Let’s do the show right here!

How best to test a revolutionary new PA system? Hey, we can put on a show right here, exclaims Jez Ford.

If you ever sit in on one of Bose’s home theatre demos (and it’s worth it for the free t-shirt and sweeties), you’ll hear some rich and enjoyable home theatre soundtracks coming at you from some reasonably compact well-designed little speakers. But [plot warning here] Bose is playing a little trick on you, for near the end of the demonstration they whip away the shells of these speakers to reveal their simply teeny-tiny Jewel Cube speakers within. Bravo bravo; we applaud this sleight of ear and depart clutching t-shirts. So Bose’s small speakers, supported by a subwoofer of course, can maketh much sound. How much noise, then, could a Bose speaker make if it were seven foot high and supported by up to four subwoofers? Lots and lots, you might imagine.

So here it is — the Bose L1. It comes not from Bose’s consumer division, as do most of the Bose products that we examine within these pages. After all, not many homes would welcome column speakers over two metres high with a heavy base some 66cm sort-of-square. The Bose L1s are made for musicians, for making professional music.

They were brought to our attention not so much for their sound as for their philosophy. The L1s represent a whole new kind of sound system for bands. A ‘personal’ PA. And if you’re a live sound engineer, you’re not going to like them. Because for small-to-mediumsized venues at least, they make the sound engineer redundant. The musicians have taken charge of the auditorium.

The problem with PAs

Here’s the idea. Normal PAs operate on the premise that each musician has an instrument and perhaps an amplifier. They’re not loud enough for the audience to hear everything, particularly if the stage is wide. So you mike up the amplifiers, take a direct feed from the keyboards, run it all to a big desk with the main microphone cables, and put them through one big amplifier and a load of PA speakers (first illustration, next page).

Problems? Clarity, for one — you’re mixing everything together and sticking it down a single pipe, however generously powered. Foldback, for another — the musicians need to hear themselves and each other on stage. So usually you create a mini PA on stage using foldback monitors, probably providing a different mix from that going front-of-house. For any small band, half the grief of gigs is getting hold of a PA and, if you’re lucky, foldback. And then carting it around in the all-essential Transit van, plugging it up, soundchecking it, finding a good sound engineer who knows your music and mix requirements, and who can also predict the acoustic effects of a room and a crowd. And then you have to coil those cables again at the end of the night — when you should be signing autographs and talking to the nice ladies. Hell, you just wanted to rock’n’roll.