Paul, even when I was relatively young and played with a band, I never cranked up to ear bleed volume. My way at looking at this is that most of the bands that cranked up to those levels usually were trying to compensate for their lack of musicianship. Most of the time, I was right.

When the DJs cranked up to ear bleed volumes it's because they didn't get a response from the crowd and figured they needed to crank up the volume to get their attention, especially at wedding receptions. The vast majority couldn't read a crowd to save their arse. All the did was drive people away. Had they been able to read the crowd and played the right kind of music for the event, they would have done just fine at lower volumes.

The main reason I recommended that Bose L1 PAS or Mod II system is that you can independently control the sub level, and still maintain extremely high quality and clarity in the upper ranges. NO conventional sound system can do this - NONE, at least none that I have come across in the past half century. Usually, when those systems go to higher volume levels, they tend to distort, not just at the lower frequencies, but at all frequencies.

Finally, Bose offers pro musicians the highest quality service and the best return policy. I have worked with the vast majority of other PA system manufacturers and none came close to providing what Bose did.

Good luck on whatever you decide upon,

Gary