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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB Lounge => Topic started by: Jesse Gregorio on July 06, 2018, 07:50:52 AM

Title: Bose S1 Pro - First Impression
Post by: Jesse Gregorio on July 06, 2018, 07:50:52 AM
I did not know where to post this, please repost in the proper forum if this is not correct one.

I finally got to hear a Bose S1 Pro today in person. I was curious to see what the hype was. Someone I know bought a pair and raved about it like it was the best thing that was ever made. They told another friend of mine to buy a pair. That's the pair that I got to demo today. After listening to them, I had mixed feelings.

Before I go any further, I am only stating MY opinion on what I found on the S1 and I just want to know what you guys think of it if you've ever heard one. I know that everybody hears everything a little differently and will agree or disagree with what I have to say. I am not out to start any 'Bose' debates but just stating what I heard and thought about it. I know a lot of you here may like or not like Bose but these are just what my first impressions are. I do own a Bose L1, Model 2 (with a B2 Bass Module). I rarely use this system and if so, it's just for 'small gigs' for somewhat small venues. My other rig is a JBL SRX/STX setup with Crown/QSC amplifiers. I run both systems with a Qu 16. I also use the JBL system way more than the Bose, but I am familiar with both of their 'trademark sounds'. With that being said, here we go.

I know this will be like comparing apples to oranges but I set an S1 up through the Qu 16 opposite an STX 812m (as a reference) powered by a channel off of a PLD 4.5. I balanced both levels and ran some recorded tracks through both of them, panning back and forth throughout the songs. (Note: While playing tracks through Bluetooth, I had to adjust the volume on the Bluetooth channel almost to max to even hear anything.) Even though everything was set flat (no adjustment on the Bluetooth channel), the S1 sounded like it had some boosted bass/treble but lacked in the mid/vocal range. It reminded me of the ZLX 112 (passive) that I had years before. The S1 ALMOST sounded like my L1 Model 2 but with a more 'compact sound', with obviously less bass volume (but good response) and what also seemed to be a mid cut.

I had a musician sing/play through both speakers again with me panning back and forth between them. Again, the S1 seemed to be missing the vocal 'pop/body' (aka the JBL 'bite') like the STX had. Even the L1 has more bite but not as much as the JBL. My musician was told supposedly by a Bose rep. to use the Tonematch on the vocals to 'compensate'. We bypassed the Qu 16 and ran just the mic (AKG D7) and instrument (ukulele) in the S1. (Another note: to hear any vocals on the S1 by itself, no mixer, the volume has to be past half, almost to four o'clock.) After setting the Tonematch to the microphone setting, it helped a little but was still lacking for me. I suppose if you run a small format mixer to it, it would sound more to my liking, but that would defeat the purpose of having something portable/battery powered.

We messed around going back and forth between the two systems for about two hours. At one point we even hooked up both S1s to the Qu 16 (in stereo) and ran a bass (softly) through them. It sounded decent at times although nothing like my one STX. I can admit that the bass response was good, but not loud, for a small package.

Pros: At this price point, Bose has come out with a pretty good product. If you are a solo act performing in a bar, club, small restaurant, wedding, etc. and wanting to transport as little as possible, this might be for you. It's battery powered, small, light, pretty powerful for it's size (depending on application) and it has that typical "Bose" sound that some people may like. I did not get to run the battery all the way to empty, but it seemed to have a lot in reserve when we were done for the night. The Tonematch settings helped at sometimes although I am not totally familiar with what conditions/settings it supposed help with and when. To me the main selling point would be that it has decent sound while being battery powered.

Cons: My main gripe was quality of sound. As I mentioned before, everyone hears things differently but I wasn't hearing the 'full sound' as I was led to believe that it had. Like I mentioned earlier, if you bought a small format mixer, the sound could be 'tweaked'. That would, however, defeat the purpose of having a truly portable, battery powered system. The way that everyone who bought one raved about it made me think that it would sound at least like a 'big Bose in a small box' or better. I thought I would be 'wowed'. Negative. I guess I had high expectations or I have different hearing. If QSC or JBL made a battery powered K10 or PRX 710 (hint, hint) with the same price point I personally would invest in one of those. A gripe that my musician had was that the power switch was too exposed. When loading it into the car one time he said that he had inadvertenly turned it on and it lost some of the charge overnight.

I'm pretty sure that Bose will come up with an improved version or that some other manufacturer will come up with something better. Until then, I'll stick with my JBL's.......


Title: Re: Bose S1 Pro - First Impression
Post by: Rob Spence on July 06, 2018, 12:13:19 PM
This reminds me of something I read here years ago.

If the product has “Pro” in the name, then it isn’t.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Title: Re: Bose S1 Pro - First Impression
Post by: Al Poulin on July 06, 2018, 09:36:16 PM
I reviewed this Bose product a few months ago and while it would do well on someone's deck for background music, I found it limited way too easily on vocals. It seemed VERY smiley face pre-eq'd and I personally didn't find it all that good for it's intended application which is solo performer. I can see acoustic guitar sounding good through the unit, but it just doesn't have much balls considering the price. One of my DXR8s got so, so, so much louder with vocals through it and sounded much less coloured...

Here is my Youtube review :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6eM2CAi2lw&feature=youtu.be

Al
Title: Re: Bose S1 Pro - First Impression
Post by: Jay Marr on July 07, 2018, 01:18:20 PM
This reminds me of something I read here years ago.

If the product has “Pro” in the name, then it isn’t.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

But this is the "Pro" Sound Web community??...soooo

 ;D
Title: Re: Bose S1 Pro - First Impression
Post by: Dennis Wiggins on July 13, 2018, 09:38:12 PM
But this is the "Pro" Sound Web community??...soooo

 ;D

...and when was the last time you were in a "Coffee House"?    ;)

From the OP's review:  "Cons: My main gripe was quality of sound. "   :D

From the Al T (ooh-toob):  "I found it limited way too easily on vocals"  ;D   ;D

-D
Title: Re: Bose S1 Pro - First Impression
Post by: Tim McCulloch on July 13, 2018, 09:56:00 PM
...and when was the last time you were in a "Coffee House"?    ;)

From the OP's review:  "Cons: My main gripe was quality of sound. "   :D

From the Al T (ooh-toob):  "I found it limited way too easily on vocals"  ;D   ;D

-D

Better sound through litigation.... ;)