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To hear Bose speakers full potential.


Matthews

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My buddy down the street had a Bose set up in his living room with those teeny weeny 2 inch speakers hanging on the walls and a 6" woofer on the floor. He swore by it. I didn't.

JJK

Did you show him the light?

 

 

He at too many excursions walking on live 300KV electric wires for the electric company. Said is hair would stand straight up while doing so. He also climbed up nuclear cooling towers to replace light bulbs.

JJK

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As I said in an earlier post, "Bose never published efficiency data on their speakers, AFAIK. If we can trust the figures in an old Consumer Reports magazine, 120 w.p.c. into speakers of the efficiency of Khorns is the rough equivalent of 2,760 w.p.c into Bose 901s."

 

The original 901s were fairly sensitive in the midrange and most of their power hungry nature was because of the bass boost from the required EQ box. PWK said to turn them around and put them in a corner without using the EQ and they did sound better that way, "better" being a relative term.

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My buddy down the street had a Bose set up in his living room with those teeny weeny 2 inch speakers hanging on the walls and a 6" woofer on the floor. He swore by it. I didn't.

JJK

A friend of mine (who works at Klipsch) says Bose has about $20 invested in making each cube speaker, $8 for the speaker, and $12 for the cabinet. Five cubes, a 6" sub, and the receiver/power unit sells for around $1200!

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As I said in an earlier post, "Bose never published efficiency data on their speakers, AFAIK. If we can trust the figures in an old Consumer Reports magazine, 120 w.p.c. into speakers of the efficiency of Khorns is the rough equivalent of 2,760 w.p.c into Bose 901s."

 

The original 901s were fairly sensitive in the midrange and most of their power hungry nature was because of the bass boost from the required EQ box. PWK said to turn them around and put them in a corner without using the EQ and they did sound better that way, "better" being a relative term.

 

:D

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Customer says "oh yeah my records will sound much better through these" i thought what are you using now, the speaker from a clock radio.

 

Cut the guy some slack, you don't know what high end gear he was previously using to play his records.

 

closenplay.gif

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I had 901's that sounded OK. I traded some B&W DM-10 for them. Sold the 901 on eBay and pocketed some change. The equalizer was the key to getting them sounding OK. I also kept a pair of Bose 601 Series II. They are the best that I have heard from Bose and they were sitting on top of Belles (still have the Belles). I recently acquired a pair of 701 Series I in a package deal. Promptly sold them for the price of the whole deal so I got a very, very good Sony AV receiver for free (which will be for sale soon since I acquired a $4500 Pioneer Elite AV for a pittance). 

Moral of the story; Bose can be very, very good for swapping lousy speakers for something of value!

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Devil's Advocate Position: (somebody's got to do it)

 

I know we're having fun here, as Bose Bashing is a national sport with some people.  :rolleyes:

 

But honestly, honestly, what would Bose sound like if you:

  • Switched to an upgraded crossover with Jupiter caps
  • Swapped out the tweeters and midrange drivers
  • Put in new upgraded woofers
  • Reinforced and heavily braced the cabinet
Does this list sound familiar, the first thing you do to make your Klipsch speakers sound good, La Scala owners?  :P

 

Sorry Dave, but I think you missed a step: throwing them out because the cabinet is too small to do jack crap to. :P

 

 

My old Heresy II speakers are stock, and will beat the Bose, even after upgrades. My '89 LS would beat them stock too. Wish I still had them,soI wouldn't have to do all the work on the empty cabinets I got.

 

Bruce

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Both Bose and Klipsch built corner speakers for their first designs....the 2201 and Corner Horn respectively.

 

One designer clearly understood and respected the pitfalls associated with systems engineering and impedance matching, the other not so much.

 

Bose went on to intensely develop and apply psycho-acoustic principals to his designs in order to produce practically-sized speakers that sound good....arguably.

 

Klipsch instead researched what prevented the recording process and subsequently the dynamic driver from faithfully reproducing real, accurate sound pressure levels and developed product that mitigated those restrictions.

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Klipsch instead researched what prevented the recording process and subsequently the dynamic driver from faithfully reproducing real, accurate sound pressure levels and developed product that mitigated those restrictions.

 

AMEN!  You nailed it.  Even fans don't understand that PWK studied NATURE and worked with it rather than trying to overwhelm it as Amar Bose did.  Genius Bose may be, but showing genius in extraordinary efforts to defy nature and succeeding to some degree doesn't inspire me as PWK's hitting the precise crossover point between natural processes and audio technology in a way that has been unsurpassed now for 70 years.

 

Dave

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My old Heresy II speakers are stock, and will beat the Bose, even after upgrades. My '89 LS would beat them stock too. Wish I still had them,soI wouldn't have to do all the work on the empty cabinets I got. Bruce

 

A La Scala, beating my Bose 301's?  :o  Yeah, right.  :laugh:

 

Sorry Bruce, but you've obviously never heard Bose speakers with a proper 1-watt SET tube amp so I don't think you can make that claim.

 

And please remember, Bose require proper setup by a professional in a the right room.  If you didn't like the sound of the Bose, chances are they were not set at ear height in a room where proper room reflections are optimal.

 

It's not like a Klipshorn where you can put them anywhere and they sound good no matter what the room is like.  :rolleyes:

Edited by wvu80
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It's not like a Klipshorn where you can put them anywhere and they sound good no matter what the room is like.

 

Great post in general, but if you are putting K'horns in a round room they are gonna need false corners.  Though I am sure they'd beat the pants off Bose even without.

 

Dave

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The unknowing consumer has heard his/her friends rave about how great their Bose speakers are, that "full, rich sound". They have been bombarded with all that Bose marketing for years on end.

 

It's in magazines, Good Housekeeping, SI, Vanity Fair, Playboy etc... They see Pro football team coaches outfitted with those Bose headsets. TV ads, radio ads, in their Doctor/Dentist waiting room built into the ceiling, in someone's car, on their neighbors kitchen counter, you name it they have heard or seen it everywhere.

 

With all this they are convinced even before they buy. OHH YES, I'm dropping a bunch of $$ and it's the best, I can't wait to tell my friends I bought the best!!

 

It's the hype, Bose spends a ton of money on advertising, their mall store fronts, the NFL etc... That's why they cost so much for cheaply manufactured products. All that R&D they talk about? It's in marketing to the brilliant people who know what they want... They want the BEST!

 

During 1978 I worked for Bose. In their 901 driver fab and on the 601 assembly line during my eight month stay. I bought two pair of 601's before I left.

 

I hand picked the cabs and then watched them roll down the line, I was so proud, I owned the best!

 

Scott

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