Bose is like Apple in discarding . . .

[skyfly]

Apple was in the forefront in quickly discarding zip drive, CD/DVD drive, . . .

Bose is discarding passive speakers, 901 VI Series 2 (this one was somewhat like active speaker in the sense that it has line level EQ as opposed to speaker level EQ circuit - EQphobias, please note that typical passive loudspeakers have EQ circuit built in as a part of the crossover circuit -) in 2016, . . ., AM5 Version ?, 201 V, . . . now 301 V in 2021, . . .

See their current Stereo Speakers, only four models left: Bose Stereo Speakers

The passive AM (Acoustimass) 10(?) (to be used with AV receivers from Onkyo, etc.) under Home Theatre speaker is no more there. Only active speakers are left: Bose Home Theatre Speakers

 

[restorer-john]

Their website is a joke. Their pitch is aimed at goodness knows who. A mess if you ask me.

https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose.html

is this all they have?

How to utterly destroy a brand in a few woke steps....

 

[Helicopter]

Just following the money. The stuff they retain here is low cost high margin cash cow product, and the stuff they are focused on developing, i.e., bluetooth, smart, battery powered, etc., is high volume.

Other sensible companies are doing the same. Harman Kardon dropped all their amps and receivers for soundbars and put the receiver tech in 5x as expensive retro JBL gear. As long as you don't ruin your brand, you should follow the market.

Edit: Bose and Harman Kardon are evolved brands anyway. I think of NC headphones and those clear alien speakers before I think of the cool 1960-1990 stuff.

 

[skyfly]

Discarding passive speakers are in-line with Audio Science Review philosophy, I roughly guess.

The idea of selling passive speakers is to allow customers to enjoy the difference in the sound of amplifiers from Mark Levinson, Audio Research, Krell, Naim, Sony, Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, Panasonic, Topping, Benchmark, Musical Fidelity, Crown, Behringer, etc.

As long as the amps pass certain Audio Precision measurement threshold, the difference in the perceived sound quality is nonsense, according to some people, or according to the "science" of hearing.

 

[wrat]

Had a friend who had 901's back in the ''80,s HOLY crap they could play LOUD , concert level, chase you outta the room loud

 

[restorer-john]

Discarding passive speakers are in-line with Audio Science Review philosophy, I roughly guess.

The idea of selling passive speakers is to allow customers to enjoy the difference in the sound of amplifiers from Mark Levinson, Audio Research, Krell, Naim, Sony, Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, Panasonic, Topping, Benchmark, Musical Fidelity, Crown, Behringer, etc.

As long as the amps pass certain Audio Precision measurement threshold, the difference in the perceived sound quality is nonsense, according to some people, or according to the "science" of hearing.

With respect, I don't agree.

There's a huge number of ASR members and audio aficonados who have zero interest in active speakers or DSP based "solutions" systems. It's the younger ," I know best based on science" guys that think they are on the bleeding edge of correctness. They need to grow up a bit.

Many ways to skin a cat as they say. (such a horrible saying).

Personally, I had the idealistic "let's DSP everything until it is perfect" ideals many years ago, until I realized it just didn't work across the board. It's what works for you. I love passive speakers. They are tone controls themselves. Just make sure you have 10-20 pairs to play with...

 

[skyfly]

Playing a pair of $1400 (USD) home hi-fi speaker at concert level loudness -> poor sound quality? That is typical, not a character of Bose 901.

 

[restorer-john]

Playing a pair of $1400 (USD) home hi-fi speaker at concert level loudness -> poor sound quality? That is typical, not a character of Bose 901.

Bose 901s can easily hit concert hall levels and absorb vast amounts of power. That isn't in contention. They do however sound absolutely horrible most of the time.

 

[skyfly]

Bose 901s can easily hit concert hall levels and absorb vast amounts of power. That isn't in contention. They do however sound absolutely horrible most of the time.

In my listening, Bose 901 VI had the usual character of $1400 (USD) speakers. At small or moderately loud normal home listening volume with very careful set up and EQ setting, they sound listenable. When I turned the volume up for very enthusiastic listening, the ease, composure, etc. were gone, just like the sound with other speakers at similar price range. Based on this experience, I would not say a single pair of 901s can play at concert level loudness.

I have seen concert level 901s at a small size theatre(I was surprised to see 901s instead of 802s hanging from the ceiling), and disco level at a discotech. However, low bass was reduced for 901s and pro audio subwoofers were used.

Bose 802s playing music at concert level are also fed with bass cut signal.

 

[Mart68]

Discarding passive speakers are in-line with Audio Science Review philosophy, I roughly guess.

The idea of selling passive speakers is to allow customers to enjoy the difference in the sound of amplifiers from Mark Levinson, Audio Research, Krell, Naim, Sony, Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, Panasonic, Topping, Benchmark, Musical Fidelity, Crown, Behringer, etc.

As long as the amps pass certain Audio Precision measurement threshold, the difference in the perceived sound quality is nonsense, according to some people, or according to the "science" of hearing.

Nope, I use Krells because they don't care what load you present them with thus eliminating the only drawback of a passive speaker and letting me use any speaker I like.

I've no interest in listening to the differences in the sounds of amplifiers.

 

[Katji]

[...]
The idea of selling passive speakers is to allow customers to enjoy the difference in the sound of amplifiers from Mark Levinson, Audio Research, Krell, Naim, Sony, Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, Panasonic, Topping, Benchmark, Musical Fidelity, Crown, Behringer, etc.

As long as the amps pass certain Audio Precision measurement threshold, the difference in the perceived sound quality is nonsense, according to some people, or according to the "science" of hearing.

Why the quotes? The science of hearing is Audiology. And it interfaces or intersects with Neurology and so on.

 

[hvbias]

With respect, I don't agree.

There's a huge number of ASR members and audio aficonados who have zero interest in active speakers or DSP based "solutions" systems. It's the younger ," I know best based on science" guys that think they are on the bleeding edge of correctness. They need to grow up a bit.

Many ways to skin a cat as they say. (such a horrible saying).

Personally, I had the idealistic "let's DSP everything until it is perfect" ideals many years ago, until I realized it just didn't work across the board. It's what works for you. I love passive speakers. They are tone controls themselves. Just make sure you have 10-20 pairs to play with...

Has nothing to do with age, seen people from their 20s to their 70s embrace the future. If there is a skew to people that grew up on digital then this is because of the huge number of audiophiles still listening to vinyl and clinging onto their rack full of preamps, tubes, monoblocks for dear life.

Only a single pair required not 10-20.

 

[MrPeabody]

Discarding passive speakers are in-line with Audio Science Review philosophy, I roughly guess.

The idea of selling passive speakers is to allow customers to enjoy the difference in the sound of amplifiers from Mark Levinson, Audio Research, Krell, Naim, Sony, Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, Panasonic, Topping, Benchmark, Musical Fidelity, Crown, Behringer, etc.

As long as the amps pass certain Audio Precision measurement threshold, the difference in the perceived sound quality is nonsense, according to some people, or according to the "science" of hearing.

I think it is reasonable to say that one major reason that most people still prefer passive speakers is that they want to also own and use a separate amplifier of their own choosing. However, the fact that many people have a strong preference for a separate external amplifier and for a particular brand of amplifier is not evidence that these preferences derive from any real difference in sound.

 

[LightninBoy]

The reasons I use passive in the HT room:

1. I've got a Bryston amp. I payed for that monster, so I'm going to use it gosh darn it
2. My HT room is wired for passive (rack is in the back of the room, in wall speaker wire runs to all the speaker positions)
3. Not many active speakers designed for HT/Far field at reference levels in my price range. Yes I like it loud.

Now on my desktop rig - yep, active all the way.

As for Bose, I think going active just makes sense for them as a lifestyle company.

 

[JonfromCB]

All of us old guys who were paying attention learned a very fundamental concept from Bose. Back in the day, Bose had a fleet of 18 wheelers that traveled from town to town selling virtually millions of their surround systems. They perfectly placed the speakers (height, distance, angle) of their surround system, then perfectly placed a single customer in the MLP and played HQ/high separation surround sound tracks. It worked. Consumers had never heard anything like the Bose Surround systems and literally bought them by the truck load. Unfortunately realty hit when people got them home and poorly placed the mediocre speakers and played lower quality commercial surround content and within a few short years the huge marketing boom was over for Bose and they had a bad reputation because they didn't take their products to the next level. That downward product spiral continues to be their business model appearantly.

So what was the lesson some of us learned from Bose? Proper speaker placement makes all the difference...that a surround sound system with mediocre speakers, when perfectly placed can sound rather spectacular and much higher quality speakers poorly placed makes for a surround system that sucks.

 

[tomtoo]

I think dsp'ed active speakers are the future. With dsp solutions getting cheaper and cheaper, the advantages for speaker design are to big to get ignored.

 

[Chrispy]

I tend to think of both as things not to think much about....

 

[tomtoo]

I tend to think of both as things not to think much about....

As a german i hate your sentence. I have always to watch out not to mix up that thing,think thing. Couse it sounds for me so similar.

 

[Chrispy]

As a german i hate your sentence. I have always to watch out not to mix up that thing,think thing. Couse it sounds for me so similar.

Having had a German partner in business for 10 years, I pretty much hate all German sentence compositions and written propositions what with the odd capitlizations and odd structure. He was just horrible! I don't think you're in his league.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Bose, a quintessential marketing company, is the arbiter of absolutely noting as far as I'm concerned.

Active speakers have struck me as the ideal solution for multichannel home theater systems -- what a pity there are so few affordable yet competent AV processors.