Considering a change to powered speakers

[JZG]

My band's PA setup currently consists of a pair of EV ZX5's over a pair of EV TX1181 subs, and 3 EV Force 1's for monitors. These are run with Crown XTI2000 and 4000 power amps. We're considering moving to an active speaker setup to allow for easier setup/teardown, more flexibility in monitor mixes, and to eliminate the heavy power amp rack. I sort of have it my head that we would go to something like the QSC K12's for mains and a drum monitor (and main backup if needed), a pair of KW181's for subs and a pair of K10's for vocal monitors. We've been pretty happy with the current setup, so my concern is maintaining the sound quality. Obviously a big hassle to sell one set of speakers and attain another. So, I guess I'm looking for opinions on whether or not this would be worthwhile.

 

[loudboy]

You're not going to have an esaier setup - you'll actually be doubling the cabling, as you'll have to run 2 cables to each speaker.

Have you gone thru your system and optimized every aspect of your setup, by bundling cables, etc.?

I've got a similar system and it goes up in less than an hour, and tears down in 30 minutes, tops.

IMHO, it's going to cost you a lot of money to gain little, in either efficiency or sound. It would be a different story if the stuff you had was junk, but it's not.

 

[Deville2Rocket]

Sounds like a pretty lateral move, in terms of sound quality. It wouldn't lighten the load either. But it would distribute the weight more evenly. Instead of having one big rack full of power amps, each cabinet will just weight a bit more.

I dunno. Starting from scratch, if I had a lot of cash to work with, I'd probably go the powered route. But given what you've got, I'd probably leave it the way it is.

 

[The Kid]

I'm a huge fan of the QSC K series stuff, but I agree with the above posters,... you have a nice setup already.

 

[Teleking]

The load would definitely be lighter on each speaker, actually. Those K12s are 45 pounds I believe. Hardly any non-powered speakers are that light until just recently.

I went powered. I'm not sure there's a big advantage as far as powered to unpowered other than not dealing with power amps. I do think my powered set up sounds outstanding. I mean outstanding, but I spent a lot of money on it, too. Good XLR cable is more expensive than good speaker cable, so you'll spend more there as well.

But if I had a full set up already, I'm not sure how much better a powered set up would be. Probably not worth the hit you'd take. Wouldn't get more than 50 percent on your current gear and have to pay full price on the new stuff.

It will be lighter, but not sure it's worth it. However, space is another issue and the K12's with their powered sub is much smaller than almost any set up, including mine. Mine is all Yorkville and I wish I would've waited for the QSC as the space is quite a bit smaller and sounds just as good. That would be a big factor to me as it takes two loads to bring all my gear and it would likely only take one with the QSC.

One thing I will say is a 3-way speaker is the way to go. I couldn't believe the difference between my 3-way and 2-way speakers in sound, especially on vocals. I'd definitely go 3-way if you can afford it. The vocals will cut much better in the mix.

Just my two cents. Hope it helps.

 

[kbphx]

I have heard good things about the K series. Sound quality-wise, they may be a lateral move from the Tour-X's.

I would respectfully disagree with those claiming the setup won't be easier; going powered will mean your speakers may be slightly heavier, but you won't have to haul an amp rack around...which is surely heavier than a speaker box, powered or not. You will still have to make connections for signal and power...no more or less than your current setup. The powered speakers in my system can be powered via speakon-terminated daisy chain cables, so you wouldn't necessarily have to run extension cords to all your boxes.

The EV TX's are a relatively new line, no? Wouldn't you be losing a fair amount of investment by making this switch?

 

[buddaman71]

You have a good rig, so really it's just up to you if you want to spend the cash.

I have been using active PA since the late 90s. I will never go back to passive. Ever. sound quality and set up is incredible. I have a Yamaha digital mixer into a full QSC active rig with 2 - 118 subs, 2 - 15" 3-way mains and a pair of K12s for monitors. It's the very best sounding pro-sumer level portable club rig I've ever heard.

I have mixer and rack gear (wireless mics, wireless IEMs for singer and drummer, etc.) in a rolling mixer rack. We just pull one of those 3-outlet 30' extension cords to each side, plug in and pull main L/R mic cables to respective side, plug in the two K12s on their aux send and we are ready to rock. Typical set up is 30 minutes for my 4-piece.

 

[JZG]

The impetus to this thought is that I'd like to go to 12" mains (I was initially considering the EV TX1121 or ZX3's) and provide a better monitoring solution for our drummer. He likes a full mix (vox, drums, gtrs) and has said many times that he has a hard time hearing a good mix through his monitor (currently a Force I). Another thought I had was to use the same model speaker for mains and monitors, so in case a speaker went down, there would always be a backup and we could get through a gig.

 

[TimmyP]

Powered mains are only a minor nuisance. Powered monitors are a major PITA unless you have hybrid cables and a proper custom patch panel (which will have to live in a box or rack - so you may as well have an amp rack).