Outstanding speakers I've liked and owned it since 2007 and it still rocks... sound is fantastic and crisp... bass is awesome..... an exquisite design... suits my condo... if you Bose folks ever develop a newer version... I'll be the first in line to get it... | DC Drywall Contractors

none so far.

Nice product so far! Concrete forming

none so far

Giving your kitchen a new look will make it look good and give you many other benefits. bathroom remodel San Antonio

none so far

This is not really a detail-oriented speaker in the highs, (not bad though ) but overall I am impressed and satisfied. You can't have everything. | Fremont Concrete Pros

There are some flaws that can be heard in the details.

I can't say whether I am an audiophile or not. I have always had McIntosh amps and pre-amps powering my speakers. As with many of you, I have auditioned many brands of speakers over the decades, I have had Altec VOT's , Mirage, Magnaplanar ,Vandersteens, AR TSW 910'S and a plethora of other wonderful makes and models. We use Bose products in our home theater , kitchen , great room and outdoor pool area. All very nice and non fatiguing . The true test was in my library where I have an Mc 901 with an MX 135 Pre amp. I was using a very large pair of Maggies. The imaging was pretty good. My brother dropped off a pair of Bose 701's. I must tell you that the 701's wre amazing. Don't ask how this can be , however , the 701'S are thus far, the best fit for overall imaging that I have had, The Bass is spectacular. [with the double Bass drivers sandwiched together ] The mid and upper registers are dynamic and offer point on point sonic imaging.There is absolutely no need for active subs , or any subs for that matter. With the Bose 701's , I have the Bass set at zero , and there i sa very even compliment for the most Bass hungry listener. The 701's are a bargain at any price as they were engineered before Bose really decided to cut corners . The cabinetry is nice looking ,however, poorly assembled with many obvious finishing flaws. Don't be fooled by the somewhat gaudy commercialized exterior design, the 701's will deliver everything the audio enthusiast could hope for. If you consider yourself an uber extreme audiophile, you had better step up tho Sonos Faber and have the 20k required to acquire a pair.

Weakness" poor quality cabinetry

I bought a beutiful refurbished pair, a couple a month ago and i am very happy with them the sounds great with all the different kind off music that i play on them amp. Luxman M12 / C12 cd. Onkyo record player Denon DP47

No weaknes until now

Really great speakers loved it and owned it since 2007 and it still rocks... sound is great and crisp.. bass is awesome..... elegant design... suits to my apartment... if ever you Bose people produce a newer version... i will be the first in line to buy it...

Nothing i can think of...

I bought these speakers in 1992 when I was in the 7th grade. Yes, it was a very impressive and expensive purchase for me at the age of 12 or so (approx. $750 for the set if I recall correctly). They’re still playing music in my home today! They even survived my college dorm, and trust me, they got tested and abused during some of the parties. Probably the best purchase of my life. Awesome looking speakers and they still bang today. Not a single problem with them. I’m just now considering buying an amp to power them properly instead of using basic stereo receivers. Proud to be a 701 Series One owner for almost 25+ years.

Only weakness is that the Bose name has been tainted by Bose haters...you have to be crazy to give these speakers a low rating.

I'm coming a little late to the party here about Bose 701's but they do come up for sale quite a bit so this information is for those obviously who are considering buying a pair of used Bose 701 speakers.

I'm am an audio enthusiast, not an audiophile, but was told from a recording studio owner after listening to various recordings that I had a fantastic ear for sound. I use to work for Circuit City back in the mid 90's and got to actually take speakers home, except they didn't carry the Bose 701's so I had to go to Frys and "buy" them and try them out, so I would hooked it them up to my brand new HK PA2400 with 170 watts rms going through an HK PT2300 preamp/tuner. I also at this time could borrow speakers from Circuit City, and I would connect several different Bose speakers and other speakers and A/B them back and forth.

The worst sounding speakers I heard were the Bose 701 and the Bose 901 (which Circuit City carried the 901 but not the 701...odd). I like all sorts of music, from classical to smooth jazz to blues to classic rock to even some metal, so as I listened to a variety of music through various speakers it became apparent that the Bose 701's were very boxy sounding (901 is for a different review, while not boxy they were shallow, and yes the Bose equalizer was on). I set up the speakers according to the instructions that Bose had, I can't recall what those were now but I think they were a lot like other speakers, 2 feet from the side walls, a foot from the back wall, and 6 to 20 feet apart, I placed them 12 feet apart due to the set up of my room.

Sound wise the base was not strong, the midrange was shallow and defused, and the highs were weak, there was no imaging! just sound everywhere that made it sound a bit scrambled if setting in the suppose sweet spot. I did listen to some live concert recordings and in those instances the speaker did a slightly better job than with a studio recording but I couldn't get past the inaccuracy of the sound that I was hearing. The best genre of music for this speaker was smooth jazz, where the base doesn't get too low and the highs don't get too high, so the sound doesn't stress the limits of the speaker showing it's huge flaws when more aggressive music is being played. Even with classical there are certain instruments that can reach deep base levels, and high treble levels that the 701 simply could not handle well. The speaker failed to handle fast attacking drums, they came out muddy and boxy sounding, just irritated me to no end, and highs would almost fade off to nothing, the sound of brass cymbals sounded like someone hitting a tin can is about as close of a description I can come up with, the mid end wasn't too bad, but still had some of that boxy sound like the bass but not as bad.

I think some of the issue with the speakers was the wood box should have been thicker/denser/heavier and insulation added to prevent that boxy sound could have helped somewhat to make it better sounding. When I took the grill off I could see that Bose had used low end speaker designs in the construction of the speaker. So basically Bose used thin particle board for the box, failed to use any insulation to dampen sound artifacts from bouncing around inside lending to the boxy sound, and low quality speakers.

The Bose 701, (and 901 as well as others they made) are not anywhere near worth the price they were selling for, and on the used market they ask too much for them as well because Bose over the years has done a better job of marketing than any other speaker company has done and people recognize the brand and think because it's Bose it's got to be good so they run out and buy it. Well don't buy it! There are people here that rave about them, but unless they took the speakers home and tried several sets by A/B them back and forth as I did they never will think there is anything wrong with those speakers and will brag about them. The best place for a Bose speaker is in the garage where the sound quality doesn't matter but you want the sound to be everywhere.

So what speakers did I end up with enquiring minds want to know? I eventually narrowed it down to 2 speakers, JBL L7 and Infinity Kappa 9. The Infinity did better at classical and smooth jazz, virtually tied with the JBL on blues, and the JBL did better at classical rock and metal, the wood cabinet on the Infinity was beautiful, but the Infinity used polypropylene for their speaker material, which my experience with that material was not good, after time that material would get brittle and crack so I got the JBL, and I'm glad I did, because years later I ran into a guy who bought the Infinitys and one of his speakers cracked about 7 years after he bought it, it was out of warranty, he had to send the speaker back for repair, but then others failed eventually he gave up and bought something else. My JBL L7's are still going strong after 20 years, and evidently are highly desired because the used market is quite high on them, about 4 times as much as the Bose 701, and about 3 times as much as 901!

There are of course a lot of speakers on the market, they all have different sound characteristics, you have to listen to them with music you like, not whatever music the store has; plus in a store they won't sound the same as they will at home due to different electronics, wire, and acousticals of the room, not to mention everyone's ear for sound is different, so it's best to take them home and compare with the ability to return them if you don't like them. Also if you decide against used vintage speakers and go new, almost all new speakers sold in box stores today requires a powered subwoofer, they no longer make speakers with good low base response. Lastly, those small little cube speakers called satellite speakers will pale in comparison to sound coming from any full size speaker, but if you don't compare you'll never realize there is a huge difference.

For stereo listening this set is a phenomenal performer, really puts on an impressive show for two speakers when placed right. Also people have to make sure there receiver setting are correct because unlike most other speakers these run at 6 ohms and your receiver or amplifier must be notified of this manually (most.). Alot of the negative reviews out there are a result of this commen error. The direct reflecting technology works good, sometimes when playing a movie track it sounds like the surround sound even when all it is is just two speakers. There are some flaws that can be heard in the details. This is not really a detail oriented speaker in the highs, (not bad though ) but overall I am impressed and satisfied. You can't have everything. Speakers that project amazing realistic detail, usually require a sub on the side (unless your budget is limitless.). This set puts on a show! In the same price range there are speakers that will sound maybe more real in a lot of ways, but will not produce the bass and full sound that these will. So like I said you can't always have anything, but I am glad I have owned these. These are a power hungry speaker, give it as much clean power you can and you will be pleasantly surprised.