I just came back from NAB in Las Vegas. NHK, the Japanese tv giant, was displaying its ultra high definition tv system with its 22.2 channel surround sound system. I sat in their "theater" and noticed their Bose speakers. Their setup looked like L1s, but the units were taller and had more drivers in them. The finish also looked like brushed titanium. The bass modules were twice as big as a B2 and had 4 drivers. B4s? Needless to say, hearing 22.2 surround sound was incredible. What system is this??

Sounds like the Panaray® MA12 Modular Line Array Loudspeaker and the Panaray® MB4 Modular Bass Loudspeaker.

Were these it? They are often called the installed version of the L1.

Bose Japan has some products that are unique to them. I haven't looked over their stuff in quite some time, so I don't know. If you google well, you might be able to find it.

Bjorn's Audio Video in San Antonio, TX has a 10.2 THX system built and maintained by Tomlinson Holman (the TH in THX...the X is for eXperiment). It's pretty cool. The real upshot idea is not just left, right, center, or surround...it's "height" channel. A speaker goes over your head to make front to back transitions roll right past you more smoothly.

My other nerdy passion.

Can the MB4 be used with an L1 and would there be any benefit?

Hi Riggie,

No particular benefit.

quote:

Originally posted by Hilmar-at-Bose:
The MB-4 can not be used as a replacement for the B1. The impedance and EQ do not match particularly well and in general we recommed using B1s.
If you still want to use the MB-4 you would have to use an external power amp. Connect the Bass Line Out of the power stand to the input of the external power amp (that feeds the MB-4). In this case you should not connect any B1s to Amp 3 out of the power stand.

Hope that helps

Hilmar

Here is a link to some other posts where Hilmar-at-Bose talks about the MB4.

I've been looking for this system but can't find any info on it. I'm quite sure the bass modules were B4s, but I still can't figure out what the L1 looking upright sections were. They sat on an L1 series 2 base plate, but everything was titanium, not painted metal. Also, each upright could play back 3 separate channels. So if you tilted your head up to look at the top of the theater screen, you could hear sounds that were a little different than if you looked straight ahead. If you tilted your head down, there was another channel of sound. I wish I took pictures of it.

THE LINE ARAY YOU REFER TO IS THE LA1612
LineArray Speaker

Use google to translate the Bose Japan Web site

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=htt...%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den

iibw
I posted a link to a Bose Japan product that fits your discription, however it does not have more drivers than the L1. So maybe you saw something new, I saw the L1 in a broadway theatre in Manhattan I believe before it was released.