Bose S1 Portable PA System Wired

A couple of people I knew had S1s and were absolutely delighted with them. I needed a small compact PA to use for my solo acoustic guitar/vocal set and for some small vocal gigs at which I use backing tracks. It was really a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay, but in the end I got a good price on Amazon with a payment plan, so I thought What the Heck!! I haven’t been disappointed. Put quite simply, the sound from the Bose S1 is awesome. You can use it at home connected to your phone via Bluetooth and at low volume, you get great all-round response; crisp top end and nice bass that you can actually feel without annoying the neighbours. Then at higher volume it becomes very impressive with bottom-end that smacks you in the stomach. But all frequencies are smooth sounding - there's nothing that jars or offends your ears, particularly at the top end where cheaper speakers can get a bit wearing at higher volume. There are three input channels - two mic/guitar sockets, which are both quarter-inch jack/xlr hybrids and one Aux/Line which is fed either with a stereo mini-jack or via Bluetooth. There's also a quarter-inch line out jack socket to feed another amp if needed. For the vocal/backing track gigs, it's ideal. I place it on a standard speaker stand, plug in a wireless mic, connect a Samsung tablet running Lyric/Backing Track software, and I'm ready to go. The sound carries well in a small venue without having to play too loud. Within reason,I can also stand in front of the speaker without getting feedabck (obviously not too close!) Best of all, I don't have to plug in to any mains as the Bose S1 has an inbuilt rechargeable battery that can give you a few hours (up to 11 apparently) of use. As long as you charge up before you go, you'll have enough charge for pretty much any gig. For acoustic sets it's wonderful - mic plugged in one channel, acoustic guitar in the other. And using the Tone Match facility, you can select whether the channel should be EQd for Mic or guitar. The Guitar setting with a little reverb sound gorgeous. For bigger venues, I also have a small cheap Active and Passive speaker PA (nowhere near the quality of the Bose), but combining the two systems together sound pretty good. Either putting the S1 on one of the stands or using it on the floor behind me. The built-in reverb is OK, not amazing, but perfectly usable and the feature that adjusts the settings according to the way you position the speaker means the unit will always sound at its best. There are four positions it adjusts for - flat (such as on a table), where bass response is noticeably increased, angled on the floor, on a speaker stand or sideways as a monitor (and a cool feature is that you can rotate the Bose logo in this position). I occasionally use the unit as an additional monitor in my band, and it even formed an integral part of an emergency PA setup when ours inexplicably failed at a gig one night. It is also small enough to sit in your living room when not being used at a gig to listen to music at home - and apart from not being in stereo, it's as good or better in sound quality to any high-end Bluetooth speaker you try. A couple of minor drawbacks - 1) There is no master volume. If you want to increase overall volume you need to turn up all channels individually 2) As mentioned, the reverb is OK, but there is no foot-switch facility to turn it on/off. Talking to an audience between songs with reverb on is not great and it's a faff to keep turning it up and down on the speaker itself. Bose do not publish what the output wattage is – my guess would be something around 150watts. Not enough for a large venue or if you are a DJ that needs earsplitting volume, but plenty for small rooms, pubs, clubs etc. Everything considered, this is a fantastic unit giving high quality sounds at low and higher volumes from a very light and compact box. Great for the solo artist in smaller venues, or with long battery life, even for busking. For me it’s just the sheer quality of the sound – smooth, powerful Ideally, I'd like another one, which coupled with a decent mixer, would form a very nice PA system. But that's just a bit too extravagant for me I'm afraid!

I was really on the fence about the Bose S1 Pro Speaker for quite a while. I needed a speaker for a quiz night in a village hall, something portable but with good sound. So many positive reviews suggested this speaker was perfect for my needs but it just seemed so small and hard to believe it could fill the room. Eventually I pulled the trigger and took a chance. And wow, what a fantastic unit. Extremely light and really small, the output is extremely loud indeed - easily filling a small hall without even cranked to its highest volume. Sound quality is exceptional too, as is build quality. Connectivity is fantastic. For example, it joined to my iphone via Bluetooth immediately. This is a fantastic bit of kit and whilst not the cheapest on the market it is well worth the premium price tags. I honestly can’t fault it.

Sound quality & battery life are excellent. This is not a boom box so if u have high expectations of base you will be disappointed. The item is light to carry & fairly compact.

This piece of kit is a total life saver. Within 48hrs of purchasing I arrived at a wedding to find the organisers hadn’t arranged any power for me and expected me to perform in the middle of the field. The Bose sounded amazing. Was loud and battery lasts a long time. 11 hrs I believe. The only negative aspect is the lack of +48v Phantom which means I now have to carry a spare microphone as my regular one is a condenser. Highly recommend this to all professional gigging musicians with back ache :)

Having seen this little speaker on the web, I was intrigued and excited about the prospect of a Bose speaker that could be used as a PA, Practice Amp and Bluetooth Music Playback System as an added bonus that had to stand head a shoulders above all other wireless speakers. Wow! Could it really be that good? I started researching, looking at reviews and YouTube demonstrations wherever I could find them but despite the majority of positive reviews all singing the S1's praises; there was nothing that was going to give me a true reflection of how good the sound was going to be and at this point all I could do was consider what the reviews were telling me. Considering Amazon give you a chance to return items within 30 days (at least to demo at home to avoid any potential marks that would void the return) I decided it was time to pull the trigger and make the purchase. I already have enough sound gear Including a Bose L1 M1, Mackie SRM 350's & 450's and a Roland AC60 ( the latter being great for portability and smaller events) and really questioned my need for the S1. But like most musicians there is always something out there that's going to grab your attention and especially when it's something from Bose. On receiving the unit, I opened the box to unpack and was immediately impressed by the build quality. Especially, the metal grill that really protects the speakers against any impact. Although, the Roland AC60 is a great acoustic amp with the added benefit of Chorus, Phantom Power, Stereo and a Master Volume; why they designed the unit with a flimsy cloth grill that offers no real protection is beyond me? So, Bose get extra points for getting it right here. The rest of the build quality is excellent too. The S1 really is a solid piece of kit. I've understood that when the S1 was first introduced it came with a backpack carry case and no battery but then Bose decided to reverse this and include the battery instead of the back pack. Considering the price of Bose equipment I do not think it would have done any harm for Bose to include their slip cover to provide basic protection From scratches. Roland have always provided a beautifully useful carry case for the AC60 and AC90 which makes transportation that much easier. It would have been nice if Bose gave some more thought to this. Now for the product performance itself. I have yet to gig this until I get a cover or bag to travel with. However, on playing at home (even on low levels) the sound is simply amazing and with the provision of Tonematch Eq switches for guitar and vocals on two of the channels you really notice a difference that improves the sound quality of both vocals and guitar which is a joy to hear. The ability to place the S1 into 4 different position (including pole mount) that automatically tells the unit how it is placed and adjusts the frequencies to give the best sound for the positioning is astounding. This suggests that a whole rig up can be set up in minutes. Not only can the speaker be positioned towards audiences for performances but it can also be used as a stand alone monitor or hooked up as a monitor to a bigger PA. Once again, I haven't used this in a live setting but I hope I can update this review in future. Of course, there is the ability to go wireless for music playback which is a sinch and sounds great and you can even wirelessly pair together (in stereo if you wish) using the APP or connect several S1's together if you require a greater wall of sound. I'm sure that for the price of 2 of these units you could get a PA that offers more power, more inputs (etc) that would be better suited for more situations if playing with a band or to larger audiences. But that's not really the point here. For what it is; the S1s' purpose is to deliver excellent sound with ease of portability for the acoustic musician, solo entertainer or duo whether playing in a bar, at home or even in the street. With reports suggesting that battery life can be up to 11 hours this is an extremely versatile unit. Do not think of this as a replacement for what you already might have if you play to larger audiences or in a band but consider it an extremely useful and capable tool to have in your box that will suit certain purposes better than others. Having had the S1 for a few days at home I am extremely impressed by what it has delivered so far and have no doubt that it is the perfect solution for smaller venues. I am genuinely very tempted to get a second unit. But this would probably be more of a luxury than a necessity and if my reason for buying this was to have a portable one piece solution for playing solo or in an acoustic set up then it has met its' objective without question and meets my requirements with ease. All in all, I can only give this unit the highest praise for what it does and does it very well. I would love to give this a 5 star rating but the lack of at least a protective cover and a master volume prevent this from being perfect. However, these are just small niggles that make no difference to the overall performance of the S1 which is simply an amazing piece of kit that IMO will be welcomed by many. I simply can't wait to try it out in a live setting to see what it can really achieve. I have no doubt it will be amazing! I hope you found this review useful and will tick the box if it has been helpful.

Missed that it came without a battery! But it works well as described

I have not used it for anything else but to play music in the garden,via Bluetooth or 3.5m lead.If you only have 1 S1 dont bother downloading the bose app if you wish to change the sound settings because you cant.I use the sound settings in my phone,its perfect.Good build quality, good weight,which is a good sign and great design.Do not even consider buying anything else if you want EXCELLENT sound quality

If your expecting RCF,EV sound you'll be left disappointed. Not for venues over 40 people. Very thin sound, no bass without pushing it.