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Speaker Advice

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  • April 15, 2015 at 7:54 pm #2178231
    bob6397
    Participant

    Hi TJ,

    You are right – using your monitors at parties is a big no-no.. But you realise that so lets move on..

    The QSC K12’s are awesome speakers. They sound great and have plenty of inputs on the back. The 131dB output is roughly on par if slightly lower than) the direct competition from the high-end Mackies/JBL/RCF/Yamaha gear.. But, having heard the top-end RCF and Yamaha’s I can say that the QSC’s sound much better to me than either of them – theyproduce a much warmer and less harsh sound in comparison.

    The bass response will equal and out-match your KRK’s though..

    But – if you really want people to feel the bass then there is nothing like actually using a Sub-woofer (Clue’s in the name??) The QSC’s will produce really good sound down to about 50/60Hz, at which point they start to drop off. This drops down to 40/50 if you use the “DEEP” function – BUT an actual sub will produce solid bass down to 35-40Hz, and sound better doing it as they don’t have to also produce all the other frequencies in the spectrum.

    However, if you aren’t doing big parties (I DJ at an event where we use 6 K12’s and 2 KSubs for 1000 people) then you are probably better off just hiring a sub when you need to – or save up for one to buy in the future if it becomes economically viable to do so.. 🙂

    Bottom line is that if you can get a pair of QSC K12’s for $1000 I would absolutely go for it – they would normally cost you an awful lot more (twice more) and then I would hire a sub or 2 for bigger gigs.. If you do do that though, also consider hiring (or buying) 2 more tops to create a dance-floor effect with a speaker on each corner – this makes your system much more efficient and keep sound levels more even across the floor compared to having tons of speakers at the front.

    Just my thoughts though 🙂

    bob6397

    April 16, 2015 at 9:15 am #2178261
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    One of the things people fail to grasp sometimes is that the lower bass frequencies are not the only reason to have a sub in their setup.

    The relationship between frequency and energy use is inverted correlation, i.e. frequency goes down, the amount of energy needed to produce those frequencies at sufficient sound levels increases (exponentially). So, the bit between say 50-60 (normal full range speaker lower level) and 100-125Hz (the average cross-over point for most subs) swallows up the majority of the available power. There is an enormous amount of musical information contained in the mid-low and mid section, that is also covered by the same driver (12″ in your example). For a big part vocals are here as well. The more bassy your music, the more your single driver will struggle with the mid-lows and mids. It’s why back in the day, you’d have subs, low end, mid and high end cabinets, all dedicated to their own frequency range with their own amps. today’s 2-way active systems are, in some senses, a trade-off.

    Now, if you add a sub, suddenly you have an extra amp (usually bigger than the one for low to mid in your full range) that only has to take care of the 35/40 to 100/125 frequency range. So all that energy goes right into those really low punches. But … your full range speakers no longer receive the below 100/125 Hz signal now! This frees up so much energy that can now go into mid-low and mid. So in that sense adding even a single sub, makes your system sound way more in balance.

    I’ll bring my sub and turn it way down even if it’s a wedding (which doesn’t necessarily warrant having an 18″ sub sitting there), just because my full ranges sound better if they don’t have to worry about the low end. I have Mackie 12″s and especially the 12″s (more than the 15s) profit from the sub imho.

    So, not just do you get a whole lot of extra oomph from the extra amp, bigger speaker and dedicated low, your full ranges will sound sweeter too.

    There have been reviews of some 2.1 systems on the blog last year (HK Audio Nano and LG Systems Dave) that have smaller full ranges (you now understand how you could do with smaller full ranges if you always use a sub) and that sound “bigger” than you’d expect based on their physical dimensions. The good thing is, these sets are easy to setup, easy to transport and will still fit in a very small space (at house parties). Very versatile. You can still hire a complete bigger subs/tops setup for bigger venues, but I believe it’s worth checking them out. Terry and I listened to these setups at the Frankfurt Show last year and were duly impressed by the amount of sound pressure they produced for such a small solution.

    Just my two cents, as usual.

    April 17, 2015 at 3:32 pm #2179121
    Allen Cole
    Participant

    2 K12’s would be OK, I use a pair of DXR 10’s as monitors and for smaller low or no paying gigs. Personally I find that 10’s and 12’s don’t tend to have much low bass. *****Boxes with 15’s do a lot better.**** So if you go with the non sub option you should really consider that. QSC K series and Yamaha DXR’s are both nice speakers imo, yamaha has a better warranty and a clearer tone imo. Don’t forget to check craigslist! If you’re in a big city you can find great deals on CL sometimes, larger production companies and event rental places replace their gear frequently for tax reasons and sell used gear at a loss, so sometimes you can get a good deal that way. BUT REALLY LOOK FOR 15’s over 12’s for dance music if you’re not gonna get a sub.

    I caution against buying cheaper speaker brands for many reasons: they’re not as simple or elegantly designed, they are either really heavy or are made of really cheap materials that sound like shit, they tend not to be as reliable and don’t tolerate abuse as well. If your gear is heavy and hard to transport you’ll dread doing it, trust me I know from experience. I’ve been doing sound and logistics for over a decade and DJing nearly as long. ATM I own yamaha DXR10’s, 10 yamaha club 12’s, 2 club 218, 2 QSC GP218’s 2 B-52 ACT 1550’s, and 2 JBL MP418’s, as well as a slew amps, lighting, processing, etc. etc.

    Try to get road cases or padding of some kind, I’ve seen more gear get fucked up in transport than any other way.

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