I thought you might enjoy reading about this and joining me in extending congratulations to Cliff and Ken. 
Text version
quote:Honoring the people and technology that have shaped the way we create music
The world of musical electronics has been graced with giants, and we have benefited from their contributions. For many of them, simply seeing the results of their inspiration has been reward enough …
LIVE SOUND RE-INVENTION
Bose L1 System
The L1’s originators, Ken Jacob and Cliff Henricksen, felt something was wrong with the traditional “P.A./monitors/backline” way of amplifying music—it put too much gear on stage, separated musicians from their audience, and was difficult to control in a nuanced way.
After defining what was wrong with existing systems, they set about defining what would be right. They were inspired by multiple factors, but in particular, by the way live performance traditionally involved individual musicians creating sounds from their own spatial locations. In 1995, this concept translated to the breakthrough of a system that deployed an individual system for each instrument or voice—in essence, the amplification system became an extension of the instrument, rather than a separate entity. Furthermore, they decided that the system had to be both portable and cost-effective.
After going through several prototypes, they made another breakthrough—the separate bass box—and the team grew over the years as more people became involved in testing the concept and gear. Before its release in 2003, the final element— ToneMatch, which voiced the system to various instruments—fell into place.
When the L1 hit the market, the initial wave of “this can’t possibly work” skepticism dissipated as more musicians had the chance to hear the benefits of this radical approach. The transportable, line array-plus-bass bin “personal P.A.” has now become a standard—but it all traces back to the pioneering work that created the L1.
Source: The Electronic Musician Hall of Fame
FANTASTIC