Get ready to sell your Wilson, Sonus Faber And YG's......NOS Bose 901 Series VI in the house!

Legolas

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I used to have a mobile disco setup and we had 2 x Bose 802s. They are the PA version of the domestic 901. They had very good power handling and pretty decent sound v the cluster of PA speakers for use at that level in the 80's. They are (can you believe it) still available but I am unsure if they have the same specs as the units we had, maybe a budget version now? We used a 24 band analogue EQ to 'fix' the FR. Worked well for what it was, a budget PA system that can go in a car.

BUT it is definitely not hifi and seriously bandwidth restricted. Voice and mids are passable, hence the end use in Churches and schools, gyms etc. For audio for home use, look elsewhere.

On the 901 watch the EQ box doesn't overload your power amp, it is really trying to host the sub and upper frequencies to compensate for the failures of the drivers not being full range.
1482822-kef-107-reference-speakers.jpg 1482828-kef-107-reference-speakers.jpg

Reminds me a bit of my Kef 107.2s, and the Kef Cube, tried to do a similar 'fix'. Failed really, as that slowed the dynamics and the parts quality in the EQ box ruined the sound somewhat. Was fun for a while though, to hear real 20hz bass!

Bose in general, even though they had some good ideas, fall flat IMO, even before the founder passed away. The whole surround or room filling reflected sound didn't really work to my ears. The 901 had 80% of it's drivers bouncing off the back wall, hardly realistic.
 
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JackD201

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The poor man DJ's WAMM were 802s MTM with JBL "Butt Cheeks" over CV Jr Earthquakes or JBL J-boxes. Ahhh the 80's :D
 

steve59

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I bought a pair to go with my realistic receiver waay back in the day. It took quite awhile b4 I took the instructions advice(sort of) and flipped those stands over and hung them from the ceiling 2'x2' in from each corner and presto bass lock and police knocking on my apt door every saturday night. Fun speakers even if visitors occasionally bumped their head walking by.
 

DaveC

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Bose in general, even though they had some good ideas, fall flat IMO, even before the founder passed away. The whole surround or room filling reflected sound didn't really work to my ears. The 901 had 80% of it's drivers bouncing off the back wall, hardly realistic.

Remember they also had some pretty unethical ideas too.

In the early '90s I was selling electronics and appliances at a big box store and the Bose Acoustimass system display was very deceiving. It was not allowed to be compared directly to other choices and the demo had to be a video. IMO, they used their research into psychoacoustics in order to make a cheap system that they charged unfair prices for.
 

microstrip

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B&W also sold a variable bass alignment filter and equalizer for their 800 series - it should be inserted in the tape loop. The nice thing has that it had specific settings for each of their 800 models, but the quality of the electronics would compromise sound quality in top systems. a1.jpg https://kenrockwell.com/audio/b-w/800-series-bass-alignment-filter.htm
 

Hi-FiGuy

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Feb 23, 2015
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I bought a pair to go with my realistic receiver waay back in the day. It took quite awhile b4 I took the instructions advice(sort of) and flipped those stands over and hung them from the ceiling 2'x2' in from each corner and presto bass lock and police knocking on my apt door every saturday night. Fun speakers even if visitors occasionally bumped their head walking by.
I remember Pacific Stereo having theirs hanging from chain in their demo rooms.
 

jeff1225

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Jan 29, 2012
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I remember Pacific Stereo having theirs hanging from chain in their demo rooms.


Yes there is actually instructions on how do hang the speakers in the manual. I'm pretty sure the pedestal stands are really why my wife likes them so no hanging for me.
 

Big Dog RJ

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Feb 2, 2012
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I first had the 301's, then 601's and finally the 901's. We got these from Spore on a trip via Thailand to visit my bro. I was still in highschool just about to finish year 11/12. Bro was completing his MBA, and when we all met up back in Colombo, fired up the system and listened to tunes through the 901's, we thought haven had opened its doors! Especially when these were hooked up on chains suspended from the ceiling, what a ridiculous set up! But what an awesome blast it was, pump up the volume full blast and it still played... The 301's couldn't go that loud but for the money at the time, these seemed to be the most sensible speakers to buy, simply because it had this amazing breakthrough concept "direct reflecting sound". Now RJ stand up and explain to these lovely aunties and uncles exactly how this direct reflection works... Oh boy oh boy! Was I so excited... Until the actual highend took place. Ah the good old days...
Cheers to Bose! RJ
 
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Tango

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I first had the 301's, then 601's and finally the 901's. We got these from Spore on a trip via Thailand to visit my bro. I was still in highschool just about to finish year 11/12. Bro was completing his MBA, and when we all met up back in Colombo, fired up the system and listened to tunes through the 901's, we thought haven had opened its doors! Especially when these were hooked up on chains suspended from the ceiling, what a ridiculous set up! But what an awesome blast it was, pump up the volume full blast and it still played... The 301's couldn't go that loud but for the money at the time, these seemed to be the most sensible speakers to buy, simply because it had this amazing breakthrough concept "direct reflecting sound". Now RJ stand up and explain to these lovely aunties and uncles exactly how this direct reflection works... Oh boy oh boy! Was I so excited... Until the actual highend took place. Ah the good old days...
Cheers to Bose! RJ
I also had them hung from the ceiling of my dorm room. To think about it now I just laugh how stupid I was. The rear of speakers was a wall full open closet full of clothes....hahaha :D direct reflecting sound never sounded better. Remember I played with the Denon spaceship looking tt dont remember the model. I was using Monster Cable too just because the name was cool. Me and my Swedish roommate were just blasting them with European techno musics like we were in a discotheque. Back then most american kids never heard this music. While a kid a few room away was blasting the Grateful Dead with his Klipsch..door and window opened. Fond memory. Now I have a Bose Lifestyle home theatre system. These cube speakers are excellent...the only audio I purchased that is worth the money.

Regards,
Tang
 

abs1

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I bought a new pair of the original series 901s in 1970 and teamed them with a MacIntosh C28 preamp and MC2105 power amp. I blew out one channel of the 2105, sent it back to Binghampton to be repaired, blew out another channel a year later, sent it back to Binghampton again, but got rid of the 901s quickly after that episode. I kept the 2105 for four more years (ESS Heil AMT3 Rock Monitors, then ADC L710s) without any more problems. Those 901s were great for large loud parties but they were certainly NOT hifi. I see them up for sale now and then and sometimes I'm tempted to buy a pair for my mid-century "rec room" but, thankfully, that thought gets quickly overruled by my better senses.:eek:
 

jeff1225

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I bought a new pair of the original series 901s in 1970 and teamed them with a MacIntosh C28 preamp and MC2105 power amp. I blew out one channel of the 2105, sent it back to Binghampton to be repaired, blew out another channel a year later, sent it back to Binghampton again, but got rid of the 901s quickly after that episode. I kept the 2105 for four more years (ESS Heil AMT3 Rock Monitors, then ADC L710s) without any more problems. Those 901s were great for large loud parties but they were certainly NOT hifi. I see them up for sale now and then and sometimes I'm tempted to buy a pair for my mid-century "rec room" but, thankfully, that thought gets quickly overruled by my better senses.:eek:


These are the final Series VI which are much more efficient and have a much improved EQ. They are absolutely perfect for a rec room and actually deliver some of the best TV sound we've ever had in the room. I'm running them with a 50 watt NAD...... really good mid-fi.
 
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sefischer1

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Is the EQ box working correctly still? Nearly 30 years ago, I had to make a replacement board for a 901 system for a friend. Without the EQ unit, used in a processor loop, you'll likely only get midrange.
 

steve59

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can't think of another speaker that had a longer run.
 
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JayR

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Feb 28, 2015
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Brings back memories

In the early 90s, the Bose 901 was first purchase into “audiophiledom” when I was in graduate school. I used to power it with a Pioneer receiver. At that time, I thought it was best thing since sliced bread. My previous equipment listening to music was a cassette player and an AM radio when I was growing up in India.

Another interesting tidbit from my early life...Color televisions didn’t exist in India until the 1980 Asian Games (I think) when the govt decided that they could be legally imported. In 1982, we had the privilege of getting a color television. Until then, we used a B&W console TV with a screen in front of it with some colors in the 4 corners. It was our version of a “color vision”.

Amazing how far things have come since then.

Thanks for listening. Signing out.
 

Legolas

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These were built in 2014 so the EQ box is working perfectly.

Interesting this design.
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My old Kef 107.2s had an EQ box. It went between the pre-amp and the power amp. I used a big SS power amp so it was ok, but the EQ box pumped a lot of low bass EQ to compensate for the low level response of the speaker, so below 100hz in that case. It can overload some amps, so be careful. Interestingly those Kef sounded pretty good, bit slow and the mids not so dynamic as the drivers were a bit small, but the bass was superb, unbeatable at that time for the price of that speaker.
 

steve59

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still popular today, I have a pair listed on uasm and get regular interest for them, until of coarse folk find out how much large speakers cost to ship!
 

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