Don't explode... but... (1 Viewer)

[jacampb]

 

Don't explode everyone... but...
I found some BOSE (yeah, I said it) 201 series IIIs for 40 bucks for the pair in good condition. I know audio folks hate Bose because they're overpriced for what they are, but is this pretty low price alright? What I have right now is two optimus 200W 3-way speakers (don't know any more about them) plugged into my denon avr-590 along with a 120W RCA sub. I'm trying to get some decent 4.1 sound for budget price. I thought about maybe moving these large floor standing optimus speakers around towards the back so I can get some bass in the back and leave the front-most bass for the sub. Cosmetically this would also work nicely, since those floor standing speakers aren't fitting all that well with what I got goin' on up near the screen, and the 201s are small enough to sort of be hidden away. I'm an utter newbie to audio and home theater - don't know if it's a good idea to have large rear speakers, don't know if 201s are alright for 40 bucks (though it seems surely they are!, is there better out there for 40? suggestions please). I also will be finally setting my sl 1300 up with this system and didn't really know how these speakers would improve or harm the whole sound experience. Need to know by tomorrow morning so make haste with suggestions! Thanks
Josh

 

[Robert_J]

You want your best speakers in the front. Plus there is very little bass in the surround sound signal so the big speakers would be wasted there.

 

We don't hate Bose as a company, just their marketing dept. Don't over-hype the little speakers and sell them at a decent price. Older Bose products are good.

 

[CB750]

Most of us question the quality vs price of their cube line of speakers and HTib systems, and the fact that Bose uses specially produced audio presentations to demo their cube systems in store demo's. Get them home and they never sound as good as they did in the store is the common complaint.

 

However, through the years Bose has produced some good speakers in their 201 to 901 product lines. Although 201's are the entry level speaker in that line they would probably work well as a surround speaker for your 4.1 system. My guess is the 201 is an 8 ohm speaker so just make sure that matches up with larger 3 way speakers.
 

Since most of you sound in surround system comes from your front stage it's best to put your best speakers up front.

 

[chuckg]

Echoing what was said - $40 for 201s is pretty good. I would use them as surrounds. Does anyone remember if the 201 speakers used the EQ box? If so, the sound might suffer quite a bit without it.

 

[CB750]

As I remember only the Bose 901's used the Bose active equalizer that must be connected between the pre amp and power amp sections of your receiver. I own of a set of 901's Series II and the equalizer provides a significant boost to the high and low frequencies to compensate for the fact that 8 of the 4" drivers face to the rear of the enclosure and reflect off of walls. The Bose equalizer was the key to that system and without it in place the speakers will work but they totally lack highs and lows, and are pretty much unusable.

 

All of the other 201 to 701 speakers used some form of reflected sound but did not use a the a Bose equalizer.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Only the 901's used the equalizer. I owned a pair of 601's back in the mid-1980's, and they did not have the equalizer. I also added a pair of 201's for surrounds in a Dolby ProLogic setup a few years later, and those did not have the equalizer, either.

 

As others have mentioned already in this thread, the biggest objection to Bose is their price versus quality, especially in the Acoustimass line. If you are only paying $40 for a pair of 201's, then you are not overpaying. It's difficult to find any pair of speakers for only $40. However, I would follow the advice in this thread and use them as surround speakers instead of as your mains, if at all possible. If you decide to add a center speaker in the future, you will need something that closely matches your main speakers. However, you'll want to avoid the Bose center speakers, which are utter crap. I wouldn't put one in my system, even if someone gave it to me for free. I'd rather use a phantom center then listen to a Bose center speaker, which sounds like a $10 computer speaker placed inside a burlap sack! I speak from experience on this.

 

[jacampb]

@Scott. Hah. Won't use Bose center lol.
I've tried both my tower speakers as mains and Bose 201s as mains and I actually liked the Bose up there. I was getting bass out of my rears and I liked having rumble all over, sub in frotn and towers in back. With the towers in front I felt some overwhelming frontitude. Hardly even noticed any rears that way.

But, the reason I was using past tense up there is twofold. First, I've traded out the Bose for some infinity ref 1s that I got for 7 bucks mint! They seem to give me better sound though I actually did notice a lack of direct reflect. Though most people i talk to say direct reflect is BS, I did notice the Bose seemed to penetrate my ears more, just with less clear sound. Currently I'm trying to decide if I wanna run the Bose speakers reg stereo out of the output on my sub (since it has it's own amp and I have no more outputs from my 5.1 denon avr-590 - unless I run one as a center and just let the other one waste away in a closet). I would place them sort of between the fronts and rears so that stereo sound would be appropriate (they'll be directly to my right and left).

The other reason I was using past tense up there is that I recently got scammed on craigslist and lost 500 bucks leaving me utterly broke, so I had to sell my tv for food, so there is no home theater at joshs house right now. Guy offered me 65 for these Bose, may just sell em

 

[CB750]

Josh,

 

So you are the guy who got scammed with the broken TV sold by the dude in the old caddy. I did offer you some advise in that matte in that thread.

 

As far as Bose concept of Direct Reflecting sound marketed in the 1970's. In my judgment only the original 901's based on Dr Bose's original research did an adequate job of doing it. A properly set up and powered set of 901's would produce a very realistic front stage similar to what you might find at a live performance. They were what I would call pretty neutral sound in the sense that they only added the highs and lows that were found in the recorded material. But they needed that equalizer to do it. For a few weeks before moving them to another room I compared them to my new 5.1 HT speakers. I found that the stereo 901's where able to fill the room with natural reflected sound much in the way the surround speakers do in a 5.1 arrangement with Dolby processing. I used the 901's as my HT speakers for a few weeks while I researched and auditioned 5.1 speakers. However they were 2.0 and didn't work as well with video 5.1 sound as they did with music. Also due to the equalizer it was next to impossible to make them part of a 5.1 system and match them with center and surround speakers. Bottom line the 901's are great for stereo music listening but don't make it as part of a HT.

 

[jacampb]

I am that guy. Police found him though and he may be paying me back, we'll have to see... that means I must decide: do I buy a refurbished 55" now (I got hooked on the 50+ inch size while staring at that broken TV screen), wait and get a free 40" bravia (60Hz) from my buddy when he upgrades for black friday or wait for black friday myself, the last two options leave me without a display for 2 months...

 

found one of those vizio 552xvts display at walmart for 1280, that's 500 below their online price, but something about the picture quality and heft of the case is turning me off. Other option is sharp 52" led from tigerdirect refurb. Don't know much about sharp brand, no one around me seems to sell it.

 

Josh

 

[CB750]

Joshua,

 

You don't do anything until you have the cash in your hand. Since I don't know the extent of police involvement it may take some time to recover your money from the legal system. Right now 55" seems to be the hot size in LCD these days where two years ago it was 52" you might find a better deal these days by down sizing a bit smaller, or look for deals on Plasma's which seem to be selling for less. I have a 19" Sharp in my kitchen and I am very happy with that picture quality of that small set. It's 4 years old and is on 10 to 12 hours a day. Like most flat screens the built in speakers are junk but I corrected that with a set of Koss 2.1 PC speakers The important thing for you to do after your experience is to buy a set from a reputable source with a MFG warranty.