Bose L1 Compact

[Spear 0]

Maybe I'm of the old school where I expect the same philosophy and attitude from customer services to be levied and balanced to all customers and provided by whomever you happen to speak too. I wouldn't really expect the level of service and the balance as to whether your immaculate lightly used £2,000 pride and joy got repaired for nothing or for a £400+ bill to rest purely upon whoever you happened to know and namedrop within the Corporation.

Do American customers have to beg and grovel like that?, no, from reading their forums, they routinely get (and expect) a far superior level of customer service and aftercare. One of the strengths of any business is not when and why things go wrong, but rather, should perhaps be gauged and addressed on how they are dealt with and put right in respect of the customer and what long term peace of mind is given in the form of a warranty. I'm sorry to say that Bose have failed on this level.

 

So what you are saying is that effectively you need to know somebody inside Bose UK in order to obtain a better level of customer service than if you are foolish enough to just trust the customer service numbers provided on the Bose documentation and Websites and approach Bose UK as a 'normal' customer?.

 

 

Unfortunately a companies customer service is only as good as the weakest link and in my own experience with Bose's when my L1 was dropped by my neighbour I found that the lady answering the phone did not realise that the L1 was a professional sound system.

 

In this country the L1 system is still very much a niche market, infact going to the Bose website and looking at the L1 system will bounce you to the US website for prices and information, and the support numbers in this country go to the "Home Division", you have to be diverted to "Pro" support where they arranged "free collection and return" of my base unit.

As for name dropping I hardly think contacting a company rep if you are having problems sorting things out constitutes that, and I have found Andy extremely helpful and keen to help where he can.

 

 

So yes Bose need to work on their support, but I can't fault it once you get to talk to the right people.

[bluejools 0]

off topic i know but

 

That's a combination of nearly 2500W RMS from two, lightweight compact 12" cabs and a single Bass sub

 

Dan - are you sure their quoted outputs are in RMS.... I only ask as if i look at the 8" speakers they are also using a 1000W class D amp ?

 

if you are adding the active subs, couple of small 8" cabs on top saving a little cash and weight......... interesting.

 

do you perceive any issues have single amp'd active cabs - i know the current trend is bi-ampd...

 

As always, we speak as we find, years ago I had an Alfa Romeo, it was the biggest heap of expensive junk I have ever had this misfortune to own. Now, I'm quite sure somebody on here will say "Hang about I've had Alfas for 20 years and they are fantastic".

I really do believe this may be pushing it a bit

 

[sweetie 0]

off topic i know but

Dan - are you sure their quoted outputs are in RMS.... I only ask as if i look at the 8" speakers they are also using a 1000W class D amp ?

 

if you are adding the active subs, couple of small 8" cabs on top saving a little cash and weight......... interesting.

 

do you perceive any issues have single amp'd active cabs - i know the current trend is bi-ampd...

I really do believe this may be pushing it a bit

 

I run a QSC rig, 2 k12s and a hpr151i sub (which I use maybe 20% of gigs or less) and can't fault them apart from the sub not having castors!

The wattages given by QSC are misleading. As I understand it they use 2 500w active amps, one for hi and one for lo but the hi frequencies don't need as much power as is available. don't know if one amp goes that the other one takes over. Spl is a more accurate rating and the k12s go to 131db max I think.

Edited August 26, 2010 by sweetie

[Dukesy 0]

QSC K12 spec can be found...on the QSC website believe it or not!

http://media.qscaudio.com/pdfs/specificati...Series_spec.pdf

Power output is 1000W per speaker Continuous, and I was always lead to believe that in American circles this was exactly the same as RMS.

 

The K series are effectively internally Bi-Amped - 500W to the LF and 500W to the HF with the % of HF and LF content being actively controlled by internal DSP circuitry which handles the crossover frequencies in real time depending on the input signal / type of music etc, much as is the vogue at the moment with more expensive powered speakers.

 

I believe that identical Class D modules are used across the range, so whether you buy a K8 or a K12 the amplifier modules and power output is exactly the same, just the cab size and driver sizes change. I imagine this cuts down the cost of production costs when you lump together identical components and PCB's for mass production of the same circuitry.

 

Personally, I still prefer the extended bass response (down to 52hz) of the 12" cab, as there will be always venues with size restrictions where lugging even one sub around won't be practical. Since 'Sweetie' uses his / her sub so rarely, I may even forego the expense of the sub entirely, since many venues in Derbyshire are based on 17th century coaching inns with low 6ft ceilings and small pokey rooms I'll probably ultimately need a sub less than the 20% stated on the other post.

 

Costs wise, there isn't much difference between the K8 and K12 cabs anyway, its not like you'll save £200 on each cab by going smaller.

[Dukesy 0]

Well here are some internal pictures of the L1 classic which has failed. Sorry for the delay but i've had to wait until the Tech bloke brought it back and could tell me what each bit does.

 

Spoiler:- This post might be boring for any non techie

 

 

Right, inside the bottom base of Bose L1 sits a 'C' shaped metal chassis which contains all of the clever electronics and several individual circuit board modules. At first glance it appears that the case is rivited together, however its actually held in place with some screws (some of them hidden by the mounting plate), once this is unscrewed and the wiring looms' securing cable ties carefully snipped, the entire 'C' shaped chassis can be removed from the base. At this stage all of the electronics are hidden by a lid, which requries the patient unscrewing of a million tiny screws to remove .

 

This is the view / layout inside, once the lid is removed

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/Bose/IMG_0035.JPG

 

Inside the 'C' shaped unit is 7 individual pcb's. Working from the top downwards in an anti-clockwise fashion

 

1. Mains power conditioner - this seems to filter the mains as it comes into the unit, I suspect it also prevents any interference from the unit going back down the mains

 

2. High Voltage SMPS - this takes in the 240v AC from the mains via the power conditioner and converts it to around 320v D.C (for some reason the mains inputs of all of the modules in this section are not 240v ac but 320v DC - this then feeds the 'mains' inputs of all the other modules in this section.

 

3. Multiple Voltage SMPSU, This takes in 320v DC and converts it to several different voltages for supply rails used on the Pre-Amp / DSP input section of the L1, it also seems to control some kind of protection circuits and supply the voltage to the 4 fans inside the unit. It was this module which was dead and inevitably contains the majority of the faulty components.

 

4. Amplifier PSU - This takes in 320v dc and gives a split rail +27v / -27v output for the Class 'D' modules

 

5. Amplifier PSU - Identical module to the above, this also supplies the same 27v / 27v power to the amplifier modules

 

6. Amplifier Module - This is one large single PCB which contains a total of 6x Class 'D' Integrated IC's attached to small heatsinks. Each of these IC's has 2x 80W output (According to the spec sheet).

 

 

A Closer view of the Power Conditioner end of the Chassis, note the two temp controlled cooling fans

 

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/Bose/IMG_0038.JPG

 

 

Closer View of the HV SMPSU, converting 240v AC into 320v DC for use powering the other modules. The additional Molex connector on the board seems to carry protection / thermal / power good circuitry signals and is common throughout all of the modules. Basically if one module fails, then the others also seem to shut themselves down.

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/Bose/IMG_0039.JPG

 

 

Close up of the Multi-Voltage SMPSU, this inevitably has the greatest number of connectors, as it also powers the fans as well as providing several rails via a multi-pole Molex connector for the DSP / Pre-Amp side of the L1. Just to the right of the yellow transformer in the middle of the picture you can see the large power diodes, one of which had failed short-circuit further and to the far right in the same section, you can just about see the tops of an array of smoothing capacitors under the wires. These were largely 'cheap chinese brand' of capacitor, one of which was bulging and others which measured 'leaky' and heading out of spec. All were subsequently replaced with same spec, but better branded capacitors made by Panasonic

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/Bose/IMG_0053.JPG

 

 

Another photo showing the Multi-Voltage SMPSU at the top of the picture, followed by two further Power Supply Modules of indentical design, of which feed +27v / -27v to the three 'Class D' Amplifier modules.

 

 

http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/Bose/IMG_0057.JPG

 

Finally, a close up of the PCB which contains a total of 3 Class 'D' Modules which power the Bose L1 Column and also the Sub Woofer.