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  1. #1
    First Listen, Then Learn misterq4u's Avatar
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    Bose Bashing Comes to an END...

    Well, Sorta. I have discovered a way to make the widely-bashed 301 series work, even for the most disgusted Bose hater.
    First things first.
    Blowse, will never reach the likes of B&W, Paradigm, KEF PSB or even Infinity, Polk, Mirage and etc.

    BUT

    Those than can practise my new found discovery, please do try this and tell me if there is a difference in the sound of this overpriced speakers.

    1- If you have latest 301 series (That is what the test was on) and they are above your head
    -Rotate each left and right to a vertical position with the tweeter firing downward at you.

    2- If they are at ear level, still place them vertically but this time the tweeter is upwards.

    I could not believe how this simple, archaic and some will think stupid positioning completely transformed this speakers that were begining to sound worthless after all configurations recommended by the Boses themselves.

    Please keep your mouth shut if you have not run test on these yourself.
    Oh and by the way, on the normal position they still suck.

    I will tell you that the big secret was, looking at my Whaferdales bookshelfs one day, I thought to myself, "What if I just place the tweeter on that position?", like the Whaferdales. Eureka!!! I did not have to throw my $250.00 in the trash, like I did with the 201's before.

    Now flame me.


    PS: This refers to the Series V 301.
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  2. #2
    Super Moderator Site Moderator JohnMichael's Avatar
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    Bose 301's are the least bashed Bose product. Interesting suggestion about placement. Of course if you had said they are now the best speaker ever the flame wars would begin sadly.
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  3. #3
    Forum Regular N. Abstentia's Avatar
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    Yeah most of the 'Bose Bashing' comes due to the tiny little Acoustimass crap with their 'midbass' subwoofer module that goes down to a whopping 80hz. Selling $12 worth of speakers for $1500 will get you some well deserved bashing.


    I don't recall any 301 bashing, they are at least priced normally at $250.

  4. #4
    Suspended markw's Avatar
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    I've always said the 301's were the best of the bunch. If I was gonna own any Bose, it would be them.

  5. #5
    First Listen, Then Learn misterq4u's Avatar
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    John, I for one can never bash rightfully without first performing extensive auditions. The rooms that my budz and I test on, are all real world scenarios, no acoustical treatments, and with all kinds of furniture around. We figure that if anything passes these batteries, it would be even better for a dedicated enviroment.

    N. Absentia, agree. I have tested the Craptimass and they sounded like the car radio of my former '89 Dodge Spirit, when driven by my buddy's McInthosh.

    Mark, now after this test of mine, I agree. But it would not be fair giving credit to the 901s for controlled and dedicated room listening, outside that realm, the 901 are not for the real world. Now i'm left wondering, "what would happen if I take the 901s and do what I just did to the 301s?" , hmmm. Will let you know.
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  6. #6
    Suspended markw's Avatar
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    Having heard well fed 901's in pretty ideal conditions...

    ...I'd say they do pretty good with certain types of music and, if that is your preference, then go for 'em..

    first off, they produce a diffuse sound stage. If imaging is strong on your list of requirements, then keep on moving. ...nothing of interest here.

    Likewise, deep, visceral bass is lacking, as are scintillating highs. Again, if these extremes are what you like then this ain't it. You'll be buying them to impress yer non-acoustically demanding buddies who will simply be wowed by the Bose logo.

    All told, they DO do a convincing job of emulating classical music, say a chamber orchestra or even a symphony orchestra as heard from about half way back in the concert hall. They do a fairly decent job on massed choirs as well. Pinpoint imaging has never been an issue in these types of music or venues and the diffuse sound plays off of this. If that's your bag, then go for it.

  7. #7
    Aging Smartass
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    I suspect Bose-bashing will never end, largely due to the eye-popping price tags on their stuff. I've seen dozens and dozens of ads for their "surround sound from only two speakers" again, and again, and I finally got a chance to listen to them in a nearby Circuit City store.

    Frankly, they genuinely impressed me, and did indeed create a huge soundfield from only a couple of little boxes, and the electronic "magic box" that powers them. Though the surround effect was minimal, it was still fairly impressive from only two speakers. Then, I looked down and saw the price: $999!!! Good as they, and the accompanying amplifier were, they're a far cry from $1,000 worth of stuff.

    Bose has always been a master of marketing, and the "self-selling" displays are marketing marvels that few other companies come close to creating, but in the end, price prevails, and Bose price tags, along with that which is in each of their products, bear little resemblance to reality.

    When I worked for ESS in the early 80's, we were amazed that the cost of manufacturing one large Heil air motion transformer for the AMT-1b, cost more than all of the drivers in a pair of 901's! But Bose is still in business, and ESS isn't, so who'se to say Bose was wrong?

  8. #8
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    Am I on the right website? Oh, just kidding. I like Bose myself. But It hurt when I read that "even Infinity" part.
    WARNING! - The Surgeon General has determined that, time spent listening to music is not deducted from one's lifespan.

  9. #9
    BooBs are elitist jerks shokhead's Avatar
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    Where can i get a BOSE t-shirt?
    Look & Listen

  10. #10
    rockin' the mid-fi audio_dude's Avatar
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    lol, meh, like i say, bose sometimes sounds good to certain people that like the cut-off sound, but oh well, what can you do about it?

  11. #11
    Forum Regular N. Abstentia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shokhead
    Where can i get a BOSE t-shirt?
    I've seen them in the bigger department stores. The T-shirts are $299, but they are worth it. They do the job of 5 regular T-shirts, and are half the size. However, the Bose t-shirts are in a seperate room and they won't let you try them on with the other t-shirts. Paul Harvey wears them, and that's good enough for me. The man knows t-shirts!

  12. #12
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    No speaker ever produced by BOSE will be tollerable, doesnt matter how you place them or tune them.

    -Flo
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

  13. #13
    First Listen, Then Learn misterq4u's Avatar
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    Mark, right on.

    Emaidel, if you haven't taken that gimmicky 3 spekaer setup outside the store to a real room, you would not say "they impress me". Believe me, after 2 weeks of testing they went back to Crutchfield.

    GMike, I didn't mean to belittle the Infinity's, as I am a happy owner of their sats.

    Shokhead, dod you mean the "I LOVE BOSE" one?, or the "Buy Other Speakers Ese"?

    Audio_Dude, the job I gave gave to the 301s is for home theater use, they make decent work for satellite use. For mono and stereo sound is what the B&W 800s were made for.

    N. Absentia, if you call within the next 5 minutes, we'll include a "I Bose Bose" hat for only $99!!!! that is a $199 value WOW!!!.

    Florian, subjectivism and objectivism.
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  14. #14
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by misterq4u
    Mark, right on.

    Ditto

    Quote Originally Posted by misterq4u
    GMike, I didn't mean to belittle the Infinity's, as I am a happy owner of their sats.
    No problem. I understood but like to twist things a bit.

    Quote Originally Posted by misterq4u
    N. Absentia, if you call within the next 5 minutes, we'll include a "I Bose Bose" hat for only $99!!!! that is a $199 value WOW!!!.
    Is this deal available to anyone?
    WARNING! - The Surgeon General has determined that, time spent listening to music is not deducted from one's lifespan.

  15. #15
    Forum Regular Florian's Avatar
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    Florian, subjectivism and objectivism.
    Ok, and how does this in any way get me closer to tolerating the sound form a BOSE speaker?
    Lots of music but not enough time for it all

  16. #16
    First Listen, Then Learn misterq4u's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Florian
    Ok, and how does this in any way get me closer to tolerating the sound form a BOSE speaker?
    Nice try. You won't get me do defend Bose speakers, specially when I only own a pair of 301s that I run as surround satellites, never mentioned anything about them being top tier.
    The two words I used were in reference to sometimes making statements without supporting facts, we all do, we all have the right to, I do try to limit my own though.
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  17. #17
    Defender of Common Sense
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    My 901s are still rocking hard. (Random transitional word), one of my friends was so blown away by my vintage Hi-Fi set up, he's now trying to duplicate it.

  18. #18
    Forum Regular Woochifer's Avatar
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    My experience is with the Bose 301 Series III models, which used a dual tweeter setup (w/ one pointed directly forward and the other angled to the sidewall). I used a pair of 301s as my surround speakers as a temporary measure until I could afford to timbre match my speaker set all the way around. I could've also used my old pair of Boston A40s, but I did not feel like drilling holes in them to anchor them to the tall stands I was using at that time, so the 301s that once belonged to my wife's ex-boyfriend were sacrificed instead (plus using the Bostons as surrounds would have meant using the 301s in my bedroom system -- forget that!).

    The timbral mismatches with my Paradigm mains were very obvious. As a temporary setup for a home theater system, it worked okay with older movie soundtracks and 5.1 sources that primarily used the surrounds for ambient cues. But, with surround music and with the more directional movie soundtracks, their inadequacies showed. And once I timbre matched my surround speakers, I could clearly tell how much the 301's direct/reflecting design detracted from the cohesiveness of the surround effect by comparison. With a fully timbre matched and properly positioned 5.1 setup, there's solidity in the side imaging and an overall depth perception that isn't present when mismatched surrounds are used.

    Your experience in tweaking with the angling to get the 301s to sound their best is part of the design flaw with Bose's direct/reflecting design in general. In order to get that spatial effect, they purposely direct the high frequencies into a different axis than the midrange and bass. This makes the Bose speaker more difficult to position correctly because of how much they interact with the sidewalls (typically, with a direct firing speaker you'd want to control the reflected sound to minimize the time domain distortions), and even when they are optimzed, the imaging still collapses into the middle for sake of widening the soundstage. IMO, not a very good trade-off.

    As I've said many times on this board, the 301 is probably the best speaker that Bose makes, not that it's saying much. Still, the 301 has a noted advantage in its bass extension compared to a lot of other speakers at this price point, and at least the 301 is not the total joke of a ripoff that the Acoustimass, Lifestyle, and Acoustic Wave product lines represent. But, the 301's inaccuracies in the midrange, lack of high end extension, and unevenness in the bass range, make it one of the lesser speakers in its price class. It's simply not as blatant a ripoff as their other product lines are.
    Last edited by Woochifer; 08-21-2006 at 11:59 AM.
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  19. #19
    First Listen, Then Learn misterq4u's Avatar
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    You have beautifully expressed what my lack of writing abilities could not.

    Whochifer, you are one of the veterans I see. I actually registered in 1999 but dropout of the upgrade lists everytime the had a new version of AR. I used to hang out on the Digital Domain all the time, back when people had not even heard of HDTVs, DVRs and 2MP cameras were awesome.
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  20. #20
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    My dentist replaced his old speaker with Bose cubes in the waiting room and around the chair and loved it.

  21. #21
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mingus
    My dentist replaced his old speaker with Bose cubes in the waiting room and around the chair and loved it.
    He should. Bose would be perfect for this. Small, out of the way, decent sound. What's not to like? It's not until you try to turn those cubes up loud or compare them to high end speakers that you have trouble.
    WARNING! - The Surgeon General has determined that, time spent listening to music is not deducted from one's lifespan.

  22. #22
    Crackhead Extraordinaire Dusty Chalk's Avatar
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    I don't get it -- where are the tweeters pointing on the 301's, normally?
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  23. #23
    Forum Regular N. Abstentia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mingus
    My dentist replaced his old speaker with Bose cubes in the waiting room and around the chair and loved it.
    That's because they are doing what they are designed for...low volume background music. No serious listening involved, no power amps involved, just generic sound. Wouldn't matter what he put in there, it would serve the purpose just as well.

  24. #24
    Phila combat zone JoeE SP9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by njspeer
    My 901s are still rocking hard. (Random transitional word), one of my friends was so blown away by my vintage Hi-Fi set up, he's now trying to duplicate it.
    A level floor will stop that rocking. Your friend has obviously never heard any good speakers.
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  25. #25
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JoeE SP9
    A level floor will stop that rocking. Your friend has obviously never heard any good speakers.
    (Mike has a seat and waits for the show to begin)
    WARNING! - The Surgeon General has determined that, time spent listening to music is not deducted from one's lifespan.

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