Bose 901 Series VI - Walnut Surround Packages Speaker

Needs a Technology Update

By Steve S  Mar 1, 2006 | 4 out of 4 found this Bose 901 Series VI - Walnut review helpful

Pros: None

Cons: Price, Performance, Frequency Response, Styling

Bose really needs to update this speaker system. The weakness is the reliance on full range 4" drivers which simply cannot reproduce the full spectrum of 20Hz-20Khz. The preamp equalizer tries to adjust for this but ends up making the sound hars...h by adjusting the gain levels at the extreme ends of the audible sound spectrums. The system also isn't magnetically shielded, so keep it away from any televisions or video cassettes. Styling is dated, with 70's style grille cloth and organic looking speaker stands. Connectors are old style screw terminals rather than more common banana plug sockets. Sound output is dull and mostly midrange. Even with the equalizer you will be cranking up your bass and treble to compensate. Speakers are poorly made paper cone with foam roll edges. They use strange 1-ohm speaker drivers so there are few 3rd party manufacturers that offer replacements. Speakers look to be wired in series, which makes sense due to the low 1-ohm load of the individual speakers. Price is extremely high for what you get. Even the cabinets are poor quality, with wood laminate over simple MDF rather than any sort of quality solid wood top/bottom pieces. The direct/reflecting layout makes placement very difficult to get good sound. I don't see the advantage over regular speakers which can reproduce better sound at 1/10 the price. Read more Less