Gentlemen, I have owned a L1 Model 1 for about 7 years and use it as my guitar rig and occasionally for the PA for small bands, crowd-around-the-mic type bluegrass, parties, etc. Recently, the autocross club that I belong to held the North Carolina Autocross Championships at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina.

We normally run in small lots in the Asheville area, and we have few horn speakers and a PA amp from a movie theater (!) for events. The lot at zMAX is huge, and I knew that no one would be able to hear announcements over the sounds of the cars, so I packed up my L1.

The lot is so long that walking the course at a brisk pace takes almost a half an hour; I'd guess the lot is at least 3/8 of mile long. I set up the L1 right beside our trailer (I had forgotten to bring any long cables to run to the T1 inside the trailer) and faced it across the short axis of the lot, so that the sound would reach the course as well as the paddock. I the picture attached, the trailer and L1 were to the left, facing the structure I'm standing on; the whole lot you see was to the left of the L1; there is a lot 1/2 that size to its right.

While I was testing, I got a call from one of the guys setting up the course over 1/4 mile away, 90 degrees off axis; he could hear everything I said!

We used it to make announcements, do color commentary on the cars on course, and play music for the two day event. No one there had ever heard of one before.

Last night we had our monthly meeting. One of the members who was there made a motion that we buy one for our local events. He commented (without my every talking to him about it) that, although you can hear it far away, it's not too loud 10 feet away. I just smiled.

No one in the trailer or nearby ever complained about the volume, yet I could hear it clearly everywhere I went. In fact, I was astounded that, when I climbed the stairs to where the picture was taken, I could still hear! The highs fell off, but for announcing, it was still very understandable. This never happens at any of the events that I have attended, unless you're within 20 feet of the speaker.

Score another one for Bose and the cylindrical radiator concept.

Dr Dad,

Nice to hear from you again. Great story and thanks for the picture.

I'm just adding the words

Bose outdoors

so that this discussion will turn up when someone searches the term. Search results for Bose outdoors

Thanks for the feedback, ST.

What was really nice about this was that non-musician non-audio people understood the cylindrical radiator idea just from hearing it, and recognized it as something unique and valuable for what they do.

Now if only audiophiles and musicians would abandon their prejudices and listen to one, there would be fewer Bose haters out there. For me, as a musician and a discriminating listener, Bose manages to do it right almost all the time.