Mixing and matching speakers for HT

Yeah, I'm sure you can utilize the speakers, but as far as sounding good, only you can answer that. I'm not a fan of Bose speakers, personally. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find any love for Bose, anywhere in the home theater world. If they sound good to you, use them. See if you can find a decent center speaker. If you have room for it, get a Bose 301, and use that for a center. It might match the 601s good enough to get by. The three front speakers should timbre match, ideally, but not always possible. For 10 yrs. or so, my front three didn't match. Now they do, and it does make a difference. But, you gotta do, what you gotta do, right?

For rear speakers, I'd use some decent bookshelf speakers. Not the tiny Bose "cube" speakers. It's not as critical that the rear speakers match the fronts, but "ideally" they should. Mine aren't ideal. Mine don't match. Craig's List might be a good place to find some speakers for the rears.

The wiring is the same, to the speakers, whether for music or home theater. If you prefer 2 ch. for music, just press the "Stereo" button, or turn off "Surround", or however it's worded.

The JBL sub should be ok with the system. I have been  using a JBL sub (PSW1200) for about 15 yrs. I hope to get an SVS cylinder sub in April.
Good luck!

Bose Acoustimas and similar mini-cube "home theater-in-a-box" systems are rightly disdained by most HT fans because they are grossly overpriced and technically inferior.  But there's nothing wrong with the older, stand-alone direct/reflecting speakers, like your 601s.  You have a few choices:

Any decent AV receiver will have a "phantom center" mode, that uses audio processing to make the dialogue appear to be coming from midway between the left and right speakers, much the same way that a stereo recording can make the lead vocal seem to come from the middle of the soundstage, while various instruments stay to the sides.  That might be an option in your case.

Timber matching is important for the front two or three speakers, because you want a seamless soundstage for music and dialogue.  But it is not nearly as important for the surround speakers.  Those are mostly used for sound effects and atmosphere.  Even the occasional bit of music or dialogue that might be mixed into these channels won't sound "off" compared to the fronts, because you rarely have smooth pans from rear to front (or vice versa) and because in the real world sounds coming from behind us really do sound different than sounds in front of us.  So I wouldn't sweat this.  As long as the rear channel speakers match one another, you should be in good shape. 

As Ed noted the sub will work fine, and all you have to do is select "stereo" to turn off the surround speakers.  (On my system I used the front left and right, plus the sub, for stereo listening.)

Regards,

Joe

as a former yamaha salesperson & former bose owner, here are several things to watch.
1) when setting for stereo & using a sub, set menu on yamaha to small left right speakers, bass to sub.
2) when listening to stereo, use stereo mode not direct stereo mode. Direct stereo bypasses all tone control circuits, which is desirable, but also bipasses the subwoofer.
3) for the 601, set sub crossover to between 80 & 100 hertz. Use the THX optimizer subwoofer rattle test from any pixar (cars etc), disney(pirates, day after tomorrow, etc ) , or star wars DVD. Should be in the setup or bonus menus. Properly set, bass should be even from mid bass to deep bass.
4) Center should match left right & clarity is also very important as dialog is it's major job.
a boston speaker is a good compromise. If not using a geniune center channel, realize the magnets in a regular bookshelf speaker will cause problems with a regular CRT tv. Flat panels work differently & will not be affected.
Enjoy.

Bose 501 might work ok for a center speaker. A speaker that's not big and obtrusive, but not a little cube speaker either............


EDIT:
I said the 301 and 501, trying to match your other Bose speakers. Of course, you can get a Polk center, or Klipsch center, or any brand and try it.  If it sounds good to you, use it. That's all that matters. You're the one that's gonna be listening to it.
Edited by Ed Moxley - 12/3/09 at 11:30am

For a soft, warm center you should also consider an Infinity Beta, Primus, Alpha or any one with an M.M.D or C.M.M.D. tweeter. The models with the Poly-Cell tweeter or the famous Emit-K and Emit-R ribbon tweeters (found in the Cresendo, early Kappa's and some Reference models) are quite a bit brighter. They also have sold speakers with a Polycarbonite tweeter which I know nothing about.

If you can find an affordable 5 piece speaker set on craigslist  you could use them for HT and wire the Bose to the "Speaker B" terminal for stereo music. Just another option.

I wasn't sure of the size of the 301. Since I'm not a Bose fan, I'm not that familiar with them. If the 301 is that big, lay it on it's side, and sit the tv on top of it. If you buy from a store, after you try it and don't like it, you should be able to take it back. Make sure of their return policy before you buy. You can ask Bose also, what speaker might be a decent match.

If you showed your location, maybe a forum member that's close to you, would be willing to take a center speaker by, for you to try with your system. Would probably depend on just how far away they are. Check your local pawn shops. They might have a center speaker too. I got an AR  (Acoustic Research) center from one a few years ago. Ask if they'll take it back if it doesn't sound good with your system. Most pawn shops have a 30 day warranty on their stuff.
Good luck!