Bose - Personalized Amplification System ???

[baba]

Has anyone used the new Bose - Personalized Amplification System? This thing would be amazing if it sounds good. I'm very skeptical.

http://www.bose.com/controller;jsess...e=/index_2.jsp

[Philbiker]

Anything by Bose is junk. Avoid at all costs.

[Josh Ryan]

Looks interesting, but I remain very skeptical.

[baba]

Originally Posted by Philbiker

Anything by Bose is junk. Avoid at all costs.

I've never used their stuff. Is it made poorly, is it smoke and mirrors, does it just sound like ass?

[xyllion]

I will reserve final judgement until I hear some reliable reviews, but as an engineer, I have my doubts about these.

[Passinwind]

There was a thread on Talkbass about this a few months ago. I know two guys who own the systems, and I've heard one of them, which did have the bass module. The upright bass player and acoustic/electric guitar player both needed supplementary amplification at the show I saw, which negates any of the supposed advantages. The guys who own it love it for folky/bluegrass type stuff though. The system is not as compact and easy to set up as Bose makes it seem, IMO.

[Wil Davis]

I heard a single Bose system being used in a coffee house (guitar plus a couple of vocals) and it sounded quite good.

I also did the sound for an outdoor gig back in the summer, and one of the bands wanted to use their own Bose sytem (3 of the units described in the link) - and to be honest, they sounded better when we added our FOH system - bear in mind this was outdoors.

However, back in the early fall, I went to an (indoor) concert at a fairly new venue, and there were six (yes six) of these Bose devices lined up at the back of the stage, along with a number(might have been anything from 8 to 12) of the sub-woofers which apparently are needed for the bass. The band was piano, vocals, guitar, double-bass, and drums. The piano & vocals sounded pretty good; the guitar sounded OK, but the drums were way too loud, and the bass was totally obliterated and could not be heard clearly from any of the places I listened. I was disappointed with the sound - either it was badly set up, or not made to drive a large-ish (not huge) space. I don't see how the band could hear each other (yes, I've checked the blurb on the Bose site) - they had no monitors, and I'm sure the sound at the back of the hall was different than the sound which the band was hearing on the stage (one hopes…)

Anyway - bottom line, thanks but no thanks - Bose needs to head back to the drawing board!

- Wil

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by Wil Davis

I heard a single Bose system being used in a coffee house (guitar plus a couple of vocals) and it sounded quite good.
Anyway - bottom line, thanks but no thanks - Bose needs to head back to the drawing board!

- Wil

I actually did hear a solo singer/guitarist in an intimate outdoor setting, and it sounded fine. No better than a pair of powered Mackies and a mini-mixer sounds though, and the Bose system costs quite a bit more in the form most people use it. Six towers and eight bass modules would put you into a nice EAW/QSC/A&H PA price wise, which is likely easier to set up anyway.

[wyliee]

Originally Posted by baba

Has anyone used the new Bose - Personalized Amplification System? This thing would be amazing if it sounds good. I'm very skeptical.

http://www.bose.com/controller;jsess...e=/index_2.jsp

Yup. I used them in lecture rooms at a recent musicians conference here in Tacoma, WA. Did quite well in that environment. We also had a Bose booth set up and they demo'ed the system.

My opinion: The subs are absolutely mandatory for bass. The Bose rep was a bass player and brought a killer old Jazz bass and SVT Tube DI for demo'ing. Sounded far better than I ever expected, but still didn't have the chest thump the GK rig had in the next booth over. The Bose booth did several guitar/bass duo demonstrations. They sounded good, IMO. Good enough for a small coffee shop or smaller club. Setup was quick and painless. The Bose was was pretty cool, too.

My verdict: I didn't look at the price tag. For a small room, I might consider them. Otherwise, I'd stick to a traditional two way or three way system.

[Passinwind]

Towers: $1,699 each.

Bass modules: $300 each.

[DigMe]

BOSE - I'm VERY skeptical of ANYTHING with those 4 magical letters on it.

brad cook

[Philbiker]

Is it made poorly, is it smoke and mirrors, does it just sound like ass?

All of the above. JBL Eons would be a much better choice.

[Mon Rominee]

Mackie 450's would make in infinitely better choice than EONs.

[EASonBass]

I did a gig where a pair where used as FOH/stage monitors. We still used guitar/bass rigs so this is in the context as using the as a typical PA and not a rig/PA replacement.

The system utilized big Mackie powered subs rather then the Bose bass modules.

Overall the system played loud, clean and deep (Mackie's, I'm sure). My only reservation with this system as used in this context was the stage volume. The stage volume was considerably louder then a conventional FOH/monitor system as you are standing in front of the FOH system with no traditional monitors.

This was a large venue and the volume was cranked so it may not be an issue in smaller rooms. I'm not real big on the idea of standing in front of the FOH speakers though due to the required volume.

[Philbiker]

"infinitely" better than EONs? You may prefer Mackies for some reason, but I'd say that's a bit of an overstatement.

[jive1]

The cost of the system negates whatever advantages it has IMO. 2000 for one speaker and a bass module barely less than my current band's PA - 2 Stewart Power Amps, Mackie Mixer, JBL M-Pro mains, and Dayton monitors combined. And the Bose doesn't provide the SPLs or the bottom that our system does.

As others have said, it may work for an acoustic coffeehouse gig. But, we know how well those gigs pay. The cost of the system doesn't make it worth it when I could get an amp with a mic input like the Fender Acoustisonic for a fifth of the price.

[Eggman]

I find it interesting that people put down a new concept like the Bose PAS without trying it - hearing it - using it. Seems a little closed minded to me.

My band was looking for a way to better balance our sound and for a way to hear each other better without having to turn up all the equipment to ear-bleeding levels. We reviewed the Bose PAS concept and decided to give it a whirl. Bose offers a 45 day return policy - so we figured we would play out with it and return it if we didn't like it. To make a long story short, within ten minutes of using the system in rehearsal - our two guitarists/vocalists - said "let's sell the Mackie stuff" - which we purchased 3 months prior.

Over the last year we have fallen completely in love with the Bose system. We have used it in loud clubs - without plugging into the house system. Friday night we played in a large hotel ballroom for 400 people, and another large room for 200 last night. In all situations we have had people come up and say how good we sounded. Plenty of room coverage - clear vocals - complete directionality of instruments and voices.

My own system is the Bose tower with two of the sub-woofer boxes. I play a Dingwall Prima 5 with the 37" B string - the Bose handles it quite well. Setup for the band is simple and fast - sound check is easy and rarely needed as our sound is very repeatable.

Anyway - try the Bose system before you pan it. We have had a great experience with it.

Eggman

[nashvillebill]

Originally Posted by Eggman

I find it interesting that people put down a new concept like the Bose PAS without trying it - hearing it - using it. Seems a little closed minded to me.
......
Eggman

At least five of the people who posted on this topic reported that they had indeed tried or heard the Bose system. Hardly closeminded at all IMHO.

Eggman, you wouldn't happen to be the Bose rep that a previous poster mentioned?? I sorta detected a little bit of a sales pitch there in your post. Especially since this appears to be your first post in this forum.

However, I do agree that people should try systems from all vendors, including Bose, and draw their own conclusions.

[Aaron Saunders]

I remain VERY skeptical of these. If the sound distribution is completely radial, and you're micing acoustic guitars with a condenser, wouldn't you suffer serious feedback? Most of the "coffee houses" around here with an acoustic guitar and vocals setup uses one of those small portable PA's, a 58 on the vocals, and a condenser on the guitar. So should they to ditch the small, portable, super-easy to set up and budget-concious PA in favour of a $1,700 pole that could potentially be a total feedback monster?


For that matter, I've seen a group on TV and a magazine shot of these things from the back. They really do not look that easy to set up at all. Short question -- is there some sort of central mixing console where you can control the levels of all of these, uh, poles?

[EASonBass]

They really do not look that easy to set up at all. Short question -- is there some sort of central mixing console where you can control the levels of all of these, uh, poles?

No. Each on is controlled independantly. I'd assume that if you can hear each one (instrument), you'd make the call on-stage to turn individual ones up/down. At that point, to me they're not much different from a normal backline except the vocals are behind you too.

In the context of how they were used on the gig I was on, as a vocal PA/monitor system, the guy who "mixed" the vocals was on stage.