numerous superior alternatives and realized, much to my dismay, that I had never actually listened to audio products. My buddy Miles had a Tympani setup with Phase Linear amplification and some really good weed that combined to awaken me to the realities of Bose deficiency. Amar lost an apostle that day.
If anyone out there is still insistent on promoting the Bose 901 as a credible speaker option, I urge you to find the combination that cured me and expose yourself to the wonders of the Leon Russell "Carney" album ASAP. You'll thank me, for sure!

Doublej · « **Reply #14 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 04:17 pm »

I don't think Bose ever cared about 'audiophiles'. At one point there was a lecture on the web where he makes fun of them.

DaveC113 · « **Reply #15 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 05:19 pm »

Mostly, Bose is all about engineering around human perception of sound in order to make super cheap systems that fool people who don't know better.

Phil A · « **Reply #16 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 05:27 pm »

Quote from: DaveC113 on 10 Sep 2015, 05:19 pm

Mostly, Bose is all about engineering around human perception of sound in order to make super cheap systems that fool people who don't know better.

Great marketing though and of course this is another Bose model and how they do it - http://nyet.org/bose/

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #17 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 07:02 pm »

Quote from: Crossoverless on 8 Sep 2015, 06:39 pm

I heard these 901's with Top Of The Line McIntosh gear and these 901's sounded amazing! It sounded very much like your at a Live Concert!

What's going on here! I thought these 901's were one of the worst speakers you could buy!!

Way back in the late seventies I was in a shop and heard the Bose 901. For about the same money that same shop had a pair of Celestion Ditton 66 next to the Bose 901. As a teenager, the difference in both build and sound quality was very apparent.

A year or two later, I was floored when I heard the sound coming out of a super cheap (and small) pair of Szabo speakers driven by a Michaelson & Austin TVA-1. It's quite amazing how a good amp can transform even a shitty pair of speakers.

craigh · « **Reply #18 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 07:11 pm »

I had a pair of 901's once. I don't remember what series they were. They sounded better in the room behind them. I traded them in for a pair of Allison 4's. The guy that I traded with had the Bose up for sale the next week.

Freo-1 · « **Reply #19 on:** 10 Sep 2015, 08:21 pm »

The McIntosh gear no doubt helps the 901's sound as good as possibly could. I used to think Mac gear was not high end from a performance perspective. I was wrong about that. McIntosh makes some of the best sounding amps/preamps available. I don't know exactly when it became fashionable to trash talk McIntosh as mid-fi, but that assessment is just flat out not true.

The 901's are an unusual beast. I think Tone Audio did a review of them a couple of years back, and had some good things to say about them. They are not a speaker I would own, but I could see where in some rooms, they could work.

Didn't Bose sue Consumer Reports years back about a bad review of one of their products?