Bose 901 series VI & Yamaha A-S2000

Timlub - Would you be able to speculate about the parts cost in the 901s? And for now disregard the 60% bulk discount that Bose surely sees?
After I see your guess, I'll offer mine.

Timlub, Have you done any critical parts up-grades to the Bose 901's to great effect before?

The Parts Express 901 replacement driver is $18.75 ea. in quantity, less than 1/3 of what Bose charges for an OEM driver. So the drivers are probably worth around $10-11 each wholesale. The Parts Express drivers appear to have about the same build quaiity.

I'd like to see what you could get with 10 higher quality full range drivers in a different configuration such as a tower with 8 drivers facing forward and 2 facing rearward for ambience. The larger cabinet should provide better bass performance with less EQ, and the 80/20 ratio would provide better imaging with more direct and less reflected sound. You'd retain the advantages of the 901 with fewer of the drawbacks--crossoverless sound, large radiating surface, but with more optimized cabinet and more realistic dispersion pattern.

Many of the newer full range drivers have phase plugs, which should improve high frequency dispersion, though you'd probably want to angle the drivers somewhat to improve it.

We used to pay a bit under 8 bucks for a pretty good replacement part. There is also a molded cabinet inside, the real magic of 901's is in the eq... and no, we never did any hard core mods... latex coating drivers, but thats all that I recall. I would suspect that Johnny's esimater is pretty close for dealer cost today.

"My real complaint no matter what, I've never heard great imaging... they will produce a soundstage, but proper image placement is non existent."

Timlub is right of course. If you turn any speaker toward the wall, no matter what else happens the imaging is pretty much gone. That fact is why, in my opinion, 901s are so controversial. What they do quite well, though, is accurately reproduce tonal balance. My frame of reference is that in my music room there is a piano and a set of drums. In addition there is a wide array of hand percussion instruments. The voicing of the piano are clearly delineated on the 901s. Many times it is necessary to look to determine if the sound is coming from the speakers or the piano. Another example is a triangle which has an amazingly complex progression of overtones. Listen to the real triangle, then listen to the playback and there is no appreciable differnce. Cymbals are very difficult to capture and reproduce. 901s get this right too. Another observation, most performing musicians don't worry about soundstage, rather we worry about tonality, particularly being in tune with and in synch with our fellow performers. When the conductor wants to hear the balance of the entire ensemble, which happens before every performance during rehearsal, he or she invariably walks back from the stage to the center of the hall, or even further back. Again, the priority is on tonal balance. Imaging is just not much of a concern for the majority of musicians. In my experience this is true irrespective of the genre of the music. Mind you there is nothing wrong with wanting good imaging from our speakers, any more than it is wrong to want to sit up front at Symphony Hall. It gets down to individual priorities. 901s do a lot of things right for me, but they are not for everybody. I just wish people would quite bashing them for contrived and incorrect reasons.