I recently purchased a Bose L1 Model 1 system. I have compared the Bose system intensively with my conventional system in my basement. Also the Bose system was used in a dance party of about 150 people. In the party I played recorded music about 80% of the time. The rest 20% was arranger+singer. The singer singed thru mic input of the Roland G-70 arranger.

I would like to comment on the Bose system in an unbiased manner. Below are the 2 systems I currently have:

--My Conventional System:

2* Yorkville E160P Powered Speakers
Yamaha MG16/6fx mixer, Compressor and CD player installed in a rack.

Cost: about CND$2000 + tax

--The Bose System:

L1 Model 1
2 B1 Bass Modules

Cost: CND$2230 + tax

--The Pros of Bose System:
1. Easy to carry. Easy to setup.
It takes me 20 minutes to set up my conventional system. The speakers need to be put on stands. The power cable needs to be connected to the mixer rack and 2 Yorkville E160Ps. The 50’ XLR cables needs to be connected from mixers to powered speakers. While the Bose system take only about 5 minutes to set up.

2. The wide sound dispersion angle (nearly 180 degree)
The dispersion degree makes the system less vulnerable to reverberance. Also it sounds more even across the party room.

To achieve the same evenness of sound it takes about 4 conventional speakers setting up in the corners.

3. Excellent mid range frequency / vocal sound.
The Bose system is excellent in human voice range. The singer was very satisfied with her voice during the party.

--The Cons of Bose System:
1. No high frequency sound.
The hiss sound in the high frequency is muffled. As a result the snare drum won’t have the same impact as conventional system. Actually after playing prerecorded music I noticed that all the high-frequency material (say >10KHz) is lost from Bose L1.

2. Noticeable phase-cancellation when playing pre-recorded music
Since the Bose L1 system is mono, when joining stereo into one channel phase-cancellation happens. The pre-recorded music sounds much thinner than playing thru conventional system in stereo.

I have not tried. But I believe setting up 2 Bose L1 as stereo won’t resolve the issue since the sound dispersion is 180 degree. It will still result in phase cancellation.

However it astounded me that arranger keyboard such as G-70 won’t suffer the phase issue. I suspect the Roland G-70’s styles have taken mono into consideration.

3. Poor dynamics
Comparing to conventional system the Bose L1 won’t provide the same impact. It seems the headroom on the Bose system is limited. Sound wise, the sound come from Bose seems to be compressed too much.

4. Not as loud as conventional system.
1 Bose L1 with 2 basses (750W) is not as loud as 2 Yorkville E160P (400W in total). Not good for playing dance music

5. Not configurable
Yes Bose L1 is plug-and-play. But on the other side you cannot twick the sound.


Given the plus and minus of Bose L1. Humbly I would suggest the use of Bose L1 as following:

--For musicians/entertainers focus on pop, jazz and country music

The Bose L1 system is suitable. The system is easy to set up. It saves you a lot of equipment pieces. Also the system covers this type of music well. Especially if you play in lounge, wedding or any type of mobile environment you will take advantage of Bose L1’s easy set up and nice adapt ion to different surroundings.

--For any type of singers
Bose L1 is suitable. It covers human voice very nicely.

For entertainers playing dance music
Bose L1 is NOT suitable. The sound does not impact audience. You will notice it short of bass and high frequency material. People won’t be excited of the music.

--For DJ playing pre-recorded music
Avoid Bose L1. It is not made for this purpose even though Bose claims DJ likes it. Phase cancellation, sound volume, lack of bass and high and lack of dynamics will make DJ look bad.

I would not suggest use Bose L1 if you play any pre-recorded music during event.

At end of the day my Bose L1 is going back to Bose. I will return it because I play a considerable portion of pre-recorded music during performance.

Thanx for your review ....I agree on many of your points ....& is why I sold mine after a few months also.....your points are well taken & more then correct in a live dance performance scenario.

Thanks for your reviews, however I don't understand #5. One of the features of the L1 is that it is highly adjustable for dozens of setups. The system one has many presets in the base unit, plus 3-band e.q. on the controller.
System II has a totally programmable digital mixer available - and it IS necessary to have.
Using this controller, you have parametric and conventional e.q. available for every channel.
My Bose has sizzling highs and gut-thumping lows.
DonM

For L1 model 1 the preset are 00 for flat and others for different mics, primarily used for compensating “near field distortion”. The conventional mixer board provides more control over EQ than Bose’s low/mid/high adjustment. The Yamaha MG16/6fx allows me to adjust 6 EQ for overall sound. And for each channel I can do mid swept EQ, not to mention the flexibility to control effect amount and send sub-mix/group/aux. It’s true I can hook a mixer/compressor/EQ to Bose L1. But then it will loose the feature to easy setup.

Bose is good at mid-range. But about the high, no matter how much boost I adjust in the control it just could not match the level/quality of Yorkville E160P. I also listened to the source music thru Sennheiser headphone to make sure the high frequency should be there.

Having said that, I know I will miss Bose sometimes in the future.

While I am an avid fan of the Bose L1 and use it on every job, I know what WRONG is talking about. I don't think I will ever go back to a conventional system (but will not say NEVER), however, I have added a mixer into the chain. Not only does it give me additional inputs that I need occasionally, but it provides more control of EQ and FX on individual channels.

Between the internal EQ settings in the keyboard, the Bose EQ settings on the remote and the EQ on the mixer, it is just a matter of finding the right recipe...at least for me.

As for a bass line that will part your hair on the dance floor, the Bose is not the gear to do that. The sub is fine, but IMO, it is a "warmer, more rounded" tone than you will find in some of the conventional gear that rockers and a lot of country bands use.

Again, my opinion, but two subs doesn't seem to do much more than one in an OMB situation.

Several rooms I play are wider than they are long, a couple other rooms are L shaped. No 2-speaker conventional system can come close to providing the dispersion necessary to cover the entire room.
Eddie

I almost always use an external mixer also. Maybe my ears are too old. I'm not missing any highs. Enjoy!
DonM

I never use a mixer, set the EQ's on both the Bose and the keyboard, and one of the things I worry about is too much bass and too much highs. Guess my ears are getting old too. However, I only play MP3s during breaks, but they sound good to me as well.

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

One thing I would watch out for is this plethora of different EQ's. EQ's in the arranger. EQ's in the mixer. EQ's in the Bose processors...

It is going to get all too easy to have them interact with each other in nasty ways, one boost band on top of another, and pretty soon you are in sonic hell! It is usually better for the overall sound to try to EQ in one or two places, tops. If you have a mixer, and it's EQ is reasonable, why not concentrate most of your efforts there? Rather than putting a smile on the arranger's EQ, then putting a smile on the overall PA's output, then struggling at the mixer to make your mids and low mids punchy (you just notched them out twice!).

I personally try to run my arranger, AND my main PA EQ as flat as I possible can, use a good, pretty flat PA with a sub (not too loud - I hear WAY too many PA's with overbearing subs), and then what EQ I need for the arranger, or vocals, or the guitar is done at the mixer, and the EQ that makes the arranger sound full isn't effecting the guitar, or the vocals, or the CD player.

EQ is like using a strong spice. You don't want what is in one dish to flavor all the others...

Flat sound is only good if the actual SOUND is good.
Yamaha kbs lack sizzle....can't imagine anyone playing their drums flat.
Korg pianos sound better with a midrange cut.
Roland is bass heavy.
All major sound companies have their own, trademark sound. Flat only works if you love the original sound. I rarely do.

With my Ketron SD5, I have everything flat! In fact there is no internal e.q. on the SD5, except for the mic. The two channels on my mixer are flat and the Bose is on preset 00.
When I use the PSR S900, I use internal e.q. on the keyboard. You have to add sizzle to the drums, bottom to everything and try not to muddy up the mids.
Dikki, I see a LOT of groups doing what you describe. Also, they usually don't listen to me if I try to explain they are double-boosting or double-cutting, so I generally don't mention it.
DonM