# Bose 201 Series III - what to do



## CBRworm

My brother gave me a set of Bose 201 Series III speakers when he moved. 

They don't sound nearly as bad as I was expecting - they don't have much of anything going for them, but they are warm and pleasant to listen to at low volumes. Much more annoying than the limited response is a nasty cabinet resonance that makes every bass note sound like the thin particle board boxes that they are. 

Is there anything reasonable and inexpensive that I can do to help them? Wedge in a brace? coat the box with something? They look good - I was thinking about using them for the TV in the bedroom if I could make the cabinets quieter. 

I guess it's probably a lost cause - they are glued together and I can't really access much of the inside through the speaker holes.


If the boxes were solid I would put better drivers and crossovers in, but the boxes are not solid right now. And apparently they have to be located at exactly the right spot in a room to 'reflect' properly.


I guess if anyone has any success stories I would like to hear about them, otherwise I will probably give them to my business partner to replace his current speakers - cerwin vega VS12's with no surrounds on the woofers.


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## Spasticteapot

CBRworm said:


> Is there anything reasonable and inexpensive that I can do to help them? Wedge in a brace? coat the box with something? They look good - I was thinking about using them for the TV in the bedroom if I could make the cabinets quieter.


Try and remove the woofer itself. 

If you can, use a few sections of 1" dowel between opposite sides of the box to reduce resonance, and cover the inside of the box with quilt batting.


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## CBRworm

Good idea.


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## CBRworm

After some work I realized it's not the box that is peaky at 136hz, it is the driver.

Maybe I'll stick in an Iridium 6.2 set and see what happens. I could do 1 iridium and 1 SPX-177 and see which sounds better.


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## seagrasser

Might be worth it to model the box with your drivers. Just figure out the volume and the port dimensions. That peak may exacerbated by the port with the wrong driver.

My $0.02


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## Spasticteapot

CBRworm said:


> After some work I realized it's not the box that is peaky at 136hz, it is the driver.
> 
> Maybe I'll stick in an Iridium 6.2 set and see what happens. I could do 1 iridium and 1 SPX-177 and see which sounds better.


You may as well get a new box, too.

Try putting a sock in the port. It might help a bit - and, if it doesn't, you can take it out and sell it to some gullible fool on eBay.

(EDIT: The speakers, not the sock!)


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## Foglght

Bid = .02 for sock. 

You said it was a sound absorbing sock, right?


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## CBRworm

Yeah - the socks are probably worth more than the speakers.

The port is a slot = line of socks.

A Co worker of mine saw them and said he wished he could afford bose (he's always making comments like that) - I might just show him how generous I am by giving them to him. Like I gave him my Onkyo TX-SV919THX, and my 45 inch mitsubishi TV, my old HT speakers, all his kitchen appliances and all his furniture. Oh - and the 36 inch Wega Sony tube TV and the 35 inch Mitsubishi tube TV. Those things were good during the hurricanes because they held my house down.

He's pretty lucky I can afford this 'free' stuff. 

It just sucks that when I give him stuff - if it breaks 5 years down the road he complains that I am always giving him crap. He made some comment about the onkyo being all screwed up - he had hooked his Ipod up to one of the phono inputs and it was all distorted (imagine that).

I saw my speakers on Craigslist the other day - I told him that I want the Onkyo back when he is done with it.


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