Getting the most out of Bose 301 Speakers

[kobyof]

Hi,

I have recently received two new 301 BOSE speakers. I have placed them according to instructions (roughly 2.5 meters away from each other, on a shelf, ±50cm from the wall). My room is 30sqm. They are connected to a KR-A4080 Kenwood Receiver (which is ±10 years old).

The sound is ok (tried various CDs mostly soft rock, some jazz), but not nearly as perfect as in the store.

Wanted to get your thoughts on what should I do - is it the receiver that is the weak link in the chain and is deceasing the sound quality? Is it time to replace it with a new one? Could it be the speaker cables? They are standard non-branded 0.81mm. Anything else that you can think about?

Willing to specify any other details that may be relevant.

Thanks,
Koby

[mlsstl]

What qualities did you hear that made the speakers sound better in the store than in your home? Try to describe the differences as precisely as you can, whether bass, overall tone balance, imaging, highs, etc.

Room acoustics have a major impact on the sound of speakers. It is important to match a speaker to the room.

A speaker's position in a room can also dramatically affect the performance. I would suggest using an afternoon to experiment with a variety of speaker placements.

It could be that these speakers are simply not a good match for your room. If so, hopefully you'll be able to return them on that basis.

BTW, all of this assumes that the store gave an honest demo (no equalizers, other sound processors or tricks used to enhance things.)

[luvtolisten]

Hi Kobyof, and welcome! I bought the 301's series 5 last year, for sentimental reasons, my first pair of speakers were the Bose 301, series I. But like you, I was disappointed when I got mine home too. Then after reading various threads, here on this forum, I came across one titled "Capacitors" started by TWC 644, which talks about upgrading your capacitors in your speaker's crossover by upgrading the capacitors. I changed the capacitors with Jantzen Standards from Parts Express. It really helped a lot. Gave them a lot more detail, and tighten up the bass. I think it cost me around $30. They put really cheap caps in those Bose Speakers as they do with a lot of speakers made/assembled in China, <$300.. I'm not a Bose basher by the way, I'm just being objective. One thing else I noticed about those speakers, they are not as efficent as other bookshelf speakers I have, The specs say so, but they are not, I always have to turn them up a couple of db more. I have using them with a 70 watt reciever (NAD) and 75 watt intergrated (Cambridge Audio) which drives them fine.
But it could also be your room as well, or speaker placement. These speakers are called bookshelf, but it's impossible to place them on a bookshelf to get the best results. They need room behind them, 6 to 12 inches for best results. They also need an adjancent wall, for the "reflecting" theory to work, an open doorway near the speakers is not good, probabIy more so on these speakers than any other bookshelf speaker.I hope this helps.

[markw]

I'm assuming you're using them in a stereo setup. I really don't think they would be the best bet to purchase new for a HT system.

I looked at these about ten years ago. When they demo these in stores, they generally hve them high up, play music that's well sited for them, and they play 'em LOUD!

When I heard 'em, they played Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, and they played them quite a bit louder than I would at home.They sounded pretty dang good.

But, when I dropped on some of my classical and jazz CD's (which they really, really didn't want to do, but I gave them no choice) and played them at a more realistic level, you could see the despair in the salesmens faces.

[hifitommy]

take them back. theyre pretty good as bose speakers go but no bass.

[luvvintage]

Hi Kobyof, and welcome! I bought the 301's series 5 last year, for sentimental reasons, my first pair of speakers were the Bose 301, series I. But like you, I was disappointed when I got mine home too. Then after reading various threads, here on this forum, I came across one titled "Capacitors" started by TWC 644, which talks about upgrading your capacitors in your speaker's crossover by upgrading the capacitors. I changed the capacitors with Jantzen Standards from Parts Express. It really helped a lot. Gave them a lot more detail, and tighten up the bass. I think it cost me around $30. They put really cheap caps in those Bose Speakers as they do with a lot of speakers made/assembled in China, <$300.. I'm not a Bose basher by the way, I'm just being objective. One thing else I noticed about those speakers, they are not as efficent as other bookshelf speakers I have, The specs say so, but they are not, I always have to turn them up a couple of db more. I have using them with a 70 watt reciever (NAD) and 75 watt intergrated (Cambridge Audio) which drives them fine.
But it could also be your room as well, or speaker placement. These speakers are called bookshelf, but it's impossible to place them on a bookshelf to get the best results. They need room behind them, 6 to 12 inches for best results. They also need an adjancent wall, for the "reflecting" theory to work, an open doorway near the speakers is not good, probabIy more so on these speakers than any other bookshelf speaker.I hope this helps.

I was thinking of buying a pair of these Bose 301 V speakers, due to a prior experience with a Bose 301 II, they sounded (and still sound) awesone to me. Some bose haters said already that this is the worst deal they have made, but other guys talk wonders about this new generation 301 speakers. The point is... Are they really good? Do some bose bashers are using a fair quality sound system to make their judgements? We have to take in consideration our audio gear before making a review or a comment (receiver, amp cables cd player, analog). Recaping this speaker... Does it makes a big or noticeable upgrade? I'm just asking because I'm considering to purchase very soon a pair of this speaker I don't have enough money to acquire a hi-end pair as B&W PSB or the very efficent Klipsch. I am also concern about room acoustic. I have lots of acoustic absorbent material on my listening room, also the room is square, not so good sounding place according to some audio enthusiasts. Do I have to get rid of this absorbent material to get real direct/reflectin effect or this is irrelevant? I wiil apreciate your help! Thanks in advance!

Rotel RB-1090 Power amp
Rotel RC-1090 Preamp
Rotel RCD-950 CD player
Tera Dak 26D Non Oversampling DAC
Technics R&B Series SB-10 Vintage Speakers
Vintage Audioquest Ruby Interconnects
Audioquest Tye 4 Speaker Wires
Cardas & PS Audio Power Cords
Monster Power Line Conditioner
Klipsch SW-8 Powered Subbwoofer
HLLY TAMP-90 Tripath Digital AMp
HLLY AMKII Digital Volume Control

[JohnMichael]

Welcome to AR. Since Bose speakers are designed to reflect sound off the walls the absorbent material would interfere with the sound. Bose has a sound that some people like so if you enjoy them have fun. I have no advice about upgrading the caps but I do remember the crossover being fairly simple.

One thing you might want to try is different placement. They suggest one speaker as the left and one as right. Sometimes reversing the positions work better in some rooms. Have fun and experiment.

[harley .guy07]

That is pretty cool that others have had these speakers as their first non rack system speakers they bought. My first speaker purchase was the Bose 4.2 series 2 which was the same basic thing as the 301. I can agree that 2 my ears they were the best speakers that Bose made in my opinion but it has been 20 years since I last heard them so I don't know what I would think of them today since I have not heard a pair since. I remember though I had them on stands that were pretty high "not sure how higher but more than any other standmount speaker I know" and I had them around a foot from the back walls as they seemed to perform better closer to the wall than other more conventional speakers and due to their design you could not toe them in at all or it would mess up the image since the tweeters in each cabinet point in both directions and that seems to be what most people do wrong setting these up if I remember correctly, they try to toe them in like conventional speakers and that is not the way they were designed.

[luvvintage]

Welcome to AR. Since Bose speakers are designed to reflect sound off the walls the absorbent material would interfere with the sound. Bose has a sound that some people like so if you enjoy them have fun. I have no advice about upgrading the caps but I do remember the crossover being fairly simple.

One thing you might want to try is different placement. They suggest one speaker as the left and one as right. Sometimes reversing the positions work better in some rooms. Have fun and experiment.

Thanks a lot JohnMicheal. I've decide to purchase... Hope I don't get wrong with this new gen 301.

[luvtolisten]

I was thinking of buying a pair of these Bose 301 V speakers, due to a prior experience with a Bose 301 II, they sounded (and still sound) awesone to me. Some bose haters said already that this is the worst deal they have made, but other guys talk wonders about this new generation 301 speakers. The point is... Are they really good? Do some bose bashers are using a fair quality sound system to make their judgements? We have to take in consideration our audio gear before making a review or a comment (receiver, amp cables cd player, analog). Recaping this speaker... Does it makes a big or noticeable upgrade? I'm just asking because I'm considering to purchase very soon a pair of this speaker I don't have enough money to acquire a hi-end pair as B&W PSB or the very efficent Klipsch. I am also concern about room acoustic. I have lots of acoustic absorbent material on my listening room, also the room is square, not so good sounding place according to some audio enthusiasts. Do I have to get rid of this absorbent material to get real direct/reflectin effect or this is irrelevant? I wiil apreciate your help! Thanks in advance!

Rotel RB-1090 Power amp
Rotel RC-1090 Preamp
Rotel RCD-950 CD player
Tera Dak 26D Non Oversampling DAC
Technics R&B Series SB-10 Vintage Speakers
Vintage Audioquest Ruby Interconnects
Audioquest Tye 4 Speaker Wires
Cardas & PS Audio Power Cords
Monster Power Line Conditioner
Klipsch SW-8 Powered Subbwoofer
HLLY TAMP-90 Tripath Digital AMp
HLLY AMKII Digital Volume Control

luvvintage, replacing the caps is not a night and day difference. It's just a nice cheap modification to enhance your speakers. The Bose 301's come with an electrolytic cap, which usually last about 7 years before you notice a side by side difference between the same speaker with new caps. I do not dislike the 301's, in fact I bought a pair of 301's series II, off Craigslist for $30 and refoamed them. If your heart is set on the series 5, then by all means buy them. If you deciced you don't like them, I'm sure you could resell them, there are thousands of 301 fans out there. But I would tell you to look over the construction carefully. You'll see there is more plastic than Mdf on the series 5

[luvvintage]

luvvintage, replacing the caps is not a night and day difference. It's just a nice cheap modification to enhance your speakers. The Bose 301's come with an electrolytic cap, which usually last about 7 years before you notice a side by side difference between the same speaker with new caps. I do not dislike the 301's, in fact I bought a pair of 301's series II, off Craigslist for $30 and refoamed them. If your heart is set on the series 5, then by all means buy them. If you deciced you don't like them, I'm sure you could resell them, there are thousands of 301 fans out there. But I would tell you to look over the construction carefully. You'll see there is more plastic than Mdf on the series 5

I love the sound of the 301 II, my olny experience was that good, but... Do I go with the latest version (series V) or go vintage? Thanks dear friend! There's a lot of them on eBay!!

[luvvintage]

luvvintage, replacing the caps is not a night and day difference. It's just a nice cheap modification to enhance your speakers. The Bose 301's come with an electrolytic cap, which usually last about 7 years before you notice a side by side difference between the same speaker with new caps. I do not dislike the 301's, in fact I bought a pair of 301's series II, off Craigslist for $30 and refoamed them. If your heart is set on the series 5, then by all means buy them. If you deciced you don't like them, I'm sure you could resell them, there are thousands of 301 fans out there. But I would tell you to look over the construction carefully. You'll see there is more plastic than Mdf on the series 5

Well finally, I've decided to buy my pair of the latest version of the Bose 301 and this was my first impression: If you love violins and pianos this one is for you. Trumpets, sax and similar instruments sounds just good. Percussions performs with few issues acoustic guitars very fine... Voices sound forward and clean. Their weakness is bass response there's no doubt I connect to the system the SW-8 Klipsch sub woofer and they became more lifelike and solve the lacking bass issue a bit... I could just take' em back or, as you said, there would be thousands of guys wanting this speakers and believe me, I hope so. I will allow them several days to see if is just a matter of reaching the break-in point so they could perform better! I preffer the sweet ol' sound of the 301 II.

Rotel RB-1090 Power amp
Rotel RC-1090 Preamp
Rotel RCD-950 CD player
Tera Dak 26D Non Oversampling DAC
Technics R&B Series SB-10 Vintage Speakers
Vintage Audioquest Ruby Interconnects
Audioquest Tye 4 Speaker Wires
Cardas & PS Audio Power Cords
Monster Power Line Conditioner
Klipsch SW-8 Powered Subbwoofer
HLLY TAMP-90 Tripath Digital AMp
HLLY AMKII Digital Volume Control

[Invader3k]

Bose speakers are power hungry. Not very efficient, I don't think. I used to have a pair of 301s powered by my Onkyo receiver in my first surround sound set up. They were OK as an introductory pair of speakers...probably the best pair of speakers Bose makes, to be blunt. They're now serving as my garage speakers.

Could you add a subwoofer? I found once I added a sub to my system and let the 301s handle the mids and highs, they sounded a lot better.

[hifitommy]

that the 301s are bose' best. they can even throw the fake-o image into mid space but becuase they dont cost serious money, you can accept that fact. for REAL money, i want my speakers to give back an acoustic image directly from the speaker.

a sub would make that a very acceptable system for quite a while until you saved up for some more serious design.

[Rps Abque]

For anyone just reading this thread... i just bought the 301's at a pawn shop and to my ears they are sweet. they are "old school" meaning they do best as just a regular stereo set up listening to older music. I am a classical musician and listen to all mediums, lp's cd's even cassettes when needed. They produce a sound that i am very familiar with. I have them hooked to a yamaha Rv-365, which would love to do a lot of fancy encoding, but i have the setting on "straight" and my Creative zx soundcard on no encoder, but with Crystal effect on and I use the Creative equalizer. Whenever possible I play hi def, flac music files. I also have a JVC, old sub woofer which takes me right into the concert hall. With these speakers it is all about placement, placement and the manual is very specific about how to do this. I did order the speaker wall mounts directly from Bose. they are still available and work great. The ONLY thing that for me is a negative is that because of my set up (and because i don't want people walking into them) in order to achieve proper placement in regards to the distance from each other, the TV, etc. they are too high on the wall. I wish they could be closer to eye level - it would be that much more of a "present" sound. When I stand up and stand eye level in front of them i do notice that difference but they are such good speakers that they still sound awesome.

[blackraven]

Welcome to AR and glad you are enjoying your gear. That's what it's all about regardless of what type of gear you have. I to enjoy old school sound too. I still have my old Technic's integrated amp from 1977.


Larry