Anyone Make An Improved 901 type speaker cabinet?

[tomtt]

Originally Posted by bear

I did that in ~1973.
At that time I used an array of Goodman's Maximus drivers (look 'em up), in a cabinet that was a single row of drivers on each rear face. Five or 6 high, so 10 or 12 drivers facing rear, two in the front.

any pictures of those?

and,

what did you do with them?

Originally Posted by prairieboy

Gale GS401?

same thought here .

[Soldermizer]

I've been a 901 fan for years now. I tried refoaming about three pair and in my opiniion, not a lot of trouble but not worth the results. I settled on owning just the originals (series I and II) before they changed to the ported 901's -- a quite different speaker, and worse in many people's eyes (ears?). The original 901 are remarkably durable. Of 4 pairs I've owned, three were 100% original. the 4th had replacement drivers but still sounded ok. I am considering options to restore the elusive top octave on a pair. By the way, most of the time I've used custom (31-band GEQ + PEQ) instead of the factory EQ. They really can sound good if you take the time to "dial it in" and also have several hundreds watts per channel for those rumbly bass notes

At least in USA on eBay, you can find 901 "series I" or II for around $200-300 the pair. They really are a good deal, considering what you get, a near antique speaker likely in perfect (driver) condition. Consider, that adjusted for inflation, they would sell for something like $3000 today! New ones are about $1500 last I looked. If you don't like them you can always sell them to another gullible person

I am still exploring the options to add tweeters to a pair. One idea I had is could one find a large tweeter for just the front that might be a screw-in replacement? I guess it would need a crossover...hadn't thought that through enough yet. There are some "full range" speakers that might work but I think for the money spent you want high power output in 5-20KHz range. Front only might be ok since the super highs are more absorbed by distance and reflection.

[Moondog55]

The best use I have heard for 901s was as PA speakers for a solo performer where the angled drivers faced the audience and he used the single driver as his monitor, otherwise i would have said a 9kilo sledgehammer was the best way to "Improve" any Bose speaker

[Soldermizer]

I've read some other posts about those who added tweeters to a 901 pair. One of them used a separate set of tweeters and powered it with a separate amp (bi-amp) and its own crossover/EQ. My idea is to try just one tweeter in the front. Here are a few:
The Madisound Speaker Store
Selenium ST200 Super Tweeter 264-348

A really cheap but perhaps adequate tweeter:
Goldwood GT-25 4" Cone Tweeter 270-018

How would I wire in a single tweeter? The "original" 901 has 8 ohm drivers three in series/parallel.

Also note, that in my rig at least, I have extensive outboard EQ (DEQ2496) so I can torture the response curve as needed

[Inductor]

Originally Posted by Soldermizer

another gullible person

Look at pic on post #4 ...

[bear]

Originally Posted by tomtt

any pictures of those?

and,

what did you do with them?

I do have some *photographs* (remember them) of the speakers, somewhere. Getting to them and scanning and getting them online is another matter.

A number of pairs were built, I listened to my pair for quite a few years and then I sold them to an acquaintance. He used them for a while as music background for runway type fashion shows.

In ~1976 I decided that the direct radiating line source was superior, and switched to that style of speaker construction.

[bear]

These were the drivers that I used in the vertical "bose" speakers.

They are Maximus drivers, designed by Ted Jordan.
Back then McGee Radio from the midwest had tons of closeout speakers for sale in their
catalog. Great stuff to see and read! They had the Maximus drivers for sale. Note the huge
Alnico slug!


My speakers were known as BFL speakers.

[Inductor]

What do you like about the venerable Bose 901?

I liked (sound vs. function) the fact that a hi-fi loudspeaker was a PA pro I found playing in small discos in the 70's. No distortion at high SPL's from what I remember.

Somewhat related (improvement or not) but for PA... BOSE 302 (Bass Cabinet), 802
(link to BOSE 802 II White Edition)

[Soldermizer]

Inductor: I did look at the photo in post #4. I am guessing the man relaxing in his high rise loft is living in the advertising world. He has a pair of Bose 901 that don't require any cabling, nor is any type of electronic gear required to drive them. He has almost no furniture in a spotless room. This does not look like any real world living room I have ever seen. Who is the gullible one?

[Soldermizer]

OK I can resist the temptation no longer.

I just ordered a pair of the "Selenium ST200" tweeters from Parts Express ($50.03). In theory I have just increased the value of a pair of my 901's by about 20%. Ah, now to wait for the arrival of the package.



Then to figure out how to hook an 8 ohm tweeter into the weird wiring of the 901. "Quickly, Igor! The capacitor catalog!"