Bose 901's.....Where is driver# 9????

bookasan

bookasan

Appassionato circa audio
I found a pair of Bose 901's at a thrift for 30 bucks. Catch was it didn't include that darned EQ that came with the 901's.
Went on vacation for a couple days and when I returned to work....there was a 901 EQ sitting on my desk.
One of my co-workers (also an audio addict) went to the same thrift and found the EQ sitting there for 12 bucks and picked it up for me.
Now the question. I plan on restoring these to look like new and am about to pick up a re-foam kit.
I notice all the kits say there are 9 drivers on the 901's.
I cant remove the front grills and I only count 8 when I take off the back grill.
Where the heck is the "9th" driver???
these are the IV series.
 
The grills are held on with 6 or 8 small staples. They are hard to see because they are the same color as the cloth. It's possible to remove them without damaging the grills if you're careful.
 
There is no easy way that I know of to remove the front grill. You have to locate all the little copper colored staples and pull them out, one by one. A cat's paw or cork screw can help, but its a major pain. As is unwire wrapping all those connections. But the cones are easy to prepare for refoaming since the plastic baskets can be scraped clean more easily than metal can. Or at least that's my experience.
 
Have you considered using cloth surrounds? If you plan on keeping the speakers it might make sense.
 
Cloth Surrounds

Do you know which series your 901's are. I have a pair of series 1 w/Equalizer and they have cloth surrounds. I don't remember which series started with the foam surrounds. Replace with cloth if you are planning on keeping them, they will last forever. As I said, I have a pair of series 1 w/cloth surrounds and they are all in good shape.
Nice to see that I am not the only Bose person here. I don't care what others think, I like my 901's. I got these from Desron15 and sold one set and I am keeping the other.
Uri
 
I've refoamed 2 pairs of 901s, 36 drivers. After the first speaker, I left the drivers in and refoamed them in place. Removing and replacing the drivers is a colossal hassle. Use a small vacuum nozzle to suck out the loose bits as you scrape them off. I had to adjust every single VC lead wire to eliminate VC rub and center the coil. You do this by feel and it's easy. I used a dental tool to reach down and yank on the lead wires intil the tension was right. Don't worry, they're pretty stable. I got my foams & glue in a kit off eBay. The price was around $50 delivered. It's pretty easy to do, but tedious. Worth it, though. When you're bored of them someone will give you a good buck for them. 901s retain a loyal following.
People say this is an efficient speakers but I thought mine took a lot of volts to wake up and rock. But then I'm in a pretty large room as well.
Good luck. Might be interesting to have pix of the process to post. I wish I'd have had my digital cam when I did mine.
BTW, if you need some stands, let me know. I have a nice nonstandard walnut pair I'm using as plant stands right now. 901s are fairly useless unless they're at the right height.
 
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I have bought surrounds off of that guy DGwojo mentioned. I have been very satisfied with his service and product so far.
Since about 90% of the audio stuff I find I re-sell, I just kinda planned on giving these a complete restore job for fun. After seeing the post on refinishing cabinets and seeing how great the 901's looked after, I plan on giving it a shot. I forgot who's website had the thing on refinishing cabinets, but it's bookmarked on my computer at work.
As far as the surrounds, I may go with the cloth just so these could be the "ultimate" restored series IV 901's.
I would feel better spending an extra 20 bucks to hook someone up with a pair thay would last them twice as long.

Of course I have thought about the other option....
Trading them into Bose for a brand new set of series VI at 1/2 price
:dunno:
 
Without an EQ I am using mine as mid bass dipoles and the HT sounds quite good. I still need to build the proper shipping boxes to get my dads that he bought in late 71. They also have the walnut fronts, which make them look better. My plans are to put them on top of the rack, just above the 50" screen and with the EQ use them for the center ch.
I always liked the things when I was in high school, but I liked Clear Light Window Pane too, so what the hell did I know? Really I expect them to sound great and do a good job of making that center fill the room up. I am not planning on using them for my mains, but my Shahinians will end up as fronts, I am going to have sound echoing all over on purpose.
It will be great! If one was to draw all the arrows from the room reflections of 2 Shahinian Obelisks and 4 Bose 901s whoever is sitting in the chairs will be pierced fatally.
 
bookasan said:
I found a pair of Bose 901's at a thrift for 30 bucks. Catch was it didn't include that darned EQ that came with the 901's.
Went on vacation for a couple days and when I returned to work....there was a 901 EQ sitting on my desk.
One of my co-workers (also an audio addict) went to the same thrift and found the EQ sitting there for 12 bucks and picked it up for me.
Now the question. I plan on restoring these to look like new and am about to pick up a re-foam kit.
I notice all the kits say there are 9 drivers on the 901's.
I cant remove the front grills and I only count 8 when I take off the back grill.
Where the heck is the "9th" driver???
these are the IV series.
Click to expand...
middle front
 
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