The Venerable Bose 901 Discontinued After 50 Years

[S 901]

I still have 3 pairs of 901 (version VI) connected to McIntosh (pre) amps and they still sound great after all those years. The moment they break I will go for Focal. Btw if electronic music is your thing (K. Schulze, Tangerine Dream etc.) NOTHING beats the 901.

S. from Europe.

 

PS: my 1977 (yep) 501's still work (original speakers) fine. In addition my  3 sets of  301's are still in use (all 1979 gear)

[Robert218]

On 3/3/2018 at 12:11 PM, DavidR said:

Dave @ DHS Speakers? or the guy on AK (forget his name at the moment)?

 

On 3/2/2018 at 4:29 PM, lakecat said:

That work looks nice! I wish I had the ability to do that. I sent mine to guy that does them up nice.

Any chance you used rainycityaudio? Might you know if they are still in business, or if not any former employee who might be repairing active equilizer’s?

[DavidR]

2 hours ago, Robert218 said:

 

Any chance you used rainycityaudio? Might you know if they are still in business, or if not any former employee who might be repairing active equilizer’s?

Dave Shirly at DHS Speaker in Feeding Hills/Agawam, MA. He does a lot of Bose work.

http://www.dhsspeakerservice.com/

[Howard S]

Hello everyone

I would love to have my 901 series 4 back, they were stolen from my apartment. I even had the spatial control receiver which cost a fortune back in the day

I would like to find a newer pair manufactured near the end of their run, before discontinued, or a pair of 901's in perfect condition without needs of repair

any advice?  Who is "Dave" does he offer any speakers for sale?

[newandold]

18 minutes ago, Howard S said:

Hello everyone

I would love to have my 901 series 4 back, they were stolen from my apartment. I even had the spatial control receiver which cost a fortune back in the day

I would like to find a newer pair manufactured near the end of their run, before discontinued, or a pair of 901's in perfect condition without needs of repair

any advice?  Who is "Dave" does he offer any speakers for sale?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224963468921?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=mJUXJhcxTiS&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

If interested….MANY on EBay 

[DavidR]

18 hours ago, Howard S said:

Hello everyone

I would love to have my 901 series 4 back, they were stolen from my apartment. I even had the spatial control receiver which cost a fortune back in the day

I would like to find a newer pair manufactured near the end of their run, before discontinued, or a pair of 901's in perfect condition without needs of repair

any advice?  Who is "Dave" does he offer any speakers for sale?

Get the Series II. They are WAY better sounding than the ported series. Dave Shirley can rebuild the EQ so that you will get the most out of them. If you're really stuck on the ported ones then go for the Series 6.

[newandold]

1 hour ago, DavidR said:

Get the Series II. They are WAY better sounding than the ported series. Dave Shirley can rebuild the EQ so that you will get the most out of them. If you're really stuck on the ported ones then go for the Series 6.

Decades ago, I was working in one of the local shopping malls that had a Bose retail outlet with an audition room. The place had virtually no customers at that moment,  when I seized the opportunity (always armed with a carry bag loaded with CD 💿’s.)

I perched myself in front of a 901 system with the EQ and went at it, for an hour or so totally undisturbed!

It was a VERY live room and got some very pleasing sound out of that setup. That being said, I’m ignorant to which model they were…..ported non ported or anything else. Other than the odd shape, unique driver complement and that equalizer I know little about them. I also recall they had some type of industrial version that the discotheques were using because of their incredible power handling capabilities.

[DavidR]

On 5/23/2022 at 11:44 AM, newandold said:

I also recall they had some type of industrial version that the discotheques were using because of their incredible power handling capabilities.

They were probably the 802 model.

[newandold]

9 hours ago, DavidR said:

They were probably the 802 model.

I’m sure you’re right about that. The club I was in they were mounted quad style way up in the corners of the dance floor. Had that infamous 901 shape (similar) 

[DavidR]

That's a picture of a series 3 802. The originals used wood and looked a bit more like the 901.

[newandold]

5 hours ago, DavidR said:

That's a picture of a series 3 802. The originals used wood and looked a bit more like the 901.

I see David,

Not to derail the subject but talking “BOSE” has me thinking about the Bose system I have in my car.

It’s a 2017.5 Murano Platinum. The .5 introduced some end of model year updates that included Apple 🍎 Car Play for IPhone.

The system sounds great if your parked and playing it as if you’re home.

That being said, somebody dropped the ball when it came to real world listening while driving. 10 Bose drivers and a spare mounted subwoofer. Looks nice in the car and on paper, but in normal driving conditions my 20 year old Durango system sounds better…..Oh well.

[DavidR]

I HATE my wife's Bose Wave. Gives me listener fatigue after about 1/2 hour.

Some like the 601 series 2 more than the 901 and others the 10. There is just something about listening to the 901s despite their short comings.

[newandold]

On 6/16/2022 at 9:03 AM, DavidR said:

I HATE my wife's Bose Wave. Gives me listener fatigue after about 1/2 hour.

Some like the 601 series 2 more than the 901 and others the 10. There is just something about listening to the 901s despite their short comings.

The “Wave Radio” was certainly nothing to write home about, but it was certainly a platform to hype their marketing strategy…..

I did get a sweet ride out of it with a fellow motorcyclist, who wanted to take a run down to a Holiday Inn where they were putting on a wave radio demonstration.

It started with a video demonstration on a large screen in a conference room and ended with the screen being raised and showing the Audio coming from that little radio behind it.

Nothing remarkable, simply clever. They showcased radios with the tops removed so you could view the passage ways the sound traveled through to attain their “sound”. They looked like hamster 🐹 trail obstacle courses to me!

[tom_guyette]

On 4/30/2018 at 1:02 PM, newandold said:

I believe the 901 used in the discos way back were a commercial version designed to handle heavier high volume usage.

Both however, could handle all kinds of power and were a good match for the “super amps” that were also arriving on scene.

 I recall taking a motorcycle ? ride with a buddy of mine to a Holiday Inn for a demo of the WAVE radio. 

As usual, BOSE put on a clever show with it....hiding it behind a big video screen, that raised to impress everybody about the little box with the big sound.

The cutaway units showing the air channels were also on display.

 

Bill

Yes.  I believe the industrial ones were the 801s / 802s. Many many models back then shared the same essential driver design so manufacturing processes could be the same, but the 80?s used kevlar and some other different materials. The cones and surrounds were black instead of blue. 

 

[newandold]

1 hour ago, tom_guyette said:

Yes.  I believe the industrial ones were the 801s / 802s. Many many models back then shared the same essential driver design so manufacturing processes could be the same, but the 80?s used kevlar and some other different materials. The cones and surrounds were black instead of blue. 

 

I was very impressed with some of those models back in the day, along with the equalization unit. The Bose of today is forgettable at best. My Nissan Murano has a Bose system in it along with Apple CarPlay, and a subwoofer mounted to the spare tire. I think if I get a flat I’ll just leave the subwoofer on the tire. Maybe then it will be good for something.