Bose 901 MK4

[blinky88]

Hi all,

I have had the above mentioned speakers for 28 years, re-coned around 15 years ago. They have never had a good base however without the equalizer they are worse. I have just installed a new Pioneer Receiver which does not accommodate the equalizer and am now thinking of buying a small sub-woofer.

I would really appreciate some advise about a sub to match the Bose.

[aedipuss]

so you want a sub that's can get very loud and is not very accurate at sound reproduction? lol. never was much of a fan of bose.

for a sub as long as you stick to a "speaker" manufacturer you should be ok. the 20-200htz range is mostly felt not heard. that why you can put them anywhere in a room and only need one, no stereo sound can be heard down there.

i used to like velodyne but they make their stuff in china now may not be quite as good. polk is a decent mainline. i use a mirage, but dt, martin logan, kef, cambridge soundworks, etc. are fine stuff.

[blinky88]

Hi aedipuss,

I should have left more details why I think I need a sub.

Firstly I do not play games, I listen to music and watch movies. I do not play loud music, that said, I would like to hear a more base than the Bose are giving me. The Bose are like new and I have a Pioneer 802 Receiver.

Cheers mate.

[aedipuss]

a 10 inch powered sub is as small as i'd go. anything with a smaller speaker won't get down near 20htz. look for auto on/off and volume adjustment on the sub, not on a remote control that can get lost or break. other than that they all sound about the same as all you hear is ~20-200htz from them as long as you're not looking to shake the entire neighborhood. pick one that won't clash to badly with the room decor

[edDV]

Most modern 5.1 receivers will use an ~50Hz crossover frequency. The crossover setting directs lower frequencies to the subwoofer instead of the left and right. In addition any LFE channel is also sent to the sub. See this discussion at AVS
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1150250

In your case, the Bose equalization can be optimized for mid to high frequencies.

I agree you should get at least a 10" ~100W sub.

[davideck]

FWIW, the Bose 901 equalizer provides significant boost at both ends of the frequency spectrum. Are you satisfied with the high frequency (treble) performance?

[blinky88]

Thank you to all members offering advise, subs make for 1 confusing subject. Going down to my local audio store tomorrow and see what I can find offering a 20-200htz freq. preferably 12" woofer with a 50htz crossover .... from the advise above, I believe this is the way I should be going.

As far as the Bose equalizer is concerned, it is stuffed.

[budwzr]

Check out Polk Audio.

[edDV]

Thank you to all members offering advise, subs make for 1 confusing subject. Going down to my local audio store tomorrow and see what I can find offering a 20-200htz freq. preferably 12" woofer with a 50htz crossover .... from the advise above, I believe this is the way I should be going.

As far as the Bose equalizer is concerned, it is stuffed.

Most sub woofers will have built in low pass filters adjustable in the 50-100 Hz range, The crossover I was referring to is done in the receiver-amp before the audio is sent to the sub-woofer.

[Hoser Rob]

I'm not a big Bose fan either except for the 901s.

" the 20-200htz range is mostly felt not heard" ... sorry, that's not quite right. That's why the crossover point shouldn't be more than 100Hz if you don't want the sub to be heard as a separate speaker.

A 50Hz low pass may be OK for movie explosions but it's not great for music unless your speakers already have fantastic bass in your room. For example, a 4 string bass guitar only has a fundamental below 50 Hz up to about the 4th fret on the low E string.

80Hz is generally a lot better.

Unfortunately most subs, particularly cheap ones, are meant for listening to things blowing up, not music. PSB makes some good cheaper ones.

[hech54]

I've always loved 901s....and love 802s even more.
If you have the proper environment/room size/dimensions, they are hard to beat.
I also loved my Realistic Mach II set......not THAT really pisses off the snobs...