Bose L1 Compact

[UKHero 0]

Just done setting up for tonight's gig a 50th birthday party. I'm using the new Bose L1 Compact.

 

 

Click me

 

 

Nik

Edited August 7, 2010 by UKHero

[patrickman123 0]

 

the bose L1 looks really good.

have you just got one L1 speaker there or 2.

surely it would be mono if you just have one unless bose have done something to make it stereo??

how much power does it put out?

 

your setup looks brilliant, as always :pro: :photo:

[UKHero 0]

No just the one so yest it is in mono but the way the L1 works this does not seem to be a problem.

 

I can not tell you what power it puts out as I have no idea. Under the table I have an old DB sub active bin just the 12" variety it gives it a little more punch.

 

Glad you like the set up.

 

Nik

[vokf 0]

L1 looks great Nik.

I'd be bit worried about that laser pointing straight into the dancefloor - probably at children's Eye level though.

 

Terralec have a laser safety manual that may help you run a safe show;

http://www.terralec.co.uk/effects_lighting...ers/296_0c.html

(pdf download at bottom of page)

 

 

 

 

 

[UKHero 0]

L1 looks great Nik.

I'd be bit worried about that laser pointing straight into the dancefloor - probably at children's Eye level though.

 

Terralec have a laser safety manual that may help you run a safe show;

http://www.terralec.co.uk/effects_lighting...ers/296_0c.html

(pdf download at bottom of page)

 

Never had a problem with the laser. I have worked on some big corporate shows with much bigger lasers than this and they also had them at eye level pointing into the audience of which I was a member for the rehearsals and a cameraman for the actual show.

 

I will take a look at the document though fore armed is fore warned as they say...

 

Nik

 

L1 looks great Nik.

I'd be bit worried about that laser pointing straight into the dancefloor - probably at children's Eye level though.

 

Terralec have a laser safety manual that may help you run a safe show;

http://www.terralec.co.uk/effects_lighting...ers/296_0c.html

(pdf download at bottom of page)

 

 

Hmmm just read that, very interesting reading and thank you Jason for bringing that to my attention.

 

Nik

[Paul The Party DJ 0]

I thought the same about the laser. I always try to make sure mine is pointing at the ceiling - I don't think it would harm anyone but I'd rather not be bothered by a punter/jobsworth moaning about it.

The rig looks very compact, a little bit busy but you have enough effects to get some variation if you wanted.

How did it go?

How many guests - did you go compact because it was a small room?

Cheers, Paul

[vokf 0]

Never had a problem with the laser. I have worked on some big corporate shows with much bigger lasers than this and they also had them at eye level pointing into the audience of which I was a member for the rehearsals and a cameraman for the actual show.

 

I will take a look at the document though fore armed is fore warned as they say...

 

Nik

Hmmm just read that, very interesting reading and thank you Jason for bringing that to my attention.

 

Nik

 

Hi Nik,

yep - its something to be aware of. I'd be sure one of these diffraction lasers are safe a normal distances, but I know from experience that kids are drawn to lights if they are in touching distance. (fridays wedding had a few tots picking up my LED cans... luckily, I traded a few balloons from my toolbox if they didn't go near them again lol)

 

So at a few meters away- its fine, but I know (and I'm sure you do :-) ) what kids are like. I'm currently stuck where to mount my own (smaller) diffraction laser.

 

 

I do like small set-ups thou, and I'm sure you'll get value from your L1, and its perfect for ceremony music/speeches as a bolt on extra.

 

Jas

[gadget 0]

I heard the L1 compact's big brother last weekend (L1 model 2 with 1 bass unit), in M&S Trafford Centre of all place. It sounded rather amazing, it was being used by a singer (Brandon Cooke), who was raising money for charity. He had it setup with a Tonematch and Ipod for the backing track. He was also using a Senny Radio Mic too.

 

Considering where he setup (at the entrance), the sound travelled quite well...

 

Once again, sounded awesome, I want one! (but not at 2K+ for one!),

 

Cheers, David

Edited August 8, 2010 by gadget

[Robster 0]

I always have my Diffraction laser pointing at the ceiling and the laser itself mounted high up.

 

I often see these types of lasers pointing at people at installations in pubs.

 

for my own piece of mind i just use them in a way i think there will be 0 problems.

 

Nice set up Nik. Makes me laugh when people go on about stereo in public performance venues , you only get The true stereo effect of placement if as a listener you are sat in a very small zone in between the two speakers . Mono is perfectly fine in most applications for PA use in my personal opinion.

 

[Draconic Pride 0]

I've been looking at reviews of the L1 range since spotting this thread.

I'm quite impressed! I've been considering replacing my "clapped out" sound system for a while now (It's the sound system from my old band 5 years ago, and was "aqcuired" from the ghost train of a local funfair lol. Long story!!)

 

After discovering the L1 range I'm seriously considering one, just for the seer ease of getting it around. My current sound system is huge.

[UKHero 0]

Ok I filmed this short clip last night.

 

 

This is one L1 compact with one Db 12" powered sub under the table next to the compact.

 

I had forgot to switch the LEDs to STL they are still on fade but hey ho.

 

Hope this serves to give some idea of sound distribution as I move around the dance floor.

 

Nik

 

PS the camera is a canon 500D and so has just a built in cheep mic as it is more for photographs than video.

Edited August 8, 2010 by UKHero

[Draconic Pride 0]

Everything I see about this system is amazing me!

 

Spoke the the other half about it earlier before she went out shopping and she's quite impressed as well. Mostly because she is normally my roadie so it would make it easier on both me and her for setup. Plus the fact I don't have a van and we're packing all the gear into a skoda fabia if we can't use her mother's 4x4.

 

I can see myself investing in one of these in the (hopefully near) future!

[UKHero 0]

Everything I see about this system is amazing me!

 

Spoke the the other half about it earlier before she went out shopping and she's quite impressed as well. Mostly because she is normally my roadie so it would make it easier on both me and her for setup. Plus the fact I don't have a van and we're packing all the gear into a skoda fabia if we can't use her mother's 4x4.

 

I can see myself investing in one of these in the (hopefully near) future!

 

Cool I love it but it needs a separate sub I feel for my taste any way.

 

Before I had one I could not understand why people said you cant give it a power rating like you would an ordinary speaker. But now I have one I see what they mean. Its not loud but well distributed it is so clear its all around you but you can talk to people quite easily.

 

Depending on what you and your client is looking for it is a fantastic bit of kit.

 

Nik

[Dukesy 0]

Guys, don't expect the Bose L1 to be the answer to your problems, and don't always think that the grass is always greener.....

 

Here's my personal experience of the L1's and their 'reliability'

 

I've completely and totally lost all faith in my Bose L1 Classic. This was the older / first model which was the first to be introduced by Bose and it has to be said, as i've found out in my own personal experience and from searching the Bose owners forums, also tends to be very unreliable.

I was amongst the first Djs on DJU to buy one of these as the Bose L1 hype was sweeping the industry. My Bose L1 is around 3 - 3 1/2 years old, its never been thrashed, only had light duties and has always been kept in its protective carry bags and stored in the warmth of the house. However the other week, one of my L1's decided to just simply give up the ghost, and die at a gig without so much of a warning or whimper, during the playing of low level background music.

 

Fortunately, I had the other Bose L1, as well as a conventional back up Amplifier and speaker combination so it wasn't a disaster and service was quickly restored, however I don't envy those Dj's and bands operating from just one Bose L1 base unit. But they do say that silence is golden.

 

This is, after all, a £2000 piece of equipment and since its only been produced and used at larger functions, its had quite an easy life, and has not been thrashed at each and every 18th Birthday etc. Surely such an expensive piece of equipment, which has had light, very occasional use should last for more than 3 years - surely such a renowned brand should be offering a better / longer warranty beyond the usual 12 months?. I really wish that manufacturers would fit hour counters to their gear so we could see exactly how much work they'd had, and warranty by a number of hours rather than by a fixed period!.

 

I used to think that 'you get what you pay for', but clearly not. In the cold light of reality, I've still got budget equipment which cost less than a tenth of the L1's and have done several times the workload and of which are now more than 12 years old and have outlived and outlasted the Bose by a factor of 4 and still can be relied on today.

 

Bit of a dilemma isn't it?

 

Buy a £180 pair of speakers and yet still get 12 years+ reliable service

Buy a £2000 Bose L1 Classic combination and face an expensive repair 3 years later, and the uncertainty of whether your other L1 will follow!.

 

So be warned, 'named' brands and expensive toys costing £1000's don't always bring or guarantee reliability or long term peace of mind, sometimes cheaper is better, especially when they go wrong, because inevitably something as complex as the Bose is more likely to cost mega £££ when it does go wrong, and clearly they can and do, at least when my Bose L1's are concerned. Yes they may sound good, but is it worth the sacrifice of reliability?. Sadly i've now lost all confidence in my Bose L1 and lost all faith in the Bose name. I'm no longer using the other L1.

 

Upon checking the Bose forums, i've found that quite a few problems seem to haunt the earlier L1's. However in the U.S it seems that Bose offer a much better level of customer service than their UK counterparts, and that deviance level between locations is even mentioned on their OWN forum!. In the U.S you can get an out of warranty repair for a fixed price, no matter what the cost and the extent of the damage. Over here, you are struggling to get somebody to take an interest in repairing it!. All they advise is to return the product to the distributor from where it was purchased, which is fine, apart from in my case it was Soundcontrol who are no longer around. :wall:

Out of desperation, I got a local techie type to call by and do a diagnosis and cost the repair. Upon taking the L1 apart (screw city!) and seperating it from its well made and constructed 'C' shaped screened housing, we eventually got to the interesting bits.

 

It appears that one of the Switch Mode PSU's has failed, taking down a rail and causing damage to the pre-amp / DSP side. Interestingly there are a lot of reports of 'weak' PSU's in the Bose L1 classics elsewhere, so I guess mine has suffered the same (expensive) fate.

 

What is also interesting, according to my tame techie, is the number of Chinese unknown capacitors branded 'Licon' appearing in what he said were very critical, high tolerance areas of the Power Supply modules, as well as the Amp module side also. He suggested that he would have expected to see named branded long life caps like Panasonic, Rubycon and Nichicon in such areas of an expensive, technologically advanced piece of equipment. A search of the internet also showed that the 'Licon' brand of capacitor used extensively in my L1 appeared on a site called 'Bad Caps', a forum dedicated to discussing reliability of capacitors in computer motherboards, and lo and behold, this make of capacitor appears in their 'bad' section!.

 

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=388

 

My techie found several dried out or 'leaky' capacitors, and a short circuited diode on the same board, however he said that the rest of the repair and fault finding of the DSP side would require an engineer with access to more specialised test equipment to reveal the true extent of the damage, and effect a repair.

 

Personally, i'm a little stunned that this could happen to such an expensive piece of equipment, and that it seems that my L1 contains components appearing on an independant list of known weak devices, which, in my case have subsequently failed leading to the issue which I now have, an item which is little more than a nice looking £2000 ornament.

 

So, I still have a broken L1, and need to find an engineer to repair it!. I do however have some pretty detailed photographs of the insides of the L1 and the layout and the damage, for those who get excited over such stuff. I'll upload them to the forum at a later date.

 

If you are still interested in the Bose L1 then my advice is to buy three, two for use and one for back up

[gadget 0]

What is also interesting, according to my tame techie, is the number of Chinese unknown capacitors branded 'Licon' appearing in what he said were very critical, high tolerance areas of the Power Supply

 

Ouch. Yes I've heard they're pretty crap capacitors.. I'm stunned as to such asn expensive piece of equipment has such cheap chinese crap in it. Just how much are Bose making on each of these?? The customer-service side here in the UK is shocking. 1yr warranty is just crap. Warranty should last as long as the unit is designed to last - and I'm sure its written somehwere in the sale of goods act (something Which? mentioned to us a few years ago when we started selling hobby products online).

 

My techie found several dried out or 'leaky' capacitors, and a short circuited diode on the same board, however he said that the rest of the repair and fault finding of the DSP side would require an engineer with access to more specialised test equipment to reveal the true extent of the damage, and effect a repair.

 

*ouch* again - thats not gonna be cheap at all...

 

Personally, i'm a little stunned that this could happen to such an expensive piece of equipment, and that it seems that my L1 contains components appearing on an independant list of known weak devices, which, in my case have subsequently failed leading to the issue which I now have, an item which is little more than a nice looking £2000 ornament.

 

 

So, I still have a broken L1, and need to find an engineer to repair it!. I do however have some pretty detailed photographs of the insides of the L1 and the layout and the damage, for those who get excited over such stuff. I'll upload them to the forum at a later date.

 

I'll be interested in those.. Just call me a bit of a geek :)

 

If you are still interested in the Bose L1 then my advice is to buy three, two for use and one for back up

 

Or don't bother buying one at all and buy something else half the price and twice the quality? This part of the reason for the new thread ?

 

Cheers,

 

David

Edited August 14, 2010 by gadget

[UKHero 0]

That is a shame Dan and you have given me a little bit of a downer on my new purchase now. Do I have a ticking time bomb of bad caps or has bose got its bottom into gear and made improvements only time will tell I guess.

 

I used the L1 Compact again last night and it does sound a treat and is so easy to set and pack up. But I guess if the components are shoddy in time it will fail like yours.

 

Oh well time will tell.

 

Has any one who has the Bose PA had any problems with it or is Dan just unlucky here. All kit has its good items and bad items was Dans a Friday afternoon manufacture lol.

 

I know others have the Bose L1 like Dans so come on still impressed or not?

 

Nik

Edited August 15, 2010 by UKHero

[Dukesy 0]

Ouch. Yes I've heard they're pretty crap capacitors.. I'm stunned as to such asn expensive piece of equipment has such cheap chinese crap in it.

 

I know nothing about electronics but the guy I had looking at it was hopping from one foot to the other and wringing his hands when he saw the brand written on some of the internal stuff, especially when he found out that it was actually several of those that had gone faulty and when I told him how much the unit cost and that it was made by Bose the poor chap went quite pale. He said that one of those capacitors just drying out or 'leaking' can cause the power unit to be become unstable or run outside of its spec and cause other more expensive components like the power transistors on the Psu to fail, leading to the problem in front of me now. Basically a case of a manufacturer putting in a Chinese 7p device instead of a branded 15p device.

 

As a matter of course he advises anybody with the same failures to replace them with the same spec devices, but made by Panasonic, Rubycon or Nichicon, he says that the working life of these is much better and the tendency to fail is much reduced. Even from RS, the caps were only around 41p each to replace in 5's. He said that he would never use Chinese capacitors in any SMPS, whether PC based or Audio - such is the fine tolerence of the design.

 

I'm stunned as to such asn expensive piece of equipment has such cheap chinese crap in it

 

You probably wouldn't if you saw the 'made in China' label on the unit . Sadly a lot of equipment these days contain labels with 'Designed in the U.S.A' or 'Designed In Germany' proudly on them, only to have the illusion spoiled by 'Manufactured in PRC' or 'Manufactured in India' printed next to it!. Its a sign of the times and probably a result of the manufacturer wanting to minimise labour charges and maximise profit, whilst the general public have their desire filled for cheap goods.

 

For some reason, when I bought the unit, I likened the £2000 price tag on the Bose L1 to be the DJ Equivalent of buying a quality handbuilt car from Bentley and be getting something which was built using the very best components which would make it reliable and a little bit above the normal mass produced audio equipment you see everywhere. More so, as I stupidly trusted the Bose Brand to the tune of buying two units and spending a small fortune.

 

The customer-service side here in the UK is shocking.

 

Yes, I also imagined that if anything went wrong, their customer service would be second to none, the faulty goods uplifted quickly, repaired, turned around and sent back in a short period of time, in short I expected the same level of service that the BOSE customers in the U.S.A expect (and get). Well things HAVE gone wrong, the unit has failed and is dead and the customer service in the UK is not even on a par with what i'd have expected from a small, low budget manufacturer :wall: . What kind of fool am I......

 

Do I have a ticking time bomb of bad caps or has bose got its bottom into gear and made improvements only time will tell I guess

 

Well, I guess there have been new versions of this product introduced for a reason :ads: , I would hope by now that Bose has sorted out the weaknesses of the Bose L1 and got its house and product in order. Although the customer service offered by Bose in the UK is currently of a third world standard IMO, to the point where i've given up on expecting a solution from the manufacturer and have now got to go head hunting at Jodrell Bank to find an engineer with the calibre to actually fix the deeper damage. So good luck with that.

 

Personally, i won't be giving a Bose product room space in my house at anytime in the future, let alone using it in a professional environment and entrusting the reputation of my business to its reliability.

 

At the end of the Day, you can buy a £200 product from Thomann in Germany, and get a full 3 year warranty on it!. Buy a £2000 Bose System and just get the minimum required to be given under consumer law. Well, if Bose doesn't have the confidence in their product to be able to match the warranties offered on some cheaper products, then why exactly would I have the confidence in their product to invest in the purchase of it.

 

At least if you buy a pair of active speakers from Thomann, you'll get 3 years total peace of mind under their warranty, roughly the same period as my Bose has lasted without failing :ads:

 

Like I said before, in some cases cheaper is better (even in respect of warranties and customer / aftersales service!)

 

Has any one who has the Bose PA had any problems with it or is Dan just unlucky here. All kit has its good items and bad items was Dans a Friday afternoon manufacture lol.

 

You'll probably be better searching the BOSE owners forum . The general advice over there also Nik, is to use power conditioners to feed the BOSE, this isn't just surge protectors which you may use for your PC, but proper voltage stabilisers. Might be worth investing in one, and certainly do not use it on a generator fed supply.

[vokf 0]

Guys,

at my workplace, we've been asked to assemble a product by a chinese company.

So.. they'll ship modules across, our production guys will assemble and test, and "export" back to China.

 

The reason behind this;

The Product will have a "Made in England" badge..

 

Yep - its true! Apparently, this "Made in England" will allow them to charge more for the product, certainly enough to justify the shipping and obviously my companies charges for labour.

This is fairly high-tech gear, so probably £10K per product (our products are £30K ea), but is an interesting angle!

 

 

I was aware of bad capacitors - I'm not a PSU/Analog engineer (more DSP/Embedded), but we've also had problems with Tantalum caps. These can also go short circuit :-(

 

Regarding the DSP board in the L1- it may be using the BlackFin range of DSP/Processors, but in anycase its "probably" a BGA (ball grid array), and so impossible to rework without specialist tools.

 

 

Last week, one of my PCB's wasn't working correctly, and I found a resistor was missing causing 5V down the entire collection of 3V3 components. It appears to work fine now, but we can't use it in a product (which is cool, one more for the development lab! lol)

 

 

I dread to think what's inside my Mackies, if Bose can use these!

 

[UKHero 0]

 

I dread to think what's inside my Mackies, if Bose can use these!

 

I have a pair of the 450s I brought them second hand of a keyboard player who really looked after them.

 

He purchased one then a year later the other one was made in the US the other china. The chinese one alwas gives a little thump when turned on the US one does not. The chinese one the thumb screw at the rear has broken and wont tighten up any more the US one is fine. Even the two bags one made in the US other some third world sweat shop the US one stands up on its own the TW one does not the TW one the hadle has broken the US one is fine. When you look at the bags you can see a difference in quality between them in the material and everything both are genuine Mackie bags.

 

It makes you think what :crap: is inside the Chinese cab.

 

Dan is so right but if Bose are using such rubbish then who or what can you trust that will get you through the night every night.

 

Nik

[Dukesy 0]

I dread to think what's inside my Mackies, if Bose can use these!

 

You can use a screwdriver and a digital camera can't you Jase?

[vokf 0]

You can use a screwdriver and a digital camera can't you Jase?

 

I would...but for fear of jinxing them! lol

 

I took the LD Systems subs apart, pretty crude inside -but didn't really look at anything in detail.

Sound good thou, and compliment the mackies well for sound.

[Spear 0]

Hi Dan

 

Sorry to hear you've had problems, have you spoken to Andy from Bose as the support is only as good as the person answering the phone in that they pass you to the wrong people.

 

I believe warranty is 2yrs on the amps and 5yrs on the speakers but if there's a fault internally I have heard that they be known to fix it under warranty after the date.

Unfortunately a lot of people try to claim for warranty after spilling liquid inside the amps and then get arsey when they get a repair bill.

 

Also I seem to remember reading somewhere that manufacturers have a duty to party compensate any repair costs due to equipment failure up to 5yrs from purchase.

 

If you've lost Andy's number PM me.

 

To Nik

 

I wouldn't worry to much about your compact but just remember it's always worth having backup just incase.

 

I always use 2 L1's, rarely do I need too but if 1 was to fail most people wouldn't even notice and that's the most important thing.

 

The only time my L1's have failed was a power blackout covering a large chunk of Devon and luckily the groom and best man had performed an acoustic set earlier in the evening which they then continued for the next 1 1/2hrs until the power came back on.

[bluejools 0]

I have now sold my L1 classics - they have sat around for most of their 3 years of life doing nothing - always loved and cherished as lets face it the do look good.

 

However I had a failure of one amp during the first two years - and it went back under warranty. Apparently the fault would have cost nearly 400 to repair but it was for free. Fixed, and quick, not a problem again. I would agree for what cost almost 4k new (and soundcontrol definately gone) you would expect better.

 

 

I've had active speakers before and took to the L1 for weight and "not shaking your own amps" so much reasons - i think the only real way for me to look if i do again is at passive speakers and good amps then you are not replacing so much kit if something fails.

 

The classics sound good (alot of back noise) but you can destroy three amps in the same box if not careful (or unlucky)

 

Dan if you need some packaging to send it back i have some in London....... dont think they send it out any more, but i kept what they sent me when i returned as i had doubts about the others survival.

 

 

[dj.silver 0]

 

 

 

 

At the end of the Day, you can buy a £200 product from Thomann in Germany, and get a full 3 year warranty on it!. Buy a £2000 Bose System and just get the minimum required to be given under consumer law. Well, if Bose doesn't have the confidence in their product to be able to match the warranties offered on some cheaper products, then why exactly would I have the confidence in their product to invest in the purchase of it.

 

At least if you buy a pair of active speakers from Thomann, you'll get 3 years total peace of mind under their warranty, roughly the same period as my Bose has lasted without failing :ads:

 

 

Im pretty sure the drivers in the speakers have a five year guarantee. Have been known to be wrong though :msn-wink:

 

I've had the L1 model 2 for about 3 years now and it gets used weekly, sometimes twice a week at weddings, birthdays, pubs, you name it and I've done it. I can't speak highly enough of it, best piece of kit I've ever invested in.

 

I've had the L1 Compact (the one Nick is talking about in this thread) for a year and again it's simply awesome. I use it for children's parties, quizzes, barbeques, christenings, 90 year old birthday parties etc.

 

As always, we speak as we find, years ago I had an Alfa Romeo, it was the biggest heap of expensive junk I have ever had this misfortune to own. Now, I'm quite sure somebody on here will say "Hang about I've had Alfas for 20 years and they are fantastic".

 

We can only make considered opinions based on experience, mine with the Bose, to date as been a pleasure and something I have not regretted. (he says touching the desk!)

Edited August 25, 2010 by dj.silver

[Dukesy 0]

Sorry to hear you've had problems, have you spoken to Andy from Bose as the support is only as good as the person answering the phone in that they pass you to the wrong people.

 

Maybe I'm of the old school where I expect the same philosophy and attitude from customer services to be levied and balanced to all customers and provided by whomever you happen to speak too. I wouldn't really expect the level of service and the balance as to whether your immaculate lightly used £2,000 pride and joy got repaired for nothing or for a £400+ bill to rest purely upon whoever you happened to know and namedrop within the Corporation.

Do American customers have to beg and grovel like that?, no, from reading their forums, they routinely get (and expect) a far superior level of customer service and aftercare. One of the strengths of any business is not when and why things go wrong, but rather, should perhaps be gauged and addressed on how they are dealt with and put right in respect of the customer and what long term peace of mind is given in the form of a warranty. I'm sorry to say that Bose have failed on this level.

 

So what you are saying is that effectively you need to know somebody inside Bose UK in order to obtain a better level of customer service than if you are foolish enough to just trust the customer service numbers provided on the Bose documentation and Websites and approach Bose UK as a 'normal' customer?.

 

Either way, my own Bose is well over the 2 year warranty afforded on the amplifiers and by my own previous admission it has already been opened and partly repaired by a non Bose service engineer, so I really wouldn't insult them by approaching them now and asking for a free repair! The fact of the matter is, that given their light use this L1 failed probably with little more than a couple of 100 hours use, if that - even my cheap Argos washing machine has passed that achievement twenty times over with more moving parts and frequent use.

 

Its also caused by a component failure in the Power Supply rather than anything covered by the 5 year speaker failure warranty, a fact given away by the 'burst' Licon capacitor on the circuit board and the short circuited diode upstream of it, needless to say it was one of the cheap Licon caps which had burst! The fact that one other person on a forum like DJU has experienced a similar failure, along with countless others reported on Bose's own forums should be enough to convince anybody that spending £2,000 guarantees no actual increase in reliability over any other brand, even the ones costing 10 times less. Neither does it mean that the components are any better specified inside.

 

So if you are buying the L1's expecting a decent looking speaker, with a reasonable sound quality then fine, if you are also expecting that same level of monetary 'investment' to buy you something which will last longer and be more reliable than any other piece of Audio equipment like Kam, Soundlab, Ohm etc of the world then save your money, because, in my experience, i've found to my cost that it guarantees nothing.

 

My engineer stated that inside something costing the price of the L1, he would have expected to see 'branded' high temp / extended lifetime / ultra low ESR components in all critical areas like the SMPSU units and the Class 'D' modules, with life cycles of 6000 - 8000 hours as provided by names like Nichicon, Panasonic etc. To do a search of Google and find that the 'Licon' brand capacitors are frowned upon on the 'bad caps' forum even for use in £120 motherboards, why exactly are they finding their way into a £2,000 premium sound system? It doesn't make any sense.

 

The classics sound good (alot of back noise) but you can destroy three amps in the same box if not careful (or unlucky)

 

Lots of R&D investment in protection and monitoring circuitry then! - this was exactly the point my engineer made, in that there was probably significantly more damage elsewhere in the more complex circuitry on the Pre-Amp and DSP side and it would cost probably as much to fault find and replace the modules as a pair of 2nd hand Mackies - with the Mackies, ultimately, probably outliving the Bose!

 

In comparison, I've had a QSC amplifier which has lasted several years, and attended ten gigs for every one that the L1 did, and its still going strong. The QSC K12 range of active speaker is very tempting at the moment and bought from Thomann a pair of K12's are actually £800 cheaper than a single Bose L1, leaving plenty of scope for a Mackie / RCF / QSC powered Sub also and they come with Thomann's three year warranty. That's a combination of nearly 2500W RMS from two, lightweight compact 12" cabs and a single Bass sub.

 

I've checked for reviews on the 'K' series, which are very popular stateside and it seems that in general they have a good reputation and good feedback from their users. True, Bass may be down on 12" cabs compared to 15" ones but the SPL is impressive and the drop in bass compared to a 15" cab should be easily addressed with a fairly powerful active sub for larger gigs.

 

I'll probably make the final decision based on a Sound Demo at a dealer, but the QSC is highly favourite at the moment. I won't be paying £400 to repair the broken BOSE as I've lost all faith in the Brand, especially as no doubt the other unit is also riddled with the same cheap capacitors and potentially could suffer the same £400+ fault at anytime - which in our line of work, will inevitably be mid gig.

 

We can only make considered opinions based on experience, mine with the Bose, to date as been a pleasure and something I have not regretted. (he says touching the desk!)

 

Indeed and in my opinion that purchase was a bad idea that i've lived to regret, concerning a product which has ultimately had the least and lightest use out of my entire inventory of equipment and despite being the single most expensive piece of equipment I've ever owned it has also proven to be the most unreliable. Now it has gone wrong its going to cost many hundreds of pounds to put right, with the legacy that the 2nd one could also follow in the same way, and cost the same to repair. That is a potential for £800 worth of repairs across two L1's, plus having the uncertainty of not knowing when / if the other will fail.

 

My broken L1 is probably now going to end its days, fueling the local scout bonfire.