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From: ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: A-B CD comments
Message-ID: <264@moncol.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Apr-85 10:51:01 EST
Article-I.D.: moncol.264
Posted: Tue Apr 23 10:51:01 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 24-Apr-85 05:29:13 EST
References: <260@moncol.UUCP>, <3612@alice.UUCP>
Organization: Monmouth College, West Long Branch, NJ 07764
Lines: 39


>> The BOSE tends to be very forgiving of suboptimal sources, and might
>> lack the resolution to differentiate between the players.
>
>I would like to see your evidence for this claim.



The BOSE 901 is used in many commercial applications in our area:
bars, nightclubs, etc.  As such,  I have had many opportunities to
compare its sound to friends B&Ws, Theils, Celestions as well as to my
own ProAcs.  First, I think the fact that professionals have chosen
the speaker for sound reinforcement is a clear indicator of the
speaker's strengths:  It has great power handling capability, and puts
out reasonably good sound, despite mishandled records played on
turntables designed for durability rather than sonic excellence.
Second, to my ears, they fall far short of any of the above speakers
in terms of imaging, depth, dimensionality, and transient response.
Third, the critics have had little good to say about this speaker the
last five years.  The Absolute Sound has joked about the speaker, and
even the mainstream pulications like High Fidelity seemed more
impressed that BOSE has been able to update the speaker and keep it
a major force in the marketplace than they were about its
reproduction.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the BOSE 901.  What is does, it
does well.  It is still a reasonable alternative for someone who likes
to listen to rock music at high volumes, or for whom the ability to
achieve a reasonable stereo image from almost any place in the room
is important, or who just like the sound of the speaker.  BOSE has
sold an awful lot of these speakers, people do like the sound of them.
But I don't think you would find any professional who would claim that
the speaker is state of the art in upper mid-range and treble detail,
or in imaging properties.  And these properties, as I pointed out in
my previous article, are where the major differences in CD players
lie.

               Ben Broder
               {petsd,pesnta,princeton}!moncol!ben