Bose 901 Plans

Good luck. Be aware that there were at least two versions of the 901 cabinet. The latest (now close to 15 years old) involves complex chambering and "communal" porting of the rear mounted drivers in groups of 4. They are made out of plastic with the wood top and bottom playing no acoustical role in the function of the cabinet. There is absolutely no simple way to replicate this later cabinet on a diy basis. And if you could, what would be the point?

Don't forget, if you are obsesed with getting 901 "performance" you will need some form of electronic eq. Otherwise the thing will sound like a huge midrange speaker. This outboard eq is integral to the 901 concept and you should not consider it optional.
 
As for Bose to speak...

I'd go for their really small satellite speaker system
+ a subwoofer in a living room. Just for the looks of it. Usually (if you live in an apartment) you can't play that loud anyways. Mainly for movie watching, but whatever.

I've been playing with the thought for some time now, that for my interest in movies, I'd go for a Bose system. And for music in general, a really nice diy system with really nice speakers.

Best regards,
//magnus
 
Hi,

I'm considering buying the Bose lifestyle 20 system, which includes the smaller jewel cube speakers. Does anybody have any experience with these?

I'm planning on using them in a home cinema system, in a rather large livingroom. Will these little things really fill out the room good, with a subwoofer?

Best Regards,
Christian V
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Around here Bose is usually spelt B*&% and i couldn't with a good conscience recommend then to anyone.

If you want to build something with lots of drivers, there are more interesting things you could try, with drivers that have inherently better performance than the B^%$ P^%.

If you like some suggestions i could ramble on for a while...

dave
 
sam9

swede said:
As for Bose to speak...

I'd go for their really small satellite speaker system
+ a subwoofer in a living room. Just for the looks of it. Usually (if you live in an apartment) you can't play that loud anyways. Mainly for movie watching, but whatever.

I've been playing with the thought for some time now, that for my interest in movies, I'd go for a Bose system. And for music in general, a really nice diy system with really nice speakers.

Best regards,
//magnus
As a former owner I would have to say there are better alternatives to the speakers. If you want small with quality, the very best I can think of is the M&K "K-series". The Bose lifestyle does have an attractive appearance, however, both Linn and NAD have rather nice looking reciever/CDP combos that I would prefere if it were me.
 
there is nothing inside the bose 901. I just took a pair of series sixes apart in order to harvest their very well-behaved drivers. The two "ports" on the front, and the "ports" on the back are both false. the center "port" on the front of the speaker is false. Nothing inside but 9 drivers wired - i think - in series/parallel 3x3. no crossover. the actual body of the speaker is a plastic molded unibody. the wood around is just glued on.
-isaac
 
Nothing inside but 9 drivers wired - i think - in series/parallel 3x3. no crossover. the actual body of the speaker is a plastic molded unibody. the wood around is just glued on.
-isaac

Yes, wiring is Nightmare, but sound without EQ look like telephone sound :)


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Regards zeoN_Rider
 
If I google "bose 901 clone plans" I get a huge number of hits including many here on diyaudio.com. Some youtube videos too.

I'd say go for it. Could be a lot of fun to play with. I can't remember if the originals were sealed or a ported design. If the former you could consider the venerable TC9's as a driver. 18 units for under $180 (significantly less if you shop around). Pick up a used miniDSP and some inexpensive class-D amp boards and have at it.

It is going to be the ultimate in sound? Probably not, but that's not the point. Some people get really focused on getting the "perfect sound" while others (like myself) like the experimentation.

I'd think about it myself, but I'm trying to make some headway on my line arrays right now.

And rememeber - let's all have fun out there.

-b

(*) full disclosure, way back when I used to have a pair of 301's.
 
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Why not?

It´s BORING talking all day long about 1930´s DHT triodes, inductor loaded tubes, tube OTL, single Mosfet no feedback amps, open baffles, let alone cable and capacitor sound, stage width, granularity and black noise.

Frequency response irregularities are not much worse than in beloved Karlsons, go figure.

I guess a modern version with 9 excellent 4" or 5" Faital speakers (or any other good full range speakers) would be something worth pursuing, much better than originals.

Why would an excellent and much praised 4-5" full range speaker (we see lots of those here) become a brain eating Zombie when combined with 8 others?
Besides combing that is, but that is inevitable when you feed signal to more than one speaker.
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
[QUOTE="cowanrg, post: 40271, member: 1387”] ...but for the money, build something better.[/QUOTE]

+1

You can get much better drivers and if you want 9 a better configuration. When i was working retail hifi, more than one cliebt was amazed when i turned them front-to-back and they sounded better (still not great).

If you want something like a 901 there are a lot better omnis around here.

Also, unless you have exactly the same drivers, the standard box is unlikely to be the right size.

More: qulity vrs quantity. Aomeone says you can pick up 901 drivers for $6 each (about right), $54 for 9, just about the price of my favorite 3”. One won’t play a loud but i bet it will sound WAY better,

dave