I guess you need to hear another wounded audio lover's testimony about how marketing campaigns and brochures and slick controlled travelling Bose sound rooms convined me to buy and keep two sets of Bose 901's for about a decade.

Logically, 9 little speakers pounded by an active equalizer to try to sound like a woofer and a mid and a tweeter seems a tough sell all these years later. But I bought them anyway.

Here's my lasting anquish about my Bose years. I found myself trying to lie to myself to justify my choice. These are, like the Acoustimass models, not hifi speakers really. They are middle of the road imiatations of hi-fi with a lot of hype. I have not regreeted Day 1 without them and still use them as comparisons in my listening when I hear a real low end on a speaker or a real soundstage from a pair of speakers or real hi-fi from a $100 pair of Paradigm Atoms.

Really, go past the Best Buy audio offerrings and get to a hi-fi store that has something similarly priced. Take your own CD and listen to a few reputable hi-fi brands.

I went from 901's to Kef Reference 1's and had to relisten to my entire LP collection. That much of a difference. I also own some reasonable priced older Snells and still keep my Paradigm Atoms.

The Atoms are an excellent A-B test with the 901s. I asked myself how can these things come so close and even be better on the high end? That got me to question and dig out of denial.

Then I went to a small audio shop and listened to Kef floorstanders. All I felt were exceptionally better than my Bose.

By the way, my final reason for buying the 901's (over ESS at the time) was a friend's opinion. I should have followed my instincts.

PS -- the 901's are incredibly inefficient and require massive power to even come to life. Figure that in the overall speaker costs.

Good luck.