Bose and Alton Towers

[follow spotter 1]

no they are rubbish ( no highs no lows it must be bose)we have to keep replacing the drivers inside them they don't last very long at all the new area wont be bose you see the deferents will probley use HK profeshinal concert speakers

[Beaver Dude]

Actually, if you compare any of their systems like for like with any other designer I think you'll find bose wins

No they don't I'm afraid. It does impress me how much bass they get from tiny boxes but bigger is better. Alton Towers would be better using speakers from JBL and they would probably be cheaper to.

[PeteB]

[quote=""Beaver Dude""]

Actually, if you compare any of their systems like for like with any other designer I think you'll find bose wins

No they don't I'm afraid. It does impress me how much bass they get from tiny boxes but bigger is better. Alton Towers would be better using speakers from JBL and they would probably be cheaper to.[/quote]

Yes they are, and how much bass you can squeeze out of a cab doesnt come really into the equation. If they wanted even more bass from a small cab all they need to do is stick a port in. But thats not the intended purpose. I agree JBL would be a good choice if they needed an alternative but they wont use huge full range cabs because they dont need to. They'll use evironmental speakers just the same as the Bose ones and there wont be much difference in sound quality.

[quote=""follow spotter 1""]the drivers inside them they don't last very long at all the new area wont be bose you see the deferents will probley use HK profeshinal concert speakers.[/quote]

The drivers probably need replacing because either somebody is caning the system or they are getting damaged from bad weather. Drivers should last donkeys years if they are looked after and its usually the tweeters that go first. LOL @ HK concert speakers, as if thats going to happen - its Mutiny Bay not V Festival! And if they were going to install concert speakers in a concert arena or outdoor stage area then you'd only choose HK if you were on a budget. Funktion One and Martin Audio are the high end stuff. In fact, Funktion One is the mutts nuts these days at a cost of approx half a million for their simple 3 stack units. The quality is unmatched.

As for the frequency range of bose, I'd bet you my life that they go up to at least 16khz which is far enough for the high range, though the environmental speakers may be slightly lower for obvious reasons, and down to 150hz for the low end. Thats all you need, any lower and you need a sub driver to get decent bass and as we've already seen AT are turning off the subs to keep the park quieter because low frequences travel further than highs.

[Crofty]

Will they use Bose?!? This sounds like a bet I'll be sure to drag this topic up come next season when we see what they have used

I'm a Bose boyo through and through. Just bought some Bose PC speakers and I love them.
People say its not the best and they arn't that great quality but at the end of the day if they sound supurb to me then I'll buy them

[Ash]

If Bose arent the best then who are?

[PeteB]

[quote=""Titler""]If Bose arent the best then who are?[/quote]

I couldnt say Bose are the all round best, but for the applications Alton are using them for, they are up there with the best.

[stigzy]

[quote=""Titler""]If Bose arent the best then who are?[/quote]

Yamaha!

[Beaver Dude]

If Bose arent the best then who are?

As said for the application Alton Towers use them for then they are but contrary to popular belife Bose are no where near the best for home application. Companies such as Wharfedale and Monitor Audio are good for low bugets whereas B&W and Wilson Bench are some examples of high end. All of these companies would cane Bose but use bigger cabinets. The only real problem I have with Bose is the cost is steep.

I don't always understand why they use Bose at theme parks because it just seems a waste of money. For example a pair of 802's costs £400 but all these speakers are going to do is background music most of the time. Fair enough on dark rides where sound is important but in places like queues they may as well use JBL.

[PeteB]

802's may be £400 to the public for the trade they will most likely be alot less. Probably more so if a somebody like alton needs 10 - bulk discount.

[Mattia]

[quote=""Beaver Dude""]

If Bose arent the best then who are?

...it just seems a waste of money. For example a pair of 802's costs £400 but all these speakers are going to do is background music most of the time. Fair enough on dark rides where sound is important but in places like queues they may as well use JBL.[/quote]

But Tussauds had* a contract with Bose to install them and they got them cheap because they were advertising they're product. However the only bose advertising i can remember is the crackiling speaker in the bushes at the beginning of the CatCF queueline and also the speakers around the flume, some crackle and some are broken completly

Not a very good impression however saying this i do think bose's sound is rather amazing, i think it is great for Alton/Thorpe/Chessie and i feel that Duel's should be upgraded soon because the sound is not great there.

*don't know wheather the contract has ended?

[chris.close2]

The reason why some zones sound louder than others is because each zone doesnt have its own indevidual sound system its all ran from a central sound control room based on Allen & Heath idr8 running with lots of Bose Amps so the idr8 sends different music to individual zones via fibreoptic cabling so i think who ever switches the system on in the mornings forget to reset the volume settings. as a sound and lighting tech by trade i have worked with a system exactly the same as this and when you do switch it off at night the idr8  does default itself on some of the zones so i feel their sound guy needs to check all volume levels before the park opens

i have worked with all bose products on the 802s they give a suprising amount of bass and actually bose are a awsome speaker brand to get so much power from a small box is remarkable

[TheNigeC]

The reason why some zones sound louder than others is because each zone doesnt have its own indevidual sound system its all ran from a central sound control room based on Allen & Heath idr8 running with lots of Bose Amps so the idr8 sends different music to individual zones via fibreoptic cabling so i think who ever switches the system on in the mornings forget to reset the volume settings. as a sound and lighting tech by trade i have worked with a system exactly the same as this and when you do switch it off at night the idr8  does default itself on some of the zones so i feel their sound guy needs to check all volume levels before the park opens

i have worked with all bose products on the 802s they give a suprising amount of bass and actually bose are a awsome speaker brand to get so much power from a small box is remarkable

have to agree and disagree there on that.

Bose 802s do create some AWESOME sound. but the bass isnt all that great. You need a 502 or older 302 bass cab for best results..

worked in a few clubs using all manner of Bose systems. and most favoured the 802s for the hi end.
great weatherproof cabs!

[chris.close2]

Bose are a really awsome speaker brand they are extremely  robust speakers the crackling sound may not be the speakers it maybe the signal going from the main sound control room to the speakers as for replacing the drivers on a bose speaker i think someone has been either underpowering or overpowering the speakers i have worked with the 802s and i have cranked them up full and never blown a driver. but i know for a fact merlin entertainments is continuing their contract with BOSE  as they have proved their worth

[PeteB]

I like Bose. Their systems are by no means reference quality but in comparison to other systems designed for these purposes, they are the best.

The problem with Towers is that things get messed around with and changed over the years, and especially since the noise abatement order came in they have been further tampered with.  Back in the late 90's and early 2000's Alton Towers sounded amazing and probably had the best audio of any park I've been to.

Two major problems which I noted on my last visit were that the Hex vault still isn't fixed and the Nemesis bass bins have either been turned off or are broken.

Wonder if The Smiler will have Bose sound around the ride?

[ryanlovesaltontowers]

I also really like Bose, for me it's not just the brand and sound quality but the variety of speakers they make, suiting all different purposes.

Nemesis is truly terrible this year, my mum (no bose or Alton towers fanatic) said it sounded like someone had flung a hammer at the speakers on the entrance tower because they sounded that bad, I had to agree with her, I'm not sure if they just need replacing through their age, or they vibrate on the metal boxes too much but nevertheless I feel they could do a better job with the audio around nemesis, currently on certain parts of the queue have speakers, and they should get that 20minute version playing again. The Nemesis archway currently only has one speaker working, I seem to recall them cutting the cable for one because its close to the SubTerra queue. Another issue some of us picked up on at the start of last year is that the speakers in the 'alien gun' opposite SubTerra, play the announcements for nemesis, so if it breakdown people think SubTerra has broke down.

On the other hand, the audio around Air sounds great this year, the two speakers by the entrance and single riders are at a nice high volume, you can hear them through most of the queue, it did seem that the queueline announcements were switched off though.