- Joined
- Oct 11, 2018
- Messages
- 3,741
- Likes
- 6,462
In his pretty in-depth 1971 review Gordon Holt wrote (courtesy of Stereophile site):I know the 901's can lack clarity, but I am curious about the distortion measurements and listening impressions. Is the distortion possibly from the age of the speakers? This being the Series V means the speaker drivers are at least 34 years old. The electronics in the EQ box is also at least 34 years old, that is way past the service life on those caps. I've spent plenty of time with various pairs of 901's, and while they do shit the bed in many ways, they should be able to do a 80-20kHz sweep without massive distortion issues.
...the amount of bass boost necessary to carry the speakers below 40Hz is quite substantial, and puts rather extreme demands on the output capabilities of the amplifier, as well as on the capacities of the speakers.
The speakers themselves produce audible distortion below 40Hz at what we would judge to be only moderate listening levels, yet on musical program material, the only subjective effect of this is to make deep lows sound a little less deep, and, in fact, the 901 is able to put out really respectable levels (even on bassy program material) without offensive distortion when driven by a modest 35Wpc with the equalizer unit set for bass cut (ie, with equalization ceasing at 40Hz), or with a brute-force power amplifier like the Crown DC-300, the 901 will deliver more than enough acceptably clean volume to satisfy anyone but a decibel fanatic.
Summing up, Gordon's negatives on the speaker were the lack of focus and detail and generally unrealistic soundstage. He didn't think they were bad per se, just not the loudspeaker for those looking for a more 'natural' sort of reproduced sound.
Thinking back on my listening (I never owned a pair but knew those who did) they were OK if a) you had a lot of power to drive them and b) your idea of great sound was live stadium rock or cheap balcony seats at an orchestra--venues and locations where you don't expect pinpoint imaging and such.