Paul,
I had a similar situation when I first purchased my Bose L1 Model 1 about 5 years ago. I was asked to perform at the Maryland Senior Expo, which was held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds inside The Exhibition Hall. The venue was a series of 10' X 10' booths divided by rows of 10'foot high curtain-walls.
The stage I was to perform upon was about 4-feet high, made of wood and covered with carpeting. The expo had hired a local company to do the sound work. Their equipment was very old, beat up, and consisted of a pair of 18-inch subs, 4 15-inch cabinets with 10-inch horns, a couple 12s on stands and two Peavey floor monitors. When I arrived a friend of mine was performing the last 10 minutes of his job, then I had to set up and do the next hour. His system was nearly identical to mine so it was a good measure to hear him performing with their sound system--it sounded awful.
Despite the fact they had the system cranked up, the fall-off was horrible. Just 50 feet away from the rows of speakers the sound was distorted and weak. At 100 feet the crowd noise overpowered the sound system. But, 10 feet in front of the speaker row the sound was ear-bleed level and completely distorted.
When it was my turn to set up I took my Bose on stage with me. The guy running the sound board said "What the Hell is this?" I told him it was my sound system, and while he insisted that I connect to their system I steadfastly refused and told them it was my way or they would have to find someone else to play for the next hour.
The reluctantly agreed to allow me to use the Bose. While performing I had people dancing in the isles 200-feet away. And, despite the fact I had to crank up the Bose remote Master Volume a bit higher than usual, it remained crystal clear and rocked the house. At the end of the hour I got a great round of applause, several people came up and asked for business cards, and the next guy that was to perform asked if he could use my sound system. While I was tearing down my equipment the guy from the sound company came over and asked the make and model of my sound system. When I told him it was a Bose L1 (PAS back then) he said he wasn't surprised and wrote down the information.
Ironically, had it not been for one of our forum members, Uncle Dave, I would probably still be using a pair of monster Peavey 15s and struggling to put them up on poles. The first time I heard the Bose PAS (L1 Mod.1) Dave was playing a Korg in an Italian restaurant near Philadelphia. After walking through the three-room venue while he performed I was hooked. I purchased the Bose, sold all my other sound systems and never looked back. I just ordered a second L1 Compact to have for a backup, and for that occasional larger job.
Good luck and thanks for sharing your experience with us,
Gary