Bose 901 Series VI Main / Stereo Speaker

Bose is one of the most controversial audio companies. They enjoy brand recognition, and many of us had some of their speakers in the past (or at least had a friend or a relative that had them).

Many people will swear that they are the best in the world, and some would rate them lowest. How come? Well, the answer is simple ? they are different, and because they are different people will either love or hate them, but rarely be impartial to them.
Bose sound different because they have more spacious sound (stereo everywhere), meaning that you get much of the sound as a reflection from the walls, furniture, etc.
This causes the sound to be ?nice? but far less accurate than what the filmmaker or the mixing studio intended (and audiophiles are all about reproducing sounds as it was recorder, and not over emphasize it). The mixing sound tracks of today already take into account the room acoustics and when you use Bose speakers you simply over do it. Many people like the fact that Bose speakers are more spacious as there are no major sweet or dead spots in the room; however, they are less accurate and not good at all for multi-channel music.

Another thing about Bose is that it overemphasis the low frequencies (sometimes known as boomy), and the high frequencies. Why you ask? Because it is a know fact that people in general tend to increase the bass and treble on their systems to enhance those frequencies. If you will remember the good old days of the graphic equalizers, most people had them in the smiley face configuration ? emphasizing the bass and treble.
So, Bose included this in their design and their speakers mostly are adding ?color? to the music, again, this is just making the music inaccurate.

Bose also use paper cones for their speakers, and the tweeters are usually 2?. This is a very old technology.

The Bose 901 is a strange speaker; it is built using many small cones, 2 of them facing the back. It sounds very inaccurate and it is very sensitive to placement as it uses its surrounding walls for sound reflection. It?s sound accuracy is one of the worst that I heard ever. The mids are OK, but nothing to write home about. The highs are not as they are too emphasized.
Nonetheless it has very spacious sound and this will be beneficial for people looking for an auditorium like sound from the speakers. Kinda like live show.

With today?s sophisticated receivers and sound processors this speaker deserves to be end of life because today?s electronic processors (Yamaha and many others) can create that spacious sound from ?ordinary? speakers if you like this sound. Those processor allow you to turn it of if you are looking for accurate sound, or if you are into home theater.

Bottom line ? listen to them very carefully and do A B comparisons with other speakers at this price range. Forget the spacious sound and the emphasis on highs and lows, look for accuracy.