Bose S1 Pro Knock Off Speaker for $199 on Amazon

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DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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I found this speaker on Amazon. I noticed it looked just like an S1 Pro.


So I searched it up on youtube to see if anyone did a comparison video on it, and someone did do a comparison video on it. He does a sound test of both playing the same song. The guy owns both speakers. It comes with a bunch of additional user features that the Bose does not have. Rated at 50 watts RMS which is probably accurate. Similiar array set up of the 3" drivers, but it appears they are set up in column format where the Bose is set up to disperse the sound wider.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwuK7bSMa40
 
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I hoped this guy is a better dj than he is a video producer. The audio for this video was poor, the background music didn’t help.

there are a number of cheap battery powered speakers that can probably get someone through a ceremony or cocktail hour. For me, the peace of the mind with quality is worth mentioning than saving a few hundred bucks. My guess is the s1 pro will far outlast the knockoff with similar use and have great resale value, making the overall price difference much less at the end of the day.
 
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Scott Hanna said:
I hoped this guy is a better dj than he is a video producer. The audio for this video was poor, the background music didn’t help.

there are a number of cheap battery powered speakers that can probably get someone through a ceremony or cocktail hour. For me, the peace of the mind with quality is worth mentioning than saving a few hundred bucks. My guess is the s1 pro will far outlast the knockoff with similar use and have great resale value, making the overall price difference much less at the end of the day.
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Bose S1 without a doubt will have strong resale value for the next few years for anybody looking to sell theirs...at least until they come out with a new and improved version. Even after that, I doubt we would ever see used ones selling for less than $400 with the battery included with the exception of being broken or in need of repair. I do hope that Bose comes out with a S2 Pro in the next year or two. Perhaps some extra useful features, and maybe using an 8" woofer vs the 6.5" for added bass would be a nice improvement.

As far as resale value of the Moukey speaker. The savings is in the buy price. The consumer would save money on the front end. I doubt anybody is thinking about resale value when the speaker cost $199 new. You get a few years of use out of it, and it earned every penny for someone who uses it a lot. It's so cheap, that selling used a few years down the road would probably yield $100 back in good condition.

I resold my American Audio ELS GO 8BT that I bought for $175 on sale in 2015 for $110. I totally got my money's worth out of it, and considered that good resale value after 7 years of having it, and that speaker's sound quality just sucked.
 
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Really the name of the brand is “Moukey”? There will always be something cheaper. Hopefully clients don’t use the same Philosophy when shopping for services. Now starting out I did some really creative things especially when budgets were tight but eventually you get a to point where you know you get what you pay for. And your good clients know it too.
 
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adj2ent said:
Really the name of the brand is “Moukey”? There will always be something cheaper. Hopefully clients don’t use the same Philosophy when shopping for services. Now starting out I did some really creative things especially when budgets were tight but eventually you get a to point where you know you get what you pay for. And your good clients know it too.
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I have noticed A LOT of funky names on various equipment on Amazon and eBay. Lots of different funky brand names for microphones/wireless microphones and speakers coming out of China.

My guess is that they are either using last names of someone in China as the brand name, OR they have trouble filing their name/business license due to so many names being taken. Also see it with stage lighting/event lighting brands too. Not really sure, but it is interesting seeing all these funky brand names over the last decade.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
As far as resale value of the Moukey speaker. The savings is in the buy price.
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The 'savings' is in the buy price? This might be an accurate statement if A and B were comparable .. but they're not. There's no savings if the components are not in the same league. What you call 'savings', they call 'cheaper components / build'.

DJ Ricky B said:
The consumer would save money on the front end.
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Cheaper components / cheaper builds do often equate to a cheaper price - again, this is not an apples to apples comparison.

DJ Ricky B said:
I doubt anybody is thinking about resale value when the speaker cost $199 new.
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True, but they should be thinking about quality. I have not ever thought about resale value, but I will not sacrifice quality, for myself nor my customers.
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
I have noticed A LOT of funky names on various equipment on Amazon and eBay. Lots of different funky brand names for microphones/wireless microphones and speakers coming out of China.

My guess is that they are either using last names of someone in China as the brand name, OR they have trouble filing their name/business license due to so many names being taken. Also see it with stage lighting/event lighting brands too. Not really sure, but it is interesting seeing all these funky brand names over the last decade.
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I believe at least some of this is because a number of factories in China that were previously making products for other companies for sale in the USA have found themselves with plenty of availab capacity due to the tariffs. Companies moved manufacturing to other countries, forcing these factories to start producing their own stuff.
 
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Scott Hanna said:
I believe at least some of this is because a number of factories in China that were previously making products for other companies for sale in the USA have found themselves with plenty of availab capacity due to the tariffs. Companies moved manufacturing to other countries, forcing these factories to start producing their own stuff.
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Imagine how destoryed the Chinese Economy would become if they invaded Taiwan, and the same sanctions were put on China that were put on Russia! All those manufacturing facilities with no work, and nothing to export.
 
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adj2ent said:
Really the name of the brand is “Moukey”? There will always be something cheaper. Hopefully clients don’t use the same Philosophy when shopping for services. Now starting out I did some really creative things especially when budgets were tight but eventually you get a to point where you know you get what you pay for. And your good clients know it too.
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There will always be price shoppers or what we call tire kickers. It's all about how you've branded yourself and how low will you go. It's also about who will pay the price you want. Not everyone is going to want to pay the price you quote clients. It's a matter of how many will pay what you want to be paid. If not enough potential clients for your taste are willing to pay the price you quote, then it's time to reevaluate yourself and make the changes you feel are necessary to get enough people to want to book you to do an event for them.
 
I have seen a ton of the No Name stuff from China when I’m at CES. It’s not necessarily bad that the stuff is built in China, it’s the standard the way it’s build & Quality of the material used. Especially with those very cheap video projectors from China. Went you pick them up or see the picture compared to a real one you see and feel the difference. My son is away at college, some of the other guys there have them. Then they come to my sons room and see the picture on inexpensive viewsonic projector I gave him. It has a much bright picture and clearer picture even though the specs on the other projectors were supposedly listed as much higher.

Generally if a regular item sells at $800 and you are to trying sell me something which supposedly comparable for $200 that enough to end the Conversation
 
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Bose gets knocked in the hi-fi/audiophile world, but they do exactly what they are supposed to, very well, imho-- disperse sound using reflection and off-axis techniques, to make the sound "fill the room" and seem more "lively" (what we call "coverage"), using a smaller set of speakers (smaller overall box, in most cases, anyway). A knock-off that doesn't use the same tech or internal array set-up is just taking advantage of an external design feature to sell the speaker as "the same, but cheaper." Not comparable at all, again, imho.

That being said, if it was decent sounding enough, you could buy four of them for the price of the Bose, so, for use as a beater on small live gigs or for ceremonies, why not?

As an aside, I went to the NAMM show several years ago; all of the Chinese companies were located in the same section in the back of the hall. Very little traffic, like a ghost town. I felt bad for all of those reps! I wonder if it's still the same...


GJ
 
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I like Bose, and have an S1 Pro that I use for ceremonies. It's a GREAT little speaker for that purpose and I don't feel bad about the money I spent on it. That said, the S1 is pretty weak. I've had at least one complaint from a bride who said she couldn't hear the music enough for her entrance. I sometimes use it to play spotify at my house. Fabulous speaker for that purpose. I've tried to use it for my soloact thing but it's just too weak.

Now as for the $200 knockoff, I don't have as much aversion to el-cheapo, chinese gear that some of you do. I say if it works, then being cheap is just a bonus. I'd love to A/B this against the Bose, but there's no way I'm paying $200 to do it. If I didn't already have the Bose, I'd like order one just to try it out. Some of the cheap chinese gear works just fine and a lot of the stuff I've bought over the years is solid. Don't poo-poo it just because it's cheap.
 
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rickryan.com said:
I like Bose, and have an S1 Pro that I use for ceremonies. It's a GREAT little speaker for that purpose and I don't feel bad about the money I spent on it. That said, the S1 is pretty weak. I've had at least one complaint from a bride who said she couldn't hear the music enough for her entrance. I sometimes use it to play spotify at my house. Fabulous speaker for that purpose. I've tried to use it for my soloact thing but it's just too weak.

Now as for the $200 knockoff, I don't have as much aversion to el-cheapo, chinese gear that some of you do. I say if it works, then being cheap is just a bonus. I'd love to A/B this against the Bose, but there's no way I'm paying $200 to do it. If I didn't already have the Bose, I'd like order one just to try it out. Some of the cheap chinese gear works just fine and a lot of the stuff I've bought over the years is solid. Don't poo-poo it just because it's cheap.
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I can certainly see how the s1 wouldn’t be right for some solo acts. The pro 8 or 16 would probably the ticket. EV evolve series are very comparable in this area too, in my opinion.

I’ve seen some solo acts that had added a sub onto the s1, but in my opinion, it takes from the S1’s key feature, portable great sound. If more bass is needed, stepping up to a more powerful speaker makes sense in my opinion.
 
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sonic-vision said:
Mixxy, What Bose do you use?? :laugh:
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I don't. I have a pair of Yamaha DSR 115 speakers. Now what I find is the old saying. If it's too good to be true usually it is. What I keep saying is manufacturers are in business to make money not loose money or they can't stay in business. With a speaker like that for that price I bet they didn't use true quality professional parts to make that speaker.
 
Scott Hanna said:
The pro 8 or 16 would probably the ticket. EV evolve series are very comparable in this area too
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HK Polar 12 could be put in that category too
 
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Jeff Romard said:
HK Polar 12 could be put in that category too
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Good point. There’s probably a number of ones that would fit, ive just tried the EV’s. :)
 
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