Anybody know Bose 901 clone history?

[Soldermizer]

I have bought about my 8th pair of Bose 901s*. This is the first clone, however.

Bose 901 Clones | eBay

Currently I own about 4 1/2 pair of real or (now) facsimile 901s. Only two pair are in use, the rest are awaiting repairs or clean-up. I took a shot at the above clone mostly because it is a probable source of spare drivers. I haven't fired them up yet, but they seem to use the same drivers (series I, II) the real Bose did.

The clones appear to be solidly built. I guess DIY because on the fronts there is pencil markings and comments that say "Left" and "right". Curiously, they don't even have speaker terminals, just pigtails coming out the bottom.

Since I am an incipient Bose curator 🙂 I am intrigued by the question: does anyone know of a "history of 901 clones" or similar?

*I've gotten rid of some of them over the years. Obviously I have too many now but they are so cheap and collectible 🙂

 

[Soldermizer]

So far one of the "Faux 901" is making a passable seat for my music PC area 🙂

 

[bear]

The link shows a foam surround replacement?

Afaik the first speaker system clones were made around 1970-71. They were more or less replicas of the original design, with the same CTS drivers. Can't recall the company that was selling them in NYC and other places.

I made a version, but reconfigured as a 2 x 10 or 2 x 12 vertical array, with the angle to the rear, and two drivers to the front, but using the Goodman's Maximus drivers. They were much better performing than the CTS. At the time they were sold surplus by McGee Radio out of the midwest USA.

Anything made in the past several decades is rather late to the party.

_-_-

 

[scott wurcer]

Afaik the first speaker system clones were made around 1970-71. They were more or less replicas of the original design, with the same CTS drivers. Can't recall the company that was selling them in NYC and other places.

_-_-

Yup, one large batch used QC rejects that were already imprinted with the BOSE logo. No comment on owning more than one pair.

 

[Squeak]

A fun little tidbit of knowledge is that in the early 70's between inventing modern personal computing as we know it (and a lot more), the guys at Xerox PARC made a point out of doing very cheap and exact 901 clones to sell to the other guys in the company.
The venture was know as the Bose conspiracy.
Alan Kay who was also a professional jazz musician loved the 901s, possibly because they image some of the ways in which he thinks good software should be made.
Close to a 100 was made. Getting hold of one of those clones would probably be worth a lot more than just a vintage system I or II 901. 🙂

 

[Soldermizer]

Bear...no link should be to ebay auction.

 

[benb]

A fun little tidbit of knowledge is that in the early 70's between inventing modern personal computing as we know it (and a lot more), the guys at Xerox PARC made a point out of doing very cheap and exact 901 clones to sell to the other guys in the company.
The venture was know as the Bose conspiracy.
Alan Kay who was also a professional jazz musician loved the 901s, possibly because they image some of the ways in which he thinks good software should be made.
Close to a 100 was made. Getting hold of one of those clones would probably be worth a lot more than just a vintage system I or II 901. 🙂

Glad I found this thread, I was wondering if any of these might still be around, or even how they could be positively identified as "authentic Xerox PARC Bose 901 clones."

In the last month or so I read "Dealers of Lighning," basicaly a "biography" of Xerox PARC, describing many of the people who worked and visited there and what they did. It discusses the 901 clone making.

More along the Xerox PARC line, I've been to this event near Atlanta the past two years, and along with the museum of old Apple stuff, there's been a (nonworking) Xerox Alto that I presume will be there again this year. While it's not computer-related, it would be neat to have a pair of PARC-made 901 clones:
Announcing Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 3.0! | Atlanta Historical Computing Society

 

[Soldermizer]

It would be cool to have such a clone. I doubt that mine is such, but how would I know? Unfortunately I doubt that a clone would be as valuable as the first Apple that was built with popsickle sticks or whatever. I only know about PARC from reading computer history. The compliment/criticism has been made that Xerox PARC takes the credit for inventing, but failing to commercially develop, everything from the personal computer, GUI, mouse, icons (Smalltalk), to local network (Ethernet).

 

[benb]

Apologies for going a little off-topic, but I'm fascinated

It would be cool to have such a clone. I doubt that mine is such, but how would I know? Unfortunately I doubt that a clone would be as valuable as the first Apple that was built with popsickle sticks or whatever. I only know about PARC from reading computer history.

There lack of interest in these (whether Real Bose or clones) relative to the Apple 1 is probably largely because Bose didn't become anywhere close to being the largest company in the world. And likewise, I've been reading a lot of computer history in recent years (and discovering a lot of things that weren't covered or mentioned in Byte way back when):
Dealers in Lightning
What The Dormouse Said
Fire In The Valley
Accidental Empires
The Innovator's Dilemma (about business, but uses the hard disk drive industry as a fast-moving example of disruptive innovation)
Currently reading Steve Jobs by Isaacson.

Is there something you've read that I've missed?

The compliment/criticism has been made that Xerox PARC takes the credit for inventing, but failing to commercially develop, everything from the personal computer, GUI, mouse, icons (Smalltalk), to local network (Ethernet).

All that's basically true, except for the mouse - that had already been invented by Douglas Engelbart, famous for the "mother of all demos." His life and vision are well documented in the Dormouse book.

 

[Soldermizer]

One of my favorite "accidental empire" stories, if true is this one: 1980-ish, when IBM was planning the original PC, their first choice for the OS was (?) Seattle Computing Corp. (CPM?) but the owner/contact was away that day. IBM's 2nd choice was some guy named Bill Gates...