Turning 60 is a pretty big milestone for any company. Bose is celebrating its diamond anniversary by bringing back its iconic 901 speakers. However, if you were hoping to grab a pair of these gorgeous pieces of audio history in your living room, it will probably not happen.
In a brief Instagram post, Bose revealed that it was bringing back the classic speakers: the Bose 901, released in 1968. Bose is teaming up with NYC lifestyle brand Kith and world-famous furniture designer Mark Jupiter to help redesign the speaker. This isn’t the first time Bose and Kith have worked together. You might remember these “extremely limited edition” and bad-ass-looking Bose Ultra Open earbuds.
As with many design collaborations, the 901 speaker is a limited edition. Bose really means “limited” since it’s only producing 12 units. It also says in its Instagram post that these are “custom, commemorative sets […] exclusively for our friends and family.”
Rightfully so, this put a number of customers off. The comment section is inundated with complaints about their finite supply with remarks such as “This is useless if they only make 12” or “This needs to be a regular production model.”
Kith founder Ronnie Fieg says, “If you’re half as meticulous about music and how it sounds as I am, you know the significance of the Bose 901 Speakers. Since its debut in 1968, this speaker has stood as a pinnacle of audio engineering.”
The 901 speakers feature one full-range driver in the front and eight on the back, covered with tweed front grills and metal rear grills. The speaker’s cabinet is made of MDF wood and rests on a beautiful stand, one of the speaker’s most iconic parts.
Bose hasn’t revealed much about the 901’s specs or pricing. It’s currently unclear whether a non-limited edition will ever be made available for the rest of the public. All we know is they’ve been ‘refurbished’ in two finishes: white-washed ash wood and natural air-dried walnut.
Anytime Bose releases a successful product, you can expect it to follow up with an extravagant, limited-edition version soon. We recently saw a diamond-studded version of the Ultra Open Earbuds that was far too ostentatious for my coworkers, but I secretly found the $9,000 buds stunning.
