Bose has had this new product out for a while now and I finally saw it up close.

It’s very difficult to describe… picture a black pole about 5′ tall on a wide base. This is another one of their `revolutionary’ ideas to transform sound forever.

It was initially marketed to musicians as a p.a., then gradually phased in as an amplifier replacement for onstage. The huge benefit was that sound would appear to come from everywhere, making being onstage a much
more pleasant experience (also allegedly for the audience).

Being somewhat skeptical (in the way that we breathe air somewhat), I’m wondering to myself what they’ve gone and done this time. I feel fairly certain that it’s not going to *sound* good, though.

So they start to claim that this speaker (with its associated bass box and who knows what in prepatory, phase-screwing alleged enhancement) will replace onstage amps for musicians.

Let’s ignore for a moment that it’ll cost more than a grand to PUT one onstage, and proceed right to the heart of the matter: anyone who has done any market research at all knows that even if this hits the stage with keyboardists, guitarists are going to avoid it like the plague.
And this would include finding a way to Photoshop one onstage with Hendrix at Woodstock.

Guitarists are a notoriously conservative bunch, not to mention generally downright stoopid. Since about the early 50’s, there have been three basic guitars, and not much has changed.

To cut to the chase, the classic/founding/smart guitarists use tube amps to get their tones. The amplifier gets played the same way the guitar does. Output distortion is an integral part of tone, as is a certain type of speaker stressing or distortion. So I know that guitar players are not going to plug their 50-100w tube heads into a Bose Pole, even if it’s rated for 500w.

Finally running into one today, I took a quick look. First thing I noticed was that the front-end devices were boxes that did amplifier emulation. Right off the bat, I knew we weren’t dealing with a normal playing field. Looking at the pole itself, I noted that it was nothing more than a HUGE STACK OF TINY SPEAKERS.

Yes, the people who brought you `full range sound’ from a box full of 4″ speakers now bring you `full range sound’ from a humongous vertical array of 2-3″ speakers (and a bass box and electronics).

You coulda knocked me over with a feather.

Apparently they’re not selling well, as this is the first time I’ve ever seen one in a store (they’re paying huge ad dollars though) and it was in the acoustic guitar section (hiding in shame, no doubt).

Man, I’d have to look far and wide for material if I didn’t have a Guitar Center close by :)

BOSE - Ignoring physics for over 30 years!