Bookshelf speakers (opinions wanted)

[pronstar]

Dang. How old is that Fisher!?!

Mid-60’s, my dad bought it new.
The Yamaha replaced this in my office.
It also has a very pleasing, warm sound.

Parts are getting hard to come by, but I’d like to freshen it up once again…just need to find a home for it.

 

[C-2]

Interesting fact I learned about somewhat recently:
Those 901’s are known for blowing amps.

Why?
To get any bass out of them, the “active eq” that they came with had an 18 dB (!) bass boost that is incredibly tough on an amp.

To put this in perspective, a 3 dB gain requires twice the amplifier power

I see them for sale on the regular, but only a few of them have the EQ. Funky lookin. I saw a pair go for less than a hundy on a shop.goodwill auction, pick up only but here in Santa Ana. Hard pass

 

[Orange Juice]

Pioneer cs-605’s

1984 versions.

 

[spectra3279]

I also have this same system. But it needs some repairs and will get demoted to the garage.

 

[dread Pirate]

Klipsh makes some great smaller bookshelf sized options. Follow them online, FB or IG, and they will runs specials every month. 30-50% off etc..

 

[Yldboyz]

Problem solved!

 

[SoCalDave]

I still have these RSL I'm willing to let go for cheap. Cabinets are in decent shape and they still sound decent but would probably recommend upgrading the speakers in them. Heavy as fuk to.

 

[Taboma]

Interesting fact I learned about somewhat recently:
Those 901’s are known for blowing amps.

Why?
To get any bass out of them, the “active eq” that they came with had an 18 dB (!) bass boost that is incredibly tough on an amp.

To put this in perspective, a 3 dB gain requires twice the amplifier power

That 2X amp power was due to Bose, having 4 ohm impedance vs 8 ohm, which was the norm (And still is to a large degree) back them.
As a consequence, if pushed hard, for extended periods, any output transformer weakness, was revealed.

 

[Taboma]

If I didn’t get sweetheart employee deals on audio products, my office would still be rocking this Yamaha amp I’ve had since the from 90’s. It sounds amazing, very warm.

View attachment 1197907

I loved my Yamaha "Natural Sound" receiver, but lost it in the fire and replaced it when my neighbor sold me his far more modern Pioneer Elite for pennies on the dollar so he could justify yet another new receiver.

My dad had a tube Fisher, but it was so old it was mono.

 

[rivermobster]

Added the Dolby Atmos (to the top of the towers) and center speaker.

Have to start all over with the tuning again, but so far it's coming along nicely...

 

[pronstar]

Those hard floors aren't doing you any favors, but it sure beats carpet.

 

[C-2]

A couple of days ago bought two subs from a guy who showed me his Rotel powered B&W/SVS sub Dolby Atmos setup. Pretty wild, that was the first time I heard Atmos.

Lookin’ good Mobster!

 

[DrunkenSailor]

Added the Dolby Atmos (to the top of the towers) and center speaker.

Have to start all over with the tuning again, but so far it's coming along nicely...

View attachment 1201178 View attachment 1201179

Are you happy with the directional Atmos speakers? I was looking at those.

 

[AzMandella]

We replaced our whole surround system at Christmas time . Got rid of the Boston Acoustic surround and Sub . Replaced them with all Klipsch . Atmos for the fronts and new center channel and 8" down firing Sub and rear surrounds . The Klipsch floor standing I have had for years .

 

[Flyinbowtie]

Joe I like the Klipsch stuff. Go someplace and listen to a couple sets. I ain't gonna tell ya which ones to get, but for just B/S stuff you will find a couple.
If you want go look at the "Steve Guttenberg's you tube channel, "audiophiliac" and watch a couple of his vids on the subject.
He is a different sort of fellow, but good info.

 

[baja-chris]

B&w fan here. I run 606 surrounds which are full range bookshelves. Have those in a system with 801s and matching nautilus center. On another system I have 604’s and really like the sound of those but they are full size speakers.

 

[Flyinbowtie]

By the way, my Marantz is still running flawlessly.

 

[baja-chris]

Yup good stuff.

 

[DrunkenSailor]

We replaced our whole surround system at Christmas time . Got rid of the Boston Acoustic surround and Sub . Replaced them with all Klipsch . Atmos for the fronts and new center channel and 8" down firing Sub and rear surrounds . The Klipsch floor standing I have had for years . View attachment 1201198 View attachment 1201199 View attachment 1201200

Same question how do you like your reflecting Atmos speakers?

 

[rivermobster]

Are you happy with the directional Atmos speakers? I was looking at those.

Yes. But here is what you need to know...

Not every movie was Encoded in Dolby Atmos. So to really take advantage of it, you'll need...

An Atmos Encoded movie...

The Disc and DVD player to play it...

Or...

A streaming service that streams it AND the bandwidth to stream it...

A receiver that's designed to decode it.

Then you can add all the Atmos speakers to the above and crank that shit up to 10!

Disney plus streams all the Marvel and Starwars encoded movies in Atmos, and either Netflix or Prime does as well.

It's really cool, when you can actually take advantage of it.

 

[rivermobster]

Joe I like the Klipsch stuff. Go someplace and listen to a couple sets. I ain't gonna tell ya which ones to get, but for just B/S stuff you will find a couple.
If you want go look at the "Steve Guttenberg's you tube channel, "audiophiliac" and watch a couple of his vids on the subject.
He is a different sort of fellow, but good info.

I was chatting with the guy at the store and this is what he told me...

Bang for the buck? You can't beat the Sony system.

He prefers it to the entry level Klipsch, but, the high end Klipsch is MUCH better!

I have no interest in spending that kind of money at this point in time. And when dialed in, this Sony stuff sounds Damm good.

 

[Mr. C]

Yes. But here is what you need to know...

Not every movie was Encoded in Dolby Atmos. So to really take advantage of it, you'll need...

An Atmos Encoded movie...

The Disc and DVD player to play it...

Or...

A streaming service that streams it AND the bandwidth to stream it...

A receiver that's designed to decode it.

Then you can add all the Atmos speakers to the above and crank that shit up to 10!

Disney plus streams all the Marvel and Starwars encoded movies in Atmos, and either Netflix or Prime does as well.

It's really cool, when you can actually take advantage of it.

Your comment makes me wonder. How many people actually have an atmos receiver. Let alone 10-12 or more speakers to play it back
I’ll go out on limb here and say
75% have a 5.1 receiver with matching speaker set up.
20% have a 7.1 set up
And if lucky 5% have a true Atmos set up

 

[rivermobster]

Your comment makes me wonder. How many people actually have an atmos receiver. Let alone 10-12 or more speakers to play it back
I’ll go out on limb here and say
75% have a 5.1 receiver with matching speaker set up.
20% have a 7.1 set up
And if lucky 5% have a true Armos set up

Or the source even.

 

[Mr. C]

Or the source even.

Haha. I don’t even have the source for Atmos at work. That’s left to the special people. And I’m fine with that. A lot more technology and time goes into that. I’m good with my 7.1 and down jobs. Lol.

 

[rivermobster]

Haha. I don’t even have the source for Atmos at work. That’s left to the special people. And I’m fine with that. A lot more technology and time goes into that. I’m good with my 7.1 and down jobs. Lol.

My old 5.1 system sounded pretty bad azz. I'm looking forward to when this is done.

 

[Mr. C]

My old 5.1 system sounded pretty bad azz. I'm looking forward to when this is done.

I have a new receiver that will accommodate a 7.1 set up. But for me. Why. It’s a family room and it sounds (like you said. Sounds bad azz now). So I use the extra speakers for zone 2. I’m an audiophile at work I guess. But when I get home. I just want to enjoy and not have to pick apart what I’m watching. (working on). I’ve learned not even to say to my wife. Did you hear that. Or does the sync bother you. Most people won’t notice a frame or two. Early or late. But……lol.

 

[pronstar]

Nearly all new music.is being mastered in both 2 channel stereo, and Dolby atmos.

We're bulding atmos into some OEM car systems now with more to come

 

[mjc]

All this sounds good but my ears aren't good enough to hear that many channels of sound.

 

[C-2]

The Atmos system I listened to was pretty nice, he had the Atmos preamp w/dac and some monster Rotel amps…he told me $12k for the 3 Rotel pieces. He had an Emotiva system but it kept having issues and he sent it back. He was pointing out the separate tracks coming from different speakers (he had it set up in 7.2 config) but my tinitus ears couldn’t tell the difference. He said another 2 speakers were required for proper Atmos setup.

 

[C-2]

All this sounds good but my ears aren't good enough to hear that many channels of sound.

Same here. I’m oldschool and when the 501 pant legs feel like they’re moving, that’s when I’m happy.

 

[caribbean20]

This thread got me thinking about my Dahlquist DQM9s I’ve got languishing in the basement. I had to take out a loan to buy them in the 80s, and worth every penny.

 

[pronstar]

All this sounds good but my ears aren't good enough to hear that many channels of sound.

Atmos in a car with headliner speakers is usually pretty noticeable

Honesty it sounds sorta gimmicky to me, but it literally is “as the artist intended”.

They even have Atmos-equipped cars at major recording studios, so artists can hear what their mixes will sound like in a car literally as they’re creating the masters.

It’s pretty crazy.

 

[clarence]

Those hard floors aren't doing you any favors, but it sure beats carpet.

Room treatment (bass traps and acoustic panels) can make a real difference.

 

[AzMandella]

Same question how do you like your reflecting Atmos speakers?

They are great if what you are watching is in atmos . Otherwise pretty much just like 7.1 . My Onkyo reciever does have Atmos .

 

[Mike Honcho]

Rokit G3 or G4

 

[baja-chris]

The Atmos system I listened to was pretty nice, he had the Atmos preamp w/dac and some monster Rotel amps…he told me $12k for the 3 Rotel pieces. He had an Emotiva system but it kept having issues and he sent it back. He was pointing out the separate tracks coming from different speakers (he had it set up in 7.2 config) but my tinitus ears couldn’t tell the difference. He said another 2 speakers were required for proper Atmos setup.

The Emotiva pre/pro stuff has been buggy. I like their amps, good value. I pair them with a Marantz pre/pro. Denon seems to have same good pre/pro circuits as Marantz.

 

[rivermobster]

Room treatment (bass traps and acoustic panels) can make a real difference.

View attachment 1201315

Love how you put your A/V system in kitchen!

Pure genius.

 

[C-2]

The Emotiva pre/pro stuff has been buggy. I like their amps, good value. I pair them with a Marantz pre/pro. Denon seems to have same good pre/pro circuits as Marantz.

His preamp was the issue, said he couldn't get rid of a sub hum out of one of his 2 subs. His subs also had high level line inputs but he never tried connecting them in that fashion.

Like most of us, I'm sure he was like "Dang honey, I can't fix it. We need to upgrade" lol lol lol He was pretty stoked about his new Rotel equipment and his new SVS sub that is on backorder. I have his old subs now and neither has a hum.

Then again, his center speaker cost more than my entire system

 

[Mr. C]

Love how you put your A/V system in kitchen!

Pure genius.

Lol. Seriously . Stand up two step to the left another beer. Or snack if that was what you were after.

 

[DrunkenSailor]

I'm using 7.1 now with height I keep looking at the denon Atmos receiver but I don't want to cut into the ceiling. Those directionals may be the ticket...

 

[clarence]

Love how you put your A/V system in kitchen!

Pure genius.

Downtown living!

 

[pronstar]

Speaking of RSL…I had no idea they’re still in business.

But CheapAudioMan just did a review…

…and sure enough, here’s their website.
Same company after all these years.

https://rslspeakers.com/

 

[Jay Dub]

By the way, my Marantz is still running flawlessly.

View attachment 1201228

is that a "qaud"? We had a few Sansui Quads back in the day