A speaker model that has existed for over thirty years must be doing something right. That's what I thought! The original Bose 501 arrived on the scene in 1971 as Bose needed to expand its speaker line to two models...the 901 at $476 a pair including active equalizer and The 501 at $125 Ea. So for $250 a pair one could then enjoy most of the famed Bose 901 sound at roughly half the price!

The 501 was designed with a 9" acoustic suspension woofer in a fatboy sealed enclosure 2' high and 15" wide x 13" deep and two 3" tweeters angled in different directions to achieve direct/reflecting sound. The grills were [an attractive] brown.

The bass though not quite as deep as the "Larger Advents", was as Bose called it "wall shaking"! The mids and highs had plenty of impact and a decent amount of clarity though definitely not the equal to the top 901 model.

This speaker went on to enjoy an immense popularity and many "Advent" and "AR3a" owners simply traded their highly acclaimed models in for the Bose 501's!!

Series II was similar but with increased bass clarity. The speaker seemed to do a disappearing act and vanished for awhile then reappeared in the early 80's almost mystically as the Series III with a ported and somewhat slimmer enclosure and two-tone brown grille. It retained pretty much the same qualities as the original but was priced too closely to the outstanding 601 Series II model.

Then the Bose 501 vanished into the night only to resurface once again in the late 90's as the Series IV in a sleek floorstanding model that in no way resembles its predecessors cosmetically and unfortunately...sonically!!

This will be a somewhat brief review as my auditioning was confined to about fifteen minutes at a local Best Buy store. I had planned to spend more time with the 501-IV speaker but it was simply pulled from the floor and after checking out the Bose website it seems as though our dear friend has vanished yet one more time from our midst!

If you are able to find a shop that still has a pair, make sure they are setup correctly as these speakers need to have reflecting walls and a good deal of space between them and the walls. Also place them along the short wall of your listening room for best sound quality.

As I spent a good deal of the past summer auditioning the other two floorstanding models by Bose I was still able to draw a reasonable conclusion.

The Bose 501 Series IV had a less open sound quality in its overall projection. That is to say that it in no way resembles the great 901-VI or even the lower priced 301-IV audiophile speakers! This is a bit perplexing as it appears to boast basically the same drivers as the latter! There were simply no nice things to say about this particular speaker other than its appearances. Sonically it seems to fall a bit short of Bose quality. You be the judge.

With the Bose 501 SERIES IV removed from the Bose website, I surmise that the co. has likewise removed it from its current line of floorstanders which is fine by me! Now if they would improve the design of this speaker and perhaps lower its price a bit it could quite possibly return the 501 model to its former glory.

As there is a chance that some 501-IV's are still available do yourself a favor and listen carefully before you buy! Bose speakers require excellent amplifiers as their sound can change appreciably from one amp to the next. This 501 gets only low to fair marks. Audition them anyway if you can find 'em. If you can't...don't worry about. You're not missing anything! I wonder when and where the next 501 will turn up!

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 449