edwinr Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Anyone read this article bagging Bose from a couple of years ago. It's quite well written: http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Yup. Well written. He has no use whatsoever for the "Boys From Natick" (although they moved into a giant modern building several years ago...). Shame about Anwar's original ideas though. The theory about reflection was quite interesting. They just never bothered to go forward and perfect it to the degree necessary to compete with horns (or direct radiators) in terms of efficiency and clarity of the sound. And they implemented it as cheaply as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I know it is not popular but I have fond memories of my college system and Bo$e 301s (original with the reflecting paddle)...I wonder what improvements might have been left on the table with these...what if they had used good components???...surely some tinkerer has done this, right??? Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 My first setup was a Klipsch KMC, Bose 301's, a JVC VCR, and a Technics receiver................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Just take a look at this Bose response curve scan. Bose pretty much bashes itself! - Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I bought a nice pair of 201's at a yard sale for $20,I consider that a decent price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I bought a nice pair of 201's at a yard sale for $20,I consider that a decent price. I'll pay you $19 to burn them and post pictures. (er,um anybody got $19 you could lend me, the economy dontcha know) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I'll pay you $19 to burn them and post pictures. (er,um anybody got $19 you could lend me, the economy dontcha know) I'd do it for ya for free but......I really need em' in my car hole.I will admit though,they're no big upgrade from my old klh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Just take a look at this Bose response curve scan. Bose pretty much bashes itself! - Glenn And that was why they had to use the "top secret" EQ unit. The only time they ever published the EQ stuff was back in 1968 when Hirsch Houck Labs did a review. The trade off was physical size of the 901 demanded by their marketing gurus. By nature of it's design, really bad comb filtering along with a number of other problems ("smearing" from time delay issues comes to mind) was and still is the issue. That and the driver and driver coupling design takes an unusually high amount of power to drive them. If you think sticking the Klipschorns in a corner is a "critical" issue..... the 901's are much, much worse in terms of where they have to be placed to work properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Well, said, Groom! Well said! [] -Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winchester21 Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Bought a set of 901s back in the day. Never sounded like they did in the store. In fact they sucked. Happy ending- Somebody broke in and ripped them off. Bought a set of Altecs with the insurance money. My tahoe and my porsche both have bose systems. The systems in my cars also suck- especailly for what they cost.The entire brand is a great example of slick marketing where people buy garbage and like it because they don't know any better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 My tahoe and my porsche both have bose systems. The systems in my cars also suck- especailly for what they cost.The entire brand is a great example of slick marketing where people buy garbage and like it because they don't know any better. Yep , I have a 9 speaker Bose system in my Mazda and it's terrible ! The simple Alpine cd player and 4 6.5" Polk coax speakers I had in my old Subaru smokes the big bad Bose system in every way ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 There's other stuff on the web offering similar observations about the extremely poor quality of Bose. How can they get away with selling those crappy little plastic boxes and 'bass' boxes for so much money? It's a disgrace. Compare the littlle Klipsch Synergy Quintet's with the similar Bose product and the Quintet's shine. The build quality alone should be enough to persuade most people to buy Klipsch. On sound quality issues there's no comparison in favor of Klipsch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winchester21 Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Ya know what?? the sound system on my Porsche is not only a Bose system-- It is the BOSE PREMIUM sound system for like an extra 1200 $$$ with the 11 speaker setup and the subwoofer in the passenger floorboard and ya know what- it sounds like @ss. The only reason I bought it was for resale issues.Bose opened a "factory outlet" near my office and everybody rushed out and bought one of those cute little surround systems with the cute little DVD player and the cute little speakers that fit up in the corners with the spider webs and ya know what?? everybody who bought one HATES IT. THe same old story.. sounded good in the store... sounds like @ss when you get it home. been there done that. This company sucks.. and so does their products,, they have way too much of my money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beesley Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Did a Klipsch search off of Cincinnati Craigslist...the first this that pops up is a feature on how bad Bose speakers are. They Keep taking the messaage down, but someone keeps posting it back up...interesting to see how this turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 The problem with Bose’s direct reflecting idea is this: Bose claims that some large percentage (around 85-90% was it?) of the sound we hear from a live source is actually “reflected sound”. While this is true, Bose’s implementation of this analogy is false. Theoretically, the “ideal” speaker system should take the place of the original live sound source. Those of us who have done the study know this is not possible. We can only achieve some kind of facsimile. So what did Bose do? He placed one driver (the 10% non-reflected part of the sound) where it would radiate directly towards the listener, and the other drivers where used to reflect their sound radiation off of adjacent walls, floor and ceiling. What’s wrong with this idea? All speakers, regardless of type, radiate in all directions to some degree. That’s why a Klipschorn (for instance) generally needs a room with a higher ceiling, because otherwise the tweeter reflects off the ceiling causing a time delay between the direct and reflected sound that is very short in duration which tends to smear the sound causing a loss of resolution and even change of timbre. Its bad enough that we have to accept some compromises with multiple drivers and crossover networks and their associated time delays and phase irregularities. But to just send the sound “all over the place” even more, when its already that way to begin with is, in my opinion, INSANE. And that’s not to mention that the flagship Bose 901 is completely worthless without its associated equalization unit to boost the low frequencies and drive an incredible amount of modulation distortion from all those little long throw drivers. To quote Inspector Colombo (remember that TV show?). He walks into some rich guy’s place (who is a criminal suspect) who shows off his “stereo” using his “direct reflecting speakers”. And what’s Colombo’s response? “WOW. That’s unbelievable! I’ve never heard anything like that. It’s like the sound is coming from everywhere”. Yeap. That sounds like accurate high fidelity sound reproduction to me (NOT). Is that what the real source sounds like? Like nothing you’ve ever heard before? Like it’s coming from everywhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 All speakers, regardless of type, radiate in all directions to some degree. That’s why a Klipschorn (for instance) generally needs a room with a higher ceiling, because otherwise the tweeter reflects off the ceiling causing a time delay between the direct and reflected sound that is very short in duration which tends to smear the sound causing a loss of resolution and even change of timbre. Your coment about Klipschorns needing a room with a higher ceiling is interesting. That may explain why my current Belles sound more 'coherent' than the Klipschorns in the same room. My ceiling height is a little low and the Belles are quite a bit lower than the Klipschorns perhaps the reason for the better sound in my room. I wonder if some sort of ceiling diffusion might have worked with the klipschorns... I thought long and hard about installing a Bose Lifestyle system in my music room instead of buying the Belles... then I woke up, realising that I was having a nightmare... The 901's actually sound okay in isolation. Just like the other Bose lifestyle products. But trying to do a comparison in the retail store with the other stuff on the market is difficult. Most Bose retailers have a dedicated Bose listening room. There's nothing else in there to compare to. If this was so the truth wouild be revealed. Artto, I used to think that at least one Bose product being the 901, was half decent. But the way you have explained it, nothing Bose turns out is worth what they're asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 Here's a close up of the 901 driver. It looks very low tech to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 This is what happens when the foam goes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Absolutely correct Ed. May I use your pics to point out just how stinking cheap Mr. Bose is? Look at the mounting screws on the drivers ~ three. Go to PartsExpress and look at their cheapest small speakers. Four screws baby. It reminds me of the early 70's Fender instruments after CBS took over and tried to run it like a mass production furniture factory. They decided using three neck bolt screws instead of four saved X amount of dollars. We all know they don't do that no more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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