BOSE 901 ACTIVE EQUALIZER

any equalizer that has the capacity to drive the speakers will do the job

Qualifier: I have 901's in a 7.1 setup and have written many posts on Fixya regarding how to do it right.

NEVER USE MAXIMUM VOLUME FOR ANY PURPOSE UNLESS THE RISK OF ACCIDENTAL SPEAKER DESTRUCTION IS A ACCEPTABLE.

ONLY now it does that? "VERY WEAK" as in attentuated somewhat or is it signal leakage, effectively silence? How is the EQ wired in? Check its own Tape Monitor button.

If you DO NOT have a separate amplifier for the 901's the EQ will affect EVERY speaker and we know that is NOT desired.

If the EQ is in a Tape Loop of a modern AVR and you activate the loop two things will happen: 1) the 901's will sound better and the rest of the speakers will be at risk from excessive amplitude at the extremes; 2) any digital source will be disabled.

The manual for the 901's is here.

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/speakers/stereo_speakers/901_speakers/index.jsp

For the purpose of this discussion the 901 active equalizer is the same as any Tape deck or audio processor. You could place the 901 Active Equalizer in the VCR or MD/Tape loops; or remove the Pre Out / Main In jumpers and place it there but that would you could never use headphones as they wouldn't sound right with 901 active equalization. See page 10 and 11.

The PS3 is just in audio device for this topic. Anything that has a headphone output can be adapted to feed an RCA cable pair for standard stereo to any audio device with a standard RCA input (except PHONO). Get a cable like the one described here:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2

and connect it into any available analog input EXCEPT "Phono". Turn the MP3 player volume up.

http://products.bose.com/pdf/customer_service/owners/901_guide.pdf

Be advised, this speaker system requires its own dedicated two channels of signal preamplification and power amplification and the required Active EQ is not to be used in the signal path of anything else. I have them as my Main Left and Right Speakers in a 7.1 set-up, but I'm using a 5-channel external Carver Power Amp to drive them, a sSb and the Rear Surrounds. The Active EQ is between the Receiver's Main L&R Preamp Outputs and the two Carver Amp channels that drive the 901's. Don't think you can just add the 901's into your living room and enjoy multichannel sound. Search around fixya, I have written extensively on this subject.

There is no direct connection between the 901's and their Active Equalizer. It is designed to be inserted between the source and the DEDICATED amplifier driving the speakers. Typically, this would be in a Tape Monitor loop on a receiver.

Tape Rec/Out to EQ In; EQ Out to Tape Play/In on the receiver. If you have a tape deck(s), it(they) would go into the back of the Bose EQ as if it was the receiver and you would use the Tape and 1/2 buttons for selection.

Or,if you have access to any other point that doesn't use the Tape Monitor, like a Pre Out/Main In jumper set, place the Equalizer there. That way it's always in front of the speakers and doesn't take up the Tape Mon.

Flip in the Tape Monitor and leave it on or the speakers will not receive the essential ACTIVE Equalization they require for proper frequency response. DO NOT place non-901's onto any amp using the Active EQ.

Like any speakers, the 901's will attach to the speaker terminals in the conventional manner.

have you tried EBAY

Yes! When the Bose ~Steve901 first came out that was the amplifier of choice -like the McIntosh classic amps. The 901s have their own equalizer as that speaker system is a phased-array, 

The solution is simple and cheaper than you think.

The analog 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 outputs on your receiver should be active even with digital inputs that you want to hear. Your receiver turns everything it processes into analog output just before the speakers anyway so there's no loss of access to multichannel sound this way.

What I did was to buy a separate amp for the 901's and feed the Front L&R analog audio out to the EQ which is directly in front of the amp. The Active EQ is only for the 901's which don't have woofers or tweeters so Bose flattened out its final response electronically with some serious boosting at both ends. Having it in line with any other speakers would feed them a grossly over-compensated signal.

Your receiver will drive the rest of the speakers.

This is the cheapest way to have your 901's and hear them, too. Since the 901's are really efficient you don't have to buy a big amp that would heat the room. I'm using a separate Carver amp with 2x100w for mine.

yes, it goes where you said.

- Bose 901 Series I and II speakers have 8 Ohm impedance each.
- A row of 3 speakers in series gives you 24 Ohm.
- 3 parallel rows gives you finally 8 Ohm.

Front with 8 speakers (view from the rear):
(1) (3) (5) (7)
(2) (4) (6) (8)

Rear speaker is number (9)

Row 1: -(1)+ -(3)+ -(7)+
Row 2: -(5)+ -(9)+ -(2)+
Row 3: -(8)+ -(6)+ -(4)+