Sound, build quality

None, barring expectations (I do not expect them to be front speakers in my home theater, would you?)

I used these speakers for 6 years in my boat up north. They complimented 3 other sets of full range 'mini's', (AR, Kenwood, and Yamaha), and certainly sounded better than the others. The bass was picked up by 4 large subs (Fosgate and Orion). They spent winters in an ice covered enclosure (boat), and summers in the 130 degree plus cabin. Most speakers that sound better (at an extra $1000 - duh) - or even equivalent mini speakers, could not put up with the abuse these little tanks can. Now, they act as the center rear in my home THX-EX setup. They are unobtrusive in their sleek little black cases, and add a new dimension to surround directionality offered in EX. They are complimented by a relatively highly x'd-over 15" sub (200hz) which is shared with the L+R surrounds, and have a sonic clarity and presence that easily keeps up with rest of my system. No deep bass or high highs, but rear centers are matrixed anyway. And, single driver full range speakers of this size are not bought for their frequency extremes. In the range you should expect out of a speaker of this type the sonic quality is excellent. It is vastly superior to other small speakers with multi drivers that may add some to both ends of the frequency spectrum, but at the expense of phase irregularities and bumps and dips in the frequency range (what, you'd expect a $500 crossover in a $200 2/way speaker? -besides, unless precisely engineered, 2 drivers producing the same frequency at and around the crossover point have different response speeds and offer some phase cancellations and wow). Buy and use these for what they are and you will be extremely satisfied.

Similar Products Used:

Advent, AR, Yamaha, MB Quart

Believe it or not, makes excellent center channel speaker with my Bose 501 Series IV mains! Descent surround speakers,too.

No deep bass, but what do you expect from a single 4.5" driver? I here it's being discontinued.

Now, I know these are not "magnetically shielded" speakers. I placed them on a shelf below the monitor, so that they are over the 9" Bose recommends from the TV Monitor.

Tryed out the V-100 center channel speaker, but I never cared for the front soundstage with this speaker (Too much highs,not enough mids/bass). So, one day I thought I'd try these 101's, previously used as surround speakers, performed admirably in that roll), hooked in SERIES to make 8 ohm load just like my 12 year old 501's (1=10" woofer, 2=3" Tweeters-Direct Reflecting. From the reviews I read of the Series V, seems like Bose should've KEPT them like that. Always sounded great to me AND my friends!). SURPRISE!! They MATCH!!!

I've listened to DVD's, CD's, records and tapes in Dolby Digital (DVD)/Pro Logic (everything else), and they sound great!

I guess all the bashing of Bose products seems alittle unwarrented to me. Some are good (501 IV's,101), some are bad (V-100). But everyone's ears are different you know.

Value rating for the price I payed at Sam's Club ($100/pr.)
Overall rating, as used as surround/center=5, mains=3 (no deep bass afterall).

Similar Products Used:

Bose V-100 center channel speaker (not that great).

Tips here for placement!!!
I have mounted them on shortie tripods of a foot in height with elevation pod down. Next find yourself thick glass bottle eg snapple or welch, then filled up with silica sand. Then dip the elevation pod in this sand filled glass and u will be amazed at how good the sound becomes. Finally, use low density foam to keep bottle neck from touching pod. With CAT 5 as interconnects and speaker cable, follow my earlier threads, the little BOSE is a killer!!!!!!!
This is no joke.

None

Paper-like, flimsy, econo-sound

These speakers are crap. They shouldn't even be in the audio section, but in the kid's toys section because they look and sound like toys. Hell, my son's Fisher Price tape recorder has speakers that sound better.

Similar Products Used:

JBL, Klipsch, Polk, Tannoy

- Even an old product, they sound open.
- Mid sound.

- U$ 250...??? it's too expensive for the price.
- Not clear hi freq,
- No bass

My friend give to me, and my first impression ...woow...
it's a Bose. But after listening in a few months, I get borred, and the reason is the hi freq. is not detail (all range..???). So I put a 4ohm tweeter. Now the sound is much better. You may try like this, first open the box and then cut the end of the capacitor to the driver:

tweeter (+)----R=2.2 ohm 5 watt----+---C=5uf---|
cut |
mid (+)------------------------+--H--------+---(+)
|__R________|

The R value depent on the tweeter sensifity. In mine, 2.2 ohm result a good blend with the mid. (I play in flat)

My equipment:
Adcom GCD-600
Adcom GFA-2535 (w/o preamp)
Bose speakers
Paradigm PDR-100
Soundstream interconnect
DIY - using LAN data Speaker cables

small in size yet can go louder than many cabinet speakers

lies in on the hands of improper and inexperience users

I have just unpacked a pair of 101 mini-monitors I brought 10 yrs ago and connected it via a pair of DIY Cat5 speaker cables (6 conductors for + and 6 for -). Result is very dynamic and analytic sounding speakers indeed. Though low bass is shy but not particularly annoying as the overall result is very well balanced. U cannot find better value than the 101 mini monitors!

Similar Products Used:

Cerwin Vega, Polk Audio, Quad, KEF, JVC, and many more!

Cheap, but sounds good

Expensive in most areas around the world

I think people are judgning these speakers harshly. Maybe, just maybe, their anti-Bose attitude has spilled on to other excellent Bose products.

The Bose 101s sound good for reasons that are often overlooked. Often people are comparing these to other bookshelf speakers that absolutely different. It's like comparing a 2-stroke and a 4-stroke engine!

Do not compare them with ones that have separate tweeters. The results are simply not valid.

About the bass I would think that the Bose 101 enclosures are the problem.

The price? You can be sure there's a few store in your country that sell them for less (significantly). Since people in this hobby have money to buy expensive cables, then travelling overseas shouldn't be a problem. I'd recommend buying overseas. Dad told me audio equipment in Dubai sell for really less (including Bose products). (Only problem maybe is the custom's tax.)

A Bose 101 has a small 4.5" driver unit that you have to admire. I've tried to take one out of its enclosure and pass sine waves through them. As I've mentioned somewhere else in this Webpage ALL speakers will respond to low frequencies. Even tweeters will vibrate at 5Hz, but it's just that it displaces air so small that you don't hear the bass. So when people complain about the bass they should think that the enclosure should be blamed not that 4.5" driver unit. What owners of these speakers could do is to set aside that enclosure and put that 4.5" driver unit in a (well designed) home-built vented enclosure. There are so many equations for designing vented enclosures, but only few take into consideration important factors like end corrections, enclosure leakage and so on.

My Roomate IIs have different enclosures even though they look almost the same. The Bose 101s have 1 or 2 small ports close to the driver unit. The Roomate IIs, on the other hand, have a relatively large port far from the driver unit. I didn't use the Roomate II's included amplifier. I used an ONKYO M-504/P-304 amp and another pre-amp that I built that had bass and treble controls around 20Hz and 20kHz respectively. I've found that the Bose 101 enclosure might be the problem.

High frequency response is another story. That 4.5" driver relies on its dust cap to produce high frequencies. They go high enough, but not that high. Paper can only resonate so high.

So just remember to compare the Bose 101s with anther that only has 1 driver unit also. I know you'll find it easy to narrow down your list of monitors that sound similarly good. Do not compare them with ones that have tweeters, the results are simply not valid.

Similar Products Used:

Bose Roomate II

They are everything you expect from a full range speaker (good midbass and highs). These speakers are not made to produce any bass so I hooked it up with a Bose AM-02 for the low end. I've had mine for over 5 years and they still sound good. I gave 4 stars because they're durable and good for casual listening (they're full range speakers so don't expect too much). If you're a serious audiophile, these are not the speakers for you... might want to consider Martin Logans, Magnepans, B&W, Infinity Overture series... You can't expect the best sound if you're not willing to pay more.

Another over-priced, over-hyped, and under performance product from one company who regresses the standards that other speaker companies have raised. Many companies now have entry level bookshelves and mini-monitors that can actually produce good mids and highs without being severly rolled-off like these do and most of all at a lower price. I don't expect any bass from a set of speakers at this price though other companies have even added some of this as well far superior than this. This speaker sounds like my TV speakers except at a slightly louder volume, the midrange has a harsh and edgy tone with the treble rolled off so hard that cymbols lose their definition and pizazz. Please people go to a high end store with these speakers and ask a dealer there for a comparison with speakers of equal or lower price and I believe you will definately return these for what that audio has for an entry level budget (I agree with some of you about people stating that this has no bass but at least I assume everyone will eventually buy a subwoofer for this particular duty). For speaker this price range go even to your local Radio Shack, Sears, Best Buy, Circuit City, or Wards and compare this to any other bookshelf that uses a real tweeter for the same price and you will be amazed at all the detail you are missing. These are just plain horrible unless you love the cabinets and are willing to add extra drivers (such as the Linaeum tweeter) for an upgrade in sound (plus adding appropriate sound dampening material and cross-overs). It would be hard to do worse than this, unless you buy another Bose product as these have the same drivers technology found in older cars, clock radioes, and Fisher surround speakers from a rent-to-own store. I think most you can do better, a lot of us who bought other brands already have and you can too.

I WAS LOOKING FOR A REPLACEMENT FOR A BLOWN SATELLITE SPEAKER SET & CAME ACCROSS THESE AT SAM,S CLUB.I HAD BEEN AWARE OF THEM FOR YEARS & ALWAYS LIKED THEIR LOOKS & STRONG CONSTRUCTION.ALWAYS WILLING TO BE DIFFERENT I BOUGHT 2 PAIRS TO BE USED FRONT & REAR ON SATELLITE STANDS WITH A SUBWOFFER.RESULT -I DIDN,T TAKE THEM BACK.I HAVE THIS SET UP IN A DOUBLE WIDE TRAILER LIVING ROOM AND FOR THIS APPLICATION THEY SOUND & LOOK GREAT.I WOULD ADMIT THAT 1 SET BY THEMSELVES MAY BE LACKING SOME SOUND QUALITY, BUT AS A UNIVERSAL SPEAKER THATS TO BE SOMEWHAT EXPECTED-YET THEY STILL SOUND PRETTY GOOD.A GOOD BUY AT 100.00 A PAIR.