News

30 Nov 2021

Bose L1 Pro32

by Dave Coughran

Dave Lee Coughran is a gigging musician in Perth, WA. As part of the Diamond Road band and Diamond Road acoustic duo, Dave sings and plays guitar at major corporate events, pubs, clubs, and hotels around the metro area.

My duo performs with the Bose L1 Pro32 tower and the Sub2, the larger of the two subs that are available to go with the Pro32. We run dual vocals, guitar, a footstomper and backing tracks. We run an external mixer utilising around six inputs and output the mix into the Pro32.

When I was looking for a new PA, I needed something that would handle whatever gig opportunity we were given. Something that could more than cover all of the venues we regularly play and have power in reserve if we got a gig in a larger space. Ideally, we needed a professional sounding rig that would be loud enough for a variety of situations as well as being compact and easy to pack up and down. I was considering a few options, but when I first heard the L1 Pro32 I knew I’d found exactly what I’d been looking for.

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Unlike other portable column PAs, the array sits separately from the Sub2. We get comments from venue owners and punters about the uniquely modern, sleek look. Its capability versus portability is exceptional; the Sub2 fits in the back of my coupe! I have considered buying an L1 Pro16 or Pro8 for smaller gigs, but don’t quite have the need just yet.

We typically play in a busy pub environment to a couple of hundred people, with a lot of crowd noise. We’ve found we don’t have to stretch the Pro32 to cut through. The reproduction of our performance is full, clean, balanced and musical. The Pro32 outputs a true representation of what’s going through it. I find I just need a simple EQ and compression on our vocals, and the mix sounds polished and professional. We’ve also had comments from venues saying that they really like how deep, punchy and present the bass and low end is, which is great to hear considering how portable the sub actually is.

If I had to change anything about the L1 Pro32, I think it would be nice to have a couple more channel inputs built into the unit, as that would eliminate our need to run an external mixer for smaller, pared-back situations. Compression in the onboard DSP would also be useful but apart from that, I love the features and design and there’s nothing else I would change. I think that to date, it’s by far the best column PA ever made.

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The Specs

Self-powered line array with modular bass module and onboard three-channel digital mixer

Frequency Range (–10 dB): 30 Hz to 18 kHz

Nominal Vertical Coverage Pattern: 0°

Nominal Horizontal Coverage Pattern: 180°

Calculated Maximum SPL @ 1 m, peak: 128 dB

Crossover: 200 Hz

Low Frequency: 1 × RaceTrack low-frequency driver 10” × 18”

High / Mid Frequency: 32 × Articulated 2” drivers

Amplification: two channel, Class D. Low Frequency Amp Channel 1000 W, High / Mid Frequency Amp Channel 480 W

Onboard Mixer

Channel 1 & 2 Input: Audio Type Combination XLR or 1/4” TRS connector (mic/instrument/line)

Channel 3 Input: Audio Type 1/8” TRS (stereo-summed, line), 1/4” TRS (line), Bluetooth audio streaming

Output: Audio Type XLR connector, line level, full-frequency bandwidth

Bluetooth Enabled: Yes

Channel Controls: 3 digital rotary encoders

Phantom Power Channel 1 & 2

AC Power Input 100–240 VAC (±20%, 50/60 Hz)

Product Dimensions (H × W × D)

L1 Pro32: 2120 × 351 × 573 mm

Sub2: 694 × 317 × 551 mm

Net Weight: L1 Pro32: 13.1 kg

Sub2: 23.0 kg

Included Accessories: Carry bag for arrays, carry bag for power stand, SubMatch cable, IEC power cord (2), bass module slip cover

Optional Accessories: L1 Pro32 Array and Power Stand Bag, Sub2 Roller Bag, Adjustable Speaker Pole, SubMatch Cable

Pricing

L1 Pro32 with SUB1: RRP $3,739 inc GST

L1 Pro32 with SUB2: RRP $4,399 inc GST

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