I am really surprised to read some fo speakerfritzs' message. Coming from someone who apparently owns Klipsch... how can you really think and say that you get anything close to acceptable sound out of a box filled with 9, non-crossed, "full range" drivers?   How the 901 became the flagship speaker is beyond me, really.

I had to use 802's (think 901's spun around to face the listener, in poly cabinet for pro/road use) with 802BP's (subs) at a couple of gigs... they sounded somewhat ok, but required some very extreme equalization, and I crossed the sub cabinets pretty high to take the demand off the mains. Sometimes the pogram would just sound like mush. For giggles once I set up my JBL cabs next to the 802's because I had brought them with me anyhow, and of course the Bose were completely annihilated. In reality - a pair of Cerwin Vegas would sound much better than 901's.

That being said... the old 501's - which were the size of end-tables and had a 10 inch driver and the whole direct-reflecting tweeter arrangement sounded loads better than the 901's... but was missing a lot in the midbass area. To be honest, I thought that if Bose were ever to take it's "famed" 4.5in driver out of the 901 and put 1 or 2 of those in the 501 cabinet, it might actually make for a pretty decent sounding cabinet. I also thought the same about the AM-5's (now the Lifestyle system)... replace one of those tiny tweeters with their 901 driver to extend the frequency range.  But... I digress... allow their sound to be full of holes. Of course the old school 501 was replaced with those skinny little towers that sounded like crap.  The old 501's required gobs of power though.

 The 301's were actually halfway decent bookshelf speaker - but required gobs of power, as did their big brother - the 601's. While the direct/reflecting thing in the 301's and 501's certainly made for some funky imaging and strange sounds slapping from non-existent sources... the driver arrangement on the 601 took that to a whole new level of obscure and strange... and would really suck the power down...

601's:

My friend just scored a killer deal on a pair of B&W 802 (about seven years old I think) from a guy whose wife wanted to get ride of big floor standing speakers and "get something small that also sounds good" (she felt Bose would give her that).

He said he kept thinking if the lady was partially retarded?

 Must be... those B&W's are really sweet sounding speakers... even by today's standards. 

srobak:

 Must be... those B&W's are really sweet sounding speakers... even by today's standards. 

Eh?  The standards changed? 

Dave

Mallette:

>They might be right in that most of the sound of a live performance might be from the reflected sound? 

No, they are not right, unless the performance is in a gymnasium.

Gawd, not Blose again...

If I had a room that nothing sounded good in but Blose I would call a priest with bell, book, and candle.

Dave

Thanks for sharing.....

but yes....in my 9X11 office with my large roll top desk, equipment rack, and small book shelf.....the 901's sound better than my Heresy's....better than my 60th anniversary khorns....better than my LaScala Pro's....better than my LaScala home versions.....I had cornwalls in there as well and the 901's sounded better as well....maybe I should try some Jubilees or MWM's in that room......the additional advantage of the 901's aside than sounding better in this small room...is not needing floor space....they are installed to use the top have of the room....so the bottom half is free and clear.

 I'm thinking 9X11 might be too small for Heritage products if you will also have furniture in the room.

No offense intended, Herr Fritz.  I am sure they sound good to you (I never debate that sort of thing) and I suspect they would sound good to me as well in your space. 

However, I think our last, long, discussion boiled down to:

1. Bose is the antithesis of PWK's 12 card.

2. While possible to do with EQ what PWK and others do with cabinets and drivers to some extent, the results are variable and very space-dependent.

Kind regards, and peace,
Dave

speakerfritz:

tigerwoodKhorns:

I have a pair of their Nautilus 801's in my main system.  They are great speakers.  Why are you guys so down on these?

 

 

I'm not down on them at all....I have a set of series VI that sound great in my home office.  My home office is 9X11 in size with a large roll top desk and a small equipment rack in them.  The only speakers that sound any good in the office is the 901's.  Mainly because I can sit them on each side of the top of my roll top desk and let the top half of the room seet the sound stage.

For large ventues, I would go with 802's elevated about 8ft off the floor along with some bass bins.

 

 

 Uh, yea...

It was a joke.  B&W makes Nautilus 801's, not Bose. 

 He was referring to Bose 802's, which as I said in my previous post - is Bose's "pro" version of the 901.

Mallete: Yes, as technology has evolved, so have the standards.

Speakerfritz: I might recommend some bookshelf reference series from Klipsch... smaller than the 901s, MUCH fuller sound. 

This is about the 901 - the world's most overrated speaker, but Amy Unger, I hope you take some notice of this rather long winded posting:  

I remember when I first moved back east to go to College, I grew up in Carlsbad, CA, where every good home, including ours had a stereo; a pair of ' 62 Khorns and a Heresy center.  When I moved east to go to college, I  was given a pair of Heresy's an old Kenwood tuner and amp.  After hearing "Those really cool" Bose in  the dorm, for the first time, I thought they had toilet tissue stuffed in them.  Once folks heard the stereo in my room, there was an awakening among the open minded.

Good thing I was a wrestler on a floor of wrestlers, getting people out of my room was no problem.

I have been living in the New England for sometime now, in fact about 12 - 15 miles east of Bose central, Framingham, MA.  Bose has never made a very good speaker but they have awesome marketing and a great image around here; they are a household word.  As a forvever Klipsch owner, I pay it no mind, but I feel that Klipsch has failed to really market their venerable name in the Northeastern US.  There is some presence here, because of Best Buy.  Best Buy seems to sell tons of the Synergy and Reference series stuff they also seems to do all the advertising up here for Klipsch.  People cant ask for your product if they don't know about it.

Amy, Klipsch staff, the New England area may not be very important to Klipsch, very few people up here recognize the name, resulting in few people walking in and asking to hear Klipsch; I think I have pointed more people to the Klipsch section of Best Buy than about anybody.  The day you folks in marketing have done your jobs is the day the Klipsch name is as recognized as Bose.  You do have 30+ years of existence on them, although they probably have better sales numbers.  Making the best best mouse trap is great, but you have to let people know. 

I buy my Kipsch stuff from an online store out of NYC (very important market), they have better prices than "Best Buy", because the store is in NYC, I get it from UPS overnight, even though they just ship ground, it's only a 240 mile haul.

Winning awards is great, showing pictures of Ice-T w/a pair of RF-83's is wonderful, but that is public relations, not advertising.  Amy, my little unit in the US Navy gets more brand recognition than Klipsch does, which should give you something to think about.

If I had a room that nothing sounded good in but Blose I would call a priest with bell, book, and candle.

Dave

Yeoucccch ..

 Ahem...the name is Mallette...and I am lost as to these atributions. 

Clueless.  Can anybody help me out here?

Dave 

 I think alot of this boils down to personal taste, for xmas I got a friend a pair of Promedia 2.1's, he is a gamer, these are gamer speakers.  Prior to that he had virtually nothing.

Personally, I have both RF-52's/RC-52 a pair of Heresy II's and I am now shopping for a subwoofer, probably an RW-10d.  I am finally having a little trouble with the HII's, and Klipsch has been great with support.

Actually I am quite impressed with the Acoustimass 5 system, but I am into the Klipsch paradigm.  I do believe that the horn model is the way to go for the most part, but Bose is a much bigger company with a much better marketing arm, and they obvioulsy make stuff that appeals to people.  I wish MY RF stuff had the bass line of this little $399 system.

Mallette:

 Ahem...the name is Mallette...and I am lost as to these atributions. 

Clueless.  Can anybody help me out here?

Dave 

Hey Dave,

Fritz was responding to a post by Srobak above when he posted that, and associated you with Srobak's post.

Mike

Thanks, Mike.

You followed the "You be the judge" thread?  I'd love to hear your take...

Dave