I'm surprised Bose states the wattage at all. They usually never do, you don't find any wattags specifications of Bose products anywhere (except Amazon, they sometimes mix up the power consumption with performance, complete nonsense). So are 130 W amplification wattage really indicated in the manual?

I've never had a problem finding the wattage of the Bose L1 systems. The information has always been available, but like most PA products, you have to know where to find it. More often than not, PA systems consistently advertise their peak power - not the RMS power, which is the one that really counts. Bose, to my knowledge, usually provides information for both RMS and Peak Power. There is a HUGE difference.

Cheers,

Gary

I know that, PMPO is total garbage, especially computer speaker manufacturers like to fool buyers with such data, you can often divide it by 20 to get the approximate RMS value.
But really, in Europe Bose is notorious for NOT publishing any wattage specifications. And searching their internet site, for the L1 compact there is no wattage, neither in the product description, details nor technical specifications nor in the PDF manual.

So Gary, where is it found ? ...

Bill, I'm glad you've found happiness with the Compacts. Obviously, you're running in stereo, right? If so, what are your impressions?

I have the manual from my old L1 standard and in the specifications it states 750-watts RMS, 1,250 watts peak power. Of course, you can always use OHM's law and quickly calculate the power by using the current and voltage is those figures are available. There are some folks on this forum that don't believe in OHM's law, making brash claims about their particular sound systems power capabilities. It's simple physics - nothing more - nothing less. I learned OHM's Law when I was just 12 years old and took the test for my Amateur Radio (HAM Radio) General Class License. It was a requirement back then and I managed to pass on my first try. Here's a link to a simple calculator that will allow anyone to determine the actual wattage of their PA system. http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms_law_calculator.php

Here's the technical specs on the L1 Compact http://worldwide.bose.com/pro/assets/pdf/en/tds_l1_compact.pdf


Cheers,

Gary

Thanks! Really interesting to see official wattage specs by Bose. Indeed, the US "pro.bose" website provides many more details than the ordinary country-specific Bose websites.

Hey Cass-

I'd refer you to the original post in this thread. I'm very pleased with them. No complaints. The high quality of the sound, combined with the portability and reduced weight is a huge 1-2 punch.

Briefly coming back to Bose's secrets about wattage: The 'pro' section of the website is really interesting, a lot of forum users in Europe will probably be stunned to find official wattage after having speculated for years about what the L1 systems performance might be, obviously noone did thorough research and checked the US site to find the link ;-). But for all the consumer products like WaveRadio or the Sounddocks there seem to be no details, so it is still Bose's stance to be reserved about such details.

130 W for the Compact seems a little limited, but I know even RMS values cannot always be compared from manufacturer to manufacturer. E.g., lately I often read that the new 'Class D' amplifiers sometimes tend to have 'exaggerated' RMS values.

The main reason why I opted against the L1 Compact is that stereo output is just subjectively very important to me (e.g. I hate to hear symphonic strings in mono), and I wouldn't want to have 2 of them, so I preferred the HK Lucas Nano.