Bose PA

Here is the current situation as of 3/23 on the Bose PA system I've been using.

Context
When I was playing multiple shows weekly on keyboard and sax with full-spectrum backing tracks, the main complaint I would always receive was that my overall volume was too high. In an effort to produce well-distributed sound at as low a volume as possible, I tried a number of different PA solutions for the small-to-medium rooms I typically play.

One option was the QSC K12, but I felt this speaker optimized more for very loud volume than overall sound quality and dispersion. I had very suboptimal results with a pair of Fishman SA220's due to the noisy amps and electrical failures combined with mediocre tuning. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and go Bose. I purchased a Bose L1 Model I and 2 B1 Bass Modules.

The L1 System
The L1 System garnered some compliments in larger rooms. However, the L1 is bulky, vastly overpowered for all of the gigs I play and it represents a somewhat significant capital investment which goes largely unutilized. The main concern about the L1, though, is the age. These units are made with low-quality components and are prone to many types of electrical failures within the Power Stand, the large and heavy base for the line array that houses all of the electronics for the system. When I have my reputation riding on my gear, I don't want to question whether it will die when I need it most, or worse, emit erratic sounds at high volume that could hurt people's hearing.

One solution to this problem would be to purchase the new Bose L1 systems, which I know are better both at dispersion and overall sound quality. However, those are even more expensive than my current system and equally as overpowered.

The Bose S1
Over the years, I've accumulated 2 Bose S1's. These are solidly built, pleasingly-tuned and extremely portable speakers. Even a single one of these speakers provides more than enough volume than is typically required for the type of gig I play. Having 2 allows for use of stereo keyboard sounds, even though the Nord does a better job than other keyboards at folding down its sounds to mono.

I decided to unload the L1 system, reclaim that capital and instead depend upon the new S1's for my gigs, which are much rarer now than when I first purchased the L1. However, there are a few trade-offs that need to be addressed.

S1 Tradeoffs
The two main issues with this plan are dispersion and bass.

Dispersion
The Bose S1 has a coaxial design with a somewhat articulated array of tweeters mounted in front of a larger woofer. The articulation of the array assists in dispersion, however, I feel having 2 S1's is really what will cover the room. Plus, having two smaller more directional speakers will perhaps not be as good as a single highly-articulated line array for reducing overall system volume but is definitely better than 1 speaker.

Frequency Response
Due to extremely aggressive tuning from the factory, the S1's deliver the "pretty good on everything" sound Bose is known for. A large component of this sonic signature is an extreme boost to the bass. Not only is a bass boost part of the Bose sound signature, but the S1's bass response is clearly being aggressively tuned from the factory to compensate for the small size of the speaker.

I play music that benefits from natural low-end reproduction rather than boosted or loud performance of these frequencies. Despite this tuning, I feel the S1's will still lack behind the L1 system when it comes to deep, if not loud, bass reproduction.

Supplementing the S1's Bass Response
Bose sells a Sub1 which is "designed" to provide additional low-end for the S1's. I put quotes around "designed" because while the Sub1 includes an S1 mode, I've heard reports it delivers a sound that isn't quite as organically blended and crossed over as one would expect from a dedicated S1 mode. My guess is that it's just a crossover at 100 or something. Considering that the Sub1 is also $899, I don't think this is a good use of funds.

Third-Party Subs
After looking into currently-available options from reputable, reliable vendors, I didn't find any small subs that were compelling for my use case. I recall having these same frustrations when I was a QSC CP8 user - the only sub the vendor offered was far more expensive than the CP8 itself and was extreme overkill for the small CP8.

The Bose B1 Modules
When selling my L1 system, I realized that the B1 modules did not add much value to the selling price. I had an idea: what if I retained the 2 B1 modules for use with the S1's? That could solve the bass problem and perhaps take some of the low-frequency signal off of the hands of the S1's.

However, it's not as though one can just connect line-level audio to the B1 modules. For one thing, they're passive. And for another, they're proprietarily customized to work with the L1.

Optimization and Protection of the B1 Bass Modules
Based on my research, the L1 Power Stand not only powers the B1 modules but it also "optimizes" them. Per Bose's wiki, these optimizations are threefold.


 * 1) Protect B1's from frequencies they're not designed to handle
 * 2) Optimize the frequency response of the B1's
 * 3) Tone-balance the L1 system as a whole by knowing how many Bass Modules are connected and adjusting the output level and crossover of the line array accordingly.


 * I’m very happy with the S1’s. Solid bass response, built-in mixer, bluetooth, stereo. I want to keep these and continue to use them.
 * Even though I occasionally play larger gigs, it doesn’t make sense for me to have a bunch of resources tied up in assets I only use for live shows. So, I sold off the Bose L1 line array while keeping 2 B1 modules and purchasing 1 A1 amp for them.
 * The amp has a signal indicator and an overload indicator as well, but does not provide EQ optimization or protection for the B1’s.
 * I’ve measured the optimization+protection curve for a single B1 and it looks like this.
 * Basically, it’s getting rid of super low stuff, providing a boost in the solid bass region and sloping off anything mid or high.
 * This curve can easily be replicated using any parametric eq on a digital mixer. It would involve an aux send in addition to L and R S1 outputs, which would presumably be the masters.
 * Adjusting 2 volume controls while trying to perform live will be a pain, so the digital mixer would ideally take the master bus and send it to the subwoofer aux, or allow the volume controls for the aux and master to be linked. But it is helpful to be able to add bass at lower volumes
 * The two digital mixers I found for this are the Soundcraft Ui12 ($275 open box ProAudioStar) or the Behringer Flow 8 ($300 new Sweetwater). They each have their tradeoffs.
 * The Ui12 has solid build quality and USB stick stereo recording but has terrible built-in networking and virtually no local controls. It also is known to have some broader system quality issues like noisy preamps etc, though it does come highly recommended from DG and I doubt it will have any significant issues, particularly if I use an external access point. Beseda.us/uimixer also offers a midi control app.
 * The Flow 8 has local controls which are very reassuring and easy to adjust as a performer and includes multitracking over USB, giving it a ton more potential usability when I’m not playing shows. This reduces the stagnant resources I have tied up in live-only gear. However, it has much worse build quality, an incredibly flimsy micro-usb for power and no usb stick compatibility. The micro-usb would likely have to be replicated via a back-mounted pigtail or something to reduce wear. And not wildly promising for a mains mixer being amplified many times over by hearing-damage-capable mains to be all powered from a single USB power wall wart. That said, it appears to have all relevant features as long as mon send 1 can either receive the mains mix or something. Stereo mains and mono aux send to sub is something we’d still need to work out.
 * Either way, $300 isn’t a negligible sum and I’m planning to purchase either one when I have a gig that requires it.
 * I will retain the B1’s and A1 which don’t command much resale value and don’t represent a massive liquidity limitation for me. For every other gig I’ll use either 1 or 2 S1’s and I will be totally fine with them.
 * May need to purchase stands for the S1’s.

Crossovers

* I think some frequency overlap is OK in this case because a discrete “top/bottom” approach doesn’t really sound right. And the S1 sounds quite good on its own. So the goal is to add low end extension below the S1’s sweet spot. * In the case of 2 S1’s, which would be a prerequisite for any gig large enough to need a sub, we’d need line out from S1 A to S1 B, and line out from S1 B to the B1’s. This is complex because I”m not sure if the levels to the B1 would be correct.
 * Regarding combining the two speakers, here’s what my experimenting has shown.
 * The B1’s, when optimized and protected, can produce substantial amounts of bass.
 * However, I feel the S1 is quite good at this as well, so for most gigs, the subs won’t be necessary.
 * If they’re needed, one option is to remove bass from the S1 and roll off everything below 100 to the subs. This doesn’t feel necessary to me.
 * What is probably fine would be to apply the curve to the B1 aux send and then use a low-end shelving EQ on the mains to reduce the bass output by roughly however much the subs are adding in order to keep the tonal balance roughly correct. This could require some future calibration with an RTA and measurement mic.
 * Also worth mentioning is that 2 S1’s means 2 larger woofers which isn’t super different surface-area-wise from the design of the B1’s.
 * Note that Sub1 reviews state the two units don’t combine organically and just feel as though the kick and bass only were directed to the Sub1. This contests the Bose marketing narrative that adding a Sub1 to an S1 makes an optimized, coherent pair. Plus the Sub1 is $900 for NO REASON. This would be a massive capital hog for virtually no valid performance reason.
 * A budget option to also use the S1 as a mixer would be to grab a line out from the S1, reduce the bass knob on the channel (not known what the curve is for that) then use a Rolls crossover or bass filter to provide rough protection and optimization of the B1.