Hi all,
If you can't be bothered to read the majority of this post, fair enough. However, please be aware there's an issue with the K series speakers bricking themselves and making themselves unrecoverable. This can be avoided by updating your firmware. Please do this in order to not end up like me.
So I have been the happy user and owner of a pair of QSC K12.2s for a few years now. To the point where I'm just not interested in amps anymore, they're that good. I know a few people on here also use and love these speakers. A few months ago now I had an issue where one of my speakers stopped making sounds during a set break. I can't stress this enough: it worked perfectly fine the first set, then I came back on for the second set and nothing. I stumbled through the gig by putting some bass through the singer's wedge and when I got home I decided to see what had happened.
The speaker had started saying there was a speaker error and it was trying to self-diagnose a problem by playing a 100Hz test tone. So, I press enter and the speaker asks 'can you hear the test tone clear and undistorted?' Well, no I can't. In fact I can't hear it clearly or otherwise, there's no sound from the speaker at all. A little googling reveals the fact that this is known issue with the speaker, has effected lots of people, and it can be avoided by updating the firmware. Don't be like me and live in blissful ignorance of this problem, if you own this speaker then update it now.
So, I try to update following the instructions on the QSC website. The process goes exactly as the site says they should. However, this makes the problem worse. My speaker is now stuck in a constant boot loop. It doesn't stay on for long enough to do anything or check anything.
It's completely bricked.
Please note that I have not broken it. It broke itself.
At no point has this speaker had anything other than light use. It occasionally gets used as a stage wedge when I need to. It's always high passes (usually around 120Hz) and nowhere near full volume, I'm in quiet bands! It's done maybe 30 gigs. I don't always use a wedge and when I do I have two to choose from. The other speaker by the way has had its firmware updated and seems to be working fine for now.
So, I contact the shop I bought it from. Can't help, out of warranty. So I call QSC's distributor in the UK. They can't help, it's out of warranty. I ask if they can repair it anyway, they say maybe but I'm going to have to pay to ship it down to them, pay an inspection fee and then maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to pay them a third time to fix it, then a fourth time to get it shipped back. This is going to cost hundreds of pounds with a "less than even" (direct quote from them) chance that they can even do anything.
I'm now at the point where I'm scouring ebay for a used or refurbished amp module that I'm going to have to buy out of my own pocket, ship (probably import) and then pay to get installed by some local amp tech. This all seems a bit low-brow for an expensive piece of PA tech. It's not like this is a vintage tube amp with serviceable components.
I'm just really annoyed that I haven't done anything wrong here. QSC have sold me (at great expense) a product that breaks itself, literally whilst it's not being used, and then not given me a sensible, practical, reasonably affordable way to get it fixed. This would never fly with Ashdown or GK, companies that pride themselves on serviceable and repairable products. Joke's on me for not proactively googling for issues with this speaker I suppose but then who does that? If this had been an issue before I bought the speaker then it might have come up, but I have some of the first '.2' speakers and so it was unknown at the time. As I say, I'm sort of out of the amp world as I've just been so happy until now so I haven't been hanging around the QSC forums or anything.
If you own a K series, update it now. If you don't own a K series but you are considering it then please be aware that the customer service that I have received in the UK is pretty shocking. EDIT- after Agedhorse reminded me: I have emailed QSC USA (in my defense that was just the first email address I found on their website) and they have told me that all UK issues must go through their UK sales office, which was fine, but they then said that they only deal with sales and that repairs should be done with the distributor, so we went round in circles.
I don't expect a company to just provide free service on everything forever, I get it. But again, this is something inherent to the speaker. It was made faulty. I didn't break it, overuse it, or do anything wrong. It's just a fault with it from the beginning and everyone I've spoken to has essentially told me that it's not their problem. Whilst I would have loved for somebody at QSC or the UK distributor to own up and offer to take care of it for me (like a car recall I guess) they could have at least offered a solution other than just 'ship it hundreds of miles down the country and even then we probably won't fix it'.
Thank you for reading this vent! If you can commiserate with me then please do, if you have any suggestions then please share them.
EDIT - If you want to more about the issue, a search for 'QSC K protect mode 4' will get you everything you need.
If you can't be bothered to read the majority of this post, fair enough. However, please be aware there's an issue with the K series speakers bricking themselves and making themselves unrecoverable. This can be avoided by updating your firmware. Please do this in order to not end up like me.
So I have been the happy user and owner of a pair of QSC K12.2s for a few years now. To the point where I'm just not interested in amps anymore, they're that good. I know a few people on here also use and love these speakers. A few months ago now I had an issue where one of my speakers stopped making sounds during a set break. I can't stress this enough: it worked perfectly fine the first set, then I came back on for the second set and nothing. I stumbled through the gig by putting some bass through the singer's wedge and when I got home I decided to see what had happened.
The speaker had started saying there was a speaker error and it was trying to self-diagnose a problem by playing a 100Hz test tone. So, I press enter and the speaker asks 'can you hear the test tone clear and undistorted?' Well, no I can't. In fact I can't hear it clearly or otherwise, there's no sound from the speaker at all. A little googling reveals the fact that this is known issue with the speaker, has effected lots of people, and it can be avoided by updating the firmware. Don't be like me and live in blissful ignorance of this problem, if you own this speaker then update it now.
So, I try to update following the instructions on the QSC website. The process goes exactly as the site says they should. However, this makes the problem worse. My speaker is now stuck in a constant boot loop. It doesn't stay on for long enough to do anything or check anything.
It's completely bricked.
Please note that I have not broken it. It broke itself.
At no point has this speaker had anything other than light use. It occasionally gets used as a stage wedge when I need to. It's always high passes (usually around 120Hz) and nowhere near full volume, I'm in quiet bands! It's done maybe 30 gigs. I don't always use a wedge and when I do I have two to choose from. The other speaker by the way has had its firmware updated and seems to be working fine for now.
So, I contact the shop I bought it from. Can't help, out of warranty. So I call QSC's distributor in the UK. They can't help, it's out of warranty. I ask if they can repair it anyway, they say maybe but I'm going to have to pay to ship it down to them, pay an inspection fee and then maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to pay them a third time to fix it, then a fourth time to get it shipped back. This is going to cost hundreds of pounds with a "less than even" (direct quote from them) chance that they can even do anything.
I'm now at the point where I'm scouring ebay for a used or refurbished amp module that I'm going to have to buy out of my own pocket, ship (probably import) and then pay to get installed by some local amp tech. This all seems a bit low-brow for an expensive piece of PA tech. It's not like this is a vintage tube amp with serviceable components.
I'm just really annoyed that I haven't done anything wrong here. QSC have sold me (at great expense) a product that breaks itself, literally whilst it's not being used, and then not given me a sensible, practical, reasonably affordable way to get it fixed. This would never fly with Ashdown or GK, companies that pride themselves on serviceable and repairable products. Joke's on me for not proactively googling for issues with this speaker I suppose but then who does that? If this had been an issue before I bought the speaker then it might have come up, but I have some of the first '.2' speakers and so it was unknown at the time. As I say, I'm sort of out of the amp world as I've just been so happy until now so I haven't been hanging around the QSC forums or anything.
If you own a K series, update it now. If you don't own a K series but you are considering it then please be aware that the customer service that I have received in the UK is pretty shocking. EDIT- after Agedhorse reminded me: I have emailed QSC USA (in my defense that was just the first email address I found on their website) and they have told me that all UK issues must go through their UK sales office, which was fine, but they then said that they only deal with sales and that repairs should be done with the distributor, so we went round in circles.
I don't expect a company to just provide free service on everything forever, I get it. But again, this is something inherent to the speaker. It was made faulty. I didn't break it, overuse it, or do anything wrong. It's just a fault with it from the beginning and everyone I've spoken to has essentially told me that it's not their problem. Whilst I would have loved for somebody at QSC or the UK distributor to own up and offer to take care of it for me (like a car recall I guess) they could have at least offered a solution other than just 'ship it hundreds of miles down the country and even then we probably won't fix it'.
Thank you for reading this vent! If you can commiserate with me then please do, if you have any suggestions then please share them.
EDIT - If you want to more about the issue, a search for 'QSC K protect mode 4' will get you everything you need.
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