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BOSE F1 (new speaker system)


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I came across this in another forum.

 

The usual slick design / form factor from BOSE, but it looks to me to have a possibly significant deployment issue..... overall it's not very tall (my estimate is it's no more than 72" / 6 ft total). Notice the video had the system on a stage in every example. In the real world I'd guess 75% of the time there will be no raised performance area and the speakers will sit on the floor. I can see many cases where there simply won't be enough room for the sound to spread out before being blocked by a body. Dance floor bodies, or bodies from that table you had to put the speaker stack near because there was nowhere else to go. I know a lot of BOSE designs are all about "room filling sound" which means angling drivers so sound is reflected all over the place, but the designs I'm remembering are left-right angles. These drivers appear to be all front facing and therefore more easily blocked. It kind of reminds me of sitting a double 15" speaker on top of a sub.

 

So the steering is "nice", but if you start out at the wrong height, you may not be able to steer anywhere worth going. I also have never been a fan of the paper driver to do all the mids AND highs. While the overall sound can be less harsh, I've never heard "sparkle" out of a BOSE product.

 

Anyway, something new to talk about smile.png

 

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/promotions/entry_pages/f1/index_en.jsp

 

[video=youtube;YgNHS-pBu0Y]

 

[video=youtube;WrvhEYvLBqU]

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The video putting it on top of the sub, doesn't seem very stable, not a very wide foot print or appears anyway. Interesting design, if it works as advertised one wouldn't need to get speaker up as high as conventional systems as one could tilt it to the audience.....

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The video putting it on top of the sub' date=' doesn't seem very stable, not a very wide foot print or appears anyway. Interesting design, if it works as advertised one wouldn't need to get speaker up as high as conventional systems as one could tilt it to the audience.....[/quote']

 

I don't agree it could be tilted to the audience. Blocked is blocked. Aiming the panel "up" just shoots sound over the people blocking the speaker. It's not getting 8' high then magically curving back down. It's going to the ceiling then splattering. Aiming the bottom part down does the same, just a ricochet off the floor to "wherever". It also doesn't do anything for the other 1/2 of the panel being blocked that can't be aimed "up" or down.

 

As for stability, I too noticed that when he snaps the speaker on top it wobbled side to side pretty good. The narrow footprint and plastic stand mount are reasons they couldn't design it to go very high in the first place. That's the typical "form over function" from them.

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Well, it's about the same height as the L1 systems, which range from 78" to 84". I haven't found specs on the F1 yet, just judging against the height of the muso's in the videos Bose provides so far.

 

Another system that locks you into their gear. It would have been more useful if they'd integrated a pole mount instead of those plastic risers. I'm also somewhat curious about the choice of a 12" driver in the midhighs, and two 10's in the "sub" (is it an actual subwoofer this time?).

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Well, it's about the same height as the L1 systems, which range from 78" to 84". I haven't found specs on the F1 yet, just judging against the height of the muso's in the videos Bose provides so far.

 

Another system that locks you into their gear. It would have been more useful if they'd integrated a pole mount instead of those plastic risers. I'm also somewhat curious about the choice of a 12" driver in the midhighs, and two 10's in the "sub" (is it an actual subwoofer this time?).

 

Doesn't the L1 have left and right angled drivers (every other one aimed the other direction)? You also have some control of what you're blocking with the L1 as it's meant to be near the performer on stage. So you don't end up with a group of 10 people standing right in front of it. Still, I've never been a fan of the L1 anyway, in part because of the same issue. The drivers are low and the deployment is to essentially stand in front of it.

 

The top box may have a pole mount. I've not read that it does, but they do say the subwoofer is "optional", which naturally leads to wondering how you use it by itself. With BOSE who knows though. They are so hell bent on unique form factor and integration.

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Doesn't the L1 have left and right angled drivers (every other one aimed the other direction)? You also have some control of what you're blocking with the L1 as it's meant to be near the performer on stage. So you don't end up with a group of 10 people standing right in front of it. Still, I've never been a fan of the L1 anyway, in part because of the same issue. The drivers are low and the deployment is to essentially stand in front of it.

 

The top box may have a pole mount. I've not read that it does, but they do say the subwoofer is "optional", which naturally leads to wondering how you use it by itself. With BOSE who knows though. They are so hell bent on unique form factor and integration.

 

The F1 is clearly a conventional system. The L1 is a short line array, and works fine with people standing in front of it, at least as far as I'm concerned there was never a problem hearing any acts I've attended that used the systems. In sum I wouldn't over-analyze this...it's a conventional system, it's about the same height as any other average stacked pair of speakers. I'm more curious about how they sound and are priced.

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Brilliant! - For years patrons have been putting their drinks ON your subs. Now they can dispose of their drinks IN your subs! If the drivers are in separate chambers they can use one for glass and the other for plastic.

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Indeed' date=' Bose should market them in the ubiquitous "Trash Green" and "Recycling Blue" colors!!![/quote']

 

And of course they'll need a fancy name for it. Maybe "Patented Sustainable Sound Technology". Then hype the crap out of it, but provide no empirical data, just some videos with animated sound waves.

 

 

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