Bose 701 Main / Stereo Speaker

I know that Bose-bashing is kind of fun for audiophiles these days, but I have to admit that I kind of liked the original Bose 901s back in the day. Readers familiar with my speaker reviews know that I have a weakness for speakers that radiate from the front and the back (Cambridge Towers are my current home speakers, and I like Maggies and old Mirages), so I thought I'd give one of Bose's current offerings a listen and see how they fared against the competition.

Since my current home speakers cost about $1000, I know what good speakers in this price range should be able to do. I decided to give a good listen to Bose's 701s, which retail for something like $990/pair.

The Bose 701s are medium-sized tower speakers that come in "graphite gray" or "light cherry" finishes. The graphite one is pictured here on Epinions. In the Bose tradition, the 701s are Direct/Reflecting? speakers, meaning that they have drivers (individual speakers) aimed in several directions. So far as I could tell, each Bose 701 had two tweeters mounted on the front panel, a forward firing woofer, and at least one medium sized driver mounted on the rear panel. There is also a port on the rear of the panel. Hook up is by speaker terminals (not particularly high quality) under the speakers.

The speakers are about 12 1/2 inches deep, 32 1/2 inches tall, and 10 1/4 inches wide, according to the Bose website. They are said to be quite efficient, with a minimum power rating of 10 watts per channel. Power handling capacity is said to be 400 watts. Nominal impedance is rated at 8 ohms, with no dips below 4 ohms. What this means (for those of you whose eyes glaze over when you see the word "ohms") is that they should be easy to drive with your average receiver.

I compared the Bose 701s with several other speakers in a local audio show room, with the same music and powered by the same amplifier and CD player. The speakers I compared them with included: Energy Veritas 2.1 monitors ($1000/pr), Boston Acoustics VRM60 monitors ($1000/pr), and Bose's own 601s ($600/pr).

First, the good news: Bose's Direct/Reflecting? technology does lead to a wide and deep soundstage. Music seemed to be coming from everywhere, including behind the speakers. Of course, there's a tradeoff: the location of individual instruments is hard to determine with this kind of technology. You sort of get a "curtain of sound." In fairness to Bose, there was a decent center image, meaning that a vocalist who was supposed to be center stage did sound like s/he was center stage, though he or she was sort of "expanded" left-to-right.

Bass response was also pretty good through these speakers. It wasn't as tight as with some towers I've heard, but it wasn't that bad either. I didn't listen to any organ music, so I can't speak for the bottom actave (between 20 hz and 40 hz), but bass from the bottom note of a bass guitar (approximately 41 hz) up was handled pretty well.

Now, the bad news: Instrumental timbres were handled atrociously through these speakers. Instruments did NOT sound like themselves. Trumpets had too much "bite," and not enough air. Guitar harmonics were thrust forward in the soundstage. Vocals were "etched." "Microdynamics" were also handled poorly. The subtle changes in volume within a performance that make it sound live, and make the music emotionally involving, were obscured by these speakers.

Overall, the speakers sounded too bright, even more so than the Boston Acoustics VRM60s, which were in turn brighter than the natural-sounding Energy 2.1s. Bose's own 601s were also substantially less bright than the 701s. "Listener fatigue" began to set in in about 15 seconds with the Bose 701s, and I couldn't wait to switch to any of the other speakers on hand, including the Bose 601s.

Compared to the Bose 701s, both the Energy 2.1s and Boston Acoustics VRM60s presented a more natural soundstage, tighter bass (though probably not as deep), and a more natural rendition of instrumental timbres. Both made music sound like music, and drew you into the performance. The Bose 601s sounded a but dull and diffuse, kind of like my parents' old Magnavox tube console, but the sound was nonetheless pleasing. I would take the 601s over the 701s in a minute, though they are not as good as Energy's $600 e:XL 26s.

Conclusions.

I was hoping to be able to silence the snobby audiophile types who like to poke fun at Bose. I thought maybe Bose would come through with a speaker that would compete with comparably priced models from the likes of Vandersteen, Boston Acoustics, Cambridge Soundworks, Meadowlark, Energy, and Polk. But I cannot recommend the Bose 701s. In fact, they are, dollar for dollar, among the worst sounding speakers I have heard lately.

My hunch is that these speakers are aimed at the kinds of listeners who want what the snobs call "boom tizz," meaning big mid-bass and tinkly treble. I am sure these speakers would make explosions and car crashes sound very "in your face" if used in a home theater set-up.

But as reproducers of music, they fail miserably.

Among the speakers in this approximate price range I'd recommend over the Bose 701s (this list is not exhaustive):

Cambridge Soundworks Towers
Cambridge Soundworks Tower IIs
Energy Acoustics Veritas 2.1s
Energy Acoustics e:XL 26s
Meadowlark Kestrels
Paradigm Reference Studio/20s
Paradigm Reference Studio/80s
Polk RT55s
PSB Stratus Bronzes
Vandersteen 1Cs
Vandersteen 2CEs