I didn't get his permission to post this..so his name is not shown..He is a well know musician,,
here are his comments..


OK, let me start some trouble. I play in a restaurant, every Wed. night, that has music 4 nights a week. A total of 3 musicians play there and we all leave some equipment there. I use my old Bose 800 speakers, and a 18" Peavey bass cabinet, and I connect to another musicians 8 channel Peavey power amp.. That is my whole set up. He uses those speakers when he plays. The 3rd musician uses the Bose system with the EQ accessory. People tell me, all the time, that my sound is better and clearer ,and can be heard in the back of the bar, better than the Bose L1. I feel the same when I hear the other musician who uses my set up. He simply sounds fuller, clearer and can be heard better in the back, in spite of a low hanging barrier that tends to block the sound, When I listen to the guy with the Bose L1, in the back, I can't hear him clearly and the clarity and punch is missing. From what I have heard I would not invest that kind of money in the Bose system. In that club, if I had the choice to use either system, at no cost to me, I would still use the one I am using. Maybe it's better outside or in another venue.

However the musician with the Bose L1, also plays in another place where I play. It has very difficult acoustics ( all hard surfaces everywhere and, again, a baffle that prevents sound from reaching the back of the bar area) and the place is very noisy. I use my cheap ($99) Kustom 15" speakers with the Aphex 204 Aural exciter, and my Yamaha 300 watt 8 ch. Power head. I place one old Bose 800 in the bar are as an extension speaker, by tapping off of one of my Kustom 15" speakers, with a 50 foot speaker cable. People at the back of the bar tell me how much better I sound because they can hear me very well. I see them singing along. The musician with the Bose L1 can not be heard back there. I've been there when he plays, and you can't hear him in the back of the bar. When he plays there on Thursday nights, it is not very crowded. Maybe 30 people. When I play there on Sunday Nights it's anywhere from 100 to 150 people, so the noise level, that I compete with, is much higher than what he has to deal with. Beyond the back of the bar, there is an out door deck. On nice days they open the windows to the deck. I see people dancing out there when I'm playing so I know they hear me. Also, they tell me they can hear me out there. So in 2 locations the Bose L1 has failed to impress me. For $2,000, it had better blow my socks off.

Bose has a knack for marketing their products. They get big names to do commercials and radio advertisements for their products and people automatically assume their products must be outstanding because "so and so" said so. You'll notice that Bose does NOT post specifications for their products (at least not in any significant or substantial way any ways). So the customer has NO way of knowing what's on the inside of Bose products that make them tick or makes them "supposedly" better than the competition. And why would a manufacturer withhold information about their products to potential customers?? I hope everyone can figure that one out for themselves.

People who buy the Bose L1, L2, etc. and pay big bucks for them would like to justify their expensive purchase, deducing to themselves that if it costs an arm and a leg it must be a superior product, even though the results they may get are somehow less than overwhelmingly positive. But they end up defending it anyway because they took out a 2nd mortgage for the 'priviledge' of owning this supposedly superior product, which in reality it is NOT unfortunately.

Best,
Mike

I don't own a Bose L1 or L2 system, but I have heard it once and we demo'd a similar setup for our church.

The OMB I heard using it did not impress me; no real dynamics. But the sound could be heard in every corner of the auditorium. When the sound company set up the Bose columns in church, the sound was simply amazing. I/we didn't choose to go that route because of two reasons - a) the speaker placement was visually and architecurally awkward, and b) I didn't know enough about the system at the time to have total confidence in it.

I'm sure the system works just fine for many users, expensive or not. Bose speaker systems have always been a different animal. If you don't like them, don't use them.

I find it incredible thousands of professional acts, have all been duped by Bose, even with a 45 day free trial. Simply incredible.

Have you noticed that in most of Bose's advertisements, they show the L1 system with TWO bass units...

What do they know that we won't admit?

Strangely, I've received a few private emails myself (that I will NOT quote!) from players that have had less than satisfactory experiences with PAS systems, some that owned them and traded after their limitations became apparent, some that auditioned them, some that heard others playing through them... And nearly every one of them said they had emailed me privately because of the unfriendly comments, made against those that DO post negative reviews, by the Bose 'fanatics'...

But, I guess the more you spend on something, the less you want to hear you might not have got the best value for your dollar...

As opposed to the hundreds of thousands that chose to NOT spend all their money on one?

What were the sales figures for the Edsel?

Bob Hughes, of the Yahoo Ketron forum, was the author. As I replied to him, the one he heard probably wasn't set up right.
As one of the Pros who has been duped into buying the Bose (In fact I'm so stupid that I bought two!) I'm hoping no more folks around me buy one. I know of at least six guys who already did buy one after hearing mine. My friend HankB was the first. Joe Lee Richards came down from Arkansas and ended up with one. Billy Ledbetter, who worked the big lounges in Vegas for years, bought one after hearing mine. At least three guys from the Dallas area made the trip and went back home and bought one.
You guys keep your heads in the sand. Don't try one. Instead try to hear one that is not set up properly somewhere so you don't have to spend any money. Also, be sure to listen to NON-owners who are relying on second-hand information.
The $2000. was not nearly as much as I made from selling off my conventional gear that the L1 replaced.
I have tried using an extra sub and I can't hear any difference unless you are in a situation where you must play extremely loud.
At low volumes there is no difference. One sub supplies PLENTY of bass. As with any system, you must take a little time to set it properly.
I got interested in the system after hearing how much Uncle Dave, Gary Diamond and Donnie Pesce loved the ones they had. Yes, Donnie couldn't rave about it enough when he had one. But I didn't run and buy one. I made a trip to Memphis to audition one at G. Center. It sounded horrible. I figured out later they didn't have the sub connected properly. I bought one from M. Friend on the 45-day trial, and couldn't bear to be without one after that.
As far as being a fanatic, I supposed that's true. I have owned just about every type of p.a. system imaginable, and still have several in the garage. That's where they stay because they can't compete with the Bose under any circumstances under which I might be using them. I will say that there are situations where you DON'T want the sound to be equal all over the room, such as a restaurant where some of the diners want to get away from the music. In this case, the Bose is not suitable. That's if you don't want to hear the music at all.
Having said all this, it's true that the sound is NOT the muddy bass-heavy sound that many of us have been used to hearing. You know--you set the e.q. band in a big V, take out the middles and push up the lows and highs. It hides your true voice and makes you sound like Elvis, at least to yourself.
Instead you hear a balanced sound, with clear, distinct highs, smooth solid bass and true mids. Don't get one if you don't want to hear what you really sound like.
DonM



[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 07-20-2008).]

I've got 4 of them, I must have problems

Frank, just wondering ... why 4 ?!? ... or is that sales inventory?
t.

...returns - just kidding