Two Bose S1's today

hotroad · #1 01-06-2019, 10:06 PM

Grabbed two Bose S1's from GC today. Decided they sound as good as any for the weight and price for my stereo gigs. I play acoustic and sing using stereo pedals and like the dispersion. These seem to cover a room of 150 fairly well. They are sure dialed in for acoustic guitar in terms of clarity, depth and a variety of clean tones using my stereo pedals.

rmp · #2 01-07-2019, 07:01 AM

yep ! sounds about right, these are probably the best bet for a compact small PA solution. The amount of sound these things can produce is amazing.

Daniel Grenier · #3 01-07-2019, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotroad

Grabbed two Bose S1's from GC today. Decided they sound as good as any for the weight and price for my stereo gigs. I play acoustic and sing using stereo pedals and like the dispersion. These seem to cover a room of 150 fairly well. They are sure dialed in for acoustic guitar in terms of clarity, depth and a variety of clean tones using my stereo pedals.

Can they really cover a 150-person room? I am currently looking for speakers and I kind of deduced (without solid evidence) that they were under-powered compared to say, QSCs or Yammies.

hotroad · #4 01-07-2019, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Grenier

Can they really cover a 150-person room? I am currently looking for speakers and I kind of deduced (without solid evidence) that they were under-powered compared to say, QSCs or Yammies.

Depends on what the 150 people are doing. When I play they are actually listening.

martingitdave · #5 01-07-2019, 10:08 AM

We have tested two S1s in a 100 person setting and they were more than adequate for acoustic guitar and vocals. However, they will not handle bass instruments. So, if you are building a strictly personal PA system, for one or more singing guitarists, this can work. My problem with this approach is the price/value relationship. At the price, I'm more likely to opt for a versatile system with a 10" woofer than can handle bass instruments. That aside, they do sound good and you can't beat the weight of the S1 Pros.

hotroad · #6 01-07-2019, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by martingitdave

We have tested two S1s in a 100 person setting and they were more than adequate for acoustic guitar and vocals. However, they will not handle bass instruments. So, if you are building a strictly personal PA system, for one or more singing guitarists, this can work. My problem with this approach is the price/value relationship. At the price, I'm more likely to opt for a versatile system with a 10" woofer than can handle bass instruments. That aside, they do sound good and you can't beat the weight of the S1 Pros.

Totally agree with Martingitdave. These are not for bass or a large group like four or more.

Murphy Slaw · #7 01-08-2019, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotroad

Depends on what the 150 people are doing. When I play they are actually listening.

This makes all the difference.

Murphy Slaw · #8 01-08-2019, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotroad

These are not for bass or a large group like four or more.

The bass player just needs a little Fender Rumble amp.

Everybody else should have their OWN S1-Pro.

Pow !

Boom !

Davis Webb · #9 01-08-2019, 10:57 AM

I have used the S1 in HUGE rooms with many people. Unless you are doing death metal riffing it will be fine.

lkingston · #10 01-08-2019, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

I have used the S1 in HUGE rooms with many people. Unless you are doing death metal riffing it will be fine.

Where it falls off when you push it is in low end. It does pretty well for guitar and vocals. It won't handle a keyboard, bass, or my Roland Handsonic percussion at any sort of volume.

jjbigfly · #11 01-08-2019, 11:44 AM

Might anyone have any experience with using a powered sub with the S1 speakers? I am using a mixer with my pair of S1's.
I have been wondering what the effect might be with a small sub in the system.

lkingston · #12 01-08-2019, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

The bass player just needs a little Fender Rumble amp.

Everybody else should have their OWN S1-Pro.

Pow !

Boom !

I think it would work well for an acoustic guitar player leading a group, but in the size of room this would work for, the bass player would need a bass amp, the lead guitar would need a guitar amp, they keyboard would need some sort of keyboard amp that could handle the lows to highs, and the drummer would just play acoustic. You could run more than one vocal through a single S1.

An S1 for each player might be appropriate in a low volume band where everyone sings in a small room.

Marty C · #13 01-08-2019, 07:48 PM

I think the design was created for the single, singing guitarists. For this reason, it has the tone match for acoustic guitar and vocal. I don’t think it was meant for anything else and it fills its intended need well. If that is all you want or need it for, it’s a perfect fit.

lkingston · #14 01-08-2019, 09:21 PM

It also works wonderfully well for stereo Bluetooth playback. The way it does wireless stereo playback with one speaker doing left and the other doing right is very innovative. I use for showing off mixes.

I also like that you can pair two devices with the second one on immediate standby. Play music from your phone, then pause it and immediately play back music from your tablet! Very cool!

I also like that it will store eight pairings and you can switch devices from the app with the second pairing.

The Kid! · #15 01-09-2019, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty C

I think the design was created for the single, singing guitarists. For this reason, it has the tone match for acoustic guitar and vocal. I don’t think it was meant for anything else and it fills its intended need well. If that is all you want or need it for, it’s a perfect fit.

I agree with this. It can work wonderfully for a vocal and a guitar. Don't try to make it handle frequencies, volumes, and duties that it wasn't intended for.