That’s kinda my take on Bose, too. It’s not that they’re bad, it’s just that you can do a lot better for the price. But the Bose sound is very approachable, and honestly, I’ve been known to recommend them to people that I know won’t take the time to go to a serious hi-fi store to audition real gear to find the perfect speaker/headphone, and who aren’t pressed for cash.
Back in the 70s, it was different. The Bose 901, which could be argued was not consumer level, was way, way out in front of the competition. I'll tell you a little story.
Back around 1981 my friend and I both had Yamaha RD/Daytona 400 two stroke cafe racers. We were out on Friday night, and we were going to his brother in laws to score a joint. So we're tearing down the back roads, and he pulls over about 300 yards from his brother in laws, down the same street. He says, "hey, turn off your bike. So I sitting there thing "WTF, let's go." He says, "Listen. Do you hear it?' And, I'm like, "Uh yea, sound like someone is having a party with a live band." He laughed, and said, yeah, that's Wiggie's (His bro in always nic name) and Kim's (his sister) party. Casey (friend) brought over his 901s he got back in 1968, after he came back from Vietnam."
I mean, you could hear those things clearly 300 yards away--no, not the bass, they weren't bass speakers anyway--but the horns of Steely Dan, OMG! I mean, it sounded like live music. If I remember correctly, those old 901s didn't have any peak power or continuous power rating on them. They just said something like "feed them tons of power. The more the louder they will get."
LOOK WHAT I FOUND! From the Bose Website, the 1968-72 original Bose spec sheet, or owners' manual, cause you know, this is all you need to F-iing know about the 1968-72 901:
901 Direct/Reflecting speaker system: Sold from 1968 - 1973
https://assets.bose.com/content/dam/Bose_DAM/Web/consumer_electronics/global/products/speakers/901_DirectReflecting_speaker_system_series1/pdf/owg_en_901_series1.pdfhttps://www.bose.com/en_us/support/products/bose_speakers_support/bose_stereo_support/901_series1.htmlThis is it, not graphs, nothing.
