Bose (601) Floor-standing Speakers - Installation Tips

T

tgg

Guest
I thought I should post this to help out any owners of Bose floor-standing speakers who may be having problems achieving good sonic performance.

I am a 15 year owner of a pair of Bose 601 series II speakers (1984 vintage). I acquired them without auditioning them, second hand, for a very meager price. I followed the installation instructions in the rather abbreviated user's manual. I listened to them for a bit, realized that there was no "sound stage" (sounds were localized to the speakers rather than the space between or around them) and decided that one day I would get a new pair of speakers. I've now lived with them for the last 15 years.

A few weeks ago, I decided to invest in a home theatre (in phases). I purchased a new A/V receiver with all the latest decoding technology and before buying a new set of main speakers, I decided to give the 601s a "second chance". Before doing that however, I decided to do some research on room acoustics and speaker placement. One Saturday, I spent a good eight hours taking measurements, trying out different installation arrangements and doing a lot of listening. I am glad to say that my efforts have paid off in buckets and I am amazed at how the 601s sound.

My room is presently 12 feet wide, 17 feet long with a 7 foot celing. The walls and ceiling are dry-walled. I have carpet with underlay on concrete and some leather furniture, a table and some artwork. I have positioned the 601s as follows. All distances are measured to the centre of the free space array: 2.35 feet from the side walls, 2.75 feet away from the rear walls, 7.3 feet apart and 7 feet away from me. The speakers are toed in 30 degrees from normal. And here is the most important part - do not, place any object between the speakers that may interfere with the sound dispersed by the free space array. I understand from everything I have read about speaker placement that the distances above are very unorthodox. However, the sonic performance of this arrangement has to be heard to be believed.

First, the advertising claim of "stereo everywhere" materializes. It really does not matter where you sit in the room to listen to stereo. The sound stage and localizations change very little. Before this arrangement, I had stereo nowhere and the speakers, rather than disappearing, were always making themselves known. By the way, this in no way impacts the surround-sound.

Second, the sound stage is deep and wide. I listened to the third track of Dark Side of the Moon (the one with all the clocks). After hearing the clocks, I thought that I had the receiver set for surround sound. I checked and double-checked but no...it was set to stereo. I heard clocks and ringing to the far left and right, behind me, beside me and straight ahead. Every time I listen to music now, I am so incredibly distracted by how good the soundstage is that I find I just can't relax and just listen to the music :).

Third, the lows are incredibly deep and accurate. For music, I don't have to rely on my sub. When I put on Diana Krall's Love Scenes CD, I could barely contain myself. With eyes closed, I could swear that she and the rest of her band was right there, performing just for me.

I wonder how many Bose owners out there (or even owners of speakers period) just live with their speakers not fully understanding what is possible with a bit of experimentation. I am sure that other variations on the above placement theme would also give good performance. I encourage you to spend time tweaking so that you can get the most out of your system.
 

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