Speakers - BOSE 901 Series VI

I'd always wanted a pair of BOSE 901 speakers, and when a friend called me one Saturday morning from an estate sale in Orange, California saying there was a pair with good driver surrounds for $100, I didn't hesitate, "Grab 'em!" I said over the phone, and felt a satisfying chill run down my spine.

What I forgot about was the fact that these need the BOSE active equalization unit, and I had to buy that separately off of eBay - oh well. Once up and running these sounded terrific. Of course, I also didn't have the stands for them, so I set them atop my JBL Century's for a few weeks while auditioning them. That worked fine, but looked pretty junky. The thought came to mind to purchase stands, but other speakers arrived, and as is the life of a fickle collector, my honeymoon with the 901s soon faded. I stored them for a few months and finally ended up selling them to a buddy of mine.

The main problem with these speakers, for me anyway, was the fact that they were very sensitive to placement. They wanted to be a certain distance from the corners in an otherwise uncluttered space. My room dynamics just didn't lend to the "perfect" listening space for these babies. Other than that - they sounded fine and had terrific imaging with the radiated sound waves. Had to be in the sweet spot though as with most speakers.

Have any experiences with your BOSE 901 speakers? Please leave a comment or shoot me an email.

What's it worth? With BOSE 901 Equalizer and walnut cabinet
Good: $500
Fair: $350
As in photo (no equalizer): $250

Goodbye BOSE 1801

After three months or so of LOVING the idea of having a rare, vintage BOSE 1801 amplifier, I decided to sell it. Two weeks ago I took it to Brooks Berdan, LTD in Monrovia, CA and had them test it, replace a binding post, check to make sure all the diodes had been replaced by the previous owner. It tested fine - 260 wpc at .08% THD - well within the distortion spec and outside the wattage rating of 250 wpc. I was very pleased.

After running it last weekend, though, I was disappointed to find it didn't like the warm environment of the loft nor the confined space I had it in. The protection circuit kicked in after about six hours at moderate volume. Not bad, considering , but I knew I'd be worried about running it up there for any amount of time. So, not wanting to simply shelve the unit for any number of years until I can accommodate a better operating environment, I decided to let someone else enjoy it.

Ever experience a bittersweet moment of separation with any of your gear? Tell us about it. Misery, after all, loves company :)

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Power Amplifier - Bose 1801

This is a truly beautiful beast. Eighty-two pounds and 250 wpc of pure 1970-something power. So far it sounds great. Looks good too for its age. . .better than the photographer anyway. I swapped out the Adcom GFA535 on the bench for this and BOY did that little guy sound anemic compared to this amp! I know, I know - all my preaching about there being no real difference in amp sound, yadda yadda. Double blind me - I dare ya!

Maybe I just WANT this to sound so much better because lifting it onto the work bench caused my L7 vertibrae to fly out of my spine like a spastic skeet and careen off the shop light.

More reports on this as time goes on. I believe this one deserves to be fully reconditioned. Your thoughts?