I've owned the following PA systems: Kustom Profile II, Yamaha EMX-5000(12), Peavey Escort 2000, Yamaha Stagepas 500, and lastly the Bose LI Compact.

All of the above are very good systems with the Yamaha 5000-12 being appropriate for larger audiences. I sing in a 5 person acapella/1 acoustic guitar group singing Southern & Bluegrass gospel.

I bought the L1 Compact after the group said that they really preferred the sound from the Yamaha 5000-12 over the other systems (with the exception of the Kustom System II which they really like for small performances).

So, I sold my other PA systems and bought the L1 Compact - for performances by myself and with other bluegrass members with their own equipment. If it was only going to be for my personal use... I wanted something smaller, lighter, more portable than my Yamaha Stagepas 500 without sacrificing sound quality.

I used it at a small group setting where I was plugged into it using a vocal processor (TC Helicon VoiceTone Harmony G-XT Vocal Harmony...) and it sounded absolutely great. You need an effects unit, and for a single person... the TC Helicon works great.

Interestingly, when my 5 person group had a nursing home outing I suggest we try out the L1 Compact as an alternative to dragging all of our heavy equipment for a 50-60 member audience. So we practiced with it, using a Behringer Xenyx 1202FX mixer. It worked very well and we didn't have to use monitors - we just placed it in the middle of our group in line with our shoulders.... and we gathered semi-circle. A member of the audience (not a resident) said that it sounded excellent, and we received very positive feedback from the audience.

My conclusion is that it is a GREAT single person PA, and can also handle an acapella / 1-2 instrument configuration provided there isn't significant percussion, Bass, etc.

If our group owned two of these... if would probably be an excellent combination for larger audiences (200 - 300).

I'm planning to keep it.

I've been playing through the first Bose L1 system for a couple of years, and have disliked ever having to play through anything else. It spoiled me. I assumed it would have spoiled me for playing through the compact model, too. I used one today for a gig with two mics and a keyboard, in a large room with about 150 people. I found that I could whisper, play softly and know that everyone in back could follow every syllable, every nuance, even though the system was hardly turned up. The feeling of that much power to spare is a lovely one. Add to that the sweet set-it-and-forget-it sound quality, and now the lightweight design of the compact system, and the countdown to purchase one for myself has begun...

Everyone, at one time or another had the sensation of eyes staring at you, just when you are getting intimate with someone special; you feel a presence watching in the dark. I even remember a girlfriend’s cat and a few dogs. Last Sunday I had an intimate moment with my music. I wasn’t distracted by that other person in the room-the sound system. My sound was perfect and not even noticed after I was in the “zone” totally taken by the interaction with the audience, the music and me. Before the L-1 I had the worry of the equipment, sound adjustments, tangled in cables and other stuff. This is the best thing a musician can experience, worry free music. The Bose L-1 Compact surprised everyone, including old school musicians and new ones alike. Recommend the Bose L-1 Compact is now my duty, after all, now we are in an intimate relationship forever. Nothing comes even close to the quality, ease of use/set-up, and worry free performance. Finally we have available 21st century sound equipment for all musicians. Can’t say more…

I took delivery of my L1 Compact about a with the sound quality. They found it unbelievable that a unit month ago...I have basically been using it in my home and have taken it to various locations to test it out. I even took it to work (I am a paramedic full time) and amazed my co-workers that size could produce such amazingly clear and crisp sound. Our ambulance station is fairly large and I had the gain control turned less than a quarter of the way up...the sound filled the room, in fact was a bit overwhelming so I had to make adjustments using the volume control on my laptop. Now for the real test. I did my first gig with the L1 Compact this past weekend. I was a bit apprehensive and was almost tempted to bring a back up system along just in case the L1 didn't put out enough power to handle the room. The gig was an open house event at a local fire station. The room was a very large "barn type structure" used to house fire trucks. The fire apparatus had been pulled out and the room was outfitted with picnic tables, kids games, small carnival rides etc. My DJ rig was set up in the corner of the room..I positioned the L1 Compact in front of my table. I got to the event an hour early and after set-up there were only about 15 - 20 people there. I was a bit nervous when I did my sound check, afterall this wasn't a room with optimum acoustics. My system utilizes a single space rack mounted Rolls mic/source mixer which allows me to mix in 3 mics and several audio sources. I powered everything up and turned the volume on the L1 Compact up to half volume. I cued up a song, started the player on Traktor software and began raising the volume on the mixer. To my surprise, I filled the room with awesome "Bose quality" music and barely turned the mixer knob up to 1/4 volume. I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew then that my L1 was going to be more than enough PA for this event. As guests started to arrive, the ambient noise with all of the kids games, rides, etc was pretty high. I just kept tweaking the music volume to stay above the noise. There were no less than 200 people in the room throughout most of the event I did a walk around the room and was very pleased to find that the music coverage was very consistent. I had many positive comments about the sound and when I pointed to the L1 unit people generally took a double-take and say, "you mean all of that sound is coming from that?". I would just laugh and say, "Yeah, amazing isn't it". The L1 Compact completely exceeded my expectations. The Bose company rates this product for venues of up to 100 people...I am here to tell you it will do way beyond that. I plan to purchase a second unit in a couple of months. This should be all of the shound reinforcment that I should ever need. I am just waiting to see how it will perform at an outdoor show. I am a very happy Bose customer.

I, too, tried other small systems and, honestly, I think that each of them have a place. They each have their strong features. Bose products should be famous for what they don't have, too. This system is very efficient, space saving, simple, and architecturally pleasing. Bose products are elegant and incredibly user-friendly. The Bose engineers take on themselves the responsibility of engineering for their consumers and make operation of the product suitable to the level of the consumer. If they could get operation of the product down to nothing, they would do that.

It looks Good to the non-musician and is the best and truest sounding system that I have had the pleasure to try.

I have a Fishman Loudbox Performer and I love the features on it--reverb and headphone jack...neither one is on the Bose. I have a Peavey Escort, too, which has several more channels. I'm going to keep both of those.

The Bose is super classy and no more than what I want or need for my single gigs.