Stick speakers are not all the same.

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sawdust123

sawdust123

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Nov 10, 2006
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NAMM is filled with stick speakers. Most are from brands not well known to North American DJs. Some are really good, some are really light, some even have lights. I haven't bothered to listen to them all but I thought would share some notes.

Note 1: Beware of really light sticks. The uprights are made from plastic. They don't fit securely and wobble quite a bit. Here are pics of the worst I saw.
20250124_131109.jpg
20250124_131120.jpg

Note how much these lean front to back and left to right. The plastic looks like it could easily break.

On the more amusing side, I found Chinese sticks with cheesy lights in the upright. Although these were cheesy, I kind of liked the idea of using that space.
20250124_160401.jpg

More posts later.
 
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That's because not every company can afford to make top quality products, make a good profit and remain in business. Certain companies can say make a speaker system say cost 1k and consumers will possibly buy it. That's because Certain companies have a reputation of making good products or at least for their entry level gear it will be better than another companies top of the line gear.

QSC just came out with a system costing 2k per system. QSC has a reputation for making great quality products. Even though that system cost that much, some will buy it because it's made by QSC besides being able to afford it.

Bottom line a company in business needs to make a certain profit from the gear they make to be able to stay in business for many years.

What it comes down to is that every company is in competition with other companies. Some companies make gear far above other companies in terms of quality. There's a company called Pyle. I remember back in the day I would see in a store the box would say Pyle Pro or Pyle Professional. The stuff they make I call Pyle of junk. With that being said they are still in business making products for sale. So that means they are making products for profit that some customers will buy.

Some will try to make a copy of another product figuring it will sell. It might sell but when the price is drastically different the company trying to make a product that looks like something else, the quality can't be the same.
 
MIXMASTERMACHOM said:
That's because not every company can afford to make top quality products, make a good profit and remain in business. Certain companies can say make a speaker system say cost 1k and consumers will possibly buy it. That's because Certain companies have a reputation of making good products or at least for their entry level gear it will be better than another companies top of the line gear.

QSC just came out with a system costing 2k per system. QSC has a reputation for making great quality products. Even though that system cost that much, some will buy it because it's made by QSC besides being able to afford it.

Bottom line a company in business needs to make a certain profit from the gear they make to be able to stay in business for many years.

What it comes down to is that every company is in competition with other companies. Some companies make gear far above other companies in terms of quality. There's a company called Pyle. I remember back in the day I would see in a store the box would say Pyle Pro or Pyle Professional. The stuff they make I call Pyle of junk. With that being said they are still in business making products for sale. So that means they are making products for profit that some customers will buy.

Some will try to make a copy of another product figuring it will sell. It might sell but when the price is drastically different the company trying to make a product that looks like something else, the quality can't be the same.
Click to expand...
All companies can afford to make a system no matter what the price, They have chosen to market their products towards the lower end consumers that don’t have the budget or need for a more quality system
 
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sawdust123 said:
NAMM is filled with stick speakers. Most are from brands not well known to North American DJs. Some are really good, some are really light, some even have lights. I haven't bothered to listen to them all but I thought would share some notes.

Note 1: Beware of really light sticks. The uprights are made from plastic. They don't fit securely and wobble quite a bit. Here are pics of the worst I saw.
View attachment 55829
View attachment 55830

Note how much these lean front to back and left to right. The plastic looks like it could easily break.

On the more amusing side, I found Chinese sticks with cheesy lights in the upright. Although these were cheesy, I kind of liked the idea of using that space.
View attachment 55831

More posts later.
Click to expand...
I mount my ape lab stick xl’s like that
 
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I talked to plenty of senior executives at the show this week. The Evolve series is definitely held in high regard by the industry. Many though believe QSC has another winner on its hands with the KC12. For its weight and price, nothing comes close in SPL and clarity.

I heard the full KC12 demo today and I was certainly impressed. The height of the QSC stick places the horn above the average person's ears. This will really help with throw to the rear of a room and thus increase articulation further into a space. One of the drawbacks of sticks with columns of like-sized drivers is that in tight rooms, most of the drivers fire into the bodies of the closest dancers which limits throw further into the room. Of course, there is a trad-off. As you walk up to stacked columns, you don't have a horn blaring into your ears. You have just the energy of a few 2-3" drivers.

The QSC delivers plenty of bass. They made sure the KC12 paired visually and sonically with the KS118 sub if you need more bass though. Both the KC12 and KS11* cabinets are the same height and have matching grill styles.

Don't expect remote mixer versions of the Evolve 70 and 90. I confirmed that EV sees these being used only at larger gigs where mixing is done externally. I wouldn't expect it on the QSC either. Being a late entrant, they can see how others models are selling. The simple fact is that models with built in mixers don't sell anywhere near as well as the ones without it.

On a final note, not all BT equipped models are equal in BT capability. Some support TWS and others don't. TWS (true wireless stereo) uses lower latency, higher quality codecs. TWS systems can pair each speaker to the other and your BT source (e.g. phone) simultaneously. Some will send the right channel to one speaker and the left to the other. Some let you switch the assignment or assign both to mono-summed. Older non TWS systems just sum the L&R together.
 
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