Looking for Opinions: Bose F1 Model 812

[Doug Lowthian]

Bose F1 model 812 - 1,000W Array Loudspeaker with Adjustable Coverage Pattern
Bose F1 Powered Sub

Bose F1 PA Package at Sweetwater for specs.

Opinions, experiences, alternatives?

• Venue needs portability (set up and breakdown) 15-20 times a year
• Ability to use in different spaces depending on event
• Used for musical theater, bands, orchestras, speaker forums, lectures, recorded music....a mixed bag.
• Ease of use for non-pro volunteers
• Space varies from a basket ball court to a 1000 seat auditorium with balcony and high ceilings.

Thank you all in advance

 

[rwhealey]

You are expecting way too much out of a pair of small portable speakers. You will not get anywhere close to covering a 1000 seat auditorium with a single pair of F1s or any MI-grade portable speakers, even for speech. You may be OK on your speech and prerecorded music events in a basketball court, but your band, orchestra, and musical theatre would be a problem. The basketball court could have a capacity of 500 people seated!

The adjustable coverage angle of the F1 isn't quite a gimmick, but there is a ton of marketing speak in the description of it. Bose provides no polar plots or other useful specs on the system. Besides, you are looking for something easy to use - not something that requires you volunteers to make a calculation of the required vertical coverage angle.

If you really need something portable and simple, your money would be better spent on a pair of QSC K12s over a pair of QSC KW181s. Just keep in mind that you won't be able to cover the entire theater or the entire basketball court. The last rock musical I ran (Evita) I was just about out of oompf with a pair of K12s in a 200-seat theater, and that was just amplifying vocals, not the band.

 

[macsound]

Another issue you'll run into besides actual output, is the flexibility of coverage. Basketball courts have terrible acoustics and are best handled with more speakers at lower volume, if you actually want to understand what people are saying.

 

[TimMc]

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[Dionysus]

I've used these a few times in a few different arrangements both indoors and outdoors. A guy I sometimes work for wanted to give them a good try out...
I was not terribly impressed. However, they were actually better than I expected.
Used them on a small stage in an arena and set up 6 sets of them and managed pretty good coverage and sound... but we needed 6 sets. 3 per side. spaced out.
Far from ideal.

But with their typical BOSE internal EQ settings, they sound pretty good out of the box, with the typical mid boost that BOSE loves.

 

[macsound]

Just heard a couple of these outside at the fair this weekend used at a chevrolet truck "booth". The booth was like 40' square and backed up to a walkway that came from another building, so I was on the other side of a large hedge when I first heard the music and announcement and thought it was coming from the mainstage's line array which was about another 100' past the chevy booth.
Surprisingly, they sound far better outside than inside.
I was about 40' away and they were clear in a non-piercing way with full sounding music and an announcer speaking over.