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Bose 901s in HT? (1 Viewer)

Jaque

Auditioning
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
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3
Greetings. I hope someone can help me with this. I recently inherited a pair of Bose 901 VI speakers. They come with a EQ that must be connected to a tape monitor or processor loop in the amp. My amp has no such loop. Anyway, I know the processor would throw off the dolby time delay, etc. However, I'd like to use the speakers and EQ in stereo for music and by-pass the EQ for HT. I guess, in short, I'm asking if there are HT recievers (or amps) with tape monitor/processor loops. Even 5.1 would be acceptable because the 901s really fill the room with sound. Thank you.
 

Jack Briggs

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 3, 1999
Messages
16,805
Jaque, welcome aboard. FYI, I've moved your post from the Basics area to here, since it appears you are asking about receiver/amp capabilities and what might be appropriate to purchase. The Basics area, however, is for general discussion of home theater at the beginner level.

You also might get slammed with anti-Bose comments.

So, everyone, Jaque presently owns a pair of 901s that he happens to like. Try to help him, please.
 

alan halvorson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
2,009


Well - grossly overpriced, overhyped, underengineered, low quality materials. Better than nothing, but not much better.
 

Nhoj

Auditioning
Joined
Jan 17, 2006
Messages
14
Hello, Jaque....
Here's my first post, hope it helps.
I was a bench tech in an A/V repair shop for 14 years and worked on a lot of bose stuff. I will save my bose bashing for some more appropriate opportunity. I'll just tell the truth about it. That little eq box is absolutely necessary to those speakers. There are nine small driver in an unusually vented box with just one pointed front. They are long excursion midranges that require a radical eq curve to sound full range. Lots of bass boost (they can handle it)and a fair amount of treble are added with no time delays or comb filtering or any channel interaction of any kind. It's just a filter that introduce the usual phase shift effects of a crossover or equalizer. Without it, everything sounds like trumpets.
They eat power like cheetos. I would not drive them with an av receiver (anyones) unless you enjoy clipping. Get a seperate amp with a real power supply, like a 200+w per channel PA amp. Use the pre-out to the eq and then to the amp. Hide it and forget it.
No wait... Take the lid off and spray some WD into those rocker switches and selector wafers, then rattle them back and forth. Dip a qtip in alcohol and plunge and twist it into the rear jacks. If there are IC's in sockets, pull them out, remember which direction they go, use an exacto blade to scrape the dark stuff off the outside and inside of the IC's leads, push them back in, put the lid back on, and then forget it.
They are nice, seductive speakers. I lived with a pair of series one's years ago. The problem with them is that sooner or later, they will drivwe you crazy and you will long for any front-only barking box you can find.
Oh, and never, ever mix on them.

Cheers,
Nhoj
 

Jaque

Auditioning
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
3
Thanks for the advice. Hmm. Your comment about the quality and engineering is one I haven't heard before. They always sounded pretty good to me. What would you recomend instead?
And, Nhoj. Thanx for the info on cleaning the EQ. I know how to loop it, I just need a reciever with a tape monitor loop. I know they're out there, I've seen them. I just can't remember which one(brand). I know about the power drain also. And my mixing days are over, thank goodness! Thanks again folks.
 

Philip Hamm

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 23, 1999
Messages
6,874
See what $$$ you can get on Ebay for the Bose 901s then spend that money on real speakers.
 

SethH

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2003
Messages
2,867
If you do a quick search in the speaker section of HTF, you will learn lots of useful information about Bose. The 901's are actually respected by some in the community, however their design has changed in about 30 years and there are much better speakers out there now in the same price range.
 

Dave>h

Second Unit
Joined
May 1, 2004
Messages
424
HI,

I had a set of Bose 901's in my home theater system for a number of years and I think, if the price is right, they are a good speaker for home theater.

I agree with the other poster, buy a seperate amp to run them and the more power the better. You will apprecaite this for music listening and it is the only way to get proper HT sound for 5.1.

What you will find is that you do indeed need the EQ for HT listening and there is absolutely no way (at least none I could find) to get the EQ'd signal out of the signal path for HT without using a seperate amp. I tried a myriad of configurations and the seperate amp was both the simplest and best sounding option available.

The tape monitor option won't work for HT, at least I could never get it to work.

Don't listen to the Bose Bashers. I personally enjoyed those speakers for a lot of years. They aren't true stereo and thus the imaging isn't good but if you like that "room filling" sound, they certainly do the trick. And as long as you don't pay retail for them, they are pretty good value. Eventually, you will want to move up but they are a good ride while they last.

I upgraded mine a few years ago and like the resulting change (and there definitely is a significant change) but the new speakers are much more finicky about placement and toe in and a lot of tweaky type issues. The Bose, you just stick em in corners and let them go. Nice and easy.

Hope you enjoy them and remember, as long as they sound good to you, don't worry about anyone else.

Dave
 

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