Hello Folks,
I may be a stranger to all of you. I’m one of those gray haired guys that Ms Clairol can’t help. I read this forum frequently and I was more active years ago when the hot topics were the Korg i40M (which I still use) and the Roland RA-800. I've been using a Bose
L1 with a B1 bass bin for about 2 years now. I was very skeptical
about the claims Bose made about this system. As it turns out, it
was one of the best equipment investments I've ever made. I had
several keyboard amps - including the JBL EON among many others that have been mentioned in this forum, and a Mackie 808S with Toa and then Bose 800 speakers that I used for bigger venues. I
didn't like any of them (the keyboard amps), especially in the
restaurants (although I still own a Barbetta amp as back-up). The patrons seated in front of me were obviously
annoyed if I turned the volume up enough to reach past the far half
of the room. The science of the Bose system is that there is very
little drop off, so that what I hear from the speaker at 3 feet is
pretty much what a listener hears at about 75 feet. I've yet to
turn the volume up past 2 o'clock (12:00 being half way). That's
outdoors and/or big halls. Last Christmas I played the Lulu Temple
outside of Philadelphia that claims to seat about 1,000 - It
probably only seats about 700 or so - and I was happy with the
output. Same with outside gigs - clear, no distortion and in two
years, I've never experienced any feedback. In the restaurants that
I play, I put the tower against the wall, and it seems like it kind
of disappears. I dealt directly with Bose as none of the retail outlets carried this system at that time. I was fortunate in that because I expressed so much skepticism and doubt about the system, Bose gave me a 90 day trial, and to be honest it took me the full time period to decide. I looked for reasons not to get it but I'm now happy that I didn't find any. I would suggest you tune into the Bose website forum and talk to folks about the concerns you have (other than the cost).
You can also discuss your specific needs and concerns with Bose tech
reps - they're pretty good about that. I'm tickled pink with this system after going through more than a dozen amps and PA systems in recent years. Further, I would bet that if you put some money up front, one of the retail
outlets would let you try it for at least 30, 45 days or more - money back if it doesn't suit you.
Ciao,
Jerry