Bose 501 worth $50?

[Austin Translation]

I met a guy who has some good looking and working bose 501 speakers at the flea market and he said he would bring them in next weekend for me to see. Most people on the internet seem to really put anything bose down. I like acoustic suspension type speakers, I have some epi m100 that really seem to sound nice. Will 501s not sound as good? Thanks, Austin

[DeathRex]

Maybe if the 501s are older. Basically the older 501 is a 301 with a bigger woofer. Bose changed them at sometime into a tower speaker. I tend to like the older Bose, just too much plastic in the new ones. The speakers should be good, but the crossover will need work, along with the surrounds. I have some Bose 301s series I. Really would like to get a set of 601s series I, II or III, when ever I get the money.

[EWBrown]

Friend of mine had a pair of Bose 501s back in the mid 1970s, along with a US-made Altec Lansing SS receiver. Overall they sounded pretty good, but they really needed fairly high power levels to sound their best, along with "generous" use of the Altec's bass and treble controls . Probably not very suitable for most SE or lower powered tube amps, except for background nusic levels. .

If the cabs are in good condition, they could always be "repopulated" with more efficient speakers.

As I recall the 501 had a 10 inch (?) woofer, and one paper cone tweeter facing forward, and three "angled" tweeters firing out the upper rear of the cab. That precluded placing them against, or close to, a wall.
Unlike the Bose 901s, the 501s did not require the use of an equalizer.

I recently had one of the 901 equalizers that I bought for a buck at a flea market. It worked, but had absolutely no relevance to anything I owned, and when used with "real" speakers, the sound was awful
I didn't even bother trying t give it away, it was one of the first things to make a nice loud "clang", as I tossed it from the garage door into the dumpster in the ten yard dumpster I had when I was cleaning out the NH house, prior to my move south.

/ed B

[Austin Translation]

Thanks for the advice, I think I shall pass on these then.

[burnedfingers]

You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Bose has great marketing
but unfortunately their speakers are still junk. No highs no lows its got to be Bose. No self respecting audiophile will make claim to a pair. Very inefficient and require a very large amplifier to sound halfway decent.
Pass on them