Old Bose and HD

[HAVOKK]

I have some Boss bookshelf speakers that are probably atleast 20 years old. My dad is always raving over how good boss sounds and all but quite frankly its from the hype rather than his ears. Anyways, how good would blu-ray or DVD sound on speakers this old? I obviously wont be able to hook up HD sound but with RCA cables and a fairly old amp will it be any good? Im debating on whether or not its worth pulling em out.

[Beta Man]

Bose?

Anyways.... the age of the speaker doesn't really have anything to do with HD audio..... some speakers sound better than others obviously, and in MANY MANY MANY cases, 20-30 year old speakers will sound a lot better than the majority of speakers sold today.

In any case.... HD Audio is dependent on the Blu-ray player, and Receiver/processor.... not the speakers.

What are you using now? If nothing.... then bust them out.... and enjoy the Upgrade-bug

[HAVOKK]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Bose?

Anyways.... the age of the speaker doesn't really have anything to do with HD audio..... some speakers sound better than others obviously, and in MANY MANY MANY cases, 20-30 year old speakers will sound a lot better than the majority of speakers sold today.

In any case.... HD Audio is dependent on the Blu-ray player, and Receiver/processor.... not the speakers.

What are you using now? If nothing.... then bust them out.... and enjoy the Upgrade-bug

wow... had no idea they kept their quality over the years. I probably wont fork out cash for an HD reciever until I get some more speaks but for now Ill give these a shot. Thanks!

[jomari]

find out what model it is, and you might be lucky enough to have some 7/8/901's there.

personally, i think that the former bose speakers did a great job in its day. its just the overpriced tag they have that furiates me.

as beta man mentioned, its not the speakers that should be your main concern, its whats driving them.

the speakers should do just fine, as long as their in good condition.

[Big Daddy]

Boss makes speakers for cars. You probably meant Bose. I changed the title of your thread from Boss to Bose.

[SlmShdy1]

Just a quick question... How are older speakers better? My step-dad has some JBL's I've always thought were kickass, but he's only been using an old Sony receiver that breaks down constantly.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by SlmShdy1

Just a quick question... How are older speakers better? My step-dad has some JBL's I've always thought were kickass, but he's only been using an old Sony receiver that breaks down constantly.

Some older speakers were better. Some were not. We used to have a lot more competition in both manufacturing and retailing. A lot of older speakers were hand-made and the labor of love of the designers. In today's economy, most speakers are mass produced with low quality components.

[HAVOKK]

So lets say I have these 20 year old speakers and an amp that is just as old set up.. Will I still get (noticeably) better results from Blu-ray than DVD? The amp obviously is without HD audio so whats the max I could get out of an old amp/speakers with RCA input.. I was thinking of setting up a small surround system with the two front bose being dedicated to the front channel and being powered by its dedicated amp.

btw, thanks for the name change, I dont know why i was thinking boss

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by HAVOKK

So lets say I have these 20 year old speakers and an amp that is just as old set up.. Will I still get (noticeably) better results from Blu-ray than DVD? The amp obviously is without HD audio so whats the max I could get out of an old amp/speakers with RCA input.. I was thinking of setting up a small surround system with the two front bose being dedicated to the front channel and being powered by its dedicated amp.

btw, thanks for the name change, I dont know why i was thinking boss

The quick answer is yes. With Blu-ray and HD audio, you will get better results, even with 20 year speakers. There is nothing wrong with old amps and old speakers. You can power two of your speakers with great results. However, to fully appreciate Blu-ray and new movies, you need at least 5 speakers, a subwoofer, and a multichannel receiver that can handle HD audio and also to power all the speakers.

With two speakers and a stereo amp, the best you can hope for is two-channel lossless music and two-channel lossless movies.

[HAVOKK]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

The quick answer is yes. With Blu-ray and HD audio, you will get better results, even with 20 year speakers. There is nothing wrong with old amps and old speakers. You can power two of your speakers with grear results. However, to fully appreciate Blu-ray and new movies, you need at least 5 speakers, a subwoofer, and a multichannel receiver that can handle HD audio and also to power all the speakers.

With two speakers and a stereo amp, the best you can hope for is two-channel lossless music and two-channel lossless movies.

Ok man, thanks for the help!

[Crypter]

I got my speakers in 1993 and they sound better than a lot of speakers I have demoed in the same price range today ($1000 /pair).

That is the one reason I have not yet upgraded my mains even though the finish of them no longer matches the rest of my entertainment center.

[prerich]

My speakers are 26 years old and I see no need to change...yet.

[HAVOKK]

I still find that to be quite interesting... I just assumed that with the increase in technology and all, speakers would excel with everything else.. I can understand the difference in quality though.. Alot of premium companys have gone down the drain over the years because of loss in quality.

[Driver_King]

Even newer speakers with "new" technologies aren't even necessarily new. 360 degree sound or omni-polar sound for example is almost identical to the effects of technologies from speakers and receivers in the 70's and 80's. Combine that with decrease in size in speakers, poorer quality build, and lack of high-end audio stores abroad, there is little motivation left for big companies to produce anything revolutionary if nobody is there to buy it. Just look at some of the speakers produced from Polk back in the day. They were massive, heavy, and bulky but they sure were beautiful sounding. Smaller speakers and aesthetics are the main focus for most companies nowadays. That's not to say small speakers can't sound awesome though...

[got rice]

Originally Posted by jomari

find out what model it is, and you might be lucky enough to have some 7/8/901's there.

.

Yeah I'm dying to know what model as well. You may have lucked out with the 901's

[HAVOKK]

Im honestly not sure what model it is.. Im actually spending the weekend at what used to be my great grandfathers house and he was a big audio guy.. He has atleast four of that same model of boss. They have a black cover with a vanilla white strip like this:


I searched around the web but couldn't find any like em.. Ill definitely check though.

[Squozen]

I wouldn't be surprised if the foam surrounds have rotted if the speakers are as old as the OP says - Bose didn't use quality rubber surrounds 20 years ago (and I'm pretty sure they still don't).

Worst case scenario, replace the surrounds or recone the speakers - Bose drivers are cheap as chips.

[fuwa]

I have 2 pair of Bose 901s series VI that I bought in the 80s that still sound great. I use a Sony Dolby Digital Sound processor that feeds into a Carver 75W amp. I bought all these years ago at Circuit City. I got the amp and processor at 50% off. I also have a Carver center speaker and a Audio Source subwoofer that I bought at Costco.

Fortunately I bought an equalizer for each pair of Bose so I can use the Bose for the 5.1 surround with the other speakers.

My Sony decoder doesn't decode DTS and the Bose are not compatible with current DTS receivers in conjunction with the other speakers that require non-equalized signals. Any DVDs that have DTS only will not work on my system. Separate DTS processors are very expensive so I don't go that route. My Sony Blu-ray player decodes the DTS so now I can now enjoy all DVD and Bu-ray discs.

The Bose speaker that HAVOKK illustrated may be the Bose 601 from years ago.

When the sound processor or amp go out I will probably buy a whole new set up for the home theater and use the Bose for something else. I know I won't pay what I paid for these Bose speakers again for new speakers. But if everything is working well with old speakers I say keep them until they break. I think the biggest improvement in HT has been with the blu-ray players and the new HD TVs. I won't go Bose for the new HT set-up as I like the current offerings from Klipsh, Polk Audio, or Boston Acoustics as they get better reviews now.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by fuwa

I have 2 pair of Bose 901s series VI that I bought in the 80s that still sound great. I use a Sony Dolby Digital Sound processor that feeds into a Carver 75W amp. I bought all these years ago at Circuit City. I got the amp and processor at 50% off. I also have a Carver center speaker and a Audio Source subwoofer that I bought at Costco.

Fortunately I bought an equalizer for each pair of Bose so I can use the Bose for the 5.1 surround with the other speakers.

My Sony decoder doesn't decode DTS and the Bose are not compatible with current DTS receivers in conjunction with the other speakers that require non-equalized signals. Any DVDs that have DTS only will not work on my system. Separate DTS processors are very expensive so I don't go that route. My Sony Blu-ray player decodes the DTS so now I can now enjoy all DVD and Bu-ray discs.

The Bose speaker that HAVOKK illustrated may be the Bose 601 from years ago.

When the sound processor or amp go out I will probably buy a whole new set up for the home theater and use the Bose for something else. I know I won't pay what I paid for these Bose speakers again for new speakers. But if everything is working well with old speakers I say keep them until they break. I think the biggest improvement in HT has been with the blu-ray players and the new HD TVs. I won't go Bose for the new HT set-up as I like the current offerings from Klipsh, Polk Audio, or Boston Acoustics as they get better reviews now.

I also own a pair of Bose 901's that I currently use as surround speakers. We have an Official Bose Speakers Thread. You should post some pictures and comments there.

[fuwa]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

I also own a pair of Bose 901's that I currently use as surround speakers. We have an Official Bose Speakers Thread. You should post some pictures and comments there.

Thanks. I didn't know about that thread. Basically my 901s look like all the others, Series III and beyond. I have those earth toned style speakers that have the light brown grill. They didn't have the gold pedestals in stock so I went with the standard black pedistals. I hang the 901s from the ceiling. I bought the pedestals and extra equalizer in case circumstances changed or I wanted to sell one set of 901s. I am glad I kept that equalizer because now the system is compatible with the current home theater set up.

I will check out that Speaker Thread now. Thanks again.