Powered speaker for acoustic guitar and vocals

[martingitdave]

Marty,

Based on the scenarios you are describing, I would think you’d need no more than one powered speaker (and pole) in the 8” to 10” range. It would work well with the TC Play Acoustic. That said, if you wanted to make an investment in a Bose L1C, that wouldn’t be a mistake, necessarily. However, I went down the same road last year with the JBL Eon One, and it ended up being overkill for what I wanted to do. Incidentally, if you want my JBL Eon One, I’ll sell you mine very cheap. PM me - I’m willing to sell it “my wife wants it out of the house” cheap. :-). But, you’d need to have someone pick it up in Chicago because shipping would not be cost effective.

[SpruceTop]

Bose semi-annual sale, this time at 15% Off, November 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Marty,

Based on the scenarios you are describing, I would think you’d need no more than one powered speaker (and pole) in the 8” to 10” range. It would work well with the TC Play Acoustic. That said, if you wanted to make an investment in a Bose L1C, that wouldn’t be a mistake, necessarily. However, I went down the same road last year with the JBL Eon One, and it ended up being overkill for what I wanted to do. Incidentally, if you want my JBL Eon One, I’ll sell you mine very cheap. PM me - I’m willing to sell it “my wife wants it out of the house” cheap. :-). But, you’d need to have someone pick it up in Chicago because shipping would not be cost effective.

David, if your JBL EON ONE had a better input-gain structure, would you be keeping it? I'm thinking JBL will soon be modifying the EON ONE with a better input-gain structure, perhaps incorporating this feature from the new JBL EON ONE PRO.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

David, if your JBL EON ONE had a better input-gain structure, would you be keeping it? I'm thinking JBL will soon be modifying the EON ONE with a better input-gain structure, perhaps incorporating this feature of the new JBL EON ONE PRO.

Ken, I use the Eon One with the TC Play Acoustic, or a mixer, so it’s never been an issue for me. OpenRoadMatt used it the same way. But, he recently switched to the L1M2.

I don’t need to push it to 115 dB, so I’ve never had an issue with channel one and two gain structure. I keep it on the Mic setting to get the gain boost regardless on what I am plugging in. Evidently, the Eon One Pro has the same structure. They did add a high Z setting which effectively boosts the gain a bit.

For my use, I just need smaller compact systems for groups of 50 to 100 quiet people. I usually play under 100 dB.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Ken, I use the Eon One with the TC Play Acoustic, or a mixer, so it’s never been an issue for me. OpenRoadMatt used it the same way. But, he recently switched to the L1M2.

I don’t need to push it to 115 dB, so I’ve never had an issue with channel one and two gain structure. I keep it on the Mic setting to get the gain boost regardless on what I am plugging in. Evidently, the Eon One Pro has the same structure. They did add a high Z setting which effectively boosts the gain a bit.

For my use, I just need smaller compact systems for groups of 50 to 100 quiet people. I usually play under 100 dB.

Wow, Matt went back to the Bose L1M2?

I think you'd like the Bose L1 Compact--you may have already auditioned one--for your needs as you can feed it with your TC Helicon Play Acoustic and have super-light package with enough room-filling sound for your needs.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Wow, Matt went back to the Bose L1M2?



I think you'd like the Bose L1 Compact--you may have already auditioned one--for your needs as you can feed it with your TC Helicon Play Acoustic and have super-light package with enough room-filling sound for your needs.

Yeah, I did audition that unit. It sounds very good. The only thing holding me back is the I/O with that unit. In the future, if they add Bluetooth and a few changes to the channel setup, I would consider it. For instance, the Play Acoustic outputs to two XLR DIs. And, you can’t disable the ToneMatch on the unit unless you use the single 1/4” input on channel two. You can make it work, but it’s not very clean.

But, for now, I have a few options that are working well.

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Bose semi-annual sale, this time at 15% Off, November 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017.

Thanks SpruceTop! I forgot they had this sale annually.

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Yeah, I did audition that unit. It sounds very good. The only thing holding me back is the I/O with that unit. In the future, if they add Bluetooth and a few changes to the channel setup, I would consider it. For instance, the Play Acoustic outputs to two XLR DIs. And, you can’t disable the ToneMatch on the unit unless you use the single 1/4” input on channel two. You can make it work, but it’s not very clean.

But, for now, I have a few options that are working well.

Ever tried connecting your Play Acoustic via headphone out? This was the best option for my connection prior to using a mixer in between the speaker and Play Acoustic. I had done this once using this connection for a monitor to save both xlr for FOH. I thought the monitor sounded better than the FOH so I used it that way for about 2 years. I still wanted a little eq so I purchased a mixer.

My plan was to gain some experience with the xr12 mixer and eventually drop the Play Acoustic. Therefore I had good options for anyone to join in - which turns out to be more often than I first thought.

[TheSaint]

Plus one to all the Bose information.

Great solution for the original poster. I have the Bose L1 Mll and I bought an RCF powered speaker as I thought it would be ideal for the smaller venues.

The RCF is an excellent speaker, but on reflection I could have saved some money by just sticking with the Bose. It's not much more work to set up.

I use a TC Helicon Play GTX, which has many similarities to the Play Acoustic and it work fine. Even though I find it a bit complicated and probably use only 10% of its features...!

I use the Bose with a T1 Tonematch and I think I could possibly leave the GTX at home.

The Bose Compact gets my vote for your needs...

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Wow, Matt went back to the Bose L1M2?

I did indeed! There are still some things I prefer about the dual Eon One set up and I never had any trouble getting good sound and plenty of volume using the TouchMix 8 with the Eon One(s.)

But I can cover the same area with one L1M2 and while the Eon One sets up and tears down super fast it was still two things to lug and set up vs one with the Bose.

Matt

[Pecx]

With that k

[gfa]

Over on the pro audio boards, the prevailing wisdom is that 1) live stereo is a myth for all but the most well-equipped and talented, and even then only a few audience members will be in a position to actually hear stereo; and 2) given #1, when budget is an issue, it's better to buy one higher quality speaker than a pair of lesser quality speakers. I don't know enough to critically evaluate this POV - though it does make sense to me - just passing it along.

[Pecx]

With that budget, the Bose L1 Compact may be the best option for your needs. And I would buy it with the Soundtouch Wireless Package.
The K8.2 is also a good option and it offers enough dispersion for your venues.
You can easily use both options with your TC or your XR12.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by AndyC

+1 to your Bose comments

-1000000 for your TC Helicon comments - where are all these threads where nearly ALL of them involve the TC Helicon Play Acoustic causing issues?? What I think you mean is that there numerous threads where people rave about the Play Acoustic - it's a cinch to incorporate into any set up and makes a massive contribution to improved vocal and guitar sound.

You misread both my comments and intention regarding the TC Helicon units... what I said (and meant) was that, frequently folks don't have these set up correctly in their signal chain and THAT causes them issues... I did not say nor mean that the TC units are a problem of any sort.

Whenever you add "something" to your signal chain, it can change a lot of other parameters in that chain. Having the gain staging set correctly is most likely the culprit, I'm guessing.

Marty - google "gain staging" and read up on it... not that hard to understand, and what you learn will serve you with whatever system you are using.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by jseth

You misread both my comments and intention regarding the TC Helicon units... what I said (and meant) was that, frequently folks don't have these set up correctly in their signal chain and THAT causes them issues... I did not say nor mean that the TC units are a problem of any sort.

Really?

What you actually said was, and I quote:

"I'm not familiar with the TC Helicon unit, but I know a lot of folks have them and use them... I would also add that, of all the "Help! My PA sounds horrible"-type threads that I read on these pages, nearly ALL of them involve some iteration of that TC Helicon unit"

It's hard to interpret the above as any sort of comment regarding the set up of the TC Helicon Play Acoustic in the signal chain.