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.

I have been looking at Bose for years but did not want to pay the price for the larger systems. I perform as a solo/duo guitar act and wanted something portable but with uncompromising sound. I was using Crown/Yamaha and EV for my system until I tried the L1 Compact.

My "rig" consisits of a Variax electric guitar, PodX-3 Live, RC-50 Loop Station, GR-20 guitar synth and a VL-4 vocal harmonizer. I go from straight acoustic to full band sounds when using the loop station. I tried the Fishman Solo amp and although good, it could not give me the lower end that I wanted/needed for the drums in the loop station.

The sound quality is excellent and the bass response is great. I have used the system for not only solo gigs, but also as a practice PA with everything from bass to keys to guitars and vocals pushed through this system with an additional mixer.

Because of my "rig", I have compression, delay, reverb ... where I need it and don't worry that the L1 does not. The lack of effects is the only drawback I have found with the system.

I also purchased the Tonematch mixer to go along with this but have not used it enough to comment

I highly recommend this for any use where room size is not a concern

This is the best compact powered speaker I have bought. 1 minute setup easy to carry and nice krsip sounds. I do mobile djing and I got lots of compliments. I also own bose 802 series 3.

I was looking for a system to use for restaurant and coffee house style gigs. I looked at the EONs, StagePass, Solo Amp, and then I got to see/hear the L1 Compact.

My acoustic guitars (Breedlove, Gibson) sound incredible. The Gibson, especially, has the most natural sound I've ever heard an amp do. And the input and my guitar both don't have EQ.

That concerned me at first, the lack of EQ on the guitar input and the lack of reverb overall, but I have found my guitar eqs are flat, as is my microphone (Beta 58), and everything sounds tremendous. Imagine just you and your guitar, the natural sound, amplified; that's what you get.

And taking it to the gig is ridiculous. Entire PA in one hand with cables and mics stowed in the included bag/cover and guitar and mic stand in the other hand. The only reason I had to do two trips was for 2 guitars.

And the compliments to the sound are unreal. I have an alright voice and skill on the guitar, but I have never had repeat bookings like this thing has brought me in the 2 weeks I have owned/used it.

Even had a friend, who played a nylon string classical, plug in without the Acoustic Guitar switch engaged (line level) and it sounded perfect.

I recommend this to anyone who wants portable audio for intimate gatherings and wants quality above all else.