Ken,

You guys are just too cool. I've been on the site and the new system looks great. How soon can I get one?

My wife is an educational consultant for our state and does several presentations each month.
This would be perfect for her. Perhaps she would let me use it sometimes as well.

Congrats on what looks like a fine new product.
I can't wait to see and hear one.

All the best,
Rick

There ya go!

how many watts in this model?

Very nice. This is similar to the 302 or the other Panaray speakers that Bose makes, but it is much more convenient & versatile as part of the L1 family - not to mention cooler. It even uses ToneMatch presets! The price is very nice as well.

[edited for clarity]

Make sure you check out all the photos & great videos on the main Bose site about the Compact. They are very well done & should answer about every question you can imagine! Download the manual there as well.

Tom

Wow,
What a fantastic looking product (I guess owning one of the other L1's and know their performance, helps appreciate what has been done here).

Ken,
What a great roll out, the videos and quality of the presentations are excellent. Hearing from the people involved really adds to the excitement. Congratulations, it looks like a very strong winning combination.

I can definitely see one of these coming home in the very near future.

How much? Can you hook the t1 up to the compact? can you hook up the b1 to it also?

Oooh... another great idea. This will REALLY appeal to the singer/songwriter market because it's directly price-competitive with good quality conventional rigs.

I have many questions.

- The "how many watts" query is, of course, not something that will be answered because specs like that are so misleading. Bose never talks about power. A more pertinent question, I think, is "Will this be able to keep up with a Model I or Model II in a band situation?" Right now my band has a whole system devoted to a singer with a mic and nothing else. This would be perfect for her if it could keep up with the rest of us.

- A substantial part of the L1 demo I give explains and describes the benefits provided by the line array configuration of the L1's Cylindrical Radiator (the tower) -- specifically, how the line array produces a cylindrical sound wave simply because it's a couple of dozen small speakers arranged in a column ("It's physics, not voodoo.") and why that's important to projection and clarity.

I assume that in the collapsed configuration, the Compact loses this... true? The array simply isn't long enough to produce a cylindrical wave. However, it occurs to me that for the intended collapsed usage (small groups, spoken word) the benefits of a cylindrical wave are less important.

- With only one mic preset and only one instrument preset, what are the preferred devices? Which microphone? Which guitar pickup system? Asked another way, are these equivalent to any of the existing presets?

When I talk about and demonstrate ToneMatch, I point out that the settings are specific to individual devices and also demonstrate this using two different mics. Also, a friend of mine has a Taylor guitar and we found significant differences between the various acoustic guitar presets. The Compact appears to take a "one size fits all" approach, which is good for simplicity but it must involve some kind of compromise. (Yes, I know...if you want more presets, just go get a T1. Just looking to understand what's here.)

- DJs ... I've never met a DJ who didn't ask about bass. There's no explicit support for B1s. Naturally, one could use the line out to feed one or more Packlites and some B1s, but what about the crossover? It appears this is not part of the design. What should a DJ who just has to have that "thump" do?

Well done, folks!

Another question:

Is it like the Model I/II with regard to using only part of the Cylindrical Radiator? You can run the other models with only half the tower plugged in if you absolutely do not have enough ceiling altitude (this is the case in my band rehearsal space).

Leaving off the top piece looks like it'd make the tower about six feet high...perfect for those low-ceilinged, elevated-stage situations.

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew Douglas:

quote:

Originally posted by Oldghm:

Power and bass module together makes sense to me. No more need for a fan, and one less handfull to carry in and out.

This is something that I (and I'm sure many others) offered up as a suggestion years ago (Classic days, before even the Packlite). Having an integrated package makes a lot of sense.

At the time, however, we'd not seen the Model II. What it provides is fantastic portability...no single piece of the entire system weighs more than 30 pounds.

If this is in fact an integrated powerstand/bass module setup, then it might wind up being relatively heavy. I'm not sure I'd trade that for what the Model II has given us.

Another possibility is that this is an entry-level model with limited expandability/connectivity.

We'll see soon enough!

Andrew
The entire L1 Compact system weighs only 30 lbs when assembled in its "Extended Position". The power stand weighs only 24.6 lbs.

Neil

Originally posted by Andrew Douglas:
Oooh... another great idea. This will REALLY appeal to the singer/songwriter market because it's directly price-competitive with good quality conventional rigs.

I have many questions.

quote:

- The "how many watts" query is, of course, not something that will be answered because specs like that are so misleading. Bose never talks about power. A more pertinent question, I think, is "Will this be able to keep up with a Model I or Model II in a band situation?"

The L1 Compact system can share the stage with an L1 Model I and L1 model II in a band situation

Right now my band has a whole system devoted to a singer with a mic and nothing else. This would be perfect for her if it could keep up with the rest of us.

- A substantial part of the L1 demo I give explains and describes the benefits provided by the line array configuration of the L1's Cylindrical Radiator (the tower) -- specifically, how the line array produces a cylindrical sound wave simply because it's a couple of dozen small speakers arranged in a column ("It's physics, not voodoo.") and why that's important to projection and clarity.

I assume that in the collapsed configuration, the Compact loses this... true? The array simply isn't long enough to produce a cylindrical wave. However, it occurs to me that for the intended collapsed usage (small groups, spoken word) the benefits of a cylindrical wave are less important.

- With only one mic preset and only one instrument preset, what are the preferred devices? Which microphone? Which guitar pickup system? Asked another way, are these equivalent to any of the existing presets?

When I talk about and demonstrate ToneMatch, I point out that the settings are specific to individual devices and also demonstrate this using two different mics. Also, a friend of mine has a Taylor guitar and we found significant differences between the various acoustic guitar presets. The Compact appears to take a "one size fits all" approach, which is good for simplicity but it must involve some kind of compromise. (Yes, I know...if you want more presets, just go get a T1. Just looking to understand what's here.)

- DJs ... I've never met a DJ who didn't ask about bass. There's no explicit support for B1s. Naturally, one could use the line out to feed one or more Packlites and some B1s, but what about the crossover? It appears this is not part of the design. What should a DJ who just has to have that "thump" do?

Well done, folks.!

ST just posted some FAQ and FFB documents to the Wiki that will help address these questions.

L1 Compact Wiki

Now that the kitty is out in the open, I must say that the New Baby delivers just like an L1. Yeah, I know full well what the differences are, intellectually and from a pure-science point of view. But the experience of playing thru the L1C is just like an L1. Honest.

I've been playing thru this stuff longer than anyone on the planet and have probably done more solo demos (piano and voice) than anyone at this point. Even in the early-prototype days, the thing never failed to satisfy. It gives me the same means of expression, the same juice. It's a real acheivement in both musical electroacoustics and simple product definition, the latter not being that simple a task.

And so, me bucko's: Bon Appetit.

Hello,
I've just ordered one of these babies with the new Bose microphone which the Bose salesman said is designed for this system.I also found out you cannot use a wallacher guitar hanger on the extensions, the light weight material cannot support the extra weight.Delivery ETA is around 5-11-09.

So, having waded through all the materials currently on-line, which of these is the more accurate statement?

1. The L1c is acoustically similar to a L1-mII with 1 B1 for rooms / distances up to XXX.

2. The L1c is acoustically similar to a L1-mII with 2 B1s for rooms / distances up to XXX.

Regarding the Tonematch: (and to echo Andrew Douglas's questions)

A. The mic (Channel 1 of L1c) Preset is closest to which T1 ToneMatch Preset?

B. The guitar (Channel 2 of L1c) Preset is closest to which T1 ToneMatch Preset? (e.g.: Acoustic guitar, flat?)

C. The mic (Channel 1 of L1c) Preset is closest to which Model 1 Preset? (e.g.: 05?)

D. The guitar (Channel 2 of L1c) Preset is closest to which Model 1 Preset? (e.g.: 49?)

The documentation states that if you use the extenders, you have to use both.

Since the two extenders are interchangeable, is that strictly true that both must be used together?

What would happen if I left the L1c Powerstand on a table and lifted the mini-column with just 1 extender?

It would be an interesting experiment to connect a Packlite + 2 B1's to the Line Out of the L1c -- recognizing there would be no independent volume control on the Packlites.

My previous question about connecting a Packlite+2B1s to the L1c came from thinking about using the L1c with electronic drums. Most drummers really like having 4 B1's for a solid "kick"; I really doubt the L1c will deliver that by itself. Which led to the question above.

quote:

Originally posted by J.D. Puente:
Hello,
I've just ordered one of these babies with the new Bose microphone which the Bose salesman said is designed for this system.I also found out you cannot use a wallacher guitar hanger on the extensions, the light weight material cannot support the extra weight.Delivery ETA is around 5-11-09.

J.D.,

Congratulations!

-Neil

Dan;

It's pretty clear to me that those who need a really solid "kick" (like you and me) are not the intended audience for this system. The "correct" answer isn't to plug B1s into a Compact...it's to use a Model I or Model II instead.

It seems to me that the point of the Compact is twofold. First, to provide more portability than even a Model II and second, to provide a lower price point for those who match a particular usage profile.

Drummers and bassists don't track with either of those criteria. A Model II with a Packlite and four B1s is essentially the same weight and is actually less bulky than a Compact with four B1s. It's just a whole lot more expensive.

The fly in the ointment to me is the DJ question. So many of those guys love their woofers....

I have no doubt that you CAN plug a Packlite and B1s into it without any dire consequences, but without a crossover the B1s will be trying to reproduce frequencies they weren't designed for.

Originally posted by Dan Cornett:
So, having waded through all the materials currently on-line, which of these is the more accurate statement?

quote:

1. The L1c is acoustically similar to a L1-mII with 1 B1 for rooms / distances up to XXX.

2. The L1c is acoustically similar to a L1-mII with 2 B1s for rooms / distances up to XXX.

The first statement is more accurate, the front to back coverage does drop off more quickly that model I or model II as the length of the loudspeaker array is indeed a fraction of the size. With that said you have to hear the system to appreciate how similiar it is in performance to model I and model II. The horizontal coverage is also excellent.

Regarding the Tonematch: (and to echo Andrew Douglas's questions)

quote:

A. The mic (Channel 1 of L1c) Preset is closest to which T1 ToneMatch Preset?.

Handheld Mics

quote:

B. The guitar (Channel 2 of L1c) Preset is closest to which T1 ToneMatch Preset? (e.g.: Acoustic guitar, flat?)

Steel String w/piezo

quote:

C. The mic (Channel 1 of L1c) Preset is closest to which Model 1 Preset? (e.g.: 05?)?

01 Handheld Microphones

quote:

D. The guitar (Channel 2 of L1c) Preset is closest to which Model 1 Preset? (e.g.: 49?)

40 Acoustic Guitar with Piezzo

-Neil