Like many who own L1 gear, I was waiting for my turn to have the catastrophic fail on an important gig. Today I thought my luck was up when ONE stick started repeatedly switching off then on, with the bass modules making loud bass “pops” in sync, while switching on and off - with the dreaded blue light turning to red. At the time I was playing MP3 backing tracks from my laptop through a Beyringer Eurorack Pro mixer into both L1’s. I switched the offending L1 off for a while, then on, but it stared up again. Wondering if it was the bass modules (X2) to the stick that were triggering this, I pulled the bass lead from the L1 base and it stopped and the stick played not a prob, and the blue light came back on. Phew! I plugged the bass modules back in and played backing tracks for another hour or so, turning UP the bass and the volume, but couldn’t duplicate the error. I know there is a lot of switching-circuitry in the base, and was wondering if the source of this error was the L1 sensing that the 2 bass speakers are BELOW 4ohm when the impedance drops, and switching off to protect itself.
Hi ozzysteve,
Sorry for the trouble. You weren’t approaching maximum output were you? If not, it sounds like the power stand was prematurely protecting itself (compared to the second system). Reproducing bass is more demanding than non-bass. I doubt your bass modules are dropping below rated impedance. To help confirm you could “stress test” the other system with these bass modules.
Give us a call at 877-335-2673 and we can discuss servicing this power stand to eliminate this symptom.
Thanks,
MattS-at-Bose
Hi Matt, no it was not very loud at all because it was in a room of my house. The problem is, I couldn’t duplicate it. (I’m in Perth, western Australia)
Ah, I see. Here’s Bose Australia service contact just in case:
http://global.bose.com/countries/australia.html
Thanks again,
MattS-at-Bose
Hi Matt, I emailed Brian from Bose Australia who sent me his phone number. I rang him and we talked about sending the L1 to him. But BEFORE I do, I want to make sure that there is something I can do to fix the problem, so I made a short video of the problem and uploaded it to Youtube here:
http://youtu.be/e6xq7y4K5_c
Could you have a look and see?
Being the most isolated place in the world, is there anywhere CLOSER to us who can fix this gear?
ozzysteve,
Thank you for the video. It does indeed appear as though your powerstand is throwing a fault light even when the bass module as well as the input source is disconnected.
I would be curious to know if the power/fault light blinks red even without the arrays connected.
Regardless of how that turns out we would still absolutely be recommending service.
We’re sorry to hear about your problem!
Bose Australia got back to me. I didn’t realise there were places in Perth that fixed the L1, I thought I had to send it to our eastern states.
I got the L1 back last week, after three weeks in the repair shop.
It cost $AU435 (about $US335) to get fixed and the receipt said they replaced an amplifier board, 2 capacitors and a fan.
I asked them why it took so long to fix, and they said “one week for Bose to reply to an email, one week to get the part and a week to fix it.” After I asked about why it took so long, they said that Bose are the best and quickest, as some brands can take up to a year to get parts!! The guy said "I love Bose."
I interrogated them on why the amp faulted, and they had NO idea, which is the same answer from the guys-at-Bose.
This is a bit scary as I never overload the L1’s, I take incredible care when transporting them and generally treat them like pets. In thirty or so years of gigging I’ve never had a power amp “blow”. I’ve had a lot of gear.
But then I thought about it, and realised there is only ONE factor that noone figured.
I’ve constructed a few power amps over the years and know that no matter how well it is constructed, how expensive the components are, THEY CANNOT TOLERATE HEAT and as a result, transistors just cook! Sometimes the heatsinks and fans were the most expensive and biggest parts of the amp and power supply.
My Bose L1’s sit on carpet in my music room, and I think some of the heat should be dissipated out the bottom of the gear (the whole base gets warm), as well as the vent in the top, and carpet can inhibit this to an extent.
So to help it get rid of heat, I’m going to make a little, but powerful, (shaped) fan that sits in the vents and “helps” the internal fan to get rid of excess heat. It can’t hurt.
I hadn’t had the Bose L1 back for long when the other side blew. When I turned it on last week, it made noises like a fuse being lit! Considering I treat this gear like a baby and hardly use it, I think the Bose L1 has only got a life-span of 6 years. I’m going to have to look for an alternative PA now. It was good when it worked.
Hi ozzysteve,
I’m sorry to hear you’re having more trouble. If you’d like, please call the service center in Perth.
We value our customers!
Hi Nick, thanks for that. The last time I had it fixed it was $435 and I can’t afford to keep paying that sort of money, it would be just my luck that the “previously fixed” side will then blow again and the bill will then be $1,305 ad infinitum. I’ve only had the L1 for six years and I have done everything right to care for it, so it looks like the L1 MII only has a lifespan of 6 years. (I even have surge protectors protecting surge protectors!!) I’m designing my own “base” that I can slide a reliable amp and graphic into, and then work out what connections I need, for the speaker plug at the bottom of the stick, and use the speakers WITHOUT the Bose base. (I asked the repair shop what the connections were, and they said “Bose will not alow me to know.”)The turnaround time at the repair shop is 3 weeks and NO band can afford to cancel gigs for that amount of time. I must admit, everytime we did a gig, I had sleepless nights worrying if the gear would work. I’ve been gigging for 40 years and have NEVER had an amp “blow”.