Maybe…Could also have meant “Head”-Unit. Mostly it’s the head-unit.
Consumer guide is good for presenting statistical data based on survey results. Their testing of Audio and many other things can be extremely flawed. Consumer guide was the ONLY audio magazine that rated the 9901’s very high. Could it be because the reviewer owned a pair (which he did).
Not even close. Bose 901’s could NOT produce deep sound below 60hz. Below that they the base gets extremely muddy. Do NOT listen to classical music or a pipe organ with the 901’s. Around the same time that CR did the review of the 901’s, they also did a review of the famous Altec’s Model-19 speaker. The reviewer was the same on both speakers. What really stood out was the reviewer’s remark of how lack of base in the Model-19 compared to the Bose…Yet when they published the speaker response graph (which no one reads) - it clearly showed the Model-19’s base response was significantly superior to the Bose. As you’d expect from an extremely well built 15" woofer.
The other thing most people hated about the 901’s was it was a power hog. At the time the efficiency rating was a mere 80db…while a speaker like Klipsch or Altec were 98db (or higher). The Bose would have to have an amp pushing close to 200 for the same sound levels at Klipsch or Atlec being pushed by a 1 watt amp.