I know nothing about putting speakers together. This is my first time. Thanks for understanding my incorrect use of terminology and stupid ideas.
I have fallen in love with the Bose 901 II design aesthetic. I would like to build my own but with a more conventional driver setup. I think I like the idea of 89% of the sound coming from the back, and 11% coming from the front since I can only afford cheap drivers. This ratio doesn’t need to be perfect.
How would you setup speakers to do something like that? I assume you would do a combination of sub/mid/tweeter. Which go on front and which on back keeping in mind the back has 2 panels and should be balanced.
I don’t know that I need specific driver recommendations at this point (but happy to hear them). I’m just looking for direction and what to look for.
I have fallen in love with the Bose 901 II design aesthetic. I would like to build my own but with a more conventional driver setup. I think I like the idea of 89% of the sound coming from the back, and 11% coming from the front since I can only afford cheap drivers. This ratio doesn’t need to be perfect.
How would you setup speakers to do something like that? I assume you would do a combination of sub/mid/tweeter. Which go on front and which on back keeping in mind the back has 2 panels and should be balanced.
I don’t know that I need specific driver recommendations at this point (but happy to hear them). I’m just looking for direction and what to look for.
I wouldn't. Sorry.
The large-fraction-of-the-sound-going-backwards idea isn't a good one IMO.
You could take a design cue from these guys: Dutch & Dutch - 8c. Completely accurate music reproduction
And fire the LF out the back of the cabinet and the mid/treble from the front.
Chris
The large-fraction-of-the-sound-going-backwards idea isn't a good one IMO.
You could take a design cue from these guys: Dutch & Dutch - 8c. Completely accurate music reproduction
And fire the LF out the back of the cabinet and the mid/treble from the front.
Chris
You could just do standard 2 way speakers on each of the back panels and then something similar on the front. Or maybe just a good fullrange on the front. With 8 small drivers on the back, the Bose might be more diffuse.
Interesting project, good luck and welcome to the forum!
P.S. I have built a few "Stereo in one cabinet" speakers what looked sort of like the 901 with the pointy end facing the listener. A 2-way on each angled panel but no rear firing drivers. Worked well!
Interesting project, good luck and welcome to the forum!
P.S. I have built a few "Stereo in one cabinet" speakers what looked sort of like the 901 with the pointy end facing the listener. A 2-way on each angled panel but no rear firing drivers. Worked well!
Think of it this way - if you had actual performers setup to play in your listening space, how much sound would be coming from the back of the group, versus the front?
It sounds like you'd be an "OB" fan. This is a type of cabinet-less speaker where sound does come out the back, as well as the from the front side of the speaker. In different proportions to what the 901 does, but nevertheless similar in this way.
Super easy to build and there are designs that support a limited budget for construction. (Of course, the sky's the limit regarding how much $ you could spend, as with all things audio) I like mine - and I got away with spending significantly less than $1000 for both.
Whenever I turn my system on, their depth, clarity and coherency always grab my attention, giving me pause to stop and listen no matter what else I'm doing. Sometimes, I have to be careful something isnt burning on the stove when I fall into their sound!
There are many such "OB" and "WAW" designs which can do that, many available here. Welcome to the forum!
It sounds like you'd be an "OB" fan. This is a type of cabinet-less speaker where sound does come out the back, as well as the from the front side of the speaker. In different proportions to what the 901 does, but nevertheless similar in this way.
Super easy to build and there are designs that support a limited budget for construction. (Of course, the sky's the limit regarding how much $ you could spend, as with all things audio) I like mine - and I got away with spending significantly less than $1000 for both.
Whenever I turn my system on, their depth, clarity and coherency always grab my attention, giving me pause to stop and listen no matter what else I'm doing. Sometimes, I have to be careful something isnt burning on the stove when I fall into their sound!
There are many such "OB" and "WAW" designs which can do that, many available here. Welcome to the forum!
I agree with you about the great mid-century modern design aesthetic. Unfortunately the speakers sound is limited in many ways. If you are stuck on the rear facing driver design your best bet is to find some old cheap 901s and restore them. With the dedicated eq that goes with them and enough watts many people would be satisfied with the sound.
If it was me I would abandon the rear facing speaker design but keep the shape ((aesthetics). With this shape you could make a very cool folded horn design (think klipsch horn or lascala) with a 6.5 or 8” woofer with a conventional tweeter or mid/tweeter on the front panel. If you like the horn sound you could go with a horn tweeter as well but it might require more tuning or specific placement.
Whatever you do don’t forget the tulip stands.
If it was me I would abandon the rear facing speaker design but keep the shape ((aesthetics). With this shape you could make a very cool folded horn design (think klipsch horn or lascala) with a 6.5 or 8” woofer with a conventional tweeter or mid/tweeter on the front panel. If you like the horn sound you could go with a horn tweeter as well but it might require more tuning or specific placement.
Whatever you do don’t forget the tulip stands.
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Bose employed small, full range drivers and an equalizer to boost the bass.
I recommend you similarly look at small, full range drivers which would greatly simplify the design for a beginner such as yourself.
Members may be able to recommend suitable drivers and advise on their use as multiples in the same enclosure.
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Do you want to keep the pointed back and flat front? You can keep that form and the look but do a more standard 1 way speaker.
I used to be a hifi salesman when I was about 19. I worked in a fairly high end store on the east coast (States) in 1987. The Bose 901 was definitely a contentious speaker and caused quite a controversy. Many audiophiles hate them because of all the EQ trickery Bose engineered into them to get all those little non-direct full range drivers to sound pleasant. Audiophiles criticized them for lack of clarity and detail. I agree with this to some extent. They always sounded warm to my ears. But man, they did play loud!
We sold the Bose 901 series V.
We had them setup in a heavily sound treated listening room that was "live" (refective) along the back wall behind the speakers and "live" along the side walls just past the plane of the speakers. While I don't think they were the most accurate speakers i've ever heard, they did have a live, open sound. They came closer to reproducing live music in some cases (with some types of music) than anything else I had heard at the time. We drove them with some pretty powerful Carver amps. Once or twice, some colleagues and myself wanted to see how much power they could take. The 901 was rated to handle from 10 to 450 watts (8ohms), so yeah pretty much unlimited power based on the amplifiers available at the time. I remember driving them to the point where we had to leave the listening room and closed the sliding glass doors. Without an ounce of audible distortion, those speakers vibrated that glass to the point where we honestly thought it would shatter any moment. Of course my colleagues and I were heavily scolded by the manager, as there were customers in the store at the time. We were young and stupid, but it was fun and one of the customers in the store ended up buying a pair, so it all ended well I guess...
The idea of direct/reflection is a good one if you have the right type of listening room. That's one of the issues with the 901 design. It relied heavily on the listener placing them in a fairly large room where the back wall (behind the speakers) was free of curtains and other items to break up reflections. There were better designs at the time that accomplished the direct/reflection concept without sacrificing sound quality or relying on fancy equalization. Ohm Walsh speakers were one such design that excelled at the live, open sound, while having clarity and detail at the same time.
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I was listening to some live performer once and blown away by how good his speakers were.
Turned out to be a pair of Bose 901's turned "wrong way around" all things considered that is probably the best way to use them, with an appropriate subwoofer.
Do we have a "tongue in cheek' emoji?
Turned out to be a pair of Bose 901's turned "wrong way around" all things considered that is probably the best way to use them, with an appropriate subwoofer.
Do we have a "tongue in cheek' emoji?
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