Let me preface my review by saying that I am a very adept audio enthusiast. However, this does not mean that I have 'golden ears.' It does, however, mean that I do not take my audio lightly.
That being said, I have to admit that these are absolutely the most crisp reference rigs I've ever run. The soundstage is very, very wide, and at 8ohms, they'll run on most any receiver not more than 20 yrs. old (perhaps older).
'Crisp' is the most all-encompassing word I can use to describe these speakers. As usual, placement is CRITICAL. I've found that, like most speakers, setting them in a corner, a few inches from the wall, gives them breathing room. And I live in an acoustical house of horrors. French Quarter apt. Everything is a hard object (original hardwoods, brick walls, 15 ft. ceilings, etc). Personally, I put the right channel atop a decorative standing ashtray (fake stone), and threw a plant on top of it to avoid any aesthetic debates from my GF. The left channel sits on an actual, you know, book shelf. Keep in mind that Bose, even with reflecting technology, are speakers that need to breathe (like any other). Therefore, I put some decorative crap on the bookshelf and kept the books far enough away so that the dual firing tweets could reflect onto something besides a hardback novel. Granted, you all probably knew that. The point is, they blend in.
At any rate, I'm running them through an Audigy 2Z card in the PCI slot of my laptop. The music files are either .wav (exact 'redbook' audio, or 320kbps (close enough to be transparent even with ABX testing) and an older, but competent Pioneer SX-303R receiver. Not exactly a pro-audio rig, I know. But those dual directional tweets are sweet. I can maneuver anywhere in my living room / open kitchen without a loss of clarity. The bass fills almost every inch of the room, and the inches it does not are in parts of the room I'm not really in too often, so...
Speaking of bass: These speakers, when CORRECTLY PLACED, will provide plenty of it. I live in a very densely populated area (especially since Katrina - we didn't flood), so bass is much, much less important to me that fidelity, spatialzation, highs, etc. But I've found that, once again, when properly placed in a corner, the Bose 301's pump out MORE than enough low end, without being 'boomy.' Is it the same as an Acoustimass sub? Of course not. But unless you live on a farm, your neighbors will kill you for running one of those.
I seriously cannot emphasize the importance of placement enough. Placed against the the middle of one of your walls, they sound anemic (though crisp and sharp). A simple solution such as moving them to a corner cannot be stressed enough. I'm experiencing very warm, very tight bass at this moment through extensive testing with various parts of the living room - and as I said before, my acoustic environment blows...I also have 1/4 of my ceiling missing to accomodate the stairwell.
All in all, these speakers were $300 NEW. They're all over eBay for much less. 8.5 woof and two upper-register cones to capture even the flaws in the original production? You can't get a better rig for that money.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.