Heard Bose 901 VI speakers and really like them ! Any 901 fans ?

I heard the Series VI about six moths ago in a good room with great amps and sources. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the sound. Far, far beyond the early ones which I sold at the retail level ( those were truly awful ). Still not my cup 'o joe, but not bad if that type of sound floats your boat.
 
901 are very room specific, get it wrong and they sound like mud, get it right and feed em the power and they will run with some very $$$ speakers. The setup in the OP was near perfect I would think.
My favorite have been 501's or 601's, they have a 45 degree woofer and tweeters in front of em. They almost cant be screwed by room acoustics.
Cool.
Srinath.
 
....get it right and feed em the power and they will run with some very $$$ speakers.

Srinath.

Very true especially about the power. Mine are very quiet speakers at low levels but turn them up and they just thrive on power and seem to come alive.
 
They received a very favorable review from Jeff Dorgay of TONEAudio. I think he gave them a fair shot and they impressed.

Only if you mean by "Review" a paid advertisement looking like a review with no technical specs, data, measurements... or even original photos. Yes, they were straight from the Bose marketing department media kit. Lovely...
 
Bose fan

Yes I have 901 and 802 HT setup. 901's front and rears. 802 as center channel. Using the 3 Eq's F/R/C. Using Harman Kardon AV520 receiver. Also dual subs front and rear. 12" rear and 15" front.:music: Love it sound fill room, every seat a good seat.
 
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Lot of nightclubs used them in pairs or quads in the disco years they can fill big room
if you feed them well.

This is so true. In 1977 while in my first year of college, our local dance bar/club had 4 901s mounted at ceiling height. You could hear the music like you were in the same room, when you were outside. When you walked inside, your body pounded from the sound. As a young kid, you loved it. I soon learned of these amazing speakers. I once asked how much power they could take and the DJ said as much as you can give them . . as long as it's clean. I think they had 1200 watts, if I remember correctly. The sound coming from those 4 speakers was just amazing. If you haven't experienced this, you just don't understand what I mean :banana: Now as far as delicate sounds and listening . . maybe not the best speaker. But if you want to crank it up . . can't think of too many speakers that would be better.

And yes, I own a few of them now :)
 
Only if you mean by "Review" a paid advertisement looking like a review with no technical specs, data, measurements... or even original photos. Yes, they were straight from the Bose marketing department media kit. Lovely...

Uh yeah.



















































Not so much.
 
Part 1 and 2 speakers

Good find at an estate sale today. Picked up the Bose 108787 receiver and 2 Bose 901 Series VI speakers with chrome stands. The problem is both speakers are "Part 1" and after looking around online it appears the 2 speakers should be different, the other with 8 cone drivers. Is this is mishap or did some people intentionally buy 2 "Part 1" speakers for some reason? The receiver is awesome, beautiful wood and not a scratch on it, just took forever to learn the trick to turn it on, touch the Bose decal!!
 
Good find at an estate sale today. Picked up the Bose 108787 receiver and 2 Bose 901 Series VI speakers with chrome stands. The problem is both speakers are "Part 1" and after looking around online it appears the 2 speakers should be different, the other with 8 cone drivers. Is this is mishap or did some people intentionally buy 2 "Part 1" speakers for some reason? The receiver is awesome, beautiful wood and not a scratch on it, just took forever to learn the trick to turn it on, touch the Bose decal!!

You must mean the Series IV. The Series VI doesn't have differences between left and right speakers. Using two Part Ones or two Part Twos shouldn't make a difference, except that you won't be able to use the Spatial Control on Bose's Spatial Control Receiver.
 
Hello late posting. But I use Bose 901's in my HT. L/R front 901's L/R rear 901's and 802 as center. I get nothing but praise in the room. Everyone in room enjoy the music, movie or the game not just the person in middle of what we call the sweet spot. Also just got my Bose 1801 out of repair. 250 watts 8 ohms, 450 watts 4 ohms. Tech tell me he's reading 300 @ 8 ohms factory spec on distortion.
 
Only if you mean by "Review" a paid advertisement looking like a review with no technical specs, data, measurements... or even original photos. Yes, they were straight from the Bose marketing department media kit. Lovely...

One of multiple examples on this post which is the reason I no longer post anything anymore.
 
You must mean the Series IV. The Series VI doesn't have differences between left and right speakers. Using two Part Ones or two Part Twos shouldn't make a difference, except that you won't be able to use the Spatial Control on Bose's Spatial Control Receiver.
Yes, I meant Series IV, sorry for the typo. I don't see how it wouldn't make a difference in the sound because the drivers are so different in Part 1 and Part 2 (left and right) speakers.
 
Want a pair of speakers that will produce "rock-block party" levels of output into perpetuity? Hard to go wrong with the 901's as long as the foam is intact. Especially at "you'd better be >30ft and hopefully outside" levels of output they have a cohesiveness, at that output, to which I have yet to find a match. Pioneer HPM-100's give a good run for the money but at levels to fill your property or neighborhood, you'll start having run away midrange output, melted crossover, and smoked tweeters in the HPM's noticeably before the 901's will care.

Plus the silence of the porting on the series VI is truly a marvel IMO. That is a truly peerless aspect of the 901's. When it comes time for me to bridge my pair of Adcom gfa-555 mkii's and don the double hearing protection for "skeletal resonance" type listening... well I've kept the series II and series VI (both gifted to me by my audio enthusiast Aunt long, long ago) for a reason. :smoke:

Some days, I am a tough neighbor to have. :yes:

Yet the audiologist says my hearing is great and even until the 17k drop off in this particular biological sample. I am thankful my health insurance covers my visits to verify I am still hearing what I am hearing :)
 
Yes, I meant Series IV, sorry for the typo. I don't see how it wouldn't make a difference in the sound because the drivers are so different in Part 1 and Part 2 (left and right) speakers.

I don't know what you're talking about. If both speakers are Series IV, then they should be identical. The Series IV had a third connection for a wire on one side, I don't remember which. I used to own Bose 901 Series IV, but I never had a Bose receiver, so I never used that connection, and for a long time, I didn't even know what it was for.
 
My brother has a set of series v1 with the matching eq. He is powering them with a Denon POA 2200 with matching preamp.He has a 10" paradigm powered sub as well. They sound good on some songs and terrible on others songs. He ended up turning the speakers around backwards and somehow they sound way better????? They love live music. Live Supertramp, ACDC, ect sound great. I find the treble overwhelming and hurt my ears. My brother loves the screaming treble as I think he is a bit tone deaf in the highs. He has always blown tweeters on regular speakers. This is one of the main reasons he bought them as they seem indestructible. I would never buy a pair as I just don't think they are that great. I feel these speakers have their place but not in my sound room. They just don't make you sit back and saw "WOW". My brother has wanted a set since 1978 and he has his dream speakers so I am happy for him.
 
Alleged lawsuits aside, Hifi publications rarely pan something because then they lose advertising dollars. Why not just use your brain and read between the lines? Products I've been lucky enough to own that have had write ups from various magazines have their pros and cons adequately represented. You just have to think critically about what you're reading. If something sucks you can be sure they'll allude to it some how. Do the 901s suck? The evidence points to the fact that they don't. Hardly a redesign in 40 years and people still buy them? Bose gets hyped over cube speaker systems, noise canceling headphones and iPod docks, not 40 year old hifi speakers. And yet they're still produced and they still sell. The evidence points to them NOT sucking.
The evidence points to the contrary. There are dozens of websites with the sole purpose of educating people about the "suckability" of the 901. People also bought Yugos and Pintos so the fact people buy Bose speakers does not somehow turn them into good speakers - either in value or performance. Let's be frank here. Bose has spent more money on lawyers and advertising in all these years than in actual R&D. This is a fact and not my opinion. You actually alluded to it when you said, "hardly a redesign in 40 years.......". The fact is that through this massive ad campaign of the 70"s and 80's the non-audiophile today believes Bose to be "the best of the best". I hear it all the time in my daily life. Therefore it is something they lust after and eventually purchase believing they have entered the world of high-end audio. I believe they were decent alternatives in the 70's but the competition and the demands of the audiophile has relegated them to the "sucks" category. They are neither accurate, detailed or involving and lack deep bass, contrary to the earlier statement about "getting into the 30's...." They barely reach 40Hz, but many uninitiated upon hearing heavy 50Hz, think the bass to be much lower. More does not equal lower. I realize this to be an old thread, but it pains me to see and hear utter nonsense and inaccuracies being constantly regurgitated on sites that are ultimately about music and the gear that lets us enjoy it.
 
I bought a pair of 901 series VI back when I thought cerwin vega and bose were the SOTA and it took several months of moving them around to get balanced sound out of them. Using a 55 wpc realistic receiver those things played LOUD and when I finally hung them from the ceiling 24" in from each corner they had room lock bass that they probably rolled off around 9k made them pretty forgiving of the miserable cd's and made them such fun rock speakers. I traded them for a pair of polk sd2's you know the sda-srs reverse phase noise cancelling big boxes that were considerably less fun than the bose. Did I mention the little 901 mk6 goes loud with moderate power? I wouldn't buy them today for my main system but for parties they're great! This thread was about the 901 and I can't speak for the value of any of the other speakers bose makes, also even throwing 6 months wages into a pair of dream speakers that sounded great in a showroom will more than likely sound like crap when you bring them home. Speaker placement and equipment matching becomes even more important the deeper we delve into this hobby and there is no best.
 
My first experience with "high fidelity" was from a set of 901's series 1 that a dear friend of our family had from his time In the air force.

They blew me away.

Today, I too own a pair of series 1.
I'm not really an audiophile. Not In the strictest sense.

I am a music junkie. Massive, massive music junkie.

I enjoy the 901's, but am hearing the siren call of open baffle DIY.

Anyhow, I know they get bashed, maybe even rightfully so. But I finally found a pair of series 1-901's, and I like them. Sure there is better stuff out there, but I like these.

As an aside, I am secretly hopeful that the OBs I'm building knock them out of the top slot in the batting order....but they are a good speaker to measure against I think. At least for my listening needs and tastes.
 
On a lark I picked up a pair of 901 VI a month or two back. They are not my best speakers and I totally understand plenty of people don't care to own them. But, I enjoy the 901s and, frankly, I think anyone that can't enjoy listening to them has a stick lodged up their fanny.
 
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