I am a proud owner of an L1 M2B2 system which over the past year we have used for my son and me to perform a variety of music in the Nashville area. Recently, I saw an advertisement for what looks like a Bose clone, the JBL Eon One. Does anyone know anything about this system outside of the advertising hype? Is it a good competitor for the Compact? They have a rudimentary “six input” mixer but nothing like a Tonematch. Thanks.
I like it a lot. It’s better than the compact. Better build, packaging, sound and volume. It’s not as loud as the Classic or Model 2. I also prefer it’s sound over all the L1’s, but you’re going to have to listen for yourself. The 6 channel mixer is a joke. I consider it a 4 channel mixer. I would bring my own mixer. The line gains are a joke too.
I sold my Compacts a couple of months ago. Didn’t
think I would get another set of PA speakers but I
heard about these and now at the moment I have one.
It’s much fuller-sounding than the Compacts and the
bass is no joke either. Sounds awesome and I will be
getting a second ONE.
I bought a ONE couple months or so ago, off the marketing description. Set it up and was very disappointed with the sound, lack of power and coverage. No oomph, even the (expected better) bass was not impressive. The way it is designed and put together is very professional, but it just did not deliver. Also - no bag, no cover, which makes no sense… An SKB rolling speaker bag to fit would be another $150 (it IS heavy!). Also, I would need a Radial xlr splitter to send my vocal to a PA in some cases - yet another $150-ish…
I did a side-by-side-by-side comparison between ONE, Compact, and Classic-2xB1. Of course the Big Bose blew it away. As did the Compact! AND, pleasant surprise - the Compact was very very VERY close in every regard to big brother Classic - impressive. All of this was with a Jumbo Taylor thru Fishman Tone-DEQ preamp and a Shure Beta 58. Similar differences without the pre-amp, but I was just running my standard benchmark for what always sounds best.
The JBL would not have been acceptable for me solo with guitar in a small to mid size restaurant, in my judgement. Ditto with another acoustic instrument & vocal. And in a band setting it would not be heard at all. Very disappointing…
I returned it, obviously. Bose wins again!
MIKE O’
I just returned a JBL Eon One and bought the L1 Compact (thanks to a recent price drop). The JBL appealed to me because of the lower price point ($800), larger subwoofer (10") and multi-channel mixer (6 ch) with reverb.
Played one club gig (2 vocalists, 1 guitar, 1 bass guitar) with the EON One and was not impressed. The bass was lost in the mix. The vocals were crystal clear but the sound dropped off significantly about 20 feet from the unit. It is also well documented that the gain on channel 3 & 4 on the Eon One is non-existent despite both guitars having pre-amps and using compressors the channel volume was at "11" and still not loud enough. The reverb was pretty ****** but at least it has some versus the L1 Compact.
I have to use the L1 Compact with a Mackie ProFX8v2 and found these forums helpful. Not sure the bass will be loud enough so I am using an old Cambridge SoundWorks Bass Cube 8 subwoofer to help out (a poor man's B1 setup, I suppose).
So far I am very impressed with the quality of the Compact. The extensions slide together and apart nicely (you need a crow bar for the Eon One's). It also comes with carrying back and a cover is smaller and ten pounds lighter than the Eon One and that the point of buying a PPA. Hoping the L1 performs at our next gig - thanks Bose for the 30 day satisfaction guarantee because you'll never know how these units will perform unless you are at a gig.
Mike in texas, you forgot to give links to the current sale bose is having on their products lol. But seriously, you seem to be glowing pretty hard their with your comprehensive “bose is better in every way and the eon is terrible and everything from bose is better than everything from jbl”
in reality, both are great speakers. I have listened to both and i prefer the heavier weight of the sound coming from the jbl to the bose compact. Also the jbl partybox 1000 can get louder (with clarity) than the bose and the bass is much better.