Considering buying a QSC K10.2.

[HammondDave]

So I am getting tired of lugging my 38lb EV"s and am considering the K10.2"s. How will it do with my Mojo"s bottom end? Is it as loud and clean as they claim? I tried the original K10"s and was very disappointed. Kind of muddy at high volume.

[Delaware Dave]

Dave, if I recall correctly you own(ed) the ZLX12P's. Their weight is 34 pounds. The K10.2's weight is 32 pounds. Not going to achieve your weight reduction goal.

[Coker]

Would k8.2s work?

[cphollis]

I did not like the original K10s. They were OK, but not great: honky, muddled, etc. at volume. I did like the K8s and K12s. The newer K10.2s are a completely different proposition in terms of sonic handling. These I like. I also found that if real bass matters, better to bring a small sub vs try and push my mains -- just like a PA works.

[HammondDave]

The problem is that for the past few days my old twin EV's have been suffering from a strange bug that I have yet to diagnose. Sometimes they suddenly go into a strange loss of volume with horrible distortion whenever I play a note. After several resets they come back to life. I have no idea what is happening, but I certainly don't want that to happen on a future gig. Plus I want to lower the weight. At my age even the two pound difference will help. I will also consider the K8.2's, but do not want to lose that Hammond bottom. Will going from a 10" to 8" really make a big difference? Does size really matter?

[DJkeys]

I think you will find the K8.2s have a heck of a lot of bottom end for small speakers. I would give a pair of them a try for sure.

 

-dj

[HammondDave]

[i think you will find the K8.2s have a heck of a lot of bottom end for small speakers. I would give a pair of them a try for sure.]

 

That is what I have heard from others... I may have to pick up a couple and try them out. I just unloaded my car from Saturday night and those 34lb EV's sure are heavy for this older man!

[b3plyr]

The .2 series have an amazing bottom end. I currently gig with two k10.2s, and have played left hand bass many times with no issues. As to the k8.2s, I have one that I use as a monitor. And it has a good bottom end. Not sure if it would suit you only because I have not used as a primary speaker for keys. However, if I can get the time (trying to get house ready to sell) I will try a bit of organ with it. I'm doing the same thing you are considering - trying to reduce the lift weight! One other thing - I use the QSC TouchMix 8 with my speakers and it makes a great combination with the speakers.

[Bill H.]

Here's a pretty good read for anyone considering buying QSC powered speakers right now. Personally, I'd pass until they get this figured out.

 

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/new-qsc-k2-firmware-protect-mode-4.2259353/

[HammondDave]

Thank you! Guess I will go with the extra few pounds until a worthy competitor comes along.

[b3plyr]

Well, as I said, I have had no problems with my 10,2s or 8.2 on many gigs. To be fair, I did not install the firmware upgrade yet. I never do until I see some history.

[Mike Martin]

I have a pair of K8.2 and never experienced an issue. I'll add that we usually use K8.2 at the Casio booth at NAMM in prior years, never an issue. They have always sounded fantastic and worked perfectly.

[buscemi]

Here's a pretty good read for anyone considering buying QSC powered speakers right now. Personally, I'd pass until they get this figured out.

 

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/new-qsc-k2-firmware-protect-mode-4.2259353/

 

 

I'm dealing with this same issue currently with a brand new K10.2.

[HammondDave]

Grrrr... and I thought the QSC 8.2 would be the answer to a light weight, high quality keyboard amp.

[Reezekeys]

I'm reading that thread. Wow. This is hearsay, but one of the more recent messages alludes to a QSC engineer claiming to have a fix, however it can't be done at a service center, the speaker must be sent back to QSC. Are K.2s manufactured and shipped before the update working OK? That would make any suspect speaker easy to identify since QSC must have a record of the starting serial #s when the update was applied.

[HammondDave]

A screw up like this could kill a company... especially one like QSC. Let's see how they treat their customers.

[cphollis]

Thanks for that, hadn't seen it. My K8.2s have had zero issues despite occasional extreme conditions. Then again, I wouldn't update firmware on speakers unless there's a very specific problem I want fixed. From that thread, it looks like regular updates are a common practice with sound engineers. If it ain't broke ... that being said, it looks like the problem is confined to the K10.2, which doesn't square well with the fact that the firmware and electronics appear identical across the line.

[zxcvbnm098]

To be fair, most of the reports of problems have been with the K10.2's, not the 8.2's. The latest post mentions a beta of new firmware version being tested, which seems like good news and on the way to being dealt with.

[AnotherScott]

Here's a pretty good read for anyone considering buying QSC powered speakers right now. Personally, I'd pass until they get this figured out.

 

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/new-qsc-k2-firmware-protect-mode-4.2259353/

 

Wow, I'm glad I returned the K8.2s ! But I can't imagine the low volume I play it at would cause that mode to trip and shut down. But why take a chance with it, what a mess ! That thread is long, I only went a couple pages in and came to the conclusion of, forget about it. Too bad, K8.2 is a great sounding speaker. Thanks for posting that Bill.

Grrrr... and I thought the QSC 8.2 would be the answer to a light weight, high quality keyboard amp.

From what I read there, no one has reported any problem with the K8.2... even the guy with all the 10s failing says that all his 8s are fine.

 

If it were me, I'd be willing to buy the K8.2 but for extra safety, you could get it right before you have a bunch of gigs, so if it exhibits a problem, you're within the return-for-refund window. If I wanted a 10, I'd take a good look at the Electro-Voice ELX200-10P (which I have no personal experience, but looks good on paper, and I've never been disappointed with the sound quality of an EV speaker).

[cjfox]

I bought 2 K8.2s after all the great comments here and other places, I had the cutting out issue with one of the speakers right away, luckily under warrantee and they fixed it, although it took a while.. I discovered another weird problem with my second speaker, only from the "mix output" "XLR C". A strange digital noise, quite loud, that does not come out through the main speaker. I was using the two inputs for my keyboards and sending the FOH send from the XLR out on the back of the K8.2. The soundman was very confused at first. Now I have the first speaker back, and waiting for the second to come back. The guys at the music store think I'm the unluckiest guy ever, to buy and send two QSC products back.

[Reezekeys]

I discovered another weird problem with my second speaker, only from the "mix output" "XLR C". A strange digital noise, quite loud, that does not come out through the main speaker. I was using the two inputs for my keyboards and sending the FOH send from the XLR out on the back of the K8.2. The soundman was very confused at first.

By any chance was phantom power switched on for the channel the sound man used for this feed from your K8.2? That's a big no-no.

[pinkfloydcramer]

I would advise checking out Yamaha newest DXR line, the MK2's, as an alternative (I have the original DXR10).

[Bill H.]

FWIW I consider QSC a class act, and believe they will get this fixed. The thread I posed a link to is active, with posts added daily. If you are interested in QSC, I'd suggest reading it until users give an all clear. For example, there's one guy today who says he's testing a beta firmware fix later this week.

[cjfox]

I tested all the possibilities of noise, swapping cables, different input devices, and compared it to the other QSC K8.2. It was bad. Like if you hold a cell phone up to a poorly shielded audio device.

[cphollis]

As long as we're discussing alternatives -- ahem -- I would like to point out that the new RCF ART 9 series look like next-level competition for QSC -- at least on paper. No real field reports yet, but very enthusiastic youtube reviewers, including one with a very insightful teardown. The entry ART 910-A ($649) looks to be a notch better than the QSC K10.2 ($749). The line scales all the way up to a bad boy 945-A which pumps out a claimed 135 dB using a 4" driver. Yikes. If that doesn't satisfy your lust for power, nothing will. I will definitely be giving these a try the next time I buy.

[cphollis]

For those of you following the thread linked above, it seems that the fixes appear to work -- so far. Getting them -- not quite sorted yet.

[adamcz]

I bought 8.2s recently - only received one so far as they"re actually pretty hard to find in stock. So far so good - hadn"t heard of the protect thing until just now.