One of the things that tipped the scales in favor of buying a couple PSR-3000s, at least for me, was the wonderful sounds I heard coming from the keyboard. Rgardless of whether I was listening through high-quality headphones, or just the onboard speakers, the sound quality has always been really impressive to my aging ears. Consequently, I purchased a pair of them--gotta' have backups.

It was several months later when I traveled north to visit with the dynamic trio, Donny Pesce (Dnj), Fran Carango and Uncld Dave, all of which I consider highly professional entertainers and musicians. I met up with Fran at a restaurant near Philadelphia where Uncle Dave was performing with his recently acquired Bose PAS system. As I reported earlier in the Synth-Zone, the sounds were awesome, crisp, clear and the volume was equal throughout the three rooms, which in itself was a real plus for the Bose engineering division.

I knew right then and there that I would probably buy the system, but when sticker shock slowed things down a bit. Hey, the system ain't cheap by any means--but damned it sounded sooooo good.

10 days ago, my new Bose PAS arrived, it went together very quickly, just as Dave said it would, and the hookup was quite easy. However, I was not at all impressed by what I was hearing, especially in comparison to the Logitech Z-5500. The Logitech seemed to have more sizzle, great bottom end, and the mid range is perfect for vocals in my voice range.

A couple phone calls to both Uncle Dave and Eddie (Btweengigs) Shoemaker helped me with the tuning. The next step, however, was to get the bose to sound as good as the 3000 did coming through my headphones. This required a phone call to the Bose service department, which was a pleasant experience, then downloading upgrades to both the Operating System and Presets. The files were installed via the digital output of my DVD player--what a difference.

It only took a few more hours of learning how to use and tune everything properly to realize how wonderful this system sounds. It now sounds just like the keyboard, which is what I was hoping to achieve. Additionally, the vocals are clear, clean, crisp and vibrant, much better than any other sound system I've heard or used.

The only negative was the PSR-3000s Live Grand Piano, which had an odd sound. I remembered Scott Yee saying something about that sampling and phase cancellation problems he experienced with the piano, therefore, I selected the GM Grand Piano, and the best description is WOW!

The Bose PAS will go out on it's first job with me on Friday evening, and it's the most difficult venue I play. I'm on one room and the audience is 50 feet away in another room. There is an opening that is approximately 14 feet wide by 10 feet high, and a drop-down ceiling partician. If it does what I sincerely believe it will do at this place, I'll be putting my Barbetta Sona 32-Cs up for sale.

I wish to sincerely thank Uncle Dave and Eddie Shoemaker for their help and advice in making this all possible.

More to come after Friday's job,

Gary