BillFitzmaurice.info

I saw a band this weekend at a local bar. They were running a Bose L1 system consisting of 2 L1 v1 towers 1 bose bass module and 1 Mackie ( I think it was a SWA1501 but not positive) sub. The subs where split by 20 feet but were about 2 feet from the wall in their respective positions. When I first entered the bar they were playing recorded music through the system (break before last set). My first impression was wow that system has much more bass than I expected. I got a drink and made my way over to the band. The Mackie sub was cranked!! It was distorting horribly. The bassist/soundman turned it down and it sounded better. With recorded music the system sounded clear although from 10k and up it seemed to roll off quickly. The bass was still a bit thick on the dance floor but it was fairly balanced back at the bar.

The band started playing. They were very talented. Now my impression was wow this system will go alot louder than I expected. And no feedback with 4 open vocal mics, 2 of them directly in front of 1 tower. The lead vocals(female) sounded very good and cut through the mix. The male vocals didn't come through very well though. I now started to focus on the details of the sound. Overall the mix seemed correct but the guitar was unintelligible. It was loud enough just kinda muddy. The more I listened the more distortion I heard in the system. It didn't sound like the distortion you hear in standard direct radiator 12's and 15's it was still distortion. I also noticed that there was almost no midbass. After a several songs (about 25 mins since I arrived) I started to experience ear fatigue.

My final conclusion is that the Bose L1 system does sound different than a "standard system" but different does not mean better. It's still muddy just at different frequencies.

wallywally wrote: My final conclusion is that the Bose L1 system does sound different than a "standard system" but different does not mean better. It's still muddy just at different frequencies.

The physics of the L1 are valid, the shoddy implementation by Bose isn't. TLAH Pro along with any of the Tuba or Titan series uses the same concepts but does it right.

Bill Fitzmaurice wrote:The physics of the L1 are valid, the shoddy implementation by Bose isn't. TLAH Pro along with any of the Tuba or Titan series uses the same concepts but does it right.

Bingo, it's not the ideal situation in the least. I'm also sick of Bose touting the whole "processing this, and that, and blah blah blah" spiel. A well designed... sorry, a well *engineered* speaker should sound great with minimal processing/adjustment, and some environment compensation.

There's a time and place for bose. Morning time, at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. Wave radio delivers the news and what not exceptionally well, but I got mine for free- I wouldn't advise actually paying for this product.

On this board and on many others it's often talked about as to "how" to properly deploy a system and how most folks properly screw that part up! Most of today's systems ,L-Acoustics, Nexo, EAWs,Peavey etc. etc. will sound like ass without the processing that's involved to make the thing work. Heck even Mackie uses a ton of system processing. While ideally it would be nice to have boxes loaded up with stuff to sound good with no processing that simply isn't in the real world anymore. Even simple pro 2 and 3 way boxes have a considerable amount of time and engineering into just the passive crossover.

FWIW the Bose rig has it's place. I've heard some low level (from a volume standpoint) Jazz and Big Band Era types using them and they sound fine in that realm. I've heard a midi duo as well and it sounded ok.Properly deployed they do a decent job. For high level rock or even country now a days I'd be scared because they are processed around a very low crest factor.Bass impact is practically non existent.The Bose falls way short in the old in your face type rig but it does indeed have its place.

As far as marketing hype Bose is up there with the best of the Snake Oil Sales Folks.The ear can be fooled and Dr. Armar Bose is exceptional at doing just that!

Ron K wrote:
FWIW the Bose rig has it's place.

Yes, in a landfill.

The problem is that the two inch drivers they use in the tops can't go low enough to reach a sub at 100 Hz, nor high enough to run without tweeters. The physics just don't work, if you want to go from 100 to 15kHz you must use a two-way top. Their sub isn't too bad where response is concerned, but the drivers lack the necessary displacement to go loud enough for true professional use. It just boils down to being a half-assed effort that would be more or less OK if it sold for half the price that it does. But that's the Bose way, over-hyped and over-priced, it's always been so.

Okay I've got to ask, what is bose trying to accomplish with the arrangement of drivers in their L1 line array?


Is it supposed to increase dispersion? So, is it kind of like crossfiring? But what's the point of increasing the horizontal dispersion of a line array? Isn't a line array already tops when it comes to horizontal dispersion?

Perhaps it's just the magic of Bose Technology!

Charles Warwick wrote:Okay I've got to ask, what is bose trying to accomplish with the arrangement of drivers in their L1 line array?

It's a variation on the Spiral Array, which is hardly new technology (Philips Technical Review, 20:11, 1958-59). It's what they must do to try and get decent high frequency dispersion from drivers that are too large. It works, but not as well as tweeters.

I heard the L1 v1 that were a straight array.The HF rolled off quickly. That explains the v2 which is pictured. And for the pleasure of Bose trying to fix a design flaw in the original you can pay an xtra $600.00 per. Priceless
The only reason I went to the show that night was to hear the L1 system. The guitardest in my band is always raving about them. Although I don't think he has ever heard them because every sentence starts with a reference to someone else saying good things about them. Now I have first hand experience that I can use to silence his blatherings.