Bose 901 Direct/Reflecting Speaker System - Walnut
By: Bose Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 11
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 On: 2008-07-01
Amar Bose created this maverick design in 1968, and to this day, it stands as one of the finest loudspeaker systems for the home. If you love music, and dont want to get on the audiophile merry-go-round, make the 901 your choice.
On: 2008-06-07
i just came across a pair of very old 901s. no eqalizer.
lifted a corner of the grill cover with a butter knife to check the foam surrouds,,, perfect
looked up the owners manual on the bose website to see what the eqalizer thing was all about. too much taboo for me.
so,, what i did was to hook these 2 nice walnut cabinet speakers up to my surround left & right channels. pretty cool
with my vintage jbl l00s for mains. a velodyne sub, a b&w kevlar center
and a phase linear center channel speaker for my 6/7 rear surround,
all being pushed with a denon 3801, i put on cream at royal albert hall 2006 hddvd and cranked it up a little.
 On: 2008-06-07
One of my friends at work purchased these speakers about a year ago. About a month ago I brought a Telarc cd recording of the 1812 Overture and a few other discs over to his house to listen to his top of the line Bose speakers. The first thing I noticed is that the bass is seriously lacking when the cannons are fired on the Telarc disc.
The same is true when I listened to Led Zeppelins "thats the way" track... towards the end of the cut when extremely low frequency bass kicks in during the instrumental part. I could barely hear the first note in the baseline! The other notes in the baseline varied noticeably, depending on note frequency, becoming boomy about 12 notes into the baseline. On my system at home with Yamaha RX-V3800 receiver and Axiom M80 V2 speakers I could hear the entire baseline clean, with almost no variation in volume on ANY of the notes. By the way, I have no subwoofer yet... and the Axiom M80 v2s cost roughly the same as the Bose speakers, actually less if you get the bose speaker stands made for the 901s.
The other serious problem Bose has with this speaker system is IMAGING and presence. Great imaging is the ability to distinguish the exact location of each of the band musicians on the soundstage as it was recorded. Granted, the average pop music recording does not make use of state of the art recording equipment... but Telarc recordings are all made for audiophiles... and Led Zeppelin used state of the art recording equipment for almost all their albums. The sound is very clear and very distinct as recorded. Its just that Bose sacrifices these certain elements when reproducing all higher quality recordings in order to reduce the size of their speakers and to "fill the room with sound", indistinct as it is! Wide soundstage, yes... accurate placement within that soundstage, no. Good bass? NO! Fair mid-bass with some boominess in approximately the 150-600Hz range (about 2 octaves).... and voices sound way too deep chested!
Also Four days ago, I went to a Bose store to listen to their Bose Acoustic Wave Radio. For a clock radio it sounds pretty good. but to even consider comparing it to even a low end regular size home stereo system is a joke! I was extremely disappointed!! Yes, the bass was somewhat surprising... but very lacking, compared to most home audio systems (except for those cheap mini systems costing considerably less than $300). Want to spend over $1300 for a pair of speakers? Go with Axiom or Paradyne speakers and get TRUE high fidelity
 On: 2008-05-29
I owned a pair of 901s in the early 80s, they are excellent speakers in term of dynamics and their ability to fill a room with sound. Back then I used Phase Linear equipment to drive them. Phase Linear was designed by Bob Carver and were considered entry level high end at the time. Paired up with the 901s they produce some of my best memories of music. As I grew older and purchased a home with an open floor plan their limitations started to become more apparent. These speakers use reflected sound waves to produce a wide sound stage and excellent imaging, in an open area this effect is loss and you experience what others have called no highs or lows. The equalizer can compensate for some of this but not entirely. My advice is to carefully consider where you will use these speakers and if they fit the environment they can sound spectacular. They are not everyones cup of tea but they just may be yours.
On: 2008-01-02
It makes me laugh when I read the posts from people who hate Bose. While some of the Bose models may not be as great as they purport themselves to be, the 901 Series 6 are incredible work-horses of speakers. I have owned and heard speakers from many manufacturers, but the 901s knock everything else out of the way in producing powerful highs and deep heart-felt lows. I have had these speakers for going on fifteen years and I love them - simple as that. For home-theater, they are nothing short of astounding.
On: 2008-01-01
It makes me laugh when I read the posts from people who hate Bose. While some of the Bose models may not be as great as they purport themselves to be, the 901 Series 6 are incredible work-horses of speakers. I have owned and heard speakers from many manufacturers, but the 901s knock everything else out of the way in producing powerful highs and deep heart-felt lows. I have had these speakers for going on fifteen years and I love them - simple as that. For home-theater, they are nothing short of astounding.
On: 2007-08-06
While the concept behind the Bose 901 speakers was innovative 30 years ago, there are now plent of speakers on the market that take advantage of that technology. Bose capitalizes on the fact that the majority of what we hear lies in the midrange and that is where these speakers excel. If you set these speakers in the correct position and listen to pop or country western, these speakers will do just fine (no onffense meant to either genre - they simply tend to stay in the midranges). However, if you challenge your speakers - if every now and then you play music that reaches the high ranges, these speakers will dissappoint. Vocals and strings especially, will sound clipped and shallow.
If you expect them to reproduce a resonating bass that vibrates your bones, you will be dissappointed there as well. No matter how well these speakers handle the midrange, they just dont have the ability to handle the highs and lows. This shouldnt be surprising. They have no woof and they have no tweet.
If youre happy with that and have a grand to waste on inferior speakers, but are into having the name brand, these are for you.
On: 2007-08-04
These are good speakers. No doubt. But waaaaaaaay overpriced and over rated. Sorry Dr. Bose. Ive owned many a Bose products and yes they are good, just over priced. For the money, you can do alot, ALOT! better than the 901s and save some coin. Just do a little homework.
On: 2007-08-03
These are good speakers. No doubt. But waaaaaaaay overpriced and over rated. Sorry Dr. Bose. Ive owned many a Bose products and yes they are good, just over priced. For the money, you can do alot, ALOT! better than the 901s and save some coin. Just do a little homework.
On: 2007-01-16
Great speakers, must have room to properly locate them. Download the manual (.pdf) from the Bose home page and review requirement prior to purchasing. Follow the manufacturers suggestions and Bose 901s rule!
On: 2006-02-05
What happened to the real walnut veneer? Series 6 now come with "walnut finished hardwood veneer". I am not sure what kind of wood they use but I have seen it on cheaper asian furniture. A consumer willing to spend the bucks on these speakers would not decide against them over a couple extra dollars for real walnut. Even fake walnut vinyl would look much better. Really disappointed Bose would do this to a classic. Maybe the cheap wood matches the cheap furniture being sold these days but give people a choice.
On: 2006-01-27
I have been the proud own of my 901s for 15 years and when I go out to do a comparison with what is presently being sold nothing else stands up to the 901s. These must be accompanied with only High output components and an array of accompanied Bose speakers such as center channel front and rear and subwoofer. A top of the line bose system should run you about $3,000.00 but worth every penny and they will last forever. Also, Bose has a program through the factory in which you can send your product to them and they will do a FREE diagnostics on them and if the proformance has sucomed to age or wear they will fix or replace anything for just the cost of shipping! If the speakers can not be fixed they will replace them for FREE! No other manufacturer stands behind their product like Bose. They also come with a 7 year warranty right out of the box. Simply worth every penny!
On: 2005-10-06
I have owned this model of speaker for about twelve years. I would add to the above review that if you have a good equalizer in addition to the active eq, you can make these speakers put out unbelievable bass. Basically, the speakers accurately reproduce the sound on the recording, nothing more or less. They have the capability for lots of bass, as several of my present and former neighbors can attest to.
The 901s do take a lot of power and generally arent as loud as other speakers would be connected to the same set-up. Loss of stereo separation is only an issue if you are unable to set them up properly. They dont go right in the corner or right next to each other, and they dont sit on the floor. The stands, unless you can build your own or intend to suspend them from the ceiling, are necessary.
If you plan to listen mainly to music and have a powerful component system, these are great speakers. Bose used to make a matching center channel speaker for surround sound applications (back when they were only five channel) but currently dont have anything specifically matched to the 901. This makes them a poor choice for someone really into home theater. Also, if you dont have an adaptor or tape loop for the active EQ, the sound will be very fat in the midrange. These arent speakers you plug into one of those DVD/Tuner?Surround Sound all-in-one units.
by: Anonymous On: 2005-08-04
The hype surrounding these speakers is disturbing. Yes I actually own a pair of 901 Series VI Walnut finish speakers complete with stands and equalizer, so I know what Im talking about.
If you pay full price for these you will be disappointed. The low bass is almost nonexistent and the treble is also nonexistent. You will need to crank up your bass to extremely high levels to compensate, and the treble that is there is very harsh. The direct-reflecting 901 requires a wall positioning with no nearby clutter and the speakers are not shielded so keep them at least 3 feet away from the television. It does give an airy sound but somehow manages to completely destroy the stereo imaging in the process.
These would make good DJ speakers with a powerful amp, but are useless for any other music application I can think of.
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