Was Bose right all along?

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I have spent the better parts of 3 decades trashing or atleast not saying any nice things about the creations of Dr. Bose.

Of late I am been delving into full range drivers (fostex, jordan, visaon, TB et. al.) and given the succes of driver like the JX92, FE107/127, TB W3 871, etc... wonder if Bose's 901 has/had any merits.

Bose it must be said managed to build a system using multiple 4" drivers in a compact WAF compliant box.

only 1 4" driver faced the front dodging the problems of lobing. instead of open baffle, bose added 8 more drivers in the rear in 2 4 driver (2x2) arrays. this theorically gave him enough Sd and Xmax to produce bass down to 40Hz. esp since these drivers were "bass refelxed" and equalised (like KLH and others did in the 70s).

maybe things the 901 did sometings wrong. i have never had the opportunity to audition them over an extended period of time with quality accessories. When I had the opportunity I was too brash to even give them a chance. wish i had.

however with good fullrange drivers like the jx92, 107, etc.. one is tempted to give what may the most successfull single driver loudspeaker a chance. One is also tempted to attempt an "audiophile" version of the 901 using perhaps the 871, 107, 127 (the jx92 are too costly for such and effort) etc.

BTW I just found this article b accident....
http://www.epinions.com/content_3779895428
 

GM

Member
Joined 2003
I had extensive exposure to the 1st gen 901 system, with many comparison sessions with my tweaked Altec theater horn system and they did some things very well at moderate SPLs IF you had the room to set them up properly, which few who bought them did, and the electronic EQ system wasn't really up to HIFI SQ standards. Consequently they got a bad rep, then they cheapened up the drivers, which further degraded the sound. Now that relatively cheap digital EQ 'FR shapers' are available, I've been accumulating NOS RS 40-1197s to build some 'clones' to see if I can equal/improve on what I remember 'on the cheap'.

Who knows, this may be the next big DIY thing. Just imagine the bragging rights some well heeled DIYer would have showing up at a regional meet sporting a 901 clone system loaded with eighteen AERs/matching BSS electronic systems. ;)

GM
 
JMO bit the 901's are "explitive".

also JMO but a TB based speaker with units remotely suited
to 40Hz reflex tuning and passive line level eq for BSC and
any loss of bass due to overdamping would be miles better.

Treble end, which everyone seems to ignore in the original is
hideous, again using TB's and line level Eq you can do better.

I've only heard the "professional version" which is "expletive".

IMO anyone who knew what they were doing and used line
level EQ could easily make a TB based Bose 901 "killer".

But I'm not remotely suggesting it would compare with the same
money spent on a conventional speaker, in my book it wouldn't.

:) sreten.
 
Listening to reflected waves could never beat listening to direct wave fronts in terms of clarity detail and imaging. Wide dispersion would be about the only benefit and there are easier ways to do it. If you want a similar effect while preserving the good things, use the multiple drivers in an OB line array. If you want the sound to appear to just come from an entire wall without detailed imaging, use the same OB line array and wire it in a Bessel amplitude arrangement.
 
My Bose experiences,

I had many months listening to 901's in the early 70's. I was pleased. By now I have grown to a higher Audio buff, so I can reflect on the many problems the 901's had. No real balls in the low end, and too much distortion in highs. Mids played well bounced off the walls but now days I prefer direct rather than reflecting.

I basically agree that Bose would be hard pressed today to sell as many as the early 70's. :)

I'm all wishing to get my hands on a pair of 36" PA speakers like I listened to in concerts during the 70's age. Ha. What nice mids they could churn out!

Hoping this helps,
GH
 
Navin,

You've commented about how Bose gets -ve flak from audio system lovers, but that flak was more for their sat-sub systems than their earlier ones (including 901s), I thought. I am not commenting about the 901s, but their claims about the sat-subs being an actual replacement for conventional speakers is big rubbish and they get a lot of flak for that. I've never heard the 901s myself.

Even in the 901 class, I'd suspect that thirty years of development in light-cone full range drivers will allow modern designers to beat the 901s easily. But even if they could, they may not want to try because, as sreten said, it might be much easier to get cleaner sound if you abandon those rear-firing arrays. In my mind, the 901s have always symbolised a kind of special effect, a gimmick, rather than a solution for serious music listeners, much like the boom-boom vibrating neck-bands which come with portable Walkmans these days and claim to give you the "effect" of deep bass. That neck band is as close to real deep bass as the 901 is to real concert-hall ambience, I'd guess. Why do you want to try it?
 
my mates dad used to hire out PA gear and for the top end had about 12 series 2 901s, then he used 8 EV 18" subs for the low,
anyway we hooked up just one pair on 901s in his room to a 250w PA amp and they shook the room they are very capable of massive SPL, but they shouted all the sound at you, not a very nice sound, but we setup 4 of them with 2 of the subs and kicked the crap out of his house, fooking loud, this is what i think these 901s were good at.
But SQ, even his accoustimass system sounded better.
after that i went home and listened to my tannoys with my diy sub.
not as loud, but hell it sounded far better.
 
Quite. But that seems more applicable to the Acoustimass than to the 901s which Navin was referring to

i agree, i dont think that a 40hz is low.... but how can you call 14khz high... what bose have you been listening to:clown:
 

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after spend many years building speakers that look like speakers i am trying to attempt to make my next speaker have the WAF of B&W VM1/FLS or KEF KHT (9xxx) / KIT etc. Not that it has to be a 3 pc system.

However one option is "good sounding" sats that are hung on the wall capable of 95db/2m/100Hz mated to a subs (2 or more) that can be more discrete. While I do feel that low freq can be noticeable I am hoping to dodge this by LP XOing at 24db/oct and LP XOing at 12db/oct or less and using multiple subs (2 or more). for this the FE107/FW108s seem the best bet for the sats and the each subs would be an 8"in a TL.

One of the best TL speakers I heard was a Fried 8" 2 way that looked like a pregnant lady. I forget the model.

The second option is to build a floor stander than has high WAF (sleek) having Vb < 25 liters for the bass topped with maybe a OB or sealed fullrange (FF85k is top choice at this point) and then use a single larger sub for HT. The floor stander would be capable of 95Hz/2m/50hz. the sub is not ciritcal at this stage.

BTW guys dont get too hot and bothered about my ideas. The apt we intend to house this system in has not been constructed yet :).
 
"Bose I suppose"

I like this thread for Bose speakers... Really, Bose company need to change their mentality and idea for sound reproduction, there isn't still '70s or early '80s.

If you ask Bose about tech specs, they often reply with "do you listen tech specs or the 'sound'..." I would like to know - which sound you are talking about?!?! Those coloration of 'sound' which Bose speakers made..!? No, thanks, I don't like it... There are plenty of companies which they sell speakers...

I had chance to listen almost all speakers from Bose, and I think they sound same. Big impression which gives you 901, and those reflections - surround like, are not hi-fi and isn't detail rich comparing to many speakers which you pay less and they have a name, as well. Of course, even in devills house you'll find something which is ok, like 802 mk2 not mk3 version. Even though, less pay then 802 you'll find active PA speakers which sound better and have bi-amping of course.

I think all Bose speakers are made for soft jazz/blues music and music which is played in '40s and '50s, that's it!

:)
 
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