Bose buys McIntosh group: OH NO!

Oh no! I hate Bose! But, now Bose owns McIntosh and my beloved Sonus Faber.

I certainly hope Bose does not cheapen either of these iconic brands.

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Well, the upside is, at least Bose can’t make McIntosh stuff look any uglier.

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I like this one, looks nice to me.

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As if SF is anything like it once was in the olden days.

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I do agree LOL. Never a fan of either.

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Maybe some will like the new Bose 901 reimagined speakers. Not me. What a crappy taste in design. My god.

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Ah the good old days and the power of nostalgia.

Those were the good of the old days, 1970-80, for sure. Then came along the Naim classics :smile: :smile:

That means Bose also own Sumiko since Sumiko are owned by McIntosh.

I’m not bothered. Bose are a proper engineering and R&D company. McIntosh has changed hands a few times. It sure as hell beats private equity.

P.S. I love the look of those 901s. I will have a soft spot for the series IV (or was it III? 1973 model anyway) forever. Even when I had Linn speakers, I refused to let go of the 901s until they were literally falling apart.

For lifestyle systems, I’d opt for Bose over B&O any day of the week. I’ve not lived a day on this earth not owning at least one Bose speaker.

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I was initially in disbelief, wondering what will niche, high-end brands like McIntosh and SF benefit from their association with a mass market behemoth like Bose. But surely they can all learn from each other. And Bose’s financial might as well as R&D capabilities will be a god-send I’m sure. Future will tell.

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Looks like those are an extremely limited edition release. Only 12 pairs are being produced. All spoken for apparently.

I’d have gladly got a pair again. Apparently they are for the retro purist though. They are built to 1968 spec. I’ve actually asked on their comments section whether all 12 are really not available. Fingers crossed.

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It sounded good as well FR, but I preferred an SN3 (a few years ago now).

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Sorry to not share your enthusiasm. Hopefully we are all different.

You can see details in Mono and Stereo, I found them the recent days.


Ronnie Fieg – KITH’s latest collaboration with Bose (and Mark Jupiter) brings back the iconic Bose 901.

I heard once the MC 275 monos, with an Accuphase pre. Nice, but not enough drama for me.

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That looks like a jack in the box. As though all the insides have just shot out.

My VI means there is no world in which I’ll be a fan of anything reflective or anything with tiny meters which I can only read by sitting about 6 inches away from. Having reflective surfaces is just a basic accessibility fail on every level.

Will be interesting to see what Bose do with them. I can’t say “hate” is a word I use in connection with anything but it does strike me that most Bose stuff is a darn sight more attractive than McIntosh.

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very few people liked the 901s who were audiophiles. I’m in a minority. But I was born into a house with 901s and they programmed my brain to prefer transmission lines. Great engineering went into them. They hark from a bygone age where Bose had a different opinion about music replay to everyone else but they took it very seriously even if they were the butt of audiophile jokes. Nothing sounds like them and nothing ever will. Granted, most people consider that a good thing. But I’m not most people.

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Have you heard the Bose 1801?
Not bad looking .

IMG_3345

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I remember that the Bose 301s were a popular speaker when I was at school in the US. I didn’t think they sounded very good at all (I much preferred the Allison Six) and was really quite shocked when I first heard the 901s.

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So were the 501s. Probably the worst pair of speakers I’ve ever had the displeasure of listening to. The directional tweeters didn’t help much. Ghastly!