Consoles Bob, they were called consoles. I'll never forget because my cousin Keith was almost crushed by one. It's okay, stitches. No permanent damage! It's funny now LOL
Man this thread went downhill fast. How the heck did we get to a BOSE 901? ROTFL
Jack, we got there because I mentioned speakers as a lifestyle product, in the family room for gatherings. These Sonus Faber speakers are furniture grade and marketing suggests they are in nice rooms and not isolated man caves, but the pastime of listening to music seems to have changed. I was lamenting my observation that when I grew up in the mid 1970s, our living room had a Bose console system. The kids came home after school to play their new records on the family system in the family room. Rhapsody described many of his clients still doing this. Sadly, I do not see this among my friends and their families anymore. That is all.
When I see speakers with this level of finish, shown in marketing ads in beautiful rooms, I think that the intent seems to be for a kind of lifestyle product, which to me is a strong positive. By that, I mean a speaker system integrated into a lifestyle of music enjoyment with others. I wish there was more of it.