Bose L1 Model 2

ArthurGuinness

I have come across one of these at a bargain price (two bins and mixer inc) and I am very very tempted to buy it for one and two man gigs in pubs and hotels etc as it just looks so god dam handy. Has anyone here used one is it as good as people are making out, how would it handle a rowdy noisy pub crowd of 200 or so. Any help would be great. Thanks

Savman

Is this the PA that claims to defy the laws of physics? :rolleyes:
Not for me.

ArthurGuinness

Savman wrote: »

Is this the PA that claims to defy the laws of physics? :rolleyes:
Not for me.

Yeah have you played one. All the reviews I have read say that it is amazing and that the sound quality is fantastic but I was hoping to talk to someone who actually has one looks so handy for 1 and 2 piece hotel gigs rather that hauling around a Dynacord 1000 and ev zx3's

Savman

I haven't played thru it, but have heard it. Didn't leave a lasting impression on me and it's not something I'd personally consider for heavy duty work. Powermate's and ZX3's aren't exactly back breaking tbh.

ArthurGuinness

I never said they were but they are hardly as handy or as quick to set up as this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPJ-m2PHN2Y&feature=related plus as i said the reviews for these are great and the clarity is supposed to be second to none

PaulBrewer

Don't X-music have them? I remember seeing them somewhere.
Quite pricey as I recall too.

ArthurGuinness

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Don't X-music have them? I remember seeing them somewhere.
Quite pricey as I recall too.

I have seen em in a few places not sure if x-music has them tho. Price is around 3350 most places I have seen it but I have it available to me at a considerably lower price which is what has me tempted

Savman

ArthurGuinness wrote: »

Price is around 3350

:eek:

Sorry but give me a proper rig any day. €3.5k would get you a pair of powered subs and/or powered tops that would blow that Bose toy out of the water.

PaulBrewer

Sav I see where you're coming from ok - but I can see where this is the perfect system too, for a wedding hotel lobby gig or something.

1 mains plug, no speaker cables, 2 mins setup. Both punters and venue would love something as clean looking as that.

The only question is how well it works !

ArthurGuinness

Thats exactly what I am thinking. I play in a few pubs where once the gear is up you don't have room to swing a cat and people are tripping over the legs of speaker stands etc the reviews are good http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Bose/L1+Cylindrical+Radiator/10/1 but I don't like taking reviews online to seriously after all it could be the manufacturer writing them. The guy in the shop where I will be potentially buying it says its unbelievable and that the sound is equivalent if not better than a PM 1000 and a set of 15" evs but again although he is a pretty straight guy he is trying to sell it to me.

Savman

ArthurGuinness wrote: »

The guy in the shop where I will be potentially buying it says its unbelievable.

ArthurGuinness

Savman wrote: »

I dont see whats so funny about that statment

unclebill98

ArthurGuinness wrote: »

I dont see whats so funny about that statment

Well, he is hardly going to say its crap......

I've heard a DJ us one for a wedding, sounded ok'ish. For the money you'd get something far better and I'd say the only reason he had it was because he drove a sports car!

ArthurGuinness

unclebill98 wrote: »

Well, he is hardly going to say its crap.....

Which is why I posted this thread and said above "and he is trying to sell it to me" he is a pretty straight guy tho he knows that if i didnt buy this i would buy somthing else.

When you say okish what do you mean. Were there any issues with volume, high end, low end etc

unclebill98

Well, as said there is far better bang for your buck.

The sound was there, but tbh i was not impressed with it at all. Very treble'ly. It was the one and only time i've heard one. It be not match for a properly powered system. IIRC it did take him a while to set the thing up, so its not as easy as you think.

slavedave

I would recommend getting on to Bose Ireland and getting one to hire for a weekend. i did that to see if the L1 would fit our very specific application and, against a lot of my own presumptions and prejudices, it was fantastic for what we wanted (highly reverberant room, spoken word +acoustic instruments / drums. congregation of 150 people). I have heard one working at good levels too with mp3 audio playing through them and the quality of the audio was very good. it is a strange phenomenom that you can walk around in a wide arc without any noticeable "beaming" of high frequencies like you may find with standard mid -hi boxes.
However, it is expensive (oh yeah!). They recommend one per musician (ouch) for best results. Bose have a good forum whereby users/abusers frequent and critique and help etc etc. A good source of help.
i ended up building one for a lot less than 2.5k that we currently use every week. not quite as portable since the sub I built is better (but bigger) than the bose one. If you have the cash and are MAINLY looking for portability and fast set-up/breakdown it is very good. you will get better sounding gear for the money but it probably won't be as small a footprint or as easy to carry.
For small pub gigs, I would recommend two subs. Anything bigger would need 4 if your music is bass/kick heavy. For 200 people in a venue you may be stretched with one L1.
Lease one for the w/e and see.

ArthurGuinness

Thanks for the help/input guys. The whole idea of me getting this is sheer handiness as i said before I have a set of zx3's and a pm 1000 mk2 and a power max 5 system that I use with the band. This appealed to me for the simple fact of its size and portability for use in small pubs, hotel bars and church gigs. The price I am gonna pay is 2k dead on for everything. And the guy in the shop is giving me a 30 day money back guarantee if I am not satisfied with it after doing a few gigs I can bring it back for a full cash refund you cant go wrong with that.

PaulBrewer

Sounds like you're onto a winner eitherway -
If it does the job it does the job, I hope it does!

slavedave

2k? Does that include the Tonematch module? If yes, then that is a great deal (relatively speaking - for Bose gear). I was quoted 2.5k for the L1mk2 with a single bass bin and no Tonematch module.

ArthurGuinness

slavedave wrote: »

2k? Does that include the Tonematch module? If yes, then that is a great deal (relatively speaking - for Bose gear). I was quoted 2.5k for the L1mk2 with a single bass bin and no Tonematch module.

Yeah everything 2 bins, tonematch, covers and leads the job lot brand new for 1333 less than thomann

http://www.thomann.de/ie/bose_l1_model_ii_double_bass_tm.htm

PaulBrewer

One wonders why though?

What Shop?

ArthurGuinness

I got this and all you skeptics are well off the mark, this thing is unbelievable

madtheory

I had a good play around with one in Baylor's in Fermoy, and I would not call it trebly myself. If there's any colour to it, it sounds "fat". But really it gives you sound very true to the source. It's an amazing yoke really. It removes the need for monitors and an FOH engineer. I've heard a lot of pub bands using them. Generally, great sound, terrible music

The only problem I had with it was the price. But if they're going for €350, that's a total bargain. Compare it to the price of a good keyboard combo! This thing is a complete PA.

It's so unconventional though. Takes away the engineer's god like powers. A good thing IMHO!!

Irish Wedding D

I have two of the Bose L1 systems as a DJ.

Adam at Sound Shop in Drogheda gave me one of the demo systems in 2009, and that weekend I bought it I was that impressed with the sound. Opinions will always vary on this system because people are so used to ear shaking sound but this p.a has a whole different approach to sound dispertion than conventional p.a systems.

I have recieved compliment after compliment from the work i've done. I love the fact that when you walk 10m away the sound is far more comfortable than the Das system I used previous to buying the bose L1.

It has generated work i would never have been able to get simply from using this system.

I now realise that you dont need floor trembling bass to get a good reaction on a dance floor. If the system sounded trebley - it was most likely the user as the sound is always fantastic when used with the bose tonematch engine.

Ruairi Finnegan
www.irishweddingdj.com