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Bose 901 : method to its madness !?

The 301 is probably Bose's best effort, surprisingly.

RE: " ... They were an interesting idea when they were introduced in 1969 ..."

Introduced by Bose in 1969, they were available from the original manufacturer prior to that.
 
Found the ad for the product Dr Bose purchased and renamed 901. Taken from Audio magazine, didn't record the date.

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With regard to people selling 901's without the equalizer on eBay, you might be able to run them with a modern DSP engine doing the equalization. I would like to have a look at the graph of the corrections, actually. We would really learn something about the 901 that way, plus it almost certainly would sound better than the Bose EQ box, I've peeked inside and it was mid-fi parts quality at best.
 
Johnny2Bad said:
The 301 is probably Bose's best effort, surprisingly.

RE: " ... They were an interesting idea when they were introduced in 1969 ..."

Introduced by Bose in 1969, they were available from the original manufacturer prior to that.
Click to expand...

Well, if that was their best effort I’m glad I have never heard the 901s...

By the way, a friend in prof. Audio hasn’t a good word to say about Bose PA gear.
Not surprising really as he runs a Turbosound rig.

I have heard some small Bose PA rigs which sound OK, but I prefer my own rig
which uses JBL speakers.
Each to their own...
 
" ... I think you got it backwards. ..."

Well, maybe, I found the ad in a magazine after all, but just because Bose sued someone doesn't mean much in and of itself ... they've sued reviewers and their publishers who gave unflattering reviews. They were sued by the USAF for failure to fulfil the original contract for noise-cancelling headphones for military use (the products they delivered basically didn't work) and it's rumoured Bose used the money from the cost-plus contract to actually develop it's now leading noise-cancelling technology, tech it didn't possess when it signed the contract.

In fact Bose has a very close relationship to their legal team and instigating lawsuits is almost a secondary business to them. Not quite as prolific as Apple (records, a la the Beatles original label) whom exist entirely on income from lawsuits over the use of the name "Apple" (the Beatles rights and catalog were sold long ago), or Monster (cable), but close. It's one of the things that irritates me about the company (and I don't hide it). And I do understand the legal requirement to defend your marks.

Hey, but the 301 was a surprisingly good speaker at a budget price ;-)

Thanks for the correction, though. I'm not too proud to say sometimes I get it wrong and it's all good if when I do, the record is set straight. I don't want to disseminate misinformation.
 
Yes, if you choose wisely (JBL has a massive Pro catalog) there is probably a JBL system that will do a stellar job. It does take someone who knows the product well to insure that's the case, though and couch-shopping is a poor choice in my opinion.
 
A friend of mine restored several pairs of 901s of different vintages, at one point having three different pairs in his studio. His impression was that they were a 1 kHz resonator that required huge power to equalize the signal below and above 1 kHz. They were also cheaply built, with replacement drivers going for around $1.00 each (at OEM cost). So for fun, he built me a pair of 901s the way he thought they should be done. The drivers were about $30 a piece and in addition used a couple of titanium tweeters and a crossover made with non-crap parts. He sold it to me for his estimated cost (parts and labor) of $1750. They were finished in a gorgeous rosewood stain with matching wooden stands that had the same curved profile of the mid sections as the speakers themselves-so it was a pretty dapper looking speakers.

These had the idiosyncracies of the genuine 901s in terms of speaker placement and dispersion of sound, but were far less colored, more detailed, more dynamic and required less than the 250 wpc that the bona fide 901s did. We did listen to them side by side with some 901/3 and it was no contest either in looks or in performance.

Right now I use them as end tables on either side of a bed as they are very attractive-since I have even better speakers to actually listen to. I thought about selling them, but I couldn't get what they are worth, so maybe there will be a day that I will restore them as speakers rather than end tables!
 
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