That receipt is a collector item.
I miss the days of pen’d receipts. Things seamed so simpler back then.
The Bose 901 Thread
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I miss the days of pen’d receipts. Things seamed so simpler back then.
An audio shop I've dealt with here still uses handwritten receipts/bill of sale. They probably won't ever change.
JoeThePop
Known member
And I paid cash. I don’t pay with cash for anything these days.
![IMG_0069[1].JPG](https://hifihaven.org/data/attachments/28/28460-83c6cb71e0b2d5ce360382e76f297297.jpg "IMG_0069[1].JPG")
I didn’t catch it the first time, but they charged you for the equalizer? I thought that was part of the 901 deal.
JoeThePop
Known member
Yeah it was weird, but the going price for the complete set was $1,000 at the time so I didn’t give it much thought.
An audiophile teacher at my school has his original 901 first series that he purchased in 76 in his classroom. Cool looking speakers. He wasnt running the EQ box with them to get the lows but they sounded decent nonetheless. He had never replaced the foam surrounds and was not sure of their condition, but we had them turned up decently loud and the bass response seemed good so it made me wonder, if after 44 years, it was still possible that the surround foam had not "disintegrated to dust". He said our HS had a couple newer pairs of 901s since they replaced the speaker system in the auditorium last year. I posted about the current system on here last year and it sounds real nice (dsp control of numerous speakers throughout the auditoreum).
Any idea what speakers these are? (high school auditorium). (I dont know why I put Bose 802 as I dont even think there is such a thing, I meant 901)
//Turns out there are Bose 802 and I got that info from the soundman. So I think the audiophile teacher was mistaken thinking that the 802s were 901s when really they were 802s.
Any idea what speakers these are? (high school auditorium). (I dont know why I put Bose 802 as I dont even think there is such a thing, I meant 901)
//Turns out there are Bose 802 and I got that info from the soundman. So I think the audiophile teacher was mistaken thinking that the 802s were 901s when really they were 802s.
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JoeThePop
Known member
I bought mine in 1981 and sometime in the early to mid 90's when I moved from an apartment to a house and was able to crank them up, I heard a nasty buzzing from lower bass notes. I pulled the grills off the rear of the speakers and was greeted by piles of dust, with some of the surrounds completely gone. I contacted Bose and they had me ship them my old speakers, and they exchanged them for brand new ones for $400. Not a bad deal considering my speakers were no longer under warranty, and the current series (VI) was selling for $1,400 at the time.
When I sold them, the guy who bought them didn't want to listen to them, he just wanted to make sure all the surrounds were in good shape.
Bose, despite the hate, love and hype is great at driver selection and manufacturing. As a vintage audio dealer, hobbyist and a non user of them - (I just want to say that). I have sold antique audio items to Bose R&D and they do know about what we are doing in our basements, man-caves and work shops -- isn't that interesting! Their finished consumer products are not for the audiophile, but they will get you started on the road to being one, that's for sure! The original 1960s 901 was exceptional for it's driver selection of the all-paper cloth Rola 5" driver. I may do a post on that, but keep a look out for those in Diy FR projects. Dr Bose nabbed quite a few ideas from the 1950s HiFi craze, to get going at least.
Bose 901s have never been considered"audiophile" speakers.
Doesn't mean that folks who like 901s are wrong, they just have audio priorities that the 901s fulfill. That big 'wall of sound' can be enticing.
Listened to my share of 901 Series I and II driven by big sand amps at college parties.
Not my preference.
Doesn't mean that folks who like 901s are wrong, they just have audio priorities that the 901s fulfill. That big 'wall of sound' can be enticing.
Listened to my share of 901 Series I and II driven by big sand amps at college parties.
Not my preference.
JoeThePop
Known member
Stumbled across the review from 1971 in Stereophile. Short synopsis: Spaciousness - very good; Detail - not so much.
Bose 901 loudspeaker
Kind of fits in with my own personal experience that I commented on before about shopping for, and hearing, speakers with a proper tweeter after having had my 901's for 15 years. I guess I was probably noticing the detail in the upper frequencies that was missing with my 901's.
"What is, we feel, a more serious shortcoming of the 901 principle is that it subjects the direct sounds in a recording to the same reflective process that enhances the recorded spatial material. The first of the rear-reflected waves reaches us a relatively long time after the front-radiated wave has passed, and while this is of no consequence as far as spatial information is concerned—and may actually enhance it—it cannot help but impair the detail of those signals which represent direct sound in the recording. Precedence effect can retain the localization of the direct sounds, but it cannot prevent the rear-reflected sounds from being audible a fraction of a second later. And since each rear-radiated wave reaches us from an infinite number of distances, it arrives not as a single delayed impulse, but as a smear. There is no perceptible echo—the delay is too short for the ear to perceive as a gap. Instead, there is what appears to be a marked softening of detail, as though every sound is being followed by a rapid decay rather than a sharp cessation of sound. It sounds, in fact, like short-lived hangover, which is just what it is. The only difference between this and the hangover we associate with resonating loudspeakers is that this involves a wider range of frequencies and is acoustically rather than mechanically induced."
Bose 901 loudspeaker
Kind of fits in with my own personal experience that I commented on before about shopping for, and hearing, speakers with a proper tweeter after having had my 901's for 15 years. I guess I was probably noticing the detail in the upper frequencies that was missing with my 901's.
"What is, we feel, a more serious shortcoming of the 901 principle is that it subjects the direct sounds in a recording to the same reflective process that enhances the recorded spatial material. The first of the rear-reflected waves reaches us a relatively long time after the front-radiated wave has passed, and while this is of no consequence as far as spatial information is concerned—and may actually enhance it—it cannot help but impair the detail of those signals which represent direct sound in the recording. Precedence effect can retain the localization of the direct sounds, but it cannot prevent the rear-reflected sounds from being audible a fraction of a second later. And since each rear-radiated wave reaches us from an infinite number of distances, it arrives not as a single delayed impulse, but as a smear. There is no perceptible echo—the delay is too short for the ear to perceive as a gap. Instead, there is what appears to be a marked softening of detail, as though every sound is being followed by a rapid decay rather than a sharp cessation of sound. It sounds, in fact, like short-lived hangover, which is just what it is. The only difference between this and the hangover we associate with resonating loudspeakers is that this involves a wider range of frequencies and is acoustically rather than mechanically induced."
LMAO because as soon as I saw this thread I thought of my only 901 experience back in the day, which was 901s hanging by heavy chains from the ceiling at a friends place.
I guess it was the hot setup, IIRC they sounded pretty good, but there was other chemistry involved too...
JoeThePop
Known member
Yep. Lot's of chemistry going on back in the 80's with my listening. And I had my 901's hanging with chains from the ceiling in my parents basement when I first bought them.
Was that the address on the receipt? I'm about 2 miles down the road at 12 and Ryan. Small world...
JoeThePop
Known member
Yep. That was the home I grew up in.
Hmmmm....
Aren't these guys mooning the congregation? Those ports are on the behind.
Apropos of nothing (or just for shoots and googles, as I am wont to say), if'n any of all y'all
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