NONE

Sound quality, cheaply made, Paper cone drivers, cone tweeters (not dome)

My 1977 harman/kardon HK-40's sound a lot better than these. In fact I have paid $5 at a goodwill store for better sounding speakers. These, like all bose products, have no deep bass, and no high treble. They have no depth. They have too much distortion at high volume levels. And they cost many times what they should. In short, they suck. I would never buy these pieses of crap. I'm only 15 years old and I know that bose is nothing but over advertised garbage, so why are so many sucker 25-45 year olds falling for bose's brainwashing advertiseing. As an audio enthusiast I'm offended.

Similar Products Used:

Speakers pulled out of a sony boombox

Big sound stage, Great bass

Placement specifics!

I am not really into Home Theater, so my angle on this may be a little different. I simply enjoy listening to CD's with very little or no processing. I have compared quite a few speakers from the brands mentioned above. There were a few that I thought sounded pretty good. I had the opportunity to bring the 701's home and test them out with my Denon receiver. Simply put, the 701's sound fantastic. The sound stage delivered from these is like no other speaker in their price category.

Similar Products Used:

Polk, Boston Acoustics, Infinity

spacious,good looking,differnt

I have used many speakers,from $100 - $2000. Theater is what I listen to most and the 701's are the best speakers i have used for theater sound.my last pair like most box speakers are terrible.When i watched a movie i had to sit directly in the middle of the moniter.If i moved even slighty to the left or right the speaker would over power the others. that's terrible.not true theater.the 701's are not like that at all. i can sit any where and get the full effect.that goes for any type of music.I just upgraded from a $1200 jvc reciever to Pioneer elite ($1600).What a difference! the worst was Sony.Sony has gone way down in quality.so stop bashing and go with what you think suit your taste and budget. I prefer bose over most top of the line brand names.that is my opinion.just like every one else.

Great sounds, highs-lows-mids

none

You don't need "TECH" talk to understand these speakers. THEY JUST SOUND GOOD. REALLY GOOD. HIGHS, MIDS, AND LOWS. THEY SOUND GOOD. What more could anyone want to know about them? Speakers are SOUND. I have listened to many, many speakers and the "TECH" information never co-relates with actual sound. NEVER. THE REASON I LOVE THESE SPEAKERS IS BECAUSE OF SOUND.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, Polk, JBL

Amazing Sound, Durable Construction, Very Appealing Looks & Design.

Fairly High Cost, Short Depth and Skinny Design Make Them Tip Over Easily.

I have read each and every review on this board since June 1st, 2000 and used these reviews to help me in my buying decision for all of my recent speaker purchases. I must say that the group is very much split in half here. People either seem to love these 701's or they hate them. Well, I for one LOVE THEM!!!

I chose the Bose name for all of my speakers (other than my powered sub) because of my size restrictions do to my recent remodeling of my livingroom. I am running the 701's as my front speakers, the 301's as my surround speakers (see my review for the Bose 301 Series IV), the VCS-10 as my center channel speaker (see my review for the Bose VCS-10) and a Yamaha YST-SW160 powered sub-woofer in the rear of the room. This combination has proven to be a superb system for both music and home theater. But this review is for the Bose 701 series, so lets concentrate of this model for now.

I find the overall construction of these sleek beauties to be solid and well designed. The placement of the drivers makes for a room filling sound and the bass response is unbelievable from such skinny little speakers! As an audiophile, I enjoy testing my equipment under many different situations, so I drove the 701's with a few different amps and found that the performance varied a great deal by the amount of power that was pumped into them. I would like to note that anyone considering these speakers should not expect great sound when driving with any power less than 100 watts RMS per channel. I settled on driving my with 200 watts per channel RMS. The bass response is punchy and clean, even at high volumes. No distortion was noted until I reached ear drum shattering levels! Even at low volumes, these speakers have a depth quality that takes your breath away! The midrange could be more clear when driven at basic levels, but some equalization on my part cured this little problem and I am now very pleased with the mid sounds. The highs are crisp and clear and are directed in a way that fills the listening environment with a sound that is great no matter where you are sitting in comparison with the speaker placement!

I think it should also be noted that speaker placement is fairly important with most Bose speakers, as they direct sound in a manner that is meant to bounce off from walls. If this model of speaker is not possitioned properly and/or fed with inadiquate power, they will sound muddy and unclear. So do yourself a favor and use some serious thought about your listening environment before purchasing these speakers. If you are going to spend big bucks on smaller speakers, then you should be smart enough to power them properly and place them accordingly.

All this said, if you are looking for a great set of speakers for home theater and music listening, then look no further than the Bose 701 series. Although a bit expensive, they offer a brilliant design with a wonderful sound that will not only impress yourself but your friends and family as well. Combined with the proper amp, surround and center speakers as well as a good (but not necessarily large) sub-woofer, the listening enjoyment you will endure will amaze you for years to come. I would highly recommend these units to anyone that has the knowledge and appreciation for great music and sound, and the money to support this expensive but very rewarding hobby.

Your Friend,

~ MARTY ~
M.P. Productions

I'm submitting this review to counter the poor review given by "A distrubed citizen." Either distrubed continued to buy every Bose product even after he decided they were crap or he's rating something that he doesn't really own. I'd advise him to stop posting falsified, biased reviews and to break out that dictionary he's such a fan of and learn how to spell retarded, disturbed, revelation, and addict.

Thanks
Daniel

Highs, Mid range small footprint, bass, high power handling.

Spring clip connectors, vinyl wrap outer.

Have these as front mains on HT and stereo.
Fed with about 80WPC RMS from Yamaha RX, hit +115dBa easy.
No distortion or break up, nice and clear.

Sound is clean, imaging great, no problems with sound stage.
Use in HT setup with 48" Sony Rear Proj. TV, Sony 725 DVD
2X Sony hi fi VHS videos,Yamaha RX, JBL SC 305 centre and Bose 301 111 Rears.

As with all speakers, placement, cables, time and patience to extract the best is critical.

Set these up right, sit back, relax and listen!!!
All that matters is they sound good to you!!!

Can't agree with many reviews posted here, all products have strengths and weaknesses, Bose is but one.

I have no complaints, some reviews of this product very unjustified, some just plain crap!!!

Similar Products Used:

Bose 301, Jamo, Wharfedale Audio Pro

Sound that provides satisfaction,but not joy - this can be very comfortably numbing.

No Hi's,no Lows - it's all just...Bose!

No Hi's,no lows - it's all just...Bose!

Similar Products Used:

B+W,others.

Not one damn thing

Everything damn thing

-Had these bad boys for over a year.
-Listened to Boston Acoustic Micro 90's
-How can a speaker this small sound so much better?
-Made out of real materials that cost money!!
-Don't have bass ports made from toilet paper rolls like the Bose
-Traded the BA's in for Sonus Faber Concertino's.
-Lesson learned is the Bose are for unknowledged amateurs. Period.
For $800.00 you can by Dynaudio products!!!, Why would anyone spend this money on Bose is beyond me!!!!!!!!!
Consider yourself warned.......I was a huge fan of Bose for about 2 years, until I actually learned about audio.......be careful when purchasing.......

Similar Products Used:

Every other product at Tweeter Etc.

Looks

lack of mids, boomy

I bought these speakers in 1997 and I thought I had moved up in the world. They rocked my house and I was in love with them. This is all understandable, since my previous main speakers were a pair of Akai's.

Then, I heard real speakers. I felt cheated. It was like I had wasted 3 years of my life denying myself the musical experience I could appreciate. I replaced the 701s with a pair of Klipsch RF3s and that night I literally cried, while going through a musical experience in my own living room, hearing sounds reproduced with perfection, sounds that I had never heard before from the tracks I have been listening to since I was a child.

All up, while I believe Bose did introduce me to the pleasure of better sound, it was better only than a little mini-compo. For a musical experience that is as emotional as falling in love - you have to move on to speakers that will reproduce bass that makes your heart want to beat to to it, vocals that make you want to sing out loud and mid range that makes you want to close your eyes and be mersemerised. For that, speakers have to be built with passion. Sadly, Bose is just not in that business.

My equipment consists of:
Pioneer DVD Player
Yamaha 5.1/dts Amp.
Klipsh RF3 main speakers
Acoustic Research 318ps rear speakers
JBL HLS center speaker
Mirage PS 180 sub-woofer.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, Acoustic Research, Infinity, JBL