Bose s1 Pro jamming on stand

[ConcertinaChap]

Hi all. I've just bought a pair of speaker stands to use (among other things) with my Bose S1 Pro. The stands are the Proel FRE180Kit type.The Bose goes on the stands, no problem, but it's a real fight to get it off the stands again. I have to turn speaker and stand upside down and twist (hard) to get it out.

Looking in the socket on the Bose I can see a micro switch which I presume is used by the variable EQ system so I'm very reluctant to try anything in the socket. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there anything I can do with the stands?

TIA,

CC

[Sam Spoons]

Stands come in two different sizes, 35mm and 36mm, my QSC's have 36mm sockets and my stands 35mm poles (should've gone to Specsavers ). There will be some clearance so could your stands be nominally 36mm and your sockets a nominal 35mm?

[Mike Stranks]

Those Proel stands are advertised as 35mm...

CC: I've used numerous stand/speaker combinations over the years and have frequently had to resort to similar tactics.

I think the manufacturing of stands and speaker 'top-hats' is far from a precise engineering exercise...

[Sam Spoons]

Those Proel stands are advertised as 35mm...

CC: I've used numerous stand/speaker combinations over the years and have frequently had to resort to similar tactics.

I think the manufacturing of stands and speaker 'top-hats' is far from a precise engineering exercise...

I don't doubt that for one minute

[Sam Spoons]

CC I did have a moment's panic when I read your thread title, feeling imminent redundancy looming but thankfully I read the post before I got too depressed. These new speakers are bloody clever but thankfully are still the servants not the masters......

[Sam Spoons]

Oh and it is probably not practical to sand down the poles, they will be pretty thin to start with, I have tried silicone spray which has little effect as the issue is an interference fit, and, on non-PA related but similar engineering, I have tried sanding the sockets a little but the plastic just furs up and remain as recalcitrant as ever (and you wouldn't want to mess up the moulded in sockets). So the only thing I could suggest is new stands

[ConcertinaChap]

CC: I've used numerous stand/speaker combinations over the years and have frequently had to resort to similar tactics.

Depressing.

Oh and it is probably not practical to sand down the poles, they will be pretty thin to start with

Even more depressing.

CC

[Sam Spoons]

PITA, I'm considering a couple of S1s too, will check carefully if they fit my stands then......

[ConcertinaChap]

I would do that. As I say there's a small micro switch inside and if you tampered with the socket you'd most likely bugger that so checking first is a good idea. Cracking bit of kit otherwise.

CC

[ConcertinaChap]

Well I've decided to try thinning down one of the stands. I've got a Dremel tool which should allow me to do so with a bit of control. Got to be worth a try.

CC

[wireman]

Would wax (candle or the Ferrule wax you get for fishing rods) help?

[Sam Spoons]

Well I've decided to try thinning down one of the stands. I've got a Dremel tool which should allow me to do so with a bit of control. Got to be worth a try.

CC

You'd be safer doing it with a strip of emery cloth if you want to get an even reduction.

[Rob Kirkwood]

I bought a Bose S1 Pro in January, & go out every week with it, but so far I've only used it on the floor or sitting on top of someone else's amp/cabinet - so I'll be watching this thread with great interest!

Personally I'd have preferred a manual 3 or 4 way switch for the EQ options, rather than all this clever internal switching (which is no doubt based on unicorns & magic smoke).

One other annoying niggle I've found with the S1 Pro is that the (stupidly expensive) Bose backpack (which I also bought) doesn't protect the controls fully - making it easy to knock them out of position, including the power switch. Couple of times I've taken it out the backpack to find it's already switched on - which could be disastrous if it's been on for sometime & there's no power available where you are. The Bose Tonematch mixers appear to have a magnetic cover plate that protects the controls - shame they didn't do this for the S1 Pro.

Apart from these niggles it is, as CC says, an amazing piece of kit, with a sound quality & volume that belies its size.

Rob

[ConcertinaChap]

Would wax (candle or the Ferrule wax you get for fishing rods) help?

As I said earlier there's a micro switch inside the "top hat". That's why I'd decided to avoid grease or wax, for fear of gungeing it up and stopping it working. It looks quite small and delicate.

rather than all this clever internal switching (which is no doubt based on unicorns & magic smoke).

If it had been it would have been easier. Instead it's based on micro switches ...

CC

[Hugh Robjohns]

The micro-switch only detects whether it's been mounted on a pole or not. The orientation sensing is done with an orientation sensor (or accelerometer) in the same way as a mobile phone etc. No unicorns are harmed in the construction or use of an S1 PRo.

I borrowed a friend's 35mm speaker stand to use with my own S1 PRo and had no jamming problems... but I can't remember the brand of stand used. I'll check and report back.

H

[ConcertinaChap]

That would be worthwhile knowledge, thanks Hugh, in case my post thinning activities come to naught. I'm hoping not because although the post gets right royally stuck it fits in easily enough, leading me to think it's only a little too large. Size does matter, eh?

CC

[Rob Kirkwood]

Managed to find a piece of plastic tube that was exactly 35mm outside diameter, so took a look at the socket on my S1 Pro...

The socket actually tapers very slightly - at the open end it's about 35.7mm, & at the far end it's less than 35mm so the plastic tube jams before seating fully into the socket. The actual end of the tripod socket is flat, but the join between the socket walls & end is also rounded slightly, so maybe there are stands with a slight taper or those which are slightly rounded at the pointy end that might fit better?

Rob

[ConcertinaChap]

That's really useful stuff, many thanks for that. I'll check mine but I would fully expect it to be the same as yours. It explains why the stand slides in easily but then gets jammed lower down and also why it gets so thoroughly jammed so quickly. I can also use the info to guide my thinning efforts. Excellent!

Thinks: I could try some small object the size and shape of dice on top of the stand just to hold it clear of the narrowest section. That would be easy to try. Have to wait until tomorrow now as I'm going out to play

CC

[Drew Stephenson]

Could make a tapered plug and seat it in a wider bit of tube that fits over the 35mm pipe?

[Wonks]

The idea of the tapered socket is to stop the pole going in too far and damaging the microswitch. So if you make a tapered end, make sure that it doesn't go in any further than a straight pole would do.

Stupid place to put a microswitch IMO. Needs an immediate design change to remove it, place a switch somewhere else and fit a standard top-hat fitting.

[Rob Kirkwood]

The idea of the tapered socket is to stop the pole going in too far and damaging the microswitch. So if you make a tapered end, make sure that it doesn't go in any further than a straight pole would do.

Stupid place to put a microswitch IMO. Needs an immediate design change to remove it, place a switch somewhere else and fit a standard top-hat fitting.

The microswitch is actually on the side of the tripod socket, not at the top - so there's no risk of damage with a pole going too far. The switch does look very flimsy though, & I'd be more bothered about it being damaged by having to twist a stand to remove it.

Looks like K&M do a few stands that might work well, example...
https://www.studiospares.com/Accessorie ... AEA0smTQ==

...also CC's idea of putting something on top of the stand might be equally good (the microswitch is about halfway down the side),

Rob

[ConcertinaChap]

It worked. I placed a die 15mm on a side on top of the stand and placed the S1 Pro on top of that and the result was fully stable and I could remove the speaker from the stand afterwards without problem. The bottom of the micro switch (this looking down into the socket with the S1 Pro upside down) is, so far as I can tell, at 17mm so the micro switch should still be activated.

The solution, then, is to cut a disk of wood 15mm in thickness and 30mm in diameter and stick it permanently on the end of the stand. This will not prevent the stand from being used with other speakers but should make it usable with the S1 Pro without doing anything tricky or drastic like trying to slim the post down. I do agree with Wonks, though. This design is asking for trouble.

The switch does look very flimsy though, & I'd be more bothered about it being damaged by having to twist a stand to remove it.

Me too.

Thanks all. This thread has been a fine example of what makes this forum such a good place to seek help. Thanks in particular to Rob who did the key research.

Cheers,

CC

[Hugh Robjohns]

I think the reason that the stand I used didn't jamb into the S1pro was probably because it had a 'shoulder' rim at the base of the tophat that would have carried the speaker's weight, combined with a tophat pole thatbwasn't long enough to reach into the narrowed end of the socket.

H

[Rob Kirkwood]

Thanks all. This thread has been a fine example of what makes this forum such a good place to seek help. Thanks in particular to Rob who did the key research.

Cheers,

CC

You're very kind, thanks - but we all learned something!

Think I'd be inclined to see if 9 or 10mm thickness was sufficient to stop jamming, before glueing anything permanently in place?

Rob

[ConcertinaChap]

I certainly wasn't intending to glue permanently until I had checked my handiwork first. So far as I recall the wood I have lying around is 13mm thickness so I was going to start there. I've got a set of drill circular cutters so I'll just choose one of those of suitable diameter. This sort of thing.



CC