Merlin's contract with Bose Audio ended, they've turned to Ohm Audio instead?

[aeroalex]

It looks increasingly likely that Merlin has ended its audio contract with Bose in most of its attractions across the country and instead they seem to have a new contract with Ohm Audio? Cbeebies Land at Alton uses Ohm audio across the area and Ohm is the new sound system that was installed in HEX. Warwick Castle also now uses Ohm speakers for its Horrible History show and for its new War of the Roses Live Jousting show. 

This will probably be confirmed further when SW8 is finished and we get to see what audio manufacturer they've chosen for the audio on the new wooden rollercoaster. 

What do we think to the switch to Ohm over Bose? and have Merlin and Bose fallen out?

[Nickolai]

I do prefer the Bose range of speakers personally as they seem to produce better audio. Ohm is probably cheaper however we can see with Hex that Ohm speakers can't cope as well with high amplitudes for instance in the Cinema room. It seems Tussauds/Merlin have worked with Ohm in the far past with the majority speakers on Towers Street being Ohm. On the Ohm speakers they haven't tried taking the logos off whereas with the Bose ones Merlin story their hardest. I'm sure Merlin still have plenty of 32se and 402 speakers hidden in some storage area. It will be interesting to see what happens next. 

[aeroalex]

I do prefer the Bose range of speakers personally as they seem to produce better audio. Ohm is probably cheaper however we can see with Hex that Ohm speakers can't cope as well with high amplitudes for instance in the Cinema room. It seems Tussauds/Merlin have worked with Ohm in the far past with the majority speakers on Towers Street being Ohm. On the Ohm speakers they haven't tried taking the logos off whereas with the Bose ones Merlin story their hardest. I'm sure Merlin still have plenty of 32se and 402 speakers hidden in some storage area. It will be interesting to see what happens next. 

I have to agree with you. Bose's range of speakers do produce better audio especially their 402's & 802's. They're so much clearer sounding even at higher volumes. I remember going to Warwick Castle back in the day and the various jousting shows there were using Bose 802's the clarity was phenomenal compared to the Ohm's now they sound a bit muffled. Good point on the logos, when they installed the speakers on The Smiler all the Bose logos were removed weren't they! Tower street did have stacks of Bose 32se's though didn't it? 

[Nickolai]

There still are 32se speakers on Towers Street on buildings and on Turnsiles, and the Ohm ones are on poles and painted green to be camouflaged. Maybye Bose weren't happy with Merlin taking off the logos. Also Bose seem to have more diversity with speakers with different shapes and sizes. Something worth noting is that it appears Ohm don't have speakers you can put in the ground. When did the Bose contract start because if it the number of years ago was something sensible e.g.5,10,15,20 then I think it would just be end of the contract. 

[aeroalex]

Yeah that's right, there are some left but the Ohm ones replaced the stacks. I can't imagine Bose would be happy with taking their logos off, but from Alton's point of view it does make them blend in a little better. Bose do have a large range of speakers for just about every application, they are also waterproof out of the box whereas the Ohm one's aren't without a special coating. I think the Bose contract must have started over 15 years ago. Another interesting thing to note is that the Rollercoaster Restaurant at Alton does have Bose speakers inside and that only opened last year so this change is pretty recent. 

[kemperink]

no highs no lows it must be bose...