Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

(Part-Time Mobile DJ here — weddings, school dances, corporate parties) I didn't care for this speaker initially, but I was at Guitar Center and decided to test this against the EV lines and QSC's K12. A producer friend of mine is a fierce advocate of the Yamaha line and eh, I didn’t care till I heard it in person. As a DJ for ten years, I've come to depend on my Mackie 450's (v1) the entire time. I've used two pairs of them fortunately from Italy and the 2nd pair for USA. Currently, my speaker workhorses are a mismatched pair of 450's: Italy + China, I blew the tweeter on the Italian one and replaced it last year. They've been awesome, but after playing a gig recently with a EV-ZLX12P's, I decided it was time to upgrade not only because of the sound quality, quality low-end and lighter weight, but the more mixer-esque features built into the speaker. This is a huge life saver as a mobile DJ in a variety deployments, at least for me at weddings, this makes the setup at the ceremony so much easier where I can plug in a sound input and a microphone directly into the back of the speaker. I’m all about saving time, money and back now as a 28 year old with a full-time tech job and spinning on the weekends. So ultimately, I was highly looking at the EV-ZLX15P's as well as the ELX series. I wanted to invest for 15" speakers and not just 12". Besides the two EV lines, I was considering QSC's K12's of course. Mackie 450 v2's? GTFO. Prices on Amazon as of 5/19/2015: EV: ZLX12P - 12” - $399 (excellent, can’t go wrong, and lowest price point) ZLX15P - 15” - $469 (excellent, can’t go wrong, better sound for a bit more) ELX112P - 12” - $569 (better wood and amp, sound quality is not that much better than ZLX model) ELX115P - 15” - $699 (better wood and amp, but sound quality is not that much better than ZLX model) **between the ZLX line and ELX line, ZLX wins outright for better value for money. ELX…wth, did no one did market research and comps? With the price of ELX so close to QSC and Yamaha, how can it compete?** QSC: K12 - 12” - $749 (virtually an industry standard, top-tier, can’t go wrong) Yamaha: DXR12 - 12” - $699 (amazing, sounded great) DXR15 - 15” - $799 (game over, it sounded the best between all the options with in-store testing, expensive, but I’m in this for the long haul) Based on pricing first and sound quality 2nd, if you were on a budget, ZLX is the easy choice. With more dough, you’re basically looking at QSC vs Yamaha. Between DXR12 vs K12, the Yamaha wins. It’s virtually a KSC in Yamaha packaging. If you got the dough, then f#%k it, 3 more inches baby for the DXR15. It seemed that Yamaha was specifically attacking the K12 in classic one upmanship: ...QSC vs Yamaha.. 1000 peak watts vs 1100 peak watts 131 peak db vs 133 peak db 6 year warranty vs 7 year warranty 41 lbs vs 49 lbs (okay not an advantage to be heavier, but hell, drivers are heavy) Pros: —Beautiful, full and thorough sound image Cons: —Expensive (if you were a brand new DJ, musician or looking to level up your karaoke to be courtesy police house visit worthy, I’d look at the ZLX line.) —Not pretty, you definitely would not bet on this speaker to win the speaker beauty pageant nor qualify even as the “most inspirational” award... it’s not as ugly as the Mackie 450v2… but bloody hell, even among other aesthetically challenged toys, I have Glocks that are even prettier —Plastic casing — durability and longevity will require more diligence and prevention from dings against doorways or rough handling or during transport — speaker bags ARE A MUST, I wish these were wood though. **despite the Con reasons, the primary qualifier was sound quality, then cost** Full disclosure, I have a Yamaha DXS15 (15” powered subwoofer). I don’t care to match tops and subs at all, but it is a plus to be able to match them. Certainly not a need or a must-do though. (Got this sub over QSC’s KW181 due to cost. Doesn’t come with castors though..Would've be handy. I love this sub btw.) =====>Buying tip! Specifically on this purchase, I did not buy it from Amazon though (despite Prime membership), I got it at Guitar Center. Not only will they price match..there’s a big more wiggle room. Everything is negotiable. If you’ve been paying full price at Guitar Center…oh boy. I usually get everything from them because they’ll price match Amazon and DJDeals.com, I’ll use whichever is cheaper. :) They I take it right out of the store..AND USE IT IMMEDIATELY. INSTANT GRATIFICATION. In the end, between the vinyl vs. DVS debate, between hardware die-hards and empirical opportunists like myself, no one really cares what gear you have. It just needs to do it’s job and not mess up. Audiophiles and musicians may be able to discern sound quality, but hell, my average audience is drunk, trying to get drunk or dancing like they are on something else (or worse yet, I’ll need a drink after merely hearing their request). I hope I approached this comparison and review of this speaker in an open-minded way with concern for sound, budget and longevity. As a DJ, I’m just here to entertain the crowd. They don’t care what I’m rocking so long as I rock it. End of story. That said, I hope this helps you in your own musical journey. In summation, this speaker is awesome if your wallet can carry it. If not, please look at EV’s ZLX series. 12” or 15”, you’ll be happy too! If this review was helpful, please click “Yes” below. Thank you in advance!