As I mentioned in a previous thread (which I shall return to) I'm now 24 hours from my demo of three systems with my local Bose Direct rep, the most excellent Larry Myers. The reason for this thread is that I saw a GLARING example the other day of why we're so anxious to make the jump to the L1 system - allow me to recount the experience:

I'm at the local mall with family and friends last weekend and in the food court, my wife (who is 8months preganant) was told she couldn't sit in a particualr area (I was away getting our food and she was picking out our table) - the reason? In just a few moments a hot local singer/songwriter was going to be loading in for a lunch time concert and he needed the area to be clear - as well as the security guard was concerned it would "be too loud for you sitting here".

So i arrive at the table a couple minutes later, and not finding my wife at first scanned th crowded area and found her about fifty feet away. This matters because as I balanced my multiple food trays as well as my 2 year daughter in my arms, the musician and his assistant began loading in. For 15 minutes they were carting in stuff: a massive pair of powered Mackie speakers, mixer, guitars, processors, cables, and cables, and cables and cables, speaker stands, nor cables, more cables, etc. We sat there and ate our leisurely lunch - probably 45 minutes or so and I kept watching him run cables, do 3 songs (yes - three whole songs) as a soundcheck and then finally he began his actual performance. And the sound - after all that time and effort in fornt of probably 300 people as they sat eating and waiting for the performance? Well, it's best described as "what-if-Elvis-sang-underwater-with-a-blanket-over-his-face-in-the-next-room-from-inside-a-Boom-car". It

Not muddy - no, more like totally indiscipherable! Literally couldn't make out a single word he was singing. It wasn't tremendously loud, yet the sensation was that it was deafening - very odd. It was like he had boosted 250hz and below and cut everything from 6khz up! Absolutley bizarre that he would think it was acceptable - almost thought it was some kind of Candid-Camera affair but there was no such suprise. It just underscored how ineffective the old approach was. In the hands of a skilled sound tech, they can sound good but the performer is still unaware of what comes out of the mains as well as all the feedback, communication issues within the band - but this was one guy, singing with backing trax mostly and using his acoustic a bit - probably the easier of the DIY triple system situations - and it was simply disastrous!

Thank goodness Bose put the time and effort into finding a solution for moments like these - how sad would music be if we had continued as slaves to the old obsolete system of things! I'm hoping to be a BOSE L1 owner (well at least as Pastor of the church I'm at) in the next 48 hours and this real life reason for the change was a great reminder why there is a need for a better way!

Hi Brian,

All the anticipation must be killing you.

I mean, your demo AND your wife. Whew!

Not one to frequent malls, (thank goodness I finally overcame that compulsive shopping problem!), I can recount that on every occasion I have seen live music in a mall - I have not been able to hear it.

Perhaps it is because I have never heard it through an L1™ .

Thanks for the story.

This post reminds me...
I was in a shopping mall one evening in San Jose, CA, and there was an older gentleman playing a mandolin with some backing tracks - classic Italian tunes - sounded great. I didn't see any sound system and thought it was coming from the ceiling or some other hidden, built-in system.

We walked maybe two hundred yards past the musician through the crowded mall and the sound was still great - clear and detailed.

Walked back later as he was packing up. Saw him loading the L1 onto a Rock n Roller cart. He was packed and gone before I could get close enough to tell him how great he sounded.

I then went over to the Bose outlet in the mall and asked if they would be carrying the system (because I thought at one point there was talk on this board about using these outlet stores), but they didn't know what I was talking about.

ST,
And to top it all off:

my oldest son is to take his driver's ed permit test in 4 weeks !

the church I pastor is going multi-site in 4 weeks (moving to a theater for Sunday mornings)

So yeah - anticipation is a huge thing these days!
BTW - your blog was a big factor in my perservering to get to this demo - thanks for sharing your expererience.

Floyd - interesting an older man using cutting edge pa and carrying it all himself - BOSE knows!
And Floyd,

quote:

I finally overcame that compulsive shopping problem

St, does this include guitars and related items?

quote:

St, does this include guitars and related items?

Oooooh! Not Fair!