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Gigs sooner than thought; need help with final purchase of cabs


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Bose elicits that kind of response, kind of like Martin vs. Taylor.


 

 

You mean one is better than the other? Both kind of polarizing to me - in a similar non-Guild kind of way. Eh, just kidding - Taylor has some fine sounding/playing instruments right outta the box. Now that Bose thing on the other hand - best wishes. I don't mind playing in front of a mini-line array design. That's not one I appreciate as a performer or from an audience perspective

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Wow - looks like I hit a nerve. Well, that's to be expected. Bose elicits that kind of response, kind of like Martin vs. Taylor.


 

Well "yea"... you hit a nerve... but instead of Martin vs. Taylor, I'll suggest... oh... maybe scratch cooking vs. "poppin-fresh". I believe this forum is heavily populated with hands-on soundgeeks, and if my impression of the intent of the Bose PAS is correct... that system was purposely designed with the intent of putting the to the audience sound more-so in the performer's sphere of influence and somewhat less (or devoid) of the soundgeeks "control". And like most everything: there's arguably some compromise involved in the solution... depending on viewpoint.

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Oh, for the record, both Martin and Taylor make great guitars. I own both and you would never hear anyone say that either was a lesser class than the other, but rather different flavors within the same quality level.

 

This is not the case with the L1 unfortunately.

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Oh, for the record, both Martin and Taylor make great guitars. I own both and you would never hear anyone say that either was a lesser class than the other, but rather different flavors within the same quality level.


This is not the case with the L1 unfortunately.



Well, it IS a different flavor ;)

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I just dealt with a customer that purchased the largest Bose system for $3300 because Bose let them have a 60 day "no questions asked" return if they weren't happy. Their intent was to use it as a system for solo acoustic gigs and full band gigs with mic'd instruments. I told them before they bought it that I didn't think it was a proper choice for what they wanted to do. Needless to say, after one full band rehearsal and coming into my shop for a demo of other gear, they returned the Bose and purchased a Yamaha EMX512 mixer head, 3 JBL PRX412M, stands, cables, rack ears, Shure microphones, and a TKL case. They also still had $700 left over versus what the had originally spent on the Bose system with no cables or mics.

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Home audio trying to tap into PA audio market = bad theory and practice. In the last band I was in, the guitar player came into some money. We had some harbinger fronts, el cheapo monitors, behringer mixer and board and just generally bad. He took his money and bought two of the Bose stacks, set it up a gig before even doing a trial run, and it flopped terribly and another booking was cancelled that was already setup. We were only running vocals on the old system, did the same on the Bose so it's not like it had much to manage and still sounded bad. His theory was we could put them behind us and use as monitors and mains. I would love to see how these work as a solution on future posts. I like the BOSE theory for size, unfortunately I do not think the technology is near good enough to rival larger PA gear that is lower $.

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When they told me they were going to mic drums through the Bose, I laughed......the customer told me that the Bose store called the factory and put them on the phone with an engineer that informed them that the system would work fine for mic'd drums......Ha

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I'll come right out and say I'm sure I'm not wrong.......we sell the Bose stuff and I would never recommend it for more than acoustic guitar+vocal or keyboard+vocal possibly with percussion.

 

 

Couldn't agree more. They are great if they are used in their wheelhouse, but they are terrible (especially considering the cost) if used outside it's strong point. No way with percussion or any real bass that needs to be felt.

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Wow. My mantra on that brand has been the same for 25 years. "Got no highs, got no low, holy {censored}, it must be Bose".

 

I do have some positive things to say about Bose though.

 

They have the highest profit margin in the industry. They have a phenomenal marketing department, as they seem to have the clueless convinced their stuff is great, even thought it's at least 2x (conservatively rated) more expensive than anything else in it's class, and sounds worse than {censored} that costs 1/4 as much yet people still buy it in droves. They have made a fortune figuring out ways of selling the same really crappy quality 4" drivers in practically every product they make. They've proven you can continue to succeed as a company by spending way more money on hype and marketing BS than actual engineering.

 

Some people would be impressed that a company can sell a table top CD Player/Clock Radio for close to $600 that consists of maybe $18 in parts by renting space on late night TV. I'm not. I'm more impressed by how gullible the average US consumer is. Truly the Polpeil Pocket Fisherman of the audio world. Unlike Berhringer which sells crappy stuff for dirt cheap, Bose sells crappy stuff for primo $$.

 

If you have any more money you'd like to throw away, go find a good charity, they need it more than Bose does.

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That might be a little harsh but probably not by much. I really like my Wave Radios but they are way over priced. My surround theater system for the family room sounds great. Much better than the Sony system it replaced. It was also overpriced. Sound is perfect for the room and the separation is amazing but it probably could have sold for half of what I paid and they still would have made a profit. I've only heard one L1 system that sounded fine for what it was doing and that was a jazz trio (sax, piano, bass) at low volume in a pretty high scale restaurant in Chicago. The music was heard and recognizable but conversations could easy take place at the tables. The group used 6 bass modules to get the bass to be heard nicely in the mix, which was, like I said, very quiet.

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The group used 6 bass modules to get the bass to be heard nicely in the mix, which was, like I said, very quiet.

 

 

With such a compact enclosure sporting a cute little pair of 5" woofers, I am not really surprised you need a half dozen to get a decent amount of low end...

 

I'm also not surprised that many L1 owners end up purchasing real subs from other manufacturers instead of having to carry around an army of Bose bass modules to get the low frequency performance they need.

 

Al

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I'm also not surprised that many L1 owners end up purchasing real subs from other manufacturers instead of having to carry around an army of Bose bass modules to get the low frequency performance they need.

 

 

The Bose bass modules are not really subs but are lower midrange boxes that cover up to 250Hz and are necessary whether using real subs or not

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The Bose bass modules are not really subs but are lower midrange boxes that cover up to 250Hz and are necessary whether using real subs or not

 

 

According to Bose, they are supposed to extend down to 40hz which would make them subs.

 

Al

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Yea, they are so convenient! You can walk in carrying your tops under one arm, (but it takes two trips with a flat cart to bring in the 36 subs you need for the bottom end.) You can think louder than the subs are at 40hz.

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I wonder if the OP will be back. Surely we must all be wrong....

 

 

Came back to check in - and think I'll leave this thread permanently. If anyone is truly interested in my experience with this system, please PM me. Really people, it's not like I'm donating a kidney here - if it sucks - I have 30 days to return it.

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- if it sucks - I have 30 days to return it.

 

 

If it sucks, how many bad shows and bad first impressions are you creating. You can't even brag about how cheap the system was. Our advice was much less expensive and considerably better sounding. Somehow you believe we are the wrong ones here. Do you realize the damage a single "meh" show can do to a group that just released their first professional recording? If there was a buzz about you going in, it could be killed for some influential people very quickly. I honestly wish you the best of luck but a couple of early bad shows can take a while to recover from. Especially for more mature acts that can't count on a few dozen of their young friends showing up and having a great time.

 

Please come back and re-read this thread after you return the Bose. Lots of good, honest information here.

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