Why I Love Bose 301 Speakers

My friend was looking for bookshelf speakers. He didn’t have a big budget but wanted a well-known brand that he could flaunt. On my advice, he settled finally for Bose 301 Speakers. Here’s why:

I knew that Bose has been around for many decades and is well-known for its “anywhere stereo” effect.

What is “anywhere stereo” anyway? This simply means that the speakers will deliver the same sound, no matter where they are placed in the room.

Actually, the company itself was founded on the “Anywhere Stereo” premise. The founder, Amar Bose, then a student of MIT, bought a pair of speakers, about fifty years ago. He wasn’t satisfied with the sound, because they, in his opinion lacked ‘psychoacoustics’.

Bose used his technical know-how, to devise his own set of speakers, and that gave rise to his company, Bose Corporation’s motto of “Better Sound Thorough Research”. In keeping with this principle, the company is said to spend over $100 million, every year, on research.

The speakers don’t look good in a conventional way, but conventional is boring! Some may even say they don’t look esthetic. But there are many who don’t agree, as what is esthetic to one needn’t be so, in somebody else’s opinion.

I found that the speakers had 8-inch woofers, and though I was not very impressed with the paper cones used in the speakers, I must admit they had an impressive sound, and brought out a lot of detail in the music.

The speakers were a trifle big for the bookshelf, so we had the option of mounting them on the walls of the room. In the end, we decided to place them at ear level, on elevated stands, on the floor, and a bit away from the walls, to allow the sound to ‘bounce’. We got a 150W subwoofer to go with the Bose 301, and the impact was fantastic. As my friend loves to watch DVDs, and listen to jazz and Hip Hop, when he’s not savoring Mozart or Beethoven, this was a good decision he made.

We found the bass punchy, although the bass tends to become a little unresponsive at very low frequency. The stereo imaging reasonably good, although people had warned us there wouldn’t be any, given Bose’s “anywhere stereo” premise.

If there’s one genuine complaint I have about these speakers it’s this: there’s too much treble.

The price at less than $400 was well within my friend’s budget. But that wasn’t the only reason we bought these speakers. Nor the fact that my friend was getting a world-class brand for the price. I seriously considered the performance of the speakers. If you enjoy good music, you will appreciate that what matters is your enjoyment of the music, finally. If you close your eyes, and don’t like what you hear, don’t spend your money!

I almost forget to tell you something that will enhance your listening pleasure. Use an amplifier delivering at least 200 watts of power on each channel.