Vol. I No. 11

I believe that the 901 was the first product BOSE brought to the market. This speaker has not one but two design elements that make it superior to other speakers. [Subsequent to posting this entry, I learned the Audience company makes speakers which also have these advantages.]

First, it features drivers that are all the same size, which makes a crossover network unnecessary.

Second, each speaker incorporates a large number of drivers, which provides a greater degree of identity with recordings made using a large number of microphones and a large number of separate tracks.

What I have found is that much concern must be given to allowing for the egress - what could be thought of as the venting - of the sheer volume of sound during playback. I think of 'volume' here as a word that differs from 'loudness' in that volume refers to the quantity of air movement by the undistorted musical energy while loudness can exist because of all kinds of distortions produced by an inadequate driver or drivers.

For those readers who would say that they cannot tell the difference between all-analog and digitalized versions of a given composition, I urge you to make any such comparison using one of these BOSE speaker systems. (In place of the equalizer BOSE supplies, I recommend an all-analog graphic equalizer.)

You are likely to be overwhelmed by the richness of the sound from the all-analog production, while in the case of the digitalized recording you will note the thinness of tone - the absence of musical 'volume' as compared to the apparent total 'loudness' - sharply contrasting with the all-analog playback. You should also notice the rhythmic vacuousness, the lack of fluid, muscular, rhythmic counterpoint, in the digital version.