I have a great deal of respect for the QSC name. After all, they have been building rock solid amplifiers and gear for decades. The high quality of their products has made them one of the icons of the sound biz. That said, whenever I review equipment from the big boys I tend to put that gear under a microscope. So, now that you know where I am coming from with regards to this review, let’s go. The Gear
The K series consist of four boxes. The K8 is a 2-way enclosure with one 8-inch speaker and one 1.75-inch compression driver. The K10 is also a 2-way sporting one 10-inch speaker and a 1.75-inch compression driver. The K12 (you guessed it) is a 2-way box with a 12-inch speaker and a 1.75 compression driver. That leaves us with the KSub. The name speaks for itself; it is a subwoofer loaded with two 12-inch speakers.
You may be asking yourself how many watts each of these enclosures produce. Here in lies the genius of the “K” series. All four configurations sport the same 1,000-watt power amp. In terms of research and development and manufacturing, building one power platform to fit all the enclosures is brilliantly economical. Typically manufacturers design one or more power amps for their enclosures. This practice is more expensive with regards to development and tooling for production. But one amp beautifully streamlines the process.
QSC has also made certain that each box has more than enough power (1,000 watts) to properly handle a variety of sound reinforcement situations. Also, all three of the 2-way enclosures sport the same 1.75-inch compression driver. Another smart economical move. The 2-ways are made of a high impact black ABS plastic and the sub is built from birch plywood painted with black textured paint. Each box is packed with features. Rather than list all of these features I will cover the ones that I think are pertinent for sound companies or bands that would be purchasing these boxes.
The K8 weighs in at a mere 27 lbs.; it produces 127dBs of SPL and has a height of 17.7 inches, a width of 11 inches and a depth of 10.6 inches. The K10 tips the scale at 32 lbs., produces 129dBs of sound and is 20.4 inches high by 12.6 inches wide by 11.8 inches deep. The K12 lifts at 41 lbs., pushes 131dBs of sound and is 23.7 inches by 14 inches by 14 inches. The KSub carries a little more weight at 74lbs; it pumps out 130dBs of bass but is only 26 inches high by 14 inches wide by 28.1 inches deep.
K Series amps all have thermal limiting and overheating muting. The transducers (speakers) also have thermal limiting and excursion limiting. Other features I really like on the boxes are the high frequency flat or vocal boost switch and the low frequency ext sub, normal or deep switch. These switches make a fairly dramatic change to the sound. All right, that is the short version of the features that the K Series incorporate. As I said there are many more but I don’t want to take up this entire review on just the features.
So, on to the gigs.
The Gigs
For my field tests I received a pair of K8s and a pair of K12s plus a KSub. My first outing was with the 8s and 12s. I set up sound at the Concours d’Elegance car show in Pasadena, Calif. and I needed to spread a dozen speaker boxes throughout the show.
The first advantage I had with the QSC speakers was with a feature called Tilt-Direct. This would allow me to either set the boxes straight on a tri-pod or tilt them down at a 7.5 degree angle. The tilt was perfect to direct my enclosures toward my audience. The QSCs were used for announcements and canned music. I engaged the vocal boost and the deep bass switch on the boxes. The quality of sound emanating from the K speakers was excellent.
I was especially impressed with the K8s. These little 8-inch enclosures had so much power and created such high quality of sound, I had to investigate them in more depth. What I found out is that all the K-Series two-way enclosures incorporate Directivity Matched Transition (DMT). This means that the high-frequency coverage angle is matched to the natural coverage angle of the woofer at the crossover frequency. As a result the frequency response remains very uniform across the service area of the box. This technology not only sounds really nice and smooth but it certainly raises the bar for this type of enclosure.
Obviously the K Speakers performed beautifully at my car show so I next tried the K12s as monitors during a blues performance I was mixing. I set the horn to vocal boost and the woofer to normal (using the switches on the back of the boxes). Add 1,000 watts to the frequency contours and I had a pair of very tough monitors. There was plenty of SPL and headroom to make my performers happy. And I think that we can agree that if the musicians are happy with the stage mix then we will ultimately have a good show. I used the K12s as monitors for a variety of other shows and each time I had equal success.
After that, I took out the K8s, the K12s and the KSub. I was operating sound for a jazz trio made up of a keyboard player, guitarist and a singer. The keyboard was covering the bass part with his left hand and had no amplification other than the QSC K system. I used the K8s as my mains and the K12s as the monitors. For a small system, I was able to accurately reproduce the proper bass tone plus capture all the nuances of the jazz guitarist and singer.
To summarize my experience with the QSC K-Series, I was very impressed and pleased with the sound quality and power of these boxes. If I have one criticism it is that the plastic boxes scratch pretty easily. If I had some of these boxes I would be certain to get the optional tote bags for them.
QSC K Series
Pros: Great sounding, high SPL, light weight, handsome.
Cons: ABS plastic mars easily.
How Much: MSRP: K8 $649; K10 $699; K12 $799; K Sub $1,049.
