Bose 901 question

[Storm861triple]

Not wanting to start a "Bose Bash"...

I got a set of 1974 Bose 901 Continental speakers for FREE. I don't care how bad a value Bose is, for that price it wasn't a bad buy! The speakers are in excellent condition, and sound fine for the application.

When I bought them, I thought that they were Series I and I bought a Series I EQ off ebay to make them work. I later learned that they are Series II. I learned that the Series I and II use a sealed box, and everything after that was prted in an effort to make the speaker more efficient.

My question is; If I buy another EQ box for a Series II Speaker will this improve the overall sound of the speaker? Anyone have any experience w/this?

Lastly, I've read that (one of) the problems with the 901's it that they are using too small a driver to make 'real' bass...that you can't make base w/less than a 10'' woofer. The thing is, these seem to have astounding bass, IMO. Maybe I don't know what "good bass" is, but the bass at least sounds better than anything I've heard from any home stereo, or car stereo and reminds me of live concerts. Any comment on this discrepancy?

Thanks.

[Mash]

I recall that the Series 1 & Series 2 were similar, so you may get away with the Series I EQ used with a Series II. Skeptic was a regular here, and pretty hardnosed about not accepting 'High-End' pseusoscience BS, but Skeptic was also a 901 fan. Hey, nobody is perfect! Anyway, search on 'Skeptic' and you should find his various discourses on the Bose 901.

That said, the 901 is not my cup of tea, and Olsen's "Theoretical Acoustics" is a good starting point for you to learn about multiple drivers and off-axis distortion products and so forth. Get the facts instead of lame opinions........

But considering your comments "Lastly, I've read that (one of) the problems with the 901's is that they are using too small a driver to make 'real' bass...that you can't make base w/less than a 10'' woofer."
Size is always good. And so is quality! A Servo-15 will beat most any other sub out there for quality with a clean deep reach.

"The thing is, these seem to have astounding bass, IMO. Maybe I don't know what "good bass" is, but the bass at least sounds better than anything I've heard from any home stereo, or car stereo and reminds me of live concerts. Any comment on this discrepancy?"
No- if you are happy, why would you try to stir up the pot? This contradicts your "Not wanting to start a "Bose Bash"..." I mean, we CAN accomodate you, but why bother?

[Storm861triple]

"I mean, we CAN accomodate you, but why bother?"

That's a good perspective/point, and I appreciate all the input. Thanks.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Not wanting to start a "Bose Bash"...

It seems to me that if you are looking for help with this thing, then dealing with both the strengths and weakness of the speaker would be helpful to you.

I got a set of 1974 Bose 901 Continental speakers for FREE. I don't care how bad a value Bose is, for that price it wasn't a bad buy! The speakers are in excellent condition, and sound fine for the application.

When I bought them, I thought that they were Series I and I bought a Series I EQ off ebay to make them work. I later learned that they are Series II. I learned that the Series I and II use a sealed box, and everything after that was prted in an effort to make the speaker more efficient.

My question is; If I buy another EQ box for a Series II Speaker will this improve the overall sound of the speaker? Anyone have any experience w/this?

You can use the series I eq with the series II speaker. However the eq in the series II works to improved the speakers ability to produce the high frequency information which was a weakness in the series I speaker.

Lastly, I've read that (one of) the problems with the 901's it that they are using too small a driver to make 'real' bass...that you can't make base w/less than a 10'' woofer. The thing is, these seem to have astounding bass, IMO. Maybe I don't know what "good bass" is, but the bass at least sounds better than anything I've heard from any home stereo, or car stereo and reminds me of live concerts. Any comment on this discrepancy?

Thanks.

Well, I am going to say this; If you have never really heard high quality DEEP bass, then these speakers will sound great in the bass to you. If you have heard bass that is tight, digs deep, with very low distortion, then these speakers will sound weak in the knees to you(they do to me). In the review section, this gentleman says he got a reading of 106db at 36hz, and 100db at 28hz. I don't buy this for one moment since Stereophile mentioned quite profoundly that this speaker rolls of very rapidly below 40hz. If anyone tried to push this speaker to acheive 106db at 36hz, you would get all kinds of harmonic distortion coming from them.

If you got them for free, enjoy them. If they were mine I would be running off to ubid, hebid, or somebody bid and sell them.

[vr6ofpain]

I have a question about the 901's.

Are the all three of these openings, ports? Is the central one tuned differently than the outer two?

[Florian]

Holy smokes what is that? I think the best sound is possible with a hard surface behind them. I heard someone actually hung them from the ceeiling and reported amzing results.

[Peter Duminy]

I have a question about the 901's.

Are the all three of these openings, ports? Is the central one tuned differently than the outer two?

If memory serves me well, the center port tuned the single driver on the front baffle, and the outer two ports tune the eight rear drivers. The unique "Chevy Tail Light" shape for the rear ports are Bose's way of reducing port noise.