Name the worse speakers that you have owned/heard over the years.

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PhaseIIPro

DJ Extraordinaire
Apr 19, 2015
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For me it would be the JBL TR series. JBL should have been ashamed placing the JBL badge on those. The other main dj in the town I was living in at the time purchased a set of the tr-225(i think) dual 15’s. I couldn’t believe how harsh and bad they sounded. Thought maybe he was doing something wrong so went to a dealer to do some showroom testing/tweaking. The end result was the salesperson saying that they sounded like ass.

Name your worse. I know some must have tried Pyle, Gem Sound, and other flea market brands with piezo tweeters thinking they getting a diamond in the rough, only to br disappointed in the long run.
 
The Behringer B208B I bought as a mini singer's monitor for karaoke, is pure garbage. The American Audio ELS GO8BT pair I have is close behind.

Some of the others that will be mentioned (Pyle, Technical HiFI/Pro, Seismic, etc.) are pure evil, but I bought these above .. shame on me ..
 
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Worst ever.

Dual Bose L1 classics with dual B1 each side. COMPLETELY gain staged incorrectly. Most songs were 128kbs downloads/rips. Had a BBE TOTALLY cranked.

He DJ'd a professional vendors event attended by 30+ DJs and bands. and there's no doubt I lost many a potential customer. From that point forward I insisted that I personally train each and every customer on how best to use, set, gain, and tweak their systems. What they do to their gear after that is not on me. We live. We learn.

After that is just about any other speakers that are Just Basically Lousy.
 
A acquired an SHS powered speaker about 12 years ago that was terrible. Shrill highs and muddy lows even with a 15" speaker!
 
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For me it would be the JBL TR series. JBL should have been ashamed placing the JBL badge on those. The other main dj in the town I was living in at the time purchased a set of the tr-225(i think) dual 15’s. I couldn’t believe how harsh and bad they sounded. Thought maybe he was doing something wrong so went to a dealer to do some showroom testing/tweaking. The end result was the salesperson saying that they sounded like ass.

Name your worse. I know some must have tried Pyle, Gem Sound, and other flea market brands with piezo tweeters thinking they getting a diamond in the rough, only to br disappointed in the long run.

I started my career in DJing with a pair of TR-125s. They were a very budget speaker, but I got a LOT of mileage out of them.

I'm not sure I could classify what I thought a worst speaker would be. But, I really hated the sound of the Mackie 450s that everyone was using for a while. But, in most cases when I think something really sounds bad... it's due to improper usage, or the wrong tool for the job.
 
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I went back looking for a photo of them and found this:

1923659_512281327269_4364_n.jpg


I think that might have been overkill lighting wise for about 20 kids at a sweet 16 lol...

But the trusty TR-125s got it done :)
 
Worst I have heard. It's a toss up ....A pair of old TRAINOR speakers at a small underground bar where up and coming bands perform. They were pretty bad. No bass. No mid range. They just sucked. ...The other pair was a pair of old Peaveys years ago. They were scratchy, and also had no bass. Old passive speakers. It could have been a bad connection that was causing the scratchiness though.

Second Worse? When I heard the Harbinger APS line at Guitar Center. The VARI series is a MUCH, MUCH BETTER improvement over the APS line up.

ADJ 8 Go BT is not good, it's "OK" at best, but for what the speaker actually is, a 8 inch battery powered, 18 lb speaker. I am fine with it. For background cocktail hour music, it get's the job done for me.
 
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The Behringer B208B I bought as a mini singer's monitor for karaoke, is pure garbage. The American Audio ELS GO8BT pair I have is close behind.

Some of the others that will be mentioned (Pyle, Technical HiFI/Pro, Seismic, etc.) are pure evil, but I bought these above .. shame on me ..
I wouldn't say shame on you. I won say you just didn't know what to buy at the time. Normally a DJ first starting out will buy speakers that don't cost a lot and think they are getting a great bargain till they find out they shouldn't have bought that cheap junk. It's called trial and error. I learned especially when it comes to speakers, when you know better you do better.
 
I wouldn't say shame on you. I won say you just didn't know what to buy at the time. Normally a DJ first starting out will buy speakers that don't cost a lot and think they are getting a great bargain till they find out they shouldn't have bought that cheap junk. It's called trial and error. I learned especially when it comes to speakers, when you know better you do better.
No, I knew ... I needed something cheap for bar singers that I wouldn't cry if someone poured their drink into. The Behringer fit the bill. As for the American Audio speakers, I was looking for a pair of battery powered speakers usable for background needs. They are that .. just aren't of a fidelity that I would like. It would be nice if RCF or such would make a nice small battery powered set.
 
No, I knew ... I needed something cheap for bar singers that I wouldn't cry if someone poured their drink into. The Behringer fit the bill. As for the American Audio speakers, I was looking for a pair of battery powered speakers usable for background needs. They are that .. just aren't of a fidelity that I would like. It would be nice if RCF or such would make a nice small battery powered set.

I demand a light weight battery powered blue tooth speaker under 25 lbs with RCF quality fidelity on a American Audio Budget that also has a high end mixer section with every input imaginable. When will someone create this? ...2019? :)
 
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No, I knew ... I needed something cheap for bar singers that I wouldn't cry if someone poured their drink into. The Behringer fit the bill. As for the American Audio speakers, I was looking for a pair of battery powered speakers usable for background needs. They are that .. just aren't of a fidelity that I would like. It would be nice if RCF or such would make a nice small battery powered set.
My comments were not solely directed at you. I was just speaking about my experience. Normally just starting out you go with cheap stuff that to you looks good and sounds good to you not knowing any better. Over time hopefully you learn what to stay away from and realize why you should spend the extra money. It will sound better, last longer and you won't be in a mad rush looking to sell them for practically nothing.
 
I demand a light weight battery powered blue tooth speaker under 25 lbs with RCF quality fidelity on a American Audio Budget that also has a high end mixer section with every input imaginable. When will someone create this? ...2019? :)
I could care less about a big mixer section on a speaker .. a combo mic/line input and either a RCA pair or a 3.5mm input and we're good. As for price, I would be in at up to $400-$500 per box.
 
My comments were not solely directed at you. I was just speaking about my experience. Normally just starting out you go with cheap stuff that to you looks good and sounds good to you not knowing any better. Over time hopefully you learn what to stay away from and realize why you should spend the extra money. It will sound better, last longer and you won't be in a mad rush looking to sell them for practically nothing.

Based on your most recent purchases, have you learned or not?
 
I could care less about a big mixer section on a speaker .. a combo mic/line input and either a RCA pair or a 3.5mm input and we're good. As for price, I would be in at up to $400-$500 per box.

I want line in/line out. RCA and 3.5mm inputs. A Mic Line

...Oh I also want the ability to wirelessly pair with another speaker so it can be a completely wireless sound system built in. I'm not talking just for music...Microphone signal as well.
 
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Based on your most recent purchases, have you learned or not?
I am very happy with the speakers I have bought over the years. One speaker I wasn't happy with even though the sound was good is the JBL HTC 125 speaker. That was before powered speakers became the norm.
 
Worst speakers I ever seen/heard. Long time ago I was working at Hunter College in NYC doing lighting. It's a daytime event and the DJ is using these horrible sounding homemade speakers. So I go around to look at the back of the speaker and there is no back to the speaker cabinet, they never finished it.

Another time I'm at a catering hall and a DJ's coming in with these homemade unpainted speaker cabinets. I didn't think much about it. About 15 minutes later I hear the maître d' yelling. It seems they put the speaker cabinets down on the carpet and you could see the outline of the sawdust which fell off of them on the carpet. Too funny. And It was a busy Saturday afternoon at this Catering hall.

My introduction to the short end of the stick came in the mid 80's when we were doing a very large event in the gym with three track artists and a band. Well I brought out all of my 10 speakers I had. And I guess that would've been OK, if the band didn't have a brand new EAW speaker system. It was like racing a Ford Pinto against a Corvette. Originally the track artists were supposed to be using my system as I had the Reel to Reel for their tapes. I ended up plugging the Reel to Reel to the board so I escaped without looking too bad. After getting my butt kicked I remember selling off almost all my speakers coming up with a whole new system. But then EAW was so expensive compared to what I had to spend. End up going with a Peavey system which sounded pretty good for the time and was affordable. Funny part is I removed all of the Peavey logos so most didn't know is was a Peavey system. Those Black widow speakers and CS series amps seem to go on forever and maintain their resale value.