Bose model 100’s

[AlzalzS]

Hello,

I currently use a 5.1 Denon receiver. With the speakers I use, Bose model 100’s x4 and the Bose vcs-10 for center channel and a JBL powerbass10 for subwoofer. It says the speakers are rated (Bose model 100’s) 10-80watts 4-8ohms. Not exactly sure what that means! But the receiver is the denon avr-1801. I’m not here to complain about the sound, it’s great and all. However, when comparing to other speakers; such as a single outdoor speaker at my nearest bar and grill showed me that the vocals/bass on that one speaker are so much louder and just straight up different compared to the sound from my setup.

I just learned about class a / b / ab/ d amplifier types, and they’re specs toward sound.

It makes me wonder if I got a different receiver geared or based on the specs of my speakers, if my denon receiver maybe is capping the full potential of my sound system. Switching from stereo and 5 channel stereo, the sound is very different. It is not as if 5 channel stereo takes the 2 channel and repeats the same sound to my surrounds and center.

Again, I am okay with the sound, but sometimes I just wonder….. this seems to be the only place to ask

Plz lemme know what you all think, by the way I also tried out the wharfedale diamond 12.2s on my receiver and also on the Cambridge audio 85watts/channel axr85, and the denon was better. Perhaps if I checked out some reviews here on the speakers and that receiver I might have seen benchmarks that highlight exactly why I did not like that setup despite the system costing about 1300 bucks for a 2.0 stereo. Returned those 2 products asap.

I think efficiency is more important than power ratings. Also I think the 5 channel stereo lowers the watts per channel and ohms increases but that’s when the speakers efficiency kicks in to still produce what good sound it can.

 

[AnalogSteph]

The Bose Model 100 is a fairly small speaker sporting a single 4.5" fullrange driver (and weighing 3 kg the pair), so it's a good thing you have a sub. The Denon should be set up accordingly, i.e. "Small" speakers. The center with its four 2.5" drivers definitely falls into that category. (I would suggest turning that sideways and placing it above the TV or something, which should help out with the dispersion a fair bit.) Since "Small" typically means about a 120 Hz crossover, the sub's crossover setting should be somewhere near the top (as it maxes out at 150 Hz), with phase and level set to give a smooth transition and flat bass.

How are you feeding the whole setup? The receiver is antiquated with zero measurement or room EQ facilities as far as I can tell, but when using a PC as a source, adding measurement capability for performance verification and generating EQs may mean as little as a $79 UMIK-1 plus REW, with e.g. Equalizer APO + PEACE for system-wide EQ. You can even bypass the receiver's entire DSP section by using the multichannel input EXT IN and use driver- or software-level bass management instead.

Why you would stick with "no highs, no lows" over the Wharfedales isn't really clear to me, but maybe you have a very lively room that would tend to make wider-dispersion speakers sound bright. What does that look like, and what is your listening distance?

 

[AlzalzS]

Highs are fine, lows come from my sub and to be honest I just did not find the wharfedales to be anything special, perhaps I used the wrong config for them… idk really. I know people usually shit on Bose but these 1997 speakers are great. However I’ve tried out the 301 series v and the ev 251s and they’re horrible and i agree with people that Bose sucks on these models. But the 97s are way better. I can see myself with these for atleast 20 more years so long as I take care of them

The EXT In is a feature I see on the receiver but never had the chance to set it up.
How I am feeding the setup: I use a rca to aux analog connection for music from source iPhone and optical cable from tv to receiver for 5.1. When using my iPhone I just connect the aux and set the receiver to 5 channel stereo and all the channels get activated and I enjoy the sound much more vs the standard 2.1. I believe that enabling 5 channel stereo applies an equalization preset on the receiver and makes the sound softer and more bass! Even with my small speakers. (and this 5 channel stereo setup I did not try with the wharfedales and wonder if it would have made the sound better).there is nearly zero bass when using standard stereo mode, and this was an issue I had not only with the wharfedales but also with my current 97s… again perhaps a different eq would have changed the sound to my delight. And I did consider adding an equalizer, but I use VLC on my phone to play music and it has a software Equalizer built in and I try to play with it, it’s not necessary most of the time though.

The ext in has manual inputs for all the 5.1 channels, and I’m not sure how I would setup ext in from my rca analog to the 5.1 connections on the back of the receiver, also wasn’t aware that “ext in” setup bypasses the dsp of the receiver.
I did go ahead and try out 2 channel stereo on the ext in mode because that’s the only channels I can connect, not pleased with the sound. Perhaps this bass management system is required to see and make any changes.

But what is a driver or software level bass management? Not familiar with this

I don’t have a pc atm, MacBook Pro I have

little yoda joke there

 

[AlzalzS]

The Bose Model 100 is a fairly small speaker sporting a single 4.5" fullrange driver (and weighing 3 kg the pair), so it's a good thing you have a sub. The Denon should be set up accordingly, i.e. "Small" speakers. The center with its four 2.5" drivers definitely falls into that category. (I would suggest turning that sideways and placing it above the TV or something, which should help out with the dispersion a fair bit.) Since "Small" typically means about a 120 Hz crossover, the sub's crossover setting should be somewhere near the top (as it maxes out at 150 Hz), with phase and level set to give a smooth transition and flat bass.

How are you feeding the whole setup? The receiver is antiquated with zero measurement or room EQ facilities as far as I can tell, but when using a PC as a source, adding measurement capability for performance verification and generating EQs may mean as little as a $79 UMIK-1 plus REW, with e.g. Equalizer APO + PEACE for system-wide EQ. You can even bypass the receiver's entire DSP section by using the multichannel input EXT IN and use driver- or software-level bass management instead.

Why you would stick with "no highs, no lows" over the Wharfedales isn't really clear to me, but maybe you have a very lively room that would tend to make wider-dispersion speakers sound bright. What does that look like, and what is your listening distance?

Actually I think perhaps the highs could be better, is there an equalizer I could add in? Or is the speaker just not capable even if I sharpen around 3khz up to 20khz?

 

[AnalogSteph]

But what is a driver or software level bass management? Not familiar with this

I don’t have a pc atm, MacBook Pro I have

little yoda joke there

Bass management - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There is no specific reason why this has to be done in a DSP in your AVR, a computer with multichannel output is easily capable of performing the highpass and lowpass filtering by itself, either within the OS sound stack or even on application level. Alas, it appears you do not have more than 2.0 analog output available right now, so that's off the table for the time being. With that connected to EXT IN L/R, the entire signal goes to your front speakers, which aren't exactly bass monsters or the epitome of level handling, so I wouldn't do that.

Oddly enough, a service manual for your model receiver is more easily found than the user manual, but you can get both at HiFiEngine for example (you'll need to create a new user account if you don't have one already, otherwise it's free).

 

[AlzalzS]

Tried out ext in l/r high level input /output to my sub and speakers 2.1 setup. Sounds ok with the sub.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

Back in the 1970s a friend (and I) decided that his Bose 901s sounded much better installed "backwards" with the multiple drivers facing the listener and out from rear wall. Then he graduated to DCM Time Windows. (Can you visualize the similarity?) Later he was on to Quads, Acoustats and Martin-Logan CLSes.