You'd like to hear from someone who owned Bose 901s, eh? Okay, I'm up for this!
I bought a pair of Bose 901 IIIs around 1974-76 or so, don't recall exactly. Prior to purchasing them, my only "stereos" had been a Sears plastic portable "record player" with little detachable speakers and, somewhat later, my first system consisting of a used Fisher tube integrated amp, a Garrard turntable and a pair of new B&O Beovox S60s, actually a quite nice little pair of speakers. I bought them at Audio Associates, a now-defunct chain of audio stores in the Washington, D.C. area.
As a hi-fi rube, I had gotten sucked in by two things. The first was an ad campaign Bose had at that time featuring the slogan, "Bring Home a Legend" accompanied by a photograph of a smug-looking guy who looked like he was in the know and a pair of Bose 901 speakers. I thought bringing home a legend would be pretty cool. The other factor that made me vulnerable was Audio Associates' one-year trade-up policy. This clever bit of marketing allowed you to return any item you had purchased within one year for full credit towards any new item as long as it was 50% more expensive than the cost of the trade-in. So, back went the B&Os and home came the Bose 901 IIIs.
I am sure I auditioned them somewhat carefully in the store, but after I got them home, I was less than thrilled about owning this particular "legend". They actually lasted less time in my listening room than anything else I have ever purchased. Why?
I was listening to a lot of operas and orchestral music at the time and the spaciousness of the 901's sound was pretty seductive as I recall. However, I will never forget when I put on a song recital--Schubert Lieder with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, probably Die Schone Mullerin, with Gerald Moore accompanying. What? WHAT?? What was I hearing? There was Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's voice as big as the entire rear wall of my listening room. It sounded like he was inside this huge resonant barrel. I had never before heard anything so bloated and unrealistic in my life! Once I got it into my head that the aspect of the Bose's that made orchestral music so seductive and spacious--that spraying of sound all over the rear wall of the listening room--meant that EVERYTHING was going to be similarly sprayed. The speaker's sonic perspective completely overwhelmed the performer's. In the case of an intimate single voice, a solo instrumentalist or any other small-scale source fuggedaboudit. No, no, NO, this would NOT DO.
So back to Audio Associates I went with my "Legends" from Bose. I bought a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls, my first pair of monster-sized, hi-eff speakers, and never looked back.
That is the experience of one owner of Bose 901 speakers--their top of the line at the time.
Any others of you out there have another take on these speakers?
Enjoy your music,
George Roland
