Advice on speaker purchase – non-professional DJ

On the Mackie HD. A single 1801 is better than two 1501s. I was faced with that choice. Well actually I HAD made my choice to buy two 1501s. Did a side by side comparison between the two and opted to get the 1801 instead. Since budget didn’t stretch at the time, I thought I’d get the 2nd 1801 later. I never did. No need. Actually have it turned down by -3 to -6dB on the sub at most venues because it would bring unbalance to the sound. The best thing is that it does not suffer much from the 18″ ailment, which is that they are usually less tight (or wobbly) at high(er) volumes. These things just keep pumping full rounded low end all the way to the stops (not a place you want to be without earplugs lol).

Ok, guess it’s clear I like my 2x 1221 / 1x 1801 setup LOL.

On the general subject of speaker diameters, a subwoofer is something else than a low range speaker. It’s supposed to play a particular role. Basically the lower the frequency the bigger the diameter and power needed to produce enough air displacement.
So theoretically an 18″ can do lower frequencies than a 15″. Since all kinds of other aspects come into play, building a good subwoofer is way more difficult than building a couple of full range speakers. Just tossing some 18″ drivers in a cube box is not gonna the trick.

However, with your intended use I would NOT opt for such a big setup. It’s gonna sit waste space most of the time, takes a lot of handling and a lot of room at smaller parties.

A couple of years ago the smaller portable 2.1 systems started to make headway. Stuff like the LD Systems Dave and the HK Audio Lucas series for example. One 10 or 12 inch low end speaker (not really a sub as it doesn’t go all that low) and two small (like 6″) satellites. Reviews over on the blog on both. They sound way bigger than they look, can fit easily in even a modest bedroom for practice purposes and travel simply in the trunk of any normal car. Amps built in, just a couple of cables and two small stands and you are done. Some come with handy trolley’s built in or custom carrier cases.

In PA the “rule” is pretty much that you get what you pay for. These systems are -relatively- expensive if you look at size and published power and such. But when you hear them play, they WILL surprise you.

This year, at the various shows, the single driver satellites are being replaced by small array type satelittes, which sound even better and have better front/back sound dispersion. Also more brands now selling them.

So, my advice to you would be to look at and mainly LISTEN to some of these units. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised that you can marry small size do fully acceptable party mode volume levels at high sound quality.

Guitar Center now has a 45 day return policy. If you got their Pro Coverage upgraded warranty, you have 60 days. Shouldn’t be a problem returning the speaker. They might be slightly annoyed at first, but if you are upgrading to a pair of K10s or K12s and adding the K181, they’ll go from piss to bliss in a heartbeat. As long as you’re polite, it shouldn’t be a problem swapping out the K8 even if it’s a little past the return period.

That being said, a pair of K8s and a sub will still keep the dance floor rocking. All the K series are rated at an honest 1000W. The only real gotcha is that if you ever want to run without the sub, you’ll need the bigger tops. I worked 2 weddings (150+ guests) with 2x K12 + 1x K Sub. Got lots of compliments on the way the system sounded.

I’ve been really impressed with Behringer’s X series mixers (X32, X Air). Behringer makes me think of Hyundai cars. When they were first introduced in the States and for many years after, they were junk. Now they’re solid as any car, less expensive than comparable models, and even the cool kids are driving them.

I’d always leave the lows to the sub. From (enter low range limit) to 75-125Hz (fixed or switchable). The thing is that the lows take so much (amp) energy, that taking that chunk out of the full ranges frees up so much room for mid-lows and mids that the entire sound cleans up. Also if you get an overlap (say 50-100Hz) from sub AND two full ranges, you get an emphasis you don’t need.

Is there any reason for using the monitor out to the sub though? Seperate volume control? I hardly ever hook up my systems like that. If I need to readjust the subs (once in a blue moon), I’ll walk over to them and manually adjust them.

I think QSC works slightly different from other brands. My Mackies for example, the sub has stereo full range input and stereo full range and Low Filter outputs. So I just run stereo to my single sub, then mono’s L and R Low Filter to my tops.
In QSC I think you just link the L and R to the top then sub or the other way around. Set the sub for Deep LF and the top (K12) to LF ext sub.

So rather than providing a low filter output, it only has full range on all connections, but the low filter in the K12s will drop anything under (fill in high end frequency limit of the sub).
Personally I’d still hook it up the same way, by running stereo to a single sub and distributing from there. I have special dual-XLR cable reel for the purpose. But again, personal preference.

Just me of course. Congrats on your choice.

Serious? A sub that plays full range? Odd to say the least.

I can see it has full range inputs, but that is to be expected. It’s most likely that it runs a parallel output to the thru XLR connectors and the rest goes through a summing amp and a low pass filter into the amp. Or so one would think.

Exactly what I said earlier, Bob. But there HAS to be a LPF in the sub somewhere, imho. Even though the inputs are full range.

Well of course there is a LPF filter in the sub somewhere.. But as you can’t adjust it, I thought it wasn’t worth mentioning.. It’s set at the correct frequency to be used with QSC tops run in Ext Sub mode – where, again, you can’t adjust the frequency..

I know there has to be one, but it is almost irrelevant to the setup as it’s non-adjustable. And the XLR out’s are just pass-through’s anyway.. 🙂

bob6397