Bose 201 Series V Main / Stereo Speaker

The Bose 201 loudspeaker has been around for over two decades now and features the co.'s famed direct/reflecting technology. Now in its fifth series...the newer cherry finished model is a product that is most definitely geared toward a high end look. Resembling a Celestion "UL" model from yesteryear gives the cabinet a classy curved look that alone will excite many a potential buyer. I first had the pleasure of auditioning the model finished in black at Best Buy a number of years ago.

Remember what I said in my earlier Allison Four Review about how when a speaker is striking to look at, it greatly enhances one's perception of its performance? Well...here is a classic example! But beware as careful listening will reveal the speaker's shortcomings when compared to others in its class.

OK...so let's hook these Bose classics up to some classic Yamaha amplification!

Bose 201 Series V Cherry Features:

1. High end cherry finished wood cabinet.
2. Direct/Reflecting? speaker technology.
3. Stereo Everywhere? speaker performance.
4. High-sensitivity 2" Stereo Targeting? tweeter.
5. Spatial Dispersion™ speaker lens.
6. High excursion 6 ?" woofer.
7. Slot port tuning Enables cleaner and deeper performance for the lower notes, particularly at high volumes.
8. Compact bookshelf design Hear high-performance sound from easy-to-place speakers that can be used almost anywhere as main, secondary or surround speakers.
9. Automatic protection circuitry Protects drivers from being overdriven, without interrupting the music.
10. Syncom? computer tested Enjoy a superior level of quality and reliability thanks to Bose comprehensive testing.

Dimensions/weight: Each speaker: 8"H x 13.75"W x 8.55"D (20.3 x 35 x 21.7 cm) 10 lbs. (4.5 kg)
Pair in carton: 17.75"H x 21.94"W x 11.5"D (45 x 56.7 x 29.2 cm) 23.2 lbs (10.6 kg)


The most striking difference between the new model and its predecessors is the fact that the front baffle is now curved and contoured toward a new high end look. This is no accident as there is an extremely important difference here! This design has been proven by great British manufacturers like Celestion to be extremely superior in defeating obstacles like cabinet diffractions and unwanted resonances that can severely hinder the musical portrayal by a given speaker system.

Equally impressive is the positioning of the high energy tweeter which allows for both direct and reflecting technologies to be taken advantage of. Each tweeter is slightly angled toward the sides of the listening room allowing some of the energy to be reflected off of sidewalls.

There are no rear firing drivers to deal with allowing for much easier room placement as the speakers are sold in mirror imaged pairs with the Left unit's tweeter on the outside left and the Right unit's on the outer right. Each tweeter has an Acoustic Lens for a somewhat "in your face" natural high frequency reproduction that some listeners love while others despise. The grills are very transparent and allow for the acoustic lens to be a part of the cosmetics of the unit.

Listening Tests:

The listening tests involved both a high powered Yamaha stereo receiver of recent times and a high current one from yesteryear that I own...R-500 capable of well over 100 watts per channel when called upon while listening to various genres of music. The deep bass was surprisingly good and solid compared to older models but still not as defined as Bose's more expensive speakers and my reference Polks.

The immediate sense of improvement over former 201's came when listening to music consisting of naturally high powered high frequency content which yielded much smoother and more pleasant results than in the past. The balance of lows mids and highs is so much better than earlier versions. All genres of music sounded very good thru the little Boses.

Voices sound quite natural with just a hint of underline on deep male types and the speakers only compressed when inputs higher than the receiver's 100 watt rating were fed to the 201-V's. This demonstrates the speakers' robust build quality, the advanced auto protection circuitry and the emotional dynamic range capability of the small transducers.

Admittedly, I am somewhat biased against larger speakers as I find their fat sounding boomy bottoms to interfere with their imaging. The Cerwin-Vega, Infinity, JBL floorstanders and Bose towers are pretty good examples.

Imaging is wonderful if not tops with the new Bose 201 Series V Cherry with a great sense of large orchestras being spread across the wall behind the speakers with excellent depth and height but with little or no compression at more than moderately loud levels. Unlike the low to mid priced B&W speakers this allows the relatively small Bose 201 speakers to have some soul and involve the listener to a greater degree in the performance itself!

Width will be determined by how well you place the speakers on your bookshelf or pedestals and by how far apart the pair is separated.

In Conclusion:

Well, as part of a high quality Home theater or Stereo only sound system for smaller rooms...the Bose 201 Series V Cherry does admirably well and easily gets my nod! However...there are other speakers you should audition in the $200 to $250 per pair price range...the Polk R-15 {if you can still find any}, Axiom M2Ti, PSB Alpha B, the Paradigm Titan, Atom and the Behringer B2030P. All of these models feature high performance 5 or 6 1/2 inch woofers with excellent tweeters.

Although the 201's are going to be quite popular as stereo only speakers, they can be used with a subwoofer in home theater arrangements but choose carefully as you do not wish to overshadow the speaker's outstanding mid bass with a sloppy boomy type emitting from a poorly chosen sub! Choose well indeed!

There are many speakers out there at similar prices that either equal or surpass the Bose 201-V Cherries now. Still the direct/reflecting warm sound along with the need for a small unobtrusive but high-performing bookshelf speaker that is widely available through Best Buy will warrant many a purchase. The famous Bose "impact and clarity" are still very much in evidence although certainly other audiophile qualities have been sacrificed a bit. The speakers emit such a pleasing sound but they are certainly not as detailed as my reference Polks. Then again...they only take up half the space!...P2