I own 3 of the original L1 Model 1’s for the past 4 ½ years and I love ‘em.

I have played guitar for the past 43 years but only around the house or around a family campfire but 6 years ago, I found myself in my first band at age 47: our lil’ ol’ church band. The PA system was typical for a church: inexperienced sound man/volunteer, 24 channel Mackie board, wedge monitors on stage, JBL speakers left and right and above the stage. We had 6-10 musicians/singers on stage and everyone wanted “more me” in the monitors until the stage volume was untenable. I was appalled at the sound on stage and you never knew what you sounded like to the audience. After a performance, you would jump off stage and put your arm around someone and ask, “So…how’d we sound?”

I started searching for some solution and I was about to purchase an in-ear monitor system when I first heard about these Bose systems. I went to their website and the user forum (a very friendly, helpful and knowledge group of folks just like BIAB forum) just about every day for 6 months. The musicians on the forum (everyone from Steve Miller and Rick Turner and everyday working musicians raved about these systems.

After I sold off one of my business’ I bought 3 L1’s…and never have regretted it. The sound dispersion is approximately 170 degrees. Each of these 7 ft high L1’s have 24 little speakers in a line array. The sound is very even throughout the room. As a matter of fact, the sound on stage is just slightly louder than it is in the back of the room. You do not have to play at loud volumes to be heard…and one of the best aspects is that you, the musician, get to enjoy the same performance as the audience because Bose system is behind you. No wedge monitors, oh and guess what…no sound man needed. You mix your own sound right on stage with the remote controls.

If I sound like a Bose pitchman (I am not connected to Bose in any way), it’s only because I enjoy them so much compared to the typical 3 way system (mixing board, monitors, PA systems). Setting up 3 Bose L1 systems for a 9 piece band takes about 10 minutes (that’s load in and set up); sound check is less than 10 minutes.

I could blather on and on but you get the idea.

BTW, Bob (jazzmammal) the unknown soundman’s saying is: All high’s and all low’s, must be Bose. The reason is that Bose is known for their tiny speakers and a woofer system. Usually the midrange suffers most when listening to a Bose system. This is also true with the Bose L1 Systems (but it’s still way better than most 3 way systems; that’s my opinion).

Tom