FRFR question

[Pubcrawl30]

Hey guys. I currently run my helix through a Yamaha DXR12 and have always been happy.

I play in a couple of bands, one of them being a cover band that often plays in small clubs where we need to supply the PA.  I was thinking of buying three more speakers and a sub, so we don’t have to fork out $250 a show for the pa. 

I love the Yamaha but I’ve also heard real good things about the QSC K12. If I bought one more Yamaha and then two QSC’s would that sound good as a PA system, or would they clash? I know nothing about this stuff.

PA stuff aside, if I wanted to run my helix with two speakers, would it work if I had one of each? Or is it better to just stick to one brand or the other?

I’m such a noob, I’m aware, but basically I want to know if I should sell my Yamaha and get four QSC’s, or if I should go two and two, or just stick with Yamaha?

Hope this made some kind of sense.

Is there an even better speaker in the similar price range that I am unaware of?

[DunedinDragon]

In my opinion the QSC K series and the Yamaha DXR series are almost indistinguishable between themselves.  The QSC has a bit of an advantage in flexibility due to it's expanded DSP contouring options which would probably make it my choice for a PA system.  That's coming from someone that owns 6 DXR12's by the way.  But I also own a PA system which consists of QSC main speakers (KLA12's) and subs (KW181) as well as a QSC mixing board (Touchmix 30 Pro), but I use DXR12s as my stage monitors, so there's no problem integrating them in that regard.

 

Where I get confused in your description is how you intend to deploy your PA system.  You mention buying another DXR12 and two QSC K12.2 speakers.  Are you intending to deploy the K12.2's as mains and using your existing DXR12 plus the new one for the band's stage monitors?  If so I can assure you that makes for an awesome setup, but I assume in that situation you would send your Helix signal to the mixing board and no longer have a dedicated stage monitor for the Helix?  I'd just like a bit more info on how you might deploy two QSC K12.2's and two DXR12's.

As far as using two different speakers for the Helix, I'm not sure I'd see any particular advantage to having two different speakers, but I could see some potential problems in getting them setup correctly to work smoothly together.  To me you'll have much more success getting a smooth stereo field using two of the same speakers simply because they could be configured to work the same way.

 

I'm not sure if you'd find any advantage to moving down to lower priced speakers, although there are some in the next lower tier that are very good.  There's no doubt in my mind that you get what you pay for when it comes to these type of powered speakers.  I commonly use EV ZLX-12P's as side fill stage monitors as well as a QSC CP8 as a dedicated speaker for my Helix when playing in more intimate setup such as jamming with other people or at smaller open mic nights and in some cases as a dedicated vocal monitor for our drummer in a regular band setup.  They're both great speakers as I'm sure the Yamaha DBR series is, but they're not quite in the same class of performance as the QSC K.2 or Yamaha DXR series.  Where they tend to differ the most is when you're forced to run them at higher volume level as their internal limiters kick in pretty quickly and they lose their clarity and articulation.

[Pubcrawl30]

5 hours ago, DunedinDragon said:

In my opinion the QSC K series and the Yamaha DXR series are almost indistinguishable between themselves.  The QSC has a bit of an advantage in flexibility due to it's expanded DSP contouring options which would probably make it my choice for a PA system.  That's coming from someone that owns 6 DXR12's by the way.  But I also own a PA system which consists of QSC main speakers (KLA12's) and subs (KW181) as well as a QSC mixing board (Touchmix 30 Pro), but I use DXR12s as my stage monitors, so there's no problem integrating them in that regard.

 

Where I get confused in your description is how you intend to deploy your PA system.  You mention buying another DXR12 and two QSC K12.2 speakers.  Are you intending to deploy the K12.2's as mains and using your existing DXR12 plus the new one for the band's stage monitors?  If so I can assure you that makes for an awesome setup, but I assume in that situation you would send your Helix signal to the mixing board and no longer have a dedicated stage monitor for the Helix?  I'd just like a bit more info on how you might deploy two QSC K12.2's and two DXR12's.

As far as using two different speakers for the Helix, I'm not sure I'd see any particular advantage to having two different speakers, but I could see some potential problems in getting them setup correctly to work smoothly together.  To me you'll have much more success getting a smooth stereo field using two of the same speakers simply because they could be configured to work the same way.

 

I'm not sure if you'd find any advantage to moving down to lower priced speakers, although there are some in the next lower tier that are very good.  There's no doubt in my mind that you get what you pay for when it comes to these type of powered speakers.  I commonly use EV ZLX-12P's as side fill stage monitors as well as a QSC CP8 as a dedicated speaker for my Helix when playing in more intimate setup such as jamming with other people or at smaller open mic nights and in some cases as a dedicated vocal monitor for our drummer in a regular band setup.  They're both great speakers as I'm sure the Yamaha DBR series is, but they're not quite in the same class of performance as the QSC K.2 or Yamaha DXR series.  Where they tend to differ the most is when you're forced to run them at higher volume level as their internal limiters kick in pretty quickly and they lose their clarity and articulation.

Thanks man, as also much appreciated. I pictured using the two dxrs as stage monitors and the k12.2s as the mains. I’m also now thinking I need two subs. This should pretty much cover me for smallish venues, shouldn’t it? Cheers again 

[DunedinDragon]

26 minutes ago, Pubcrawl30 said:

Thanks man, as also much appreciated. I pictured using the two dxrs as stage monitors and the k12.2s as the mains. I’m also now thinking I need two subs. This should pretty much cover me for smallish venues, shouldn’t it? Cheers again 

 

Absolutely.  You should easily be able to deal with clubs with a seating capacity of 100 to 150 folks or even more depending on the venue.  The reality is most of the time you only really need enough volume to fill the front anyway since people that sit in the rear tend to do so in order to be able to talk.  That's especially true if you have subs since you'll be able to isolate all those very low frequencies from the kicks, tom toms, and bass from the vocals and rest of the instruments coming through the mains.  I hear a lot of great things about the QSC KS112 subs.  I'm very pleased with the KW181's that we use but they are a BEAST to move around.  If you're in the market anyway I'd encourage you to look at the QSC Touchmix series of mixers also.  Super nice digital mixer with all the bells and whistles, but a very manageable size with WiFi networking using tablets so you can manage the monitor mix from the stage.