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Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but Not great either!
Review: Bose 301's have a time-honored tradition that is trademark Bose. I have had several lines of Bose speakers and each has impressed me. However, as I mature, grow, and learn to appreciate finer details in audio and loudspeakers, I find that Bose is falling off. The quality of Bose themselves is still good, but I'm learning to discern what makes a speaker great and what makes a speaker just average. Take these 301's. If you are fairly new to audio, then you will find them exceptional. But then again, a complete newbie would find almost any speaker that doesn't distort, exceptional. So what's great about the 301's series 5? Well, I find them well suited for rear speakers in a 5.1 surround sound setup. They handle this function with accuracy and create a well-dispersed sound field that I find quite enjoyable. However, as main speakers, I just can't get excited. The 301's leave me disappointed and desiring more. Bass is tight, but porting seems too noticible. Midrange is flat and not as forward as I'd like. High frequencies are fine and probably the best quality this speaker has going for it. All in all, I would pass on the Bose 301 Series 5.
Rating:
Summary: The competition easily outperforms Bose
Review: Bose is a fascinating case study of what the power of advertising can do for products that are acknowledged within the audio industry as being cheaply made and technically outperformed by all of its competiters. Based on audio theories from the 1960's and parts of lower quality than what can be bought at Radio Shack, Bose has built an incredible empire out of poorly designed products driven by a huge advertising budget creating an aura of "Bose".Consumers should do their research before shelling out money for Bose speakers. A google search will bring you to epinions or audioreview websites where you can find review after review, mostly negative, from buyers of Bose products. The commonly accepted wisdom in the audio industry is that Bose makes low audio quality products and sells them at very high prices. In other words those Polk, JBL, Wharfedale or Infinity mid-fi products you can find at Amazon are usually higher quality at much better price points. Compare the sound if you ever get a chance. Make sure you DO NOT depend on volume, in other words volume is a bad indicater of quality. Listen for the high and low notes and to the clarity of the music. Tough to do in a showroom at Circuit City or Best Buy, but even there the differences will show up. Bose attempts to prevent consumers from doing this by segregating their products away from the competition. After this you might look at online audio magazines (do a google search), Audioreview (one word) and Audiogon. You'll find whole NEW world of audio products such as PSB, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Quad, Sonus Faber, ACI and many more who's products will put you on a much higher level of audio than you'd ever imagine. Usually these speakers are SEVERAL times more electronically sophisticated than Bose at the same price! What you won't find in these websites of magazines are Bose articles. Bose just isn't taken seriously by the industry. Good luck and happy hunting!
Rating: 
Summary: Greatest Bookshelf Speakers, period!!!
Review: I am a proud and confident Bose fan. About 2 years ago, I bought my first Bose MediaMate speakers upon a friend's recommendation. I never regretted the move but instead started taking Bose more seriously. Three months later, I committed to the purchase of a pair of 901's - the world's best sounding speakers, way way better than the so-called "best of the best" MartinLogan, Revel, MBL, etc. More recently, I bought for my den a pair of 301's and they're doing miracles to my music and movie sounds. Music reproduction is amazingly accurate and the power is impactful and invigorating. Imaging is top-notch! They don't need a powered subwoofer in music reproduction as the bass is just right musically for those who are not crazy about bass. (Anyway, in a live performance, bass is never overly done as it will make music sound unmusical and inartistic). Expect for a movie, a subwoofer is required with the 301's to give the intended audio impact of each scene. All in all, they're the greatest bookshelf speakers in the world!
Unfortunately for Bose, being at the top is naturally challenging and uncomforting and tends to result in many people unappreciative of Bose's outstanding achievements, which is funny in a way. Nevertheless, countless Bose customers and fans of Bose products will always be out there believing that Bose will continue to take the lead into the future of producing the "perfect speakers."
Last but not the least, Bose speaker technologies still reign supreme in the audio industry today, and maybe for much, much longer!
Rating:
Summary: Clear and accurate reproduction
Review: I purchased BOSE 301 speakers and am thoroughly impressed with their performance. They are exceptionally clear and accurately reproduce the music. These speakers are an incredible price performance value!!!
Rating:
Summary: Clear and accurate reproduction
Review: I purchased BOSE 301 speakers and am thoroughly impressed with their performance. They are exceptionally clear and accurately reproduce the music. These speakers are an incredible price performance value!!!
Rating:
Summary: They sound good in the showroom
Review: I was impressed with these speakers when I heard them in the showroom, but even after a lengthy break-in period I found them fatiguing. Other than that, the bass is weak and the build quality is unimpressive.
Rating:
Summary: Not really...
Review: Since I am the one who rated the Bose 301s earlier and have been accused of rating Bose in general rather than 301s in particular I'll answer that. Only the foolish would choose the Bose 301s. I've owned the 301s, 201s AND 901s. Before I really sought out other speakers and ACTUALLY compared them, I was drawn into the Bose mythology. For the same price as these piles of junk one can purchase EPOS, Klipsch, Triangle or Infinity speakers of vastly superior construction and, more importantly, design. I seriously doubt the previous poster has ever seriously compared Bose vis a vis quality speakers. I've now built my own set of speakers, and while doing so, brought out my old 301s and tore them apart. What a shock, cheap, cheap, cheap. A cross-over that looks like it was built from a Radio Shack circa 1970. I can only shake my head in wonder as individuals "claim" they've compared Bose 301s with others in their price range and the Bose come out on top. Oh, the power of advertising on weak minds.
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant but over priced
Review: Summary: A pleasant sounding speaker for back ground listening but over priced and out classed by the competition. Tonality is distorted to produce pleasant sound rather than accurate sound. Bass is loose and wumpy sounding. The 301's can shake the room but only over a limited range of bass frequencies. Direct-reflecting design hurts imaging. The combination of bad imaging, unrealistic tonality and loose bass make them a poor choice for home theater. Fit and finish are only OK for the price.
Background: My roommate has a pair of 301s set up in our living room. I have a more expensive "audiophile" type system set up in the side room. Often I think it's hard to get good product reviews off the internet. You either have the people who *hate* the company (pick one) and are out to trash the name or you have people who bought the product and are defending their choice. You rarely have someone who has spent considerable time with the product (not just 15 minute store demo) yet doesn't care if the product reviews well or poorly. As I had nothing to do with the purchase of these speakers I don't care if they are good or bad. I have put effort into proper setup since I do listen to them frequently.
Basically, they are not *bad* but you can do better for the same money. I don't expect these to match the various, more expensive speakers in my side room system while my roommate had these in the living room (Meadowlark Kestrel, Vandersteen Model 3, Magnepan MMG, NHT 2.5i, Pioneer HPM 100). However, I have heard similar priced models that I like better (PSB, Paradigm, NHT, Boston Acoustics, B&W). Many high end manufactures extend their lines and expertise into the Bose price range.
The sound:
Imaging: These really do not image well. As Bose says, these are sound everywhere speakers. That means you have a dispersed sound rather than tight imaging. An orchestra sounds wide and tall... so does a single guitar or the drop of a penny in a movie. This allows the speakers to sounds very big but, unlike some of the alternatives, you will never be able to tell the piccolo player is sitting just to the left of the first flute. This is not really a disadvantage if you aren't the type who sits in the sweet spot to listen for a while. But it can be a problem if you want to use these for home theater without a center channel. On the other hand, this is a reasonable trait if you turn on the music while walking around the house they will be fine.
Tonality: They don't have a very clean tone. Bose has tuned this speaker to make everything sound pleasant if not really true to the recording. Again, if you just want something nice to listen to in the background they will serve this function well. These speakers are excessively warm. They boost the mid bass and roll off the highs. Music will never become fatiguing but you traded realism for that tonality.
Bass: Several compromises were made here. Admittedly, the Bose can make the room shake with a moderately powerful receiver. This was great for college parties and OK for movies but it has limits. First, they have very limited bass range. These speakers do not go deep and they can not present all bass evenly. They favor certain notes over others (one-note bass). They excel at turning Watts into mid-bass but they just can't go really deep. I would guess they are done just under 50 htz. This is not shameful given the size of the speaker and /or price but people are often surprised when they learn how much bass is still left untouched whey they hear better speakers. Additionally, the 301's lack controlled bass. A tight thunderclap sounds like a suggestion of thunder. One of the true marks of a good bass speaker is the ability to *stop* producing bass in a heartbeat. That's what makes thunder clap and a kick drum kick (tight Bang! versus a loose wump like that car stereo next you at the light). The 301's wind up their bass then wind it down when they are done. The price competitive speakers from the companies above are far more nimble with the ability to start and stop quickly. Think of bullet train vs sports car. The bullet train Bose may be fast but it takes a long time get going (generate the desired frequency and amplitude) and a long time to stop. The entry level products from the like of NHT, PSB, Paradigms are like sports cars. Their top speed may not be as fast as the train but they can accelerate, turn and brake quickly (dynamics and transients). Which is better? Well if you just want to shake the room at one frequency go for the Bose. If you want to have tight, crisp bass, get something else.
Home Theater: Due to the warm forgiving sound of these speakers I found them OK for music. Two channel home theater is a different story. Without the center channel it's important to have good imaging. That imaging keeps the sounds on the screen rather than all over the room. The 301's poor imagining comes back to haunt. A single voice or clink of keys becomes the size of a full orchestra smeared across the room rather than staying in the TV where they belong. In addition to the poor imaging, the poor bass is also an issue. The loose wumpy bass does little justice to explosions and mechanical sounds. The "pleasant" tonality strips believability from every day sounds.
Overall I can see people saying they like the speakers because they sounds pleasant. They really work well as relatively low cost background speakers. The problem is they can't deliver anything more when asked. I accept that if they were $150 a pair but given the good choices for the $300+ asking price... well Bose is lucky most consumers don't bother to cross shop or that fewer stores sell the other bands I mentioned.
If you are seriously considering these speakers check out Audioreview dot com. They have good reviews of similar priced products. It's OK to buy them, just cross shop first.
Rating:
Summary: Only careful and deligent common experience Sound like This!
Review: While it may be true that some other products out-perform Bose products (such as: Cambridge Soundworks 'Radio 740" vs. Bose 'Wave Radio/CD'), but not in the case of the Bose 301 Seres V Speakers and most of their other speakers. The other reviewer rated this one 1 star because of a few of the Bose products are not as good as other alternatives, but his/her judgement over these "few" maKe his/her decision/epinion of all of the Bose products.
If anybody were to put any other products in the same arrangement and of similar size as these pair of Bose Series V 'Bookshelf Speakers', those products could not reproduce the same Soundstage (Live Atmosphere / Spaciousness) as these. AND I'VE TRIED HARD, but cannot be done with a similiar pair of bookshelf speakers! Not Going To Happen (so far :) :) !!!!!
Thus I have selected these pair (over careful research) as front and rear speakers for my Home Theater System [with my Polk center speaker & Bob Carver Subwoofer and my electromagnetic shaker The ButtKicker (mounted underneath the couch!!).]
I wish others shall be able to come to the same conclusion as my careful research has concluded. And for the intelligent people to choose these Bose Series V speakers, the best of happiness and enjoyment as I have. P.S. Sometimes "Simplicity outweighs Complexity" when refering to speakers of this magnitude!
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