Gary,
Of course I tried playing only one unit but for sure that does not fill my needs. The sound-image is completely different (less complete/wide) and phase canceling occurs because of the L/R sum.
A Tyros (or any other keyboard) needs to be connected/played in stereo, otherwise you lose >25% of the sound quality ..... IMHO
Did you compare stereo/mono with your equipment?

Roel, I agree with you..

I am a Stereo fan myself Roel....but you wouldnt think it matters if you do a search and read the hundreds of users posts on the Stereo subject.

Dnj,
WHAT is your point??
Half of this thread is filled with your (nothing adding) replies....you telling to be the most occupied/experienced entertainer ... I take too much pieces.... advising me to listen to others and change my 'needs'?? Is it THAT hard for you to accept other opinions/views??
Please stop this annoying comments, at least in a thread I started just to share my thoughts .... please?

[This message has been edited by kla4 (edited 02-20-2009).]

What's dont you understand about doing a SZ search this Bose thing has been rehashed, re-argued, so many many times, some love it .....some hate it.......
Roel as expected I see you haven't changed...many newbies don't remember eh?
enjoy your inner anger your not fooling me..



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 02-20-2009).]

Exactly BBBB Roland handles the phase issues very nicely in my experiences.
If I remember Gary has done some extreme editing to Yammy sounds to rectify these issues?

Every hi-end piece of equipment designed to play stereo looses sound-image quality when played thru MONO speakers .... like a full color HQ picture looses 'color' after conversion to B/W ....

Medium/poor quality pictures lose less 'color' ... get my point?
Dnj's attitude/tone makes me want to quit.
Sorry (to the nice guys)

Unless you are doing a face front ticketed show, most of the target audience wouldn't know or care whether its stereo or mono. They HEAR, they don't listen. They talk over the musicians, they dance to the music.

25% worse in mono...I don;t know how that is quantified. I think its more a psychological issue with the artist. A great Artist with a mono system will work more than a mediocre artist with a Stereo rig..

The idea of the Bose was to carry a full powered PA in the back seat of a "Camry" any one could set up and be playing through in 5 minutes. In that regard it has no peer.



[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 02-20-2009).]

To be honest, there's not much that the audience cares about one way or the other They don't care whether it's styles or SMF's or mp3's (apparently, we do!). They don't care whether you play any of the parts or all the parts (apparently, we do!). They don't care whether it is stereo or mono (apparently, we do!)...

The thing is, do you lower your act down to the few things that THEY care about, or do you do an act that YOU care about?

I have always thought that, as long as I do an act that makes ME happy, including staging, PA, lights,etc., that should pretty much take care of what makes them happy, too. No matter HOW picky they are. But do an act that panders to their 'lowered expectations' and sooner or later you DO bump into someone with higher standards and fare poorly. Plus, let's face it, the most important person you have to make happy each gig is YOU... you're the only one that HAS to listen to you, your playing, and the PA you play through every single gig. If you don't make yourself happy, how can you make others?

For me, the slight inconvenience of hauling around ONE more speaker is much more than offset by the sonic nirvana of listening to my arranger in stereo. You know... the way the manufacturer made it! If it wasn't important, why do you think THEY bother? They are cutting every corner they CAN get away with!

Sorry I'm late getting back to this thread, but I just finished a job and had to make a quick stop before returning home.

As for MY experience, I A/B tested the Bose L1 against a pair of Barbetta Sona 32SC powered speakers, which I consider excellent, conventional speakers. I also tested it against a pair of Peavey SP5Gs. Bottom line is, there was no comparison. The L1 was much cleaner, crisp, had loads of bottom end, the setup time was considerably faster, and my audiences loved the Bose sound quality.

When it comes to stereo V/S mono, the audiences, as Diki clearly stated, really don't care. They're there to enjoy the music, not have their heads blown off, party, dance, whatever.

As for who hears it and who does not, there is lots of information available about this topic. Essentially, the stereo effect is heard by audience members that are with an equalateral triangle created by the distance between the right and left speakers. Audience members outside that area do not hear stereo, and depending upon your system, the venue configuration, etc.., the overall sound may be dominated by where they are positioned. Those positioned to the right or left of the triangle will predominately hear sounds from that channel. Most audience members will primarily hear mono sounds. The performer, who is usually situated directly between the left and right speakers, however, will overwhelmingly hear stereo.

While phase cancellation has been reported by a couple L1 users, most have not experienced this. It may have something to do with the summation of the channels and various techniques used to combine the left and right outputs.

Additionally, I've heard that the Bose Model II with the Tonematch produces better sound quality from Yamaha's TOTL keyboards than the older L1. I, personally, have not had the opportunity to test this, but hopefully, I will next January at the next Shreveport Jam.

The great thing about your purchase is if you find one works just fine for you, Bose will be more than happy to accept the other unit as a return with no questions asked. They are an outstanding company, their customer service is second to none, and their quality is unsurpassed.

Good Luck on whatever you decide upon,

Gary