Bozack

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
2.80 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Ebay

Summary:
The Bose 301 Series are some of the best sounding speakers I've ever heard. The key is having a decent (50w or more) power source.Sure there's better, but who cares? Listen, I drive a Lexus LS430. My best friend drives a Honda Accord. Sure, he can also afford to buy a Lexus, but he's happy with his Accord. Therefore, who am I to differ. He's happy and so am I. So, if you're buying whatever, and your whatever looks and sounds good to you, then screw what everyone else says. Whether it's a Misson, Paridigm, PSB, Enegry or whatever. Besides, not everyone listens and hears the same. I have an Audiophile magazine article of a millionaire who owns a pair of Marten Coltrane speakers that cost him $40k each. Now I'm sure they sound good to him because of what he paid. But let's say you or I went and listened to them, and they sound like crap. Or if we compared the sound to a set of Polks. The owner would go nuts! He'd say, you idiots have no idea what you're hearing. These speakers cost $40,000!!! However, regardless of what he paid for them, we gave him our opinion of what we heard. You see what I'm saying!? Anyway, I have my 301's hooked to my HK-Avr 240, and the sound is excellent. Both musically (CD) and during movies. The bass is very responsive and the highs are silky smooth. The only problem I have with Bose, is their cabinetry. It could be better. However, if utilizing wood veneer keeps the cost low, then so be it.

Strengths:
Responsive bass that's not boomy.
Crystal clear highs and midrange.
Affordable to masses of consumers.
Accessible to masses of consumers.
Bose's long history of Research & Development.

Weaknesses:
Veneer cabinetry.

Similar Products Used:
JBL
Aiwa
Infinity
Polk
Eosone

Oriole33

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.13 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $299.00 from AAFES

Summary:
Keep in mind that the 301's can be picked up for $100 used/pair or less. And keep in mind what these speakers were designed to do. With that said, there should be NO complaints! They are great as bookshelf speakers. If you choose to use them as your main speakers in a big room- then you are misusing them.
I use them in my bedroom hooked up through cable TV, CD, and DVD. Mated to a 90's Onkyo TX-906 (85W per channel @ 8 ohms). I use a Kenwood subwoofer tied into the Onkyo, but I hardly ever hear it unless I'm running a DVD.
When I first hooked up the 301's to my TV, I was running RCA cable from the TV to the RCVR after the cableTV input Left &Right sounc channels had already gone through the television's circuitry. STUPID! At the time I wondered why my 301's sounded good with a CD source playing and just so-so while listening to cable.
So, I ran 2 RCA cords directly from my cable receiver to the Onkyo, bypassing the TV....and the sound is 3x better! Now the 301's FILL the room with sound and if I watch something like "Flight of the Conchords" on HBO, I get fantastic stereo separation and dynamic sound.
These speakers take on completely different characteristics depending on how much current is fed to them from the Rcvr and where they are placed in the room.
I run them in an 11x12 room and sit the 301's about 10 inches from the far corner's left and right edges and leave same from the back wall. Since these are smaller-sized speakers AND reflecting speakers, keeping them close to the wall really helpes their bass. Be sure to lean the speakers so that their relecting side will bouce off the side wall and carom towards your back wall (behind your head).
Use these speakers in a smaller room, and don't be afraid to crank your RCVR volume knob to about 35% and you will LOVE these speakers. Also, don't use cheap receiver watts for these....use at least 50W/channel of REAL power. Not, Sony or Pioneer.

Strengths:
Great sound for the $

Weaknesses:
just OK at very low volumes. Need a decent receiver to hear them correctly.

Similar Products Used:
ADS LDS90, Bose 901, Polk RTi100, Kenwood VR1090, Onkyo TX-906, Yamaha AX-490,various so-so CD players, Toshiba SD-2705

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manu05

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.25 of 5, 20.00 votes

Price Paid:  $320.00 from gulf

Summary:
Bose 301 series 4 are among the best speakers this price bracket and can easily compete with much costlier products.The sound they produce is very clear,realistic and engaging.This is one of the biggest strength's of this speaker for me is that it delivers an excellent all round performance and has continued doing so for the last 7 years,its really durable.Another strong plus point of this speaker is that it truly complements the sound your hi-fi equipment and is quite responsive. The direct reflecting sound technology used is definitely worthy of praise.In your search for a good h-fi system you also need to consider the cost of electronics.Take it from me, if you save on electronics and only concentrate on speakers you will be back in this forum and will be posting nasty
reviews like some of the frustrated Bose bashers in this world.When it comes to hi-fi and home theatre speakers Bose has many other offers and they are undoubtedly far[i really mean by a large margin]cheaper than the other companies who come close to producing his level of sound[most of them start with a b or a k-its almost as if one half decided to pick b and the other k].The only way you can decide is to go to a bose store and ask for a demo of all their products.Take it from me,music should be an enjoyable experience and not a contest as to who is delivering more treble,bass,midrange.etc. so dont end up buying stuff you may not want to hear in a few years time .i visit music stores often to help friends decide on products they buy ,but never once have i questioned my choice, cause to tell you the truth, it sounds far better than recent products costing a lot more.So my advice to you is that if names and other trivial details dont matter go for BOSE,its worth it.
Lot of the bad reviews Bose gets reveals a lot more about the reviewer rather than the speaker.Most of the people reviewing this product at less than 3.5 seriouly need their ears cleaned. I find most of the bad reviews of bose products, totally false or a result of deep routed anguish on the part of the reviewer because he has just discovered that Bose 301series4 sounds or some other bose product is far better than what he has bought for 3 times the price atleast.Prior to buying a pair of 301's i did a lot of searching for Tower speakers which were either too big,not upto the mark ,way too costly [and peaople call bose costly?]or too noisy to fairly reproduce the given music or song.I have played in a few bands for about 10 years even as a bass guitarist and take it from me that there is absolutely no lack of bass in this speaker.There are only a handfull of speaker companies giving you 8" woofer at this cost -IF AT ALL!. Treble and Midrange are CLEAR AND GOOD, and Bass is quite tight and sufficient.If at all you need more bass you can easily achieve that by going in for a basic subwoofer[in my opinion this upgrade is not a true necessity].Anyone who says that you can get a better speaker for a lower cost is as far from the truth as the north is from the south.Take it from me you will not get a better more durable speaker for atleast 3-4 times the cost.

Strengths:
About everything

Weaknesses:
Sincerely, no significant weaknesses.

Owl256

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.17 of 5, 6.00 votes

Price Paid:  $150.00 from Bose

Summary:
I know that many people say that Bose is no good and they all sound like crap, but I like these speakers. I bought these a few years ago when my previous 301's crossover fried. I did not know much about audio and I still thought bose was the best. Nevertheless these speakers are not bad. The bass is quite good for speakers of this size. They have good midrange and OK treble. For the sound they were worth the 150 I paid for them. The sound is not worth retail price. These speakers are good looking and impress the hell out of my yuppie friends. There are some not so good things about them. First, they are very cheaply made. The constrution is made of 1/2 inch chipboard, and the crossover could not cost more than 25 cents to make. $300 also should have binding posts. Also Bose choose to use cheap cone tweeters which are not as good dome tweeter. The woofer has a small magnet and small voice coil and also has foam surrounds that can rot out. The power handling of these speakers is quite poor as well. In my opinion Bose is amazing because they managed to build speakers that sound decent with the quality associated with a mini system. My audio enthusiat friends also make fun of me for owning these speakers. I cannot say I hate these speakers, in fact I kinda like them, and if they were sold for $150 everyone would like them, but for $300 there are much better choices for the money.

Strengths:
Decent sound, Good looks, Yuppie street cred yo.

Weaknesses:
Cheap construction, high price, brand assciation.

Similar Products Used:
Old POS JVC reciever, Sony CD player cerca 1985, Technics tape deck.

SpeakaFreaka

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.75 of 5, 16.00 votes

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I must say that I've used alot of speakers in my time,but these are the best bookshelf speakers I've ever heard!You can push these babies hard,and the highs will remain crystal clear and bass,rich and defined!These two bookshelf speakers fill up the entire room with distortion free sound!How anyone could call these terrible is beyond me!The 301's will blow away alot of floor speakers.Most speakers wear out,but these still sound brand spanking new!

Strengths:
Supersonic highs Deep,rumbling bass out of a small enclosure No distortion even when at maximum vol.levels Lifelike sound Well manufactured and classy looking Will handle any kind of music without any problem

Weaknesses:
None Whatsoever!