I'm going to raise a few points in this post, a few things about the L1 and a point about Bose products in general.

First off with the L1 and the approach:

I'm very impressed with the modular approach, yes it will be expensive to do this but at the end of the day you have to see that your sound quality will be far better because each band member will have their own L1 which increases loudspeaker clarity and headroom.

Furthermore, the L1 I find to be a pleasing sound. It doesn't need to be loud for acoustic instruments. It sounds just like your instrument but loud enough to share. It has the capability to fill some larger spaces with some impressive sound though!

Portability is a big plus, only take as much kit as you need. How cool? The new L1 series II is just an overall more portable system than any other PA system I have seen.

The ToneMatch and T1 control are just great. Do you really want to carry an EQ, mixer, DSP around with you? Nope. But with the Bose you have that (as an extra though). It's a nice intergrated product, all in one package you can carry around.

Bass response is good enough for a system this size. It's clean, taut, musical bass with a hint of that Bose richness you dont get with other subs.

SQ of the L1 at up to moderate volumes is fantastic. Balanced. Clear, Rich, Spacious.

At higher levels it slightly looses the edge and becomes a little sharp. However, for the size - it don't half punch.

Now off to the Bose in general.

People complain Bose speakers have no highs, no lows, distort, dont sound good... You know the usual rubbish the nay sayers come up with... I kind of take a laugh because I have a totally different experience.

well.... I spoke to a DJ last night who said he has never liked Bose because they distort when cranked up and sound overall very shrill. Okay. I have 203s that I've run off a Home cinema 150 watt RMS amp, lack of bass and serious distortion when volume turned up... Nicely take my QSC amplifer... plug them up... Zero distortion at basicially twice the volume of the Home cinema amp..

What amplifer are you using Mr DJ? Soundlab.

How manys watts RMS? Erm, that would be 600 watts a channel.

Of course, 600 watts peak.... maybe 300 watts RMS or less... Oops.. leaving less and less headroom eh? And I doubt a 300 watt RMS amp could shift enough to run the Bose 802s at half their capacity.

The 802s for example I have found only to be happy with 400-1000 watt per channel amps. The more the better, within reason. The EQ on the controller doesn't help... massive EQ... but with the right amp, you'll get deep powerful bass from a full range PA. Seriously sounds good. Very rich.

I have had really nice, full sound, with little to no distortion on a pair of 802s with a QSC RMX amp.

I've found the secret... I think...

People who say Bose don't perform are too used to PEAK power ratings on amps, and using Bose's IEC rating to match up.

If I recall, 802s are 240 watts... I would at least double the power from the amplifer, to 480 per channel. They don't sound to impressive with less to be honest.. same with the 901s... more amp headroom, the better the sound.

Maybe this is where the no sayers come from? Weak amps running hungry speakers :-)

I must say though, having a product like the L1 means there's no issues with amp matching as the hard work has been done by the experts, Bose.

My farther is a classical guitarist and is most impressed with clairty of the L1s! I guess really until you hear one, you wont know what is missing with conventional systems...

-Gaz-25, September 24, 2007

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