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Author Topic: Low volume on QSC KW 153?  (Read 3959 times)

Alan Gibson

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Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« on: October 11, 2019, 11:25:46 AM »

I just bought my first pieces of sound gear, a QSC KW set of 2x 153s and 1x 181, all gently used. Two out of three pieces sound great, but one of the 153s showed up missing a foot(!), and with the gain B turned all the way up to +10dB. I connected this speaker to line in B through XLR cable to the 181, and did the same for the other on the A side. Speaker B sounds ok when left at +10dB, but is noticably quieter than speaker A when both are turned to +0.

What could be causing this? I'm not expert, but is there something I can do, or will I have to take this monster in for repairs?
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Taylor Hall

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2019, 11:43:10 AM »

You'll need to update your profile name to be your real name before we can help you.
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Alan Gibson

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2019, 12:11:40 PM »

You'll need to update your profile name to be your real name before we can help you.

There we go, sorry about that.

A little additional info, I was missing an XLR so I grabbed one from my roommate's microphone, and that's the cable I used for B speaker. Seems unlikely, but could that be the culprit?
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David Winners

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2019, 12:20:52 PM »

Switch the cables and see if the problem goes with the switch
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Chris Hindle

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2019, 12:26:43 PM »

There we go, sorry about that.

A little additional info, I was missing an XLR so I grabbed one from my roommate's microphone, and that's the cable I used for B speaker. Seems unlikely, but could that be the culprit?
Probably pin 2 or 3 is disconnected or shorted to pin 1 in the XLR, at one end or the other.
Swap cables and see if the problem follows the cable.
Chris.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2019, 12:29:11 PM by Chris Hindle »
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Taylor Hall

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2019, 12:28:43 PM »

It could be a bad cable, you could swap it with the one you used on the other speaker and see if that changes anything.

Barring that, I'd start by removing the sub from the signal chain and see if that makes a difference. You mention using input B on the bad 153, is it also quieter when you have it in input A? Be careful when doing this as input A can accept either line level or mic inputs and has an attenuator knob that must be turned down. 

I'd also try swapping sub outputs going to the questionable KW153 (try using output A instead of B) just to be sure there's nothing amiss there.
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Alan Gibson

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2019, 12:29:09 PM »

Swapped cables, and the problem persists on the same speaker. It sounds like the bass response is greater than the mid/high testing speakers B on its own then listening to A.

Also tried Taylor's suggestion about swapping inputs to the sub. Problem stays with the speaker. My xlrs aren't long enough to remove the sub from the chain, but I'm now sadly confident that something is up with the mid/high of speaker B.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2019, 12:36:00 PM by Alan Gibson »
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2019, 01:10:17 PM »

Swapped cables, and the problem persists on the same speaker. It sounds like the bass response is greater than the mid/high testing speakers B on its own then listening to A.

Also tried Taylor's suggestion about swapping inputs to the sub. Problem stays with the speaker. My xlrs aren't long enough to remove the sub from the chain, but I'm now sadly confident that something is up with the mid/high of speaker B.

I think you will also find one KW181 insufficient.  The recommendation for 153's is 4. We stack them on two a side and it's a great system.

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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Alan Gibson

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2019, 03:09:16 PM »

I think you will also find one KW181 insufficient.  The recommendation for 153's is 4. We stack them on two a side and it's a great system.

You mean 4 subs per top?
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2019, 03:33:41 PM »

Swapped cables, and the problem persists on the same speaker. It sounds like the bass response is greater than the mid/high testing speakers B on its own then listening to A.

Also tried Taylor's suggestion about swapping inputs to the sub. Problem stays with the speaker. My xlrs aren't long enough to remove the sub from the chain, but I'm now sadly confident that something is up with the mid/high of speaker B.

It's only a mic cable, borrow one from a microphone for testing or put the top box on the floor.  This ain't rocket surgery.

A significant difference in signal level, accompanied by a lack of lows, typically indicates a "one-legged" signal as @Chris Hindle mentions.  Most often it's a user-supplied XLR cable that is faulty but it could be cracked or bad solder on the amplifier's input jack.

Take the sub(s) out of the loop.  Set the controls of both A and B speakers identically - every button push, every rotary control - make them the same.  Power them up and connect the output of your mixer to speaker A, then B.  USE THE SAME INPUT on each speaker.  If they don't sound the same you need to take the sketchy speaker for service.
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Low volume on QSC KW 153?
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2019, 03:33:41 PM »


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