QSC K8.2 2000W 8 inch Powered Speaker Reviews

This speaker is a beast! It might be slightly heavy to lug around, but I don't mind it one bit. It packs quite a punch. When I purchase a speaker with the QSC name brand, I know I will be pleased. It is a trusted company with impeccable quality.

I bought a pair of these to use as mains for a trad jazz band (no drums). I'm trying to upgrade and lighten the rig. The first thing I did with the new speakers was an A/B with my 12" EVs, using recordings of the band. No contest, not even close, the K8.2s sound so much better, just using the default EQ. More than adequate low end for my bass (4 string, don't know how they would do with a low B). A lot of reviewers talked about the transparent sound, and they weren't kidding. Even the trombone player was impressed, and he doesn't usually notice that sort of thing. If they are loud enough for outdoor gigs, I will get rid of the old speakers. In fact, I think I'll get rid of the old speakers anyway, and if the pair isn't enough juice for the outdoor gigs, I'll get one more.

Holy Crap, Holy Crap, Holy Crap!
This is one of the best sounding personal monitors I have ever heard. I was looking for a monitor for my TD50 Electronic Kit, and I wanted something the band could hear as well. I debated between this and the Turbosound 8", but finally pulled the trigger on the QSC. I then struggled if one monitor would do it, or maybe i should add a sub. After receiving the one monitor, and running my kit through it, I was sold. I have it shoulder height, just behind me to the right, about 2' away. Crystal clear and surprisingly plenty of bass response. I was shocked! I would have no problem using it solo as a personal monitor at a gig. If you added a second or a sub, it would rock.

Bought two of these guys to compliment my Quad Cortex. Oh yeah! The louder they go the better they sound!
Thanks George Deng for the recommendation. Your the best!

I own several QSC speakers that I used for various events. When using this K8.2 for solo acoustic gigs I was very impressed with the volume ,dispersion and frequency response. Definitely worth the $ and much lighter than its two bigger brothers (k10.2 & k12.2)

Looking for some lightweight powerful speakers to facilitate breathwork meditation music these fit the bill.
Brian walked me through some options and we settled on these. Having heard them used by several friends (professional musicians). I knew they would do the trick. I got them in a bundle with the QSC 2x12" subwoofer a great package with the peavey 10AT mixer that comes with the Bluetooth input I needed. Shipping was quick and painless. I highly recommend sweetwater highly professional.

Unbelievably great sound from such a tiny package. I use this K8.2 with a Boss GT1000 for home practice and small gigs , have the K12.2 for larger venues. QSC K Series for the win in my world

Love my K8.2's! I've got a pair of K12's and a pair of K12.2's already, so I use these as drum monitors. Turns out, I have to keep the volume down to 1/4 to hear my drumkit! I have them sitting on a pair of 12" Yammy subs and they are a perfect match. If you're doing a small gig, these would work as mains- no really! Everything has its limits, and I know when topped out they can't quite run with the big dogs, but I am impressed. Just use a sub if you need the bump, but the benefit of having dynamite in such a small, easy to handle package is a joy! Just beware of the volume- I warned you! They will make your ears bleed- but in a good way!!!! :)

My goal was to have 4 as mains and two as monitors
I have a on stage bracket so I can mount two of the k8.2 on one pole.
As mains .
But the price went up .
So it will have to wait .

But
Until a person uses the k8.2 live they can't possibly have respect for the
Amount of great sound that is coming out of these smallish
Speakers .no sacrifice in sound quality at very high volume .
And plenty of bass for 90% of a live bands needs .
The reason I'd rather have the 8s is the spread 105 degrees.
And 27 pounds at a time is easeyer to lift than 40+ pounds of 12s or 15s just once .
Most of the time I'm only using one as a main and one as a monitor .
If I need stupid loud bass I'll buy one sub .


So when I can find and afford I'll get 3 more .

I use two K8s for monitors, a pair of previous-gen K10s for PA mains and a pair of K10.2s for keyboards. I've been playing for over half a century, used every kind of amplification imaginable, and this current setup is the best-sounding one I've ever had. Not only do the QSCs sound great, my aging back really appreciates their light weight.

WARNING: you may see a Gator bag advertised at the bottom of this page. This speaker does NOT fit comfortably into that bag. I didn't realize that the K8.2 would be so much bigger than the original K8. Spend the extra bucks on the QSC bag, which presumably will fit their speaker. My other Gator bags work great with the K10s and K10.2s, though.

Smaller than the 12 or 10 but still pack a punch.

Why are so manny folks splitting hairs .
The k8.2 stomps all $400-$800 dollar 12s all of them stomps stomps stomps them but better yet , 105 spread .
And when you turn it up ..NO MUD ..
I hope I can sale my not so old gig gear before everybody else finds out ..before the end of the earth I played 60or so gigs a year + weddings and festivals , and fans and booking agents were satisfied and have repeats .
It is amazing to me that the sound I could have had was so casually suggested in reviews .
Dang ...
And I guess the 12s and 10s are that as well

Thank you Sam Hillman at sweet water for being so logical and at the same time musical .
Specs are specs but the cheeks in the seats are there for the music

I have used these several times for a variety of music types and different venues. The result has been the same each time: they sound great, and the doubters are impressed with how these little speakers perform. The small size and weight make them easy to transport and set up, but they don"t sacrifice anything in terms of sound quality (minus the low end). For an small acoustic duo or trio, these are all you need. For rock or something with a lot of bass, I"d definitely recommend a sub as you will notice the missing low end. They have no problem getting loud in a reasonably sized room. In fact, they can easily overpower some of the living rooms and other small spaces I have used them in. For reference, I used them in a 1500sq ft room recently and had plenty of headroom to push it beyond a comfortable listening volume. I like the wider dispersion as compared to the larger models since I"m often in some pretty small rooms (200 sq ft or less). The ability to angle them down on the poles has also been key, since the audience is moat always seated and fairly close.

The built-in DSP makes them easy to set up, and they also work great as a floor monitor. Simply switch them to floor monitor mode and put them in place; every vocalist has liked how they sound and can clearly hear themselves. I"ve also played without them in studio monitor mode. It would work in a pinch, but I find them a little bright in a near field setup like I have. A little farther back, they might be just fine (though there is a noticeable hiss at times in a very quiet room).

All in all, these have been a good investment as they have proven to be reliable and flexible while allowing me to achieve a great sound no matter the situation.

This is the 4th QSC 8" I have purchased as a monitor speaker. Pricey for sure, but a sturdy, reliable workhorse for all the gigs we play. Highly recommended!

Awesome product so clear and clean lots of headroom!!!! And he free bag that covers it..makes it feel like I stole it from you guys!!! And love love love sweet water !!! Keep up that great customer service and you"ll keep your customers!!!! Michael Saulnier you rock!!!!

This is my second pair of QSC speakers. I own a pair of K12s and they sound super clean with a lot of power. As I get older the weight of the speaker really matters. The K.2 series is a little lighter than the original K series. I debated between the K10.2 and the K8.2 and listened to both. The K8.2 at 27 pounds won out. There is still a lot of bottom even with the 8" speaker. I do use one 12" powered sub. A great combination for my duo made up of acoustic guitar & bass along with backing tracks with occasional keyboards and vocals. No problems! The QSC K and K.2 series of speakers are well built and give you many options plus three inputs. The light weight was the final selling point for me. I have compared the sound of QSC to most of the other top brands in the music store. As a retired music teacher tone, clarity and dependability mean everything. The K8.2 is a winner! You can"t go wrong with any of the K.2 speakers. And the QSC totes are a must have.

We are blown away! The clarity on these speakers is unsurpassed. Every string, shaker and little nuance of a song can be heard with crystal clarity. It feels like you have front row seats to a once in a lifetime concert at Red Rocks. We are still marveling. So much so that we will be purchasing two more. Our sound for our band in now complete. I would highly recommend you also purchase the padded, protective case. (QSC K-8 Tote). They fit beautifully in there and you definitely want to protect these speaker gems from getting beat up. They are far to valuable to skimp on omitting the case. Here's to happy gigg'in! Let the fun begin!!

These speakers are truly Incredible! We got six of them for a HOW application and I could not be happier with the results. Overall they have a very full sound and lots of potential to be used in many different applications. They do not lack power either especially considering how small they are. The thing that probably blows me away about these the most though is how clean they sound, a really crisp and tight sound!

I've had a pair of K8s for a while, now adding a pair of K8.2s makes a complete small system that doesn't sound small! My first gig with them was an outdoor poetry festival in a city park. Two speaking mics, and a jazz quartet playing for breaks, it was perfect. Two monitors for the band, and the two K8s for mains easily filled the entire city-block size park! When I heard the voices echoing back from the buildings all around the park, I knew I had more than enough sound for the event. I may start leaving the 12s behind from now on!

Don"t let the size fool you. Since the update to the K.2 series, the whole line is outpacing the competition. The K8.2"s are a no joke speaker when used stand alone. I"m pairing mine with the K-sub to "WOW" my audiences with a killer sound and an unbelievably small package!
You will not be sorry.

Purchased these to use as floor wedge monitors along with K10.2 (tops) & a Ksub... fantastic volume & clarity from these, small, boxes! I play in a 4-piece "classic rock" band (2 guitars, bass & acoustic drums)- plenty volume to provide monitoring.

Recently picked up 2 of hese to use, primarily, as floor wedges (using K10.2"s and a Ksub for FOH)... sound is stellar & they are small and light! I also have sed them for a small church service- one for FOH & one for a floor wedge... appreciated the ability the adjust each speaker for these functions. Also super-excitd that the (new) 8"s can be used as a floor wedge!!

Well finally took the plunge and dropped the funds for 2 k12.2s,2 k8.2s and awaiting my new ks112s arriving next month.Hooked these up to just see what they got at 12 o,clock all the way across through the new Touchmix 8.

Popped in some Iron Maiden and pushed play... Absolutely amazing.
I stood there stunned and 2 little of relief and joy came out of each of my eyes.
I have never heard a sound so crystal clear and just stunning.
NO ear fatigue just pure SOUND.

Thank you QSC, sorry it took so long ....forever yours....

My wife and I play primarily as a folk/maritime duo and only have room on our sailboat (we live aboard) for a very small PA system. We decided to go with small size and high quality. The K8.2 has all of the volume we need to play outdoor gigs and gigs at indoor bars/restaurants. At our weekly open mic that we host, we did a side-by-side comparison of our new K8.2 with a pair of 10" JBL powered speakers. Our opinion was that the JBL's had more "thump" for the musicians who were rockin' out, but not a whole lot more bass than our single 8.2.

What was very noticeable was how the 8.2 did not "color" the sound at all. I can best describe it as "transparent". Listening to the 8.2 was like listening to a live/unplugged performance where all of the nuances of the instrument and singer could clearly be heard. The JBL"s sounded more like listening to a studio recording that had been processed. It's hard to describe, but the JBL's sounded "muddy" in comparison to the 8.2. If you play in an acoustic group, jazz group, small ensemble, etc. I think that you'll find this elusive "clarity" is a big asset to your performances. Note, all speakers were being driven from the same line-out source off of the sound board and were being used with no EQ processing at the speakers themselves.

In addition to our duo, we play as part of a four-piece Irish band where I play bass guitar. I don't have room aboard for a bass cabinet, so I've been using the 8,2 as a bass cabinet. Wow! Plenty of bass to fill up the 36 seat dining room and bar at our regular gig.

All of the praise the other reviewers have given this speaker for build quality, volume, tone, etc. are well deserved as well. Buy quality, cry once.

Great speakers. Love the total high to low frequencies. I have the K-12 the these little guys put up a great fight against the big boys. I"ll mount the K8-2 speakers in my new studio and drift away with the pristine sounds....

I bought a pair of k8.2 and not going to go into many datails, I owned many brands of powered speakers the top of the line including the k8 first generation.
These k8.2 are by the clasic long mile the best speakers I ever had. In all aspects.
I combine the k8.2 with one ElectroVoice 12"inch Sub.
But you know what, you dont even need a Sub. These 8" speakers delivers plenty of bass and punch. They are Awesome lots of power cristal clear quality and cero distortion.
Thanks to Robert Williams from sweetwater for many years helping me get the best of the best in music gear!!

Well... I am back again because I had to purchase one more K8.2... I have fallen in love with this little giant..first of all... if you are a Dj this is the best kept secret in the world.. many of you will totally sleep on this speaker because of its size. If that's the main reason listen to this.. purchase a pair of these little speakers, one ksub or KS212c sub or a KW 181 along with a dbx Driverack PA2.. Get the specifications sheet for the speaker and load them using the PA2 app. Trust your ears and tune your speakers from the front of house.. Your sound will forever deliver all the quality and punch you will ever need..If you eliminate the distortion and keep your meters in the green your system will deliver sound you never knew you had..I am totally blown away with the amount of clean green signal volume I am able to produce.. I am always surprised every time I hookup my set for an event and hear that clean rich sound produced by these speakers tuned... Sweetwater is a great company with outstanding customer service.. Go Mike W

Very happy with these. Powerful and great clarity. Bass response is very good. I'm using them for my keyboards. Much lighter than my previious speakers, EV EXL112P. High quality construction also. Worth the extra cost.

We own an event center and purchased the QSC K8.2 mini monitors to fill a hole in our sound reinforcement offerings for ceremony PA applications. The speakers and tote bags arrived and we did a quick configuration to ensure they were operational. I was stunned. These speakers are remarkable. The bass response was amazing. Our venue has around $250,000 in sound reinforcement equipment including large JBL mains, subs, QSC amplification, JBL SRX712 powered stage monitors, Presonus rack mount digital mixers, Shure microphones, etc. We absolutely love the small foot print of these speakers, the smooth frequency response, and solid tight bass response. Normally we apply a DBX Driverack PA to ensure a nice flat response... no need with he QSC 8.2... we were able to use them right out of the box connected to a small Presonus mixer and Shure wireless system. Absolutely great sound reinforcement. We also patched the live band through the QSCs later that evening. I am considering purchasing another 6 units to use as stage monitors for a smaller stage footprint. Absolutely excellent build quality. Incredible amount of headroom... this is simply an outstanding small powerhouse speaker that could easily be used as a main when coupled with a sub for a DJ, or as a rocking stage monitor for a band that needs excellent sound in a small footprint, or as a ceremony PA for speeches. I just wish this product had been available a few years ago!!!! Needless to say we are BLOWN AWAY!!!! Don't hesitate... this is one of those rare products that will exceed your expectations and keep delighting you every time you use them!

No doubt, you get QSC sound quality, but a couple of things were a pleasant surprise. I used these as mains for a couple of small gigs. First, you get more bass than you'd expect from 8" speakers. Second, QSC put some good thought into portability and durability in design. The slightly concave face makes walking just a little easier when carrying a pair from their top handles. The control knobs are somewhat better protected than other powered speakers. By the way, if you can't get the QSC speaker back, Gator makes an 8" bag that works well.

This is the absolute perfect monitor for the Line 6 Helix. Clear uncolored sound, very crisp highs and punchy lows, light compact and QSC. Enough said.
Thanks Rob for the suggestion.

This has to be the best kept secret in the DJ world. This little speaker packs a big punch for its size. It is light weight and very powerful. I recently performed at a party for about 300 people with a pair of K8.2's and one KW181 and the volume was phenomenal. That small system filled an 8,000 Sq Ft space easily.. a matter of fact the K8.2's wanting me to keep pushing them and asking for more.. that 2,000 watt module is unreal... literally.. the best speaker out there for the money..

Using these little monsters as floor monitors. Wow! Absolutely awesome! Amazing how good these sound operating class D. Standing-O to QSC!

I own 15 of the QSC K Series speakers, I bought 2 of the K8.2's (the only 8's I own) They are fantastic and I have so many ways I can use them...

I've had a pair of Mackie SRM-450s (gen1) as my personal PA mains for 19 years. I was planning to replace them with K12.2s, but as I looked through the K.2 line, it seemed like I might get more flexibility for now by purchasing a pair of K8.2s first which I could use as mains for many things, but could also use as floor monitors on occasions where I need a little deeper bass response in the mains. My intention was to wait until the SRM's actually die before buying K12.2s, but after critically listening to the K8.2s, I'm now thinking that I'll have trouble waiting for the SRM's to die. The K.2 series is really impressive.

I did some careful listening between my SRM-450s and the QSC8.2s, listening to part or all of 50 or 60 CD tracks of various genres, both commercial and personal recordings. First of all, let me say that for me, the only useful "settings" on the K8.2s are "default" and "studio monitor". All of the others are either too hyped or missing too much of the spectrum to be useful to me.

There were only 4 pieces I listened to where I preferred the SRM-450s over the QSC8.2s. These included two tracks featuring pipe organs with 32' stops (eg: Also Sprach Zarathustra the 2001 movie theme), and a couple of tracks with 5 or six string electric bass guitar. There were also about 20 tracks where I preferred the QSCs over the SRMs.

One minor disappointment was the lack of control over low volume playback. In my test I ran a CD player with +4dB balanced outputs directly into the speakers. The volume controls on the SRM-450s gave me about 30 degrees of rotation on an analog pot between "off" and moderately loud. The stepped volume controls on the QSC8.2s had only 2 steps that I could use in my home with this setup. The first step (above off) was quieter than my smart phone, and the next step was uncomfortably loud in a 15' x 18' room. There was no way on the speaker to get a volume level anywhere in between these two extremes. I would guess the jump between these two volume knob positions is 30+ dB. I sure wish the DSP provided some volume control, even 3dB steps from 0 to -21 would be very helpful for situations where a +4 line input is used and there is no mixer inline to reduce the volume. It somehow seems silly to need a volume control in front of a speaker that has a volume control on it, but with these that might be the real situation sometimes.

I found the dispersion to be more even than I had feared within the 105 degree conical range. When I walked between and behind the speakers I found a pretty sharp drop in upper mid and high frequencies. But it is a clean drop off with no funny lobes or comb filtering or anything. Walking back out to the front of the speakers made me smile as the audio became pristine across the whole spectrum.

Stereo imaging was better than the SRM's but not quite as good as the more expensive near field studio monitors in my control room. (Bass response also rolls off noticeably higher than my 8" studio monitors.)

I'm looking forward to my next gig this weekend where I'll be using the K8.2s as main speakers and leaving the much larger and heavier SRM-450s at home. The 7 degree downward slant speaker stand socket is not just a gimmick, that is really a nice feature. And the 105 degree dispersion will be very helpful this weekend compared to the 90 x 45 degree dispersion on my Mackies. The wide dispersion will be especially helpful when I use the K8.2s as floor monitors.

The locking power cord is cute, and would be helpful to me if it was 25' long. I guess I'll be looking to see if a longer version is available anywhere. My other wish is that someone would make a rolling, soft sided speaker bag that would hold two of these. It could still be smaller and would be about the same total weight as the GPA-712LG with an SRM450 in it. I'd prefer that over the QSC bags that hold one speaker each with no wheels and virtually no cable storage.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the sound quality, size, weight, and usability of the QSC K8.2's. I hope they last a very long time.

I have the previous generation K10. This new k8.2 equals it in volume,clarity,and bass all in a smaller lighter package! I have to say though with the k10 set to deep mode and vocal boost it kicks lower and outperforms the k8.2 on any of the preset modes. I teamed one k8.2 with my k sub and all I can say is wow! That combo equals my Bose L1 MII B2 for a lot less money!

I currently own a wide range of amplification gear. Some of it I use for my keyboards, most of it is bar band PA equipment.

I've always liked the original K8s for both keyboards and FOH PA vocals. Small form factor, wide dispersion, full range, accurate sound. Just the thing for sounding good at smaller venues without bringing too much gear.

When the K8.2s came out, I knew I'd have to check them out.

Well, I used them at a rehearsal tonight, and I was seriously impressed. QSC didn't just dress up the K8, they built an entirely new speaker system. Everything I liked about the original K8s, just more: more volume, more bass, more clear mids and highs, more sound control, etc. This is one serious full-range speaker.

I also like the notched cabinet, which makes them now usable for near-field monitoring.

I have better stuff in my inventory (RCF TT08-a, Fulcrum Acoustics, etc.) but for the price -- nothing I know of comes close to delivering this level and quality of sound. Highly recommended.

If you are looking for a stage monitor for a band or looking for a speaker for acoustic or small shows then stop what you are doing and order these! I purchased 3 of these for my classic rock band. This replaced us using FIVE 12"in monitors. These speakers are so great that we don't even have to push them to hear our vocals. If you are in a band you can imagine how nice it would be to NEVER have to say "Can I get more vocals in the monitors?" again. Because of the frequency range on these you are able to even have you bassist come through these, and as a drummer that is a huge help. The on-board setting are great if you are looking to through just instruments in here and vocals with in ear monitors. These are so clear and not to mention compact. You cannot go wrong with these as monitors or speakers! Thanks to Tyler Berggren for recommending these to me and helping me with the ordering! Sweetwater is the best!

I finally decided after playing drums and not being able to hear the mix to get my own monitor. I fell in love with QSC products a while back. Now that I have purchased for the first time a QSC K8.2 I'm glad my awesome rep told me to hold out for the 2nd gens. These are great, loud, and precisely clear. This is just what I needed for a better mix. Thank you Sweetwater and especially you Jonathan Appleton for your patience with me.

These speakers pack a punch for such a small speaker. We himmed and hawed prior to purchasing but once reading the reviews, decided to go with the smaller speakers and they are AMAZING. They sound 10 times better than our old giant yamaha speakers. They are small and easy to carry in the cases we bought for them. I only wish the speaker had a handle on the side as well. Otherwise, these are perfect and bar far, the best speaker I've ever heard.Worth the money!

I am very happy with these K8.2 speakers for my Nord Stage 3 "Acoustic Piano" live sounds. I wish I knew about these years ago. Ive spent a ton of money trying this speaker and that speaker. It wasn't until I saw a video from QSC that mentioned their studio monitor mode that made me want to order them. I've sold all my other equipment. These K8.2's are able to produce acceptable flat frequencies of what you'd hear in headphones with minimal EQ adjustment on the Nord for those acoustic pianos. Buy them, you'll see!

Played a bar last week for the first time , a shotgun room maybe 40 by 100ft wide 20 ft high sealing plaster walls and sealing ,old downtown made over for fun mexican resturaunt night spot .
one k8.2 , soundcraft efx8 , myself acoustic guitar and vocal , and a pedal steel player .
so we are about 70 feet away from the bar , maybe 40 folks ..
k8.2 up high on ultamate support stand ..
( not ) turned up half way ..was loud
more than enough beautiful full sound .. not a rock concert .. but they were dancing ,,
and they did not have to shout to speak with each other .
im going to get another for a monitor ..
we got booked there for all of 2021 .

I bought my qsc , soundcraft , and a bunch of other stuff from Sam Hillman , He is tha man at Sweetwater

I just got a music room in my house. I have a multi-keyboard setup that I do soundscapes with, and was looking for something with clarity and power that also wouldn't choke for those Moog basslines, and these were a great choice. They don't overwhelm the space, can get plenty loud, and have the clarity I was looking for. I had a jam, last weekend with another player, and we had 8 or 9 keys going at once, and the whole time, I could still hear them, individually.

Plus, the size is great. I could see if I ever started using these for a live situation in a bigger room, perhaps adding a sub, but I have zero complaints about this purchase, and was glad I spent the slightly extra money.

I bought this for a stage monitor and I am impressed..I have a powerful vocal and if my monitor doesn't sound good to ME (loud enough, clean enough), I could and have blown out my vocals after a couple nights of performing Customer service was great. Chris helped me through the decision period of what I wanted. I have bought from and will buy again from SweetWater!

I bought one of these last year and sent it back for underperformance. They have me a good price to try another one. I don't if it was the speaker cord or the speaker but this one works much better so far Erik was a big help very satisfied.

I bought two of these with the intention of using them as a stereo amplification system for my keyboards and synths and possible FRFR rig for my guitar. These sound great and would be good playing live in a club. However, I wanted to use them in my studio too, but I did not like the fan noise. Fans would come on both units after about 15 minutes. The fans would turn on even without playing through the speakers which surprised me. They sound like computer fans and having both fans running at the same time was too noisy for the studio. I ended up returning them and am now looking for speakers without fans that I can use in the studio and live.

I have only use it once so far but it doesn't perform as well as my 400 w JBL system. I am going to try it one more time on Monday and see how it does if no better I'll probably send it back. I don't think it be much use in a noisy environment. It is a very well built speaker.

How many stars do you give when you absolutely ***love*** the product but it dies too soon? It's in the shop now, Less than a year after it was purchased. I have heard from other users that this particular model seems to have a high failure rate. I have five other QSC powered speakers, all older than this one, that are still humming along. I'm wondering if QSC might be having some QA issues over in China.

When it worked, it was amazing. This little package punches way above its weight. I use it as a floor monitor. It has plenty of power, sounds crisp and clear, and is perfect as a monitor with the "monitor" EQ preset. I'm just a little miffed with it at the moment.

TLDR: Based on my experience, these speakers sound amazing, are easy to travel with and are insanely powerful for their size, but they have not been reliable. The DSP on one of my speakers keeps giving out.

I bought two K8.2 after reading all of the hyped reviews. They were a little outside of my budget, but wanting good audio, I decided to splurge on a pair. For the first year, these speakers were downright amazing. I played countless shows during that year, and many of my musician friends were impressed with the speaker's audio quality, power, and form factor. Additionally, these are very versatile speakers, doubling as amazing monitors when needed. Unfortunately, at one of my gigs, one of my speakers would not produce sound. Both of my speakers were used as mono mains, were set to identical settings, and were stored together, so I know it's not a user error. To make matters worse, the closest warranty service provider in my area is 150 miles away (300 miles: roundtrip, 600-miles total: drop off/pick up). I will say that the warranty process was painless but traveling over 600 miles total just to get my speaker fixed is ridiculous. Shortly after getting the speaker fixed, the pandemic hit, so I never really got a chance to test out the speaker, but I did confirm that it was in working order. Fast forward to a couple of months ago when our gigs finally started to pick up again. I had played several gigs with the newly fixed speaker and hadn't had an issue; everything was working as it should. Until this last weekend. We were playing a gig, the speaker was doing fine until the very last set. We came back from our break when we noticed one of our mains wasn't working. After troubleshooting the issue, we realized that the speaker gave out. It powers on but does not produce sound, similar to the first issue I had. After getting home from the gig, I inspected the speaker, only to find out it was the same speaker that was previously repaired. For whatever reason, this speaker keeps giving me trouble, but the other works perfectly fine under the exact same conditions. We just started gigging again, and I don't want to have to cancel any gigs, but it looks like I'm going to have to do that now. The only way to get it looked at again is to take a couple of weekends off and make the 600-mile travel.

I'm writing this review to help others hopefully keep from making the same mistake as me. I purchased a pair of K8.2'S after reading such glowing reviews from everyone else. Many have commented that they have a nice and full sound, so I was hopeful two of these would provide a nice mini system for vacations or parties that I might travel to. Well, they're small, have decent midrange and highs, but in my opinion have no usable bottom end at all. Furthermore, QSC has some seriously low input sensitivity as well. I swapped these out on a system that has one DXS15 sub, and two DXR10's. I had previously had the sub running at +3 db, and the DXR tops at 0 db and had a nice balance between the tops and sub. Keep in mind, the DXR's are "1100 watts" peak. Using the two K8.2's, I had to dial the sub back to 0 DB, and put the tops 3 clicks over "0" to get them matched, and 5 clicks over to get them close to the same output as the previous setup with the DXS at +3db. I understand that these are 8" tops and not 10"s, but they're also rated at 2000 watts peak, and the Yamaha's are 1100 peak and flat smoke them in output. I do suppose the 8.2 would work well as a monitor, or possibly for an acoustic performer for a very small venue (aka coffee house) type usage. But, under no circumstances would I recommend thinking of using these as PA mains, even for a small system. For the money, there's definitely better options, albeit in a slightly larger / heavier package. For what it's worth, I currently own ETX 35P's, DXR 12's, DXR 10"s, and now the K8.2's for "tops". While the DXR 10 isn't the only viable option for sure, I'd say if you're looking for tops to run on a smaller system, that's a minimum from what I've experienced. Hopefully this will help someone from making the same mistake as me. I was hopeful that someone had finally made an 8' main that was really usable for a smaller PA,,,, not yet!!!

I own and operate a gear rental company, so have a great deal of experience, and have well over two dozen self-powered speakers in stock. We purchased this speaker with the assumption that the 3 different channels would work like a mixing console, that is, are independent of each other and can be set up with a different preset and different EQ. This is not the case. Once a preset is recalled, it applies to the ENTIRE speaker, not the channel. Wow. And the same goes for any of the EQ settings. The EQ is applied to the entire speaker.

However, even worse is the fact that ONLY channel A can be set up as a microphone input. Channel B can only be set up as LINE or HIGH-Z. So let's say that you want to have two microphones. Can't do it! Worse, let's say you want to play music directly into Channel B without an external mixing console. As it's a line input with no control over input sensitivity, the music level is extremely weak. We wanted a microphone on Channel A and music input via Bluetooth (this speaker does NOT include Bluetooth BTW), and used a Switchcraft Bluetooth receiver on that Channel. Doesn't work.

However, we did find that Channel C's sensitivity is adjusted so that music playback is okay. But there was no way to plug into it directly with the Switchcraft Bluetooth receiver, but it's a 1/8-inch input. So a proper balance 1/8-inch to XLR female worked to get around that issue. But this type of cable isn't something you usually have laying around, as it MUST be balanced.

So what we finally did to get through the rental is use a Y-cable on channel A for both the microphone AND the Switchcraft Bluetooth receiver, and it worked. But wow, the fact that the input sensitivity cannot be set to a microphone on channel B is truly (IMHO) a very stupid design, as well as not being able to independently EQ each channel.