Most every band and DJ who provide their own PA for gigs have their favorite active (or “powered”) speaker. In my job, I talk to nearly a hundred musicians a day, so it’s a pretty regular thing to hear people brag on their Mackies, JBLs and other house cabinets.

A few months ago, I had the unique experience of getting to hear most of the world’s best-selling boxes lined up and compared. I expected to be listening for fine nuances – clearer high end here, less breakup at high volumes in the mids there. But no. The winner was so obvious, so far and above the hands-down superior, so ridiculously better, it actually made me wonder how the other companies were going to stay in the active speaker business.

The best of the bunch was the K-series by QSC. Yes, QSC – the amplifier people. I’d never heard anybody bragging on their QSC speakers before. But now that the K-Series has been released, I expect to be hearing that – a LOT. Because in truth, I was BLOWN AWAY. So stunned was I, that the same day I replaced my own band’s JBLs with QSCs. And from the very next gig, I began to regularly get compliments from musicians, sound guys, and audience members about the stunning quality of our sound.

The QSC K-Series is a product line of three speakers and a subwoofer: the K-8, K-10, K-12, and K-Sub. Each of the speaker boxes feature either a single 8″, 10″, or 12″ driver, along with a 1.75″ compression driver (or “tweeter”). And there’s none of the traditional “the speaker gets better as you move up the line.” Every one of them uses the same quality speakers, and each has the same 1,000-watt Class D digital power amp.

The subwoofer is also a thousand watts, powering two 12″ speakers. Now, before you think that twelve inches isn’t enough to thump people in the chest, let me tell you I gig out with this sub every weekend, and it’ll easily cave in the ribcages of everyone on the club dance floor!

In fact, the whole product line defies everything you think you know about PA speakers. Last night, my band played a club that had it’s own “killer” PA. After giving it a listen, I informed the management we’d be loading in our own. Just two K-12’s and one K-Sub. The staff must have thought I was insane.

It took two of us to get each of the ridicuously heavy passive speaker boxes off of their stands. But at just 41 lbs, the K-12’s went up easily with no assistance. Sure, they didn’t look as impressive as the beasts that’d been up there previously, but I also hadn’t plugged them in yet. Once the system was hooked up, all doubt clearly left the room. With the QSCs each turned up less than halfway, we were rocking the place with 107 dB of the best sound that room’s ever heard.

I don’t know all the engineering secrets of how QSC has built small lightweight boxes to sound like monster cabinets, but part of the wizardry is in the extensive DSP inside them. This signal processing ensures that there is even frequency coverage across the entire dispersion angle (translation: when you walk across the dance floor, you don’t hear any EQ change, an annoying trait that every other speaker cabinet has). It also makes constant adjustments to give a flat power response so you don’t think, “Wow, this is a really bassy box,” or “Listen to that high end.” It just sounds RIGHT.

These speakers have TRS, XLR, and RCA connections, and basic mixing abilities. They’re perfect pieces to base a new PA on, since they can be modularly expanded through daisy-chaining. The 10’s and 12’s can even be used as floor monitors. With a six-year warranty, they’re dependable as well as transportable.

If you’re looking for active PA speakers, it really would be foolish to consider anything on the market besides the K-Series by QSC.

Ron Daniel is a professional musician (23 years), holds a degree in electronics engineering, and is currently a Sales Engineer for Sweetwater Sound. You can contact him or get daily gear specials @rondaniel.

QSC K Series PA Wins Shoot Out Against Industry Leaders