Bose Speaker Measurements & Frequency Response Graphs

[Joe Schmoe]

(Trivia question: How many speakers are in a Bose 901 and what is the size?)

I am thinking it was something like 48 2-inchers.

 

[Exit]

I don't know the real answer to the 901 speaker question but I thought they might have been 4" speakers.

 

[Swerd]

The first Bose 901s in 1968 had 9 identical speakers in each cabinet. One speaker faced forward and the other 8 were on the angled back. I believe they were 4" speakers.

Yes, they required a very high powered amp. In the late 60s and early 70s, big amps were a lot more expensive than full range speakers - unlike today.

I remember hearing some, and I was bothered by their sound. It seemed to come from all over the place. Also, if you listened to a single voice or instrument, the image seemed much too large to be real. That may have been because of poor placement, I don't know.

The 901s changed quite a lot over the years, and subsequent versions were not at all like the originals.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

The first Bose 901s in 1968 had 9 identical speakers in each cabinet. One speaker faced forward and the other 8 were on the angled back. I believe they were 4" speakers.

My guess was rather high, then.

 

[mtrycrafts]

My guess was rather high, then.

You must have though that number for a complement of 5 surround speakers Then you were pretty close

 

[The Chukker]

Sorta on topic...

I receive the monthly mag "M" from Magnolia Hi-Fi here is Seattle; I think I qualified for the free subscription when I spent x amount of dollars in their stores -- there has only been two issues so far. Don't get me wrong, this isn't intended to be anecdotal of buyers remorse, actually on the contrary I enjoy the great service I get there. Anyhoo, the mag features full length pictorials (ooh, sounds dirty) on member systems that coincidentally feature products that Magnolia carries. Some of the systems are breathtaking, but seriously there are plenty of members here whose systems put theirs to shame. They also do an industry "insider" look at certain companies, the first month featured the Pioneer Kuro line of plasmas, the current issue has a great article on McIntosh with some neat pics of the assembly line and their in house anechoic chamber.
Here's the rub:
Both issues feature an "informative" article written by an industry insider explaining the ins and outs of HT for the common man. The first issue's article was written a Magnolia employee explaining the qualitative differences between LCD and Plasma panels; no big deal.
The second issue however, features an article by Bill Low (president of AudioQuest) titled "Why all HDMI cables are not the same". >groan<
I quote: "AudioQuest is also pushing the frontier of HDMI assembly technology, using cold welding or wave soldering to ensure secure, reliable connections between the cable and connector."
Ok ok, I know this is the company that sells cables with batteries for thousands of dollars, everybody knows that and that isn't the point here.
What is "cold welding" and "wave soldering", and what benefit if any does it have on the digital signal transmitted over HDMI?

 

[Halon451]

Sounds like a bunch of BS to me, as usual. Cold soldering techniques, best as I can recall have to do with pressing two metals together under vacuum in order to molecularly bond certain points along each surface, or some such thing to that effect.

Wave soldering is a technique commonly used with printed circuit boards - instead of taking time to manually solder every single component onto the board, all components are placed in their positions and then the entire PCB is "washed" through molten solder, so that all components have the exact same specifications WRT each solder joint - uniformity. Works well as a means of increasing production while lowering costs in this application.

What I fail to see is how either of these techniques have anything to do with a freaking HDMI cable... I wouldn't say that either one would lead to any difference in digital signal transmission whatsoever, just a cool catchphrase to get people's attention and make them buy into it, even though they have no idea what it is in the first place.

 

[fiosmeup]

I just got a Bose wave radio ll. Took it out of the box and the remote did not work, thats the only way to control the radio I called Bose on Saturday and got great customer service within 5 minutes, I completed call and they said they would ship out a new remote right away, Tuesday night I got the remote( 2 days)
The radio works great( only a radio), but it is not worth the retail of $349.00. The reason I have it because I won it in a sales contest.
The support was impresive though.
Dave

 

[captiankirk28]

I was goofing around and thought i would see what bose had to say about frequency response, thought i would share it with everyone.




Bose Response to me:
Bose's Response: Thank you for your inquiry. Bose Corporation does not publish frequency responses, simply because they are not accurate and usually will mislead the customer.
Frequency responses are usually measured with testing equipment set up in an anechoic chamber. An anechoic chamber is an isolated room designed so that sound will not reflect off any surfaces. Giving out such frequency response results is terrific- for those people who live in anechoic chambers! Most of us listen to our systems in rooms with very reflective surfaces, such as plaster, brick, glass, and dry wall, so the frequency response that a manufacturer may supply is no longer accurate. Just as no two rooms have the same dimensions, nor are they decorated exactly the same or have the same construction, no two rooms will sound the same when using the exact same speakers and amplifier.
For example, if you were to place any speaker in a room with no carpeting and wooden furniture, you would hear something completely different than if they were placed in a room with shag carpeting and plush furniture. Perhaps
this can be equated by imagining a single lighted candle placed in a room with completely black floors, walls and ceiling. Obviously, the same candle when placed in a room with white surroundings will appear to be emitting
much more light than when placed in the first room with black surroundings, as the light will reflect a great deal more off the white surfaces. Sound reflects off surfaces, much like light does. The surroundings make the speakers sound different in the same manner, because they actually are able to reproduce different frequencies via sound reflection and speaker placement.

We hope you do not take the fact that we do not publish speaker frequency responses personally. We do not publish our speakers specifications to anybody, whether it be before or after they have purchased a speaker system of ours. We simply invite our customers ....

 

[Seth=L]

 

[no. 5]

Bose speakers with tweeters! Far out!

 

[Halon451]

I was goofing around and thought i would see what bose had to say about frequency response, thought i would share it with everyone.




Bose Response to me:
Bose's Response: Thank you for your inquiry. Bose Corporation does not publish frequency responses, simply because they are not accurate and usually will mislead the customer.
Frequency responses are usually measured with testing equipment set up in an anechoic chamber. An anechoic chamber is an isolated room designed so that sound will not reflect off any surfaces. Giving out such frequency response results is terrific- for those people who live in anechoic chambers! Most of us listen to our systems in rooms with very reflective surfaces, such as plaster, brick, glass, and dry wall, so the frequency response that a manufacturer may supply is no longer accurate. Just as no two rooms have the same dimensions, nor are they decorated exactly the same or have the same construction, no two rooms will sound the same when using the exact same speakers and amplifier.
For example, if you were to place any speaker in a room with no carpeting and wooden furniture, you would hear something completely different than if they were placed in a room with shag carpeting and plush furniture. Perhaps
this can be equated by imagining a single lighted candle placed in a room with completely black floors, walls and ceiling. Obviously, the same candle when placed in a room with white surroundings will appear to be emitting
much more light than when placed in the first room with black surroundings, as the light will reflect a great deal more off the white surfaces. Sound reflects off surfaces, much like light does. The surroundings make the speakers sound different in the same manner, because they actually are able to reproduce different frequencies via sound reflection and speaker placement.

We hope you do not take the fact that we do not publish speaker frequency responses personally. We do not publish our speakers specifications to anybody, whether it be before or after they have purchased a speaker system of ours. We simply invite our customers ....

Priceless..... And par for the course.

 

[captiankirk28]

Priceless..... And par for the course.

Thats what i thought also.

 

[Twexcom]

Yes, very helpful article.

 

[SpunkyDDog]

Well, as long as bose is buying up ad space via google, then audioholics will continue to afford keeping this great site up:

It's almost ironic, eh?

 

[stratman]

Now that's just evil!

 

[dorokusai]

I forgot about that link and didn't have it in my favorites.....thanks!

Mark
Polk Audio CS

 

[Len44]

VERY interesting...this "intellexual" entity. Anyone ever noodle around further on this individual's site? "Axe to grind" is almost an understatement...

I realize that every audioholic instantly recognized the Bose 901's as inferior, bad-sounding speakers from the moment they were introduced -- unlike a fairly wide segment of the audio reviewers at the time. But, I also recognize that it is fashionable to bash anything Bose these days...

BTW, while I have long since moved on, my Series IV 901's sounded mighty good driven by a (also lowly) Sansui 5000 -- about 65 watts per channel, as I recall. PLENTY of power. Of course, I actually READ the manual and FOLLOWED the set-up directions. I have actually witnessed folks who had 901's set up with with their rear pointed INTO THE CORNERS of their room. Sound was not too good... Also, had to have the equalizer utilized properly.

Anyhoo, just my (contrarian) thoughts...

 

[no. 5]

But, I also recognize that it is fashionable to bash anything Bose these days...

How about because it's inferior? Seriously, did you SEE the frequency response graph from Sound & Vision?

 

[mike c]

+-10.5db?

that's like saying i look like Brad Pitt +-a gazillion points.