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Bose 901's, are they worth it?

J

Jimmydog8

New Member
Hey people, I recently came across a pair of bose 901 series 2 for £145 without the grills, stands or active equaliser. Are they worth buying? I desire some more novel speakers, under £200. Regards, jimmy
 
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Many people like them (including some members here), but you need the equalizer, a decent amount of power, and a large room. If you're going for tonal accuracy, you should probably keep looking.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, does anyone have any recommendations for something in the ball part of £200 that are loud, old & with decent (interesting) sound or form factor?
 
Jimmydog8 said:
Thanks for the advice guys, does anyone have any recommendations for something in the ball part of £200 that are loud, old & with decent (interesting) sound or form factor?
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A lot will depend on what is actually available where you live (I'm assuming you don't want to travel around all of Great Britain for an audio deal). A better bet would be to see what is currently available in your price range on Craigslist or eBay, do some research on what you find, and then ask here once you've narrowed down the list. You'll probably find that many speakers on the market have already been discussed here on AK (Google is your friend).
 
I recently picked up a pair of series 4 with chrome stands and EQ and when setup right they sound great. I don't have the room for them so they will be going.
 
For that money, yes, BUT you need the equalizer for them to sound as they wer designed. You may end up paying more for the equalizer than the speakers, plus the components will be past their best inside (I know, I've rebuilt several). It depends if you like a challenge...

Lee.
 
I paid $120 for my pair so it was worth it just to play with them for a bit before flipping them. In the right room and space from walls, they are pretty cool. Without the EQ they are useless. The EQs sell for $100 by themselves.
 
Jimmydog8 said:
Hey people, I recently came across a pair of bose 901 series 2 for £145 without the grills, stands or active equaliser. Are they worth buying? I desire some more novel speakers, under £200. Regards, jimmy
Click to expand...

Too expensive without the EQ, and it's MUCH more difficult to find the correct EQ here in the UK. Ignore the people who **** talk about 901's setup correctly in a bigger room they sound really good.
 
I had a series 1 with an equalizer and liked my Dynaco a50s better. Needs a big room and didn't like the wide sound. A lot depends on the type of music you listen to, and how big of a speaker you have room for.
 
As others have said Jimmy. The correct matching EQ is very much an essential part of 901 speaks. I have owned more than my share of them. While I am not a Bose speaker fan, they do have their place with the right setup. What will sound good in one environment (room), will sound like crap in another.

I have said before, and will say again. I think the best series of the X01 line from Bose (pound for pound) was the 301's. I have used them as sidekicks for Cornies, Polks, etc.. Bose are just one of those speaks that you either like or dislike. You and only you can decide what side if the fence your on.

I have been fortunate enough with my purchases of the Bose line that I did not have a lot of money into any of them. Which gave me the opportunity to audition them in a real time environment. And then pass them along if they didn't fit. As a side note - I would never buy a set of speakers without auditioning them 1st. Especially if I had to pay top dollar for them, no matter who the the manufacturer was.

Best of luck to you on your trip towards audio nirvana.
 
As others have said, you are pretty much dead in the water without the correct EQ. 901's are basically an array of mid-range drivers being asked to do highs and lows that they probably shouldn't. Set up correctly with the correct EQ, they can do amazing things, but without the proper EQ, they are pretty much useless.

If you want to try something "different"--rather than a conventional "box" speaker, I'd recommend that you look into a planar or electrostatic speaker--they offer a totally different experience. I have owned Apogee Divas (until someone with a lot of cash wanted them more than I did), and still own Magnaplanar 3.6R's that I probably will never give up.
 
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