Bose 901 Series VI ver 2 ("Final Edition") Measurements and Review

[GXAlan]

Questions to those with 901 experience. (I have no 901s on hand now, but I have a friend owning 901 Series IV (blue drivers, not version 2))

How did you adjust tonal balance by ear? It was somewhat difficult (or different from conventional front firing speakers, or the particular pair of 901s was defective or counterfeit, or the particular room was exceptially bad. . . . )

some music tonally balanced -> dialog has hard to tolerate ess (not merely 4k-10k quantity issue I guess)

dialog in the evening news of big broadcast channels tonally balanced -> muffled incomprehensible dialog in movie channels

make dialog in movie channels intelligible -> the fight scenes are unbearable
(the same movie sounded intelligible while fight scenes were bearable on non-hi-end non-hi-fi speakers integrated to the TV chassis)

That sounds like the aftermarket drivers.

Home

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I think the trick is that you do need to mix it with something like full range Dirac Live if your room is not optimized.

There is definitely luck involved with the right room, which is where decades of innovation come into play. That said, the idea based upon actual measurements isn’t as crazy as you think.

During my testing with Dirac, I was able to watch both Downton Abbey and Ahsoka and felt it was well balanced. The only way to answer your question is to run measurements though.

 

[EJ3]

Bose 901 Series VI ver 2 Active Equalizer (Final Edition)
Measurements and Review
I find tis impresive

I've had fun exploring these different Bose 901's and I'm done with the measurements. Now it's time to just sit back and enjoy the music.

That is, unless someone has the Bose 901P's which has a different driver complement as it appears to be 16 ohm impedance rather than 8 ohms, and utilized yet another variant of the equalizer. To my knowledge, this is the true "final flagship" of the Bose 901 concept.

http://products.bose.com/pdf/customer_service/owners/901p_guide.pdf

I find this impressive!
& yet it makes me wonder what if the Bose 901 speakers had a replacement that was a concentric speaker?
I believe that "IF" it had concentric speakers that could be EQ'ed to be linier to between 15 KHz to as high as 18 KHz (OK, I know that some of you want 20+ KHz),
would that make them work better? & a pair of 12" or more sub woofers?

 

[dlaloum]

I find this impressive!
& yet it makes me wonder what if the Bose 901 speakers had a replacement that was a concentric speaker?
I believe that "IF" it had concentric speakers that could be EQ'ed to be linier to between 15 KHz to as high as 18 KHz (OK, I know that some of you want 20+ KHz),
would that make them work better? & a pair of 12" or more sub woofers?

You should also look at some of the other Bose direct/reflecting designs of the 80's... 601/701

 

[EJ3]

You should also look at some of the other Bose direct/reflecting designs of the 80's... 601/701

And many did not want their speakers going over 18 KHz anyway because of the FM carrier for stereo being at:

19 and 38 kHz chosen as the subcarrier frequencies for FM stereo​

Hence, most speaker designs did not go over 15-18 KHz intentionally prior to the mid-1970's.

 

[EJ3]

And many did not want their speakers going over 18 KHz anyway because of the FM carrier for stereo being at:

19 and 38 kHz chosen as the subcarrier frequencies for FM stereo​

Hence, most speaker designs did not go over 15-18 KHz intentionally prior to the mid-1970's.

And MOST of us couldn't here it after we were 25 anyway.

 

[GXAlan]

And MOST of us couldn't here it after we were 25 anyway.

I can hear into 17-18 kHz, or certainly beyond what the 901’s deliver to my ear in room (you can imagine the beaming and HF attenuation.)

A vs B comparison, the Bose 901 is weaker than modern speakers with a tweeter in the HF.

A vs B comparison, home theater sounds better when the room/speaker correction corrects the phase.

But there is still something absolutely satisfying about the Bose 901 for *non critical* listening and more *listening for pleasure*. I recently moved, and perhaps like @Dj7675, my home theater/audio space is smaller despite the home being a net positive.

I basically have my Trinnov Altitude 32 with Meyer Sound speakers for my dedicated listening space and the Bose 901 in the shared ”great” room. It’s hard to beat the overall sound presentation! It says a lot when the 901’s are what made the cut as my B-system.

I haven’t won the lottery yet, but when I do, I am going to start a company to modernize the 901 principles with modern transducers and electronics!