Powered Speaker Help

[Keyboard Magic]

I value all your excellent professional experience and opinions here and thus my post on powered speakers.

I’m interested in downsizing my big 12 inch powered cabs for smaller and lighter ones. I’m getting too old to schlepp 60 lb. cabinets everywhere. And have been doing a lot of research so far. I’ve boiled it down to QSC. My other choice was Yamaha but my music store does not sell them at all. I can get a better deal if I deal with them. So I’m leaning towards QSC from all the excellent reviews on them so far.

Does anyone have any impressions on the QSC “K-Series” powered speaker line-up in particular the K10’s, regarding quality, sound and reliability? I know going to a 10 from a 12 is a compromise but weight, power and quality are a big factor.

All opinions greatly accepted! 

[WK154]

KM the lower you go the heavier it gets. So you need to pick your lower limit and go from there. I do mostly female vocal and the best they can do is 124 Hz. That saves a lot of $ power etc. If I on occasion need lower sound I drag in a Yamaha powered sub or two. I do like the uniform distribution of the CBT series from JBL. It's about the latest (30 yrs. old) in speaker tech other than what Waveion announced at Infocomm16. QSC is a good all-around solution as well. It all depends on what your target market is. Let's also not forget the size of your venues a minor detail  .

P.S. I beat hands down a K series solution for this application with the CBT. It ain't cheap and it's not powered.

[RoadRanger]

QSC K series is fine. I'd think you'd want to check out Yorkville though considering where you live?
http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/LivePerformanceCategory/acapella-33/377437-

[Keyboard Magic]

QSC K series is fine. I'd think you'd want to check out Yorkville though considering where you live?
http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/LivePerformanceCategory/acapella-33/377437-

Hey RoadRanger!

The speakers I would be trading are Yorkville PS12P powered cabs. I love them but they are way too heavy for my old bones. I bought them from Long and McQuade here in Toronto. I auditioned the 12's and the 10 inch versions before I bought. The PS10Ps have the same DSP as my 12's but sounded horrible in Club Mode (which I never use!) even at low levels. The 12s' sounded much better and I bought them.

The Yorkville PS10Ps are not an option. I'm leaning towards QSC in particular the K10's which obviously can't go as low as a 12. I'm cool with that since I would be using a good sub with them.

I do realize I'm going from a 12 to a 10 inch powered cab just the same and am not worried about that aspect, just the overall quality factor and of course price. ( $970 each here in Toronto)

Your opinion and WK's has made me a little more comfortable with a possible QSC purchase. Thanks to you both! 

PS: I did read Al's review on the Elite E10Ps a while back. I actually did have a pair of them before the PS12Ps and loved them, except for the power and thus why I went to the Parasource. If I could get a new pair of Elites I would probably do that, but they're out of stock and may not even be available any more too. Bummer.    Hence my interest in QSC. 

[WK154]

Hey KM if you're looking at it from the weight and convenience aspect you may want to consider a non powered solution. Here are the reasons:
Only one cable per unit instead of two. AC cables weigh 6 lbs for 100 ft of 16/3 times 2, another 12 lbs.
K10 is 32 lbs almost half of your present units but a CBT-70J is 21 lbs.
A amp such as the Behringer 3000DSP weighs 6.8 lbs split between two that's 3.4 lbs each. Cost is 2U of rack space. That brings the combo to 24.4 lbs each.
The budget may be the ultimate decider. K10 route is definitely cheaper. K10 ~$700 x 2, CBT plus iNuke 3000DSP ~ $1140 x 2. $1400 vs $2280
In both cases you may still need a sub or two depending on your genre.
You may also want to consider a Turbosound IP1000 ($600) or Ip2000 ($800) or JBL's newest EON One (includes mixer for $1000). Again size of venue is key. I haven't heard either one.
Is this for your personal use or the schools?

P.S. the above is in US $ and availability Canada will change that.

[Keyboard Magic]

Hey WK,

Thank you for all the information!  This time around it's all my budget. I use the stuff for the school, but this is my personal gear.

As luck would have it, I called Long & McQuade, and they can get the Yorkville Elite E10 powered cabs in brand new within a couple of days. I will get a good deal on a trade of my current Yorkies. I have a couple more gigs to do with the school, then I can do some wheeling and dealing.

With these speakers, for general use like vocals and speeches they cut through all the background noise of 100-200 people without breaking a sweat with a frequency range from 65K-20000 KHz. For dances I will certainly use a good subwoofer. At least I still get to use the DL from the school. These cabs are light at 34 lbs. each. Easy to lift on and off stand by myself. Phew!

Thanks to you and RoadRanger for all of your great input in my powered speaker quest! 

[WK154]

OK KM so you're doing sound for Aliens    65,000 Hz to 20,000,000 Hz ? That weight sure beats 60 lbs. for your current gear.
For a price reference
http://www.directproaudio.com/loudspeakers/active-speakers-at-direct-pro-audio/10-active-self-powered-speakers/yorkville-e10p-10-two-way-350-watt-active-speaker/?gclid=Cj0KEQjws_m6BRCv37WbtNmJs-IBEiQAWKKt0GdqXFaofuC2Mu8iGGwJPJsIcjGiXCM7f1YZn67Au3oaAr-08P8HAQ

[Keyboard Magic]

OK KM so you're doing sound for Aliens    65,000 Hz to 20,000,000 Hz ? That weight sure beats 60 lbs. for your current gear.

That was 20, 000 KHz. (20000 twenty and 3 more zeroes ) I did have the right amount of zeroes.  Truth be known they do act like aliens at most of the school concerts just the same.

[WK154]

K stands for 1000 not KM. One of those senior moments.
Working on my retirement fund that way but it doesn't seem to work, any hints.

[Keyboard Magic]

Okay, 20K? 

[RoadRanger]

I really love my RCF 310a's that I got for about $300 each but they aren't available everywhere.

I'm actually trying out some passives again next weekend for smaller venues/bands. My XR-12 based amp rack already has a spare 1500w channel and I want to try to minimize my setup time. I found some used Galaxy LA4 "line arrays" (LOL) cheap that require big amp voltage as they are 16 ohms each - and also serious EQ as they have no tweeters. I live near Bose and have owned 802's before so am quite familiar with what it takes to get highs out of these types of speakers :
http://www.galaxyaudio.com/products/la4

[WK154]

At $75 plus ship each that's not bad I hope you like them. I would have gone for the EAW's myself.

[RoadRanger]

At $75 plus ship each that's not bad I hope you like them. I would have gone for the EAW's myself.

The LA4's are $199 MAP. But I actually did get them for about what you mentioned - are you spying on me on HC? LOL

[WK154]

Nah I just get around