Coming in late to this thread, and back to the original post that started it all...

I'm actually intrigued by your set-up hawk.

I'm one who distinguishes between the "old" Bose - and the "new" one that markets and sells those little cube thingies.

What series of 901s and 501s do you have? As I have posted before, I've owned a pair of 901s in the past - but could never get my room to adapt to them properly. I've also said it would be neat to set up a 7.1 HT system comprised entirely of 901s - just to see how it would sound (in the proper room of course.)

I also owned a pair of Bose 501s at one time. Traded in a pair of Cerwin Vegas for them if I recall correctly. Then somewhere around 1979 I traded them straight up for my first pair of Koss CM1030s - which I still have.

I liked the 501s - but again they were tough to place properly in the room that I had available at the time (a dorm room at university.) The Koss towers were a much better fit (and speaker) - but I remember setting up the 501s in my parent's large rec room for an entire summer - and they sounded very good to me.

What intrigues me about your set-up is how you might continue to use your two pairs of 501s as the surrounds in a 7.1 set-up. If you have the space for it. I'm assuming that you are using the older 501 variants. (I believe Bose re-issued the 501 in a completely different, and inferior, variation in the not-too-distant past.)

I actually use two pairs of 301s in that capacity right now - and they work very well. However the 501s are larger (at least the old series) and would be tough to mount anywhere but on the floor.

If you do get the whole thing running in a 7.1 config I'd be interested to hear how it sounds. As I did with the 301s, and again assuming that you are using older 501s like the ones I'm familiar with, you have the choice of "reversing" the 501s to see in which location the sound better - given their twin tweeter / direct/reflecting design. It will come down again to your room - and seating position.

Jeff Mackwood

ps. to hawk: welcome to the forum

ps. to jarwhal: I own a 950 and an ICBM, so I guess I have the right to post this reply.