Bose 301 series 1, circa 1975. Anyone know these?

[spider_duggan]

I was given a set of Bose 301 series 1 speakers while helping a friend move to a new house.

Does anyone have experience with these speakers? Does anyone know the specs? (response, max power handling, sensitivity...)

I'm running one of them through an Onkyo tx-sr602 (85 watt/ch) as a center channel until I buy a Klipsch center, then the speakers will be used as surrounds.

I did find a way to replace the foam around the woofer. This site offers a kit, with a DVD guide.
http://www.wooferrepair.com/

Has anyone repaired a set? Are they worth repairing for $30.

Does anyone know where to find the black speaker covers that come with the speakers? It looks like air filter material for a furnace! I wonder if Bose sold off the technology to furnace companies?

Finally, I adjusted the speakers to match the RF-15 fronts that I'm using, and had to increase the volume on the Bose center by 4 dB. Is that okay? They seem to sound/work, very good!

thanks,
Dan

This is a picture of my 301s, but not mine. I'm missing the top foam corner for both speakers.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Spider,

Those speakers are a great garage or basement speaker when in working order, but not worth investing money in. They use very inexpensive drivers. Bose technology back then was how they positioned their drivers, and not the drivers themselves. Any speaker that old would need new drivers, not repaired. The magnets and voice coils will not perform like they did when new, so repairing a foam surround is a waste of money. You can buy drivers on the net if the cabinets and grills are in good shape, but don't put a lot of time and effort into them. There's a reason they were given to you, because it wasn't worth it to repair them.

 

[spider_duggan]

Thanks Buckeyefan_1, you've motivated me to get ride of these speakers instead of fixing them. And of course, I'm getting the center and sub tonight because even an old center has shown me what I'm missing with only a 2 speaker system

 

[mulester7]

.....Spider, you ain't been showed nuthin'....wait till you get a center and three pair down the sides....I concur on your issue....don't we love our rubber-surround speaker element cones?....well, except for those who own the bug fryers.....

 

[spider_duggan]

Well, I'll be showed it by late next week, when my new gear arrives! adding to the RF-15 fronts will be a set of RB-25 for surround, RC-35 center, RW-12 keeping the lows low. Will the Onkyo 602 handle it without becoming a space heater?

 

[mulester7]

.....Spider, I suspect the Onkyo will be fine....they are a recognized name for sure....when you parallel two 8 ohm speakers, a higher resistance load of 4 ohms is presented to the amp section which results in more voltage required to overcome the resistance and the amp section kicks more watts and heats up....but when you wire two 8 ohm speakers in series, the resistance load presented to the amp section is lessened to 16 ohms....your amp needs less voltage to keep up volume-wise with fewer watts being needed and the amp remains cooler....there could be a combination of these two types of wirings to the output posts in 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 surround receivers to keep the resistance factor to the amp sections, of which I believe there are two, at an acceptable level of the resistance presented to them for longevity of the unit via less heat, I don't know....Buck said the best settings to him were "stereo", and "seven channel stereo....guys, seven channels of discrete signal source would need seven independent amp sections....current sources only input two discrete signals, left and right....DVD players, CD players, tuner sections, and even phono's included.....

 

[mulester7]

.....long live stereo....cost factors demand it....took another couple of days off vacation....going to Oaklawn monday....Clint, I'm your biggest fan....seriously....nite all......

 

[mulester7]

.....well, I went elsewhere and red a little, yeah, it leaves no doubt, and kept thinking about that word stereo....I guess I was, because something came to me I wanted to come back and report....remember the Black Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson?....you know, the olympian who had to give a gold medal or six back when he tested positive for steroids in about '92?....six months after the stripping and back home, Johnson was heard to mutter, "I still say I didn't take no damned stereo"....to bed....yeah, night owl.....