QSC HPR153i

I have two of these 3-way self powered speakers that I use with a pair of QSC HPR181 subs as a main PA for a 4 piece classic rock band. We play small to medium venues, up to about 500 people. We don't use any guitar, bass, or keyboard amps on stage. Everything is run direct or miked. For very small venues, the 153s by themselves handle the full-range job very well.

Each cabinet has a 15 inch woofer driven by a 400 watt amp, 6.5 inch midrange driven by a 100 watt amp, and 1.4 inch high frequency horn driven by a 100 watt amp. These are very solidly built and weigh accordingly, but the rigidity of the additional material improves the sound quality dramatically. The convenience of hookup is better than the "speaker cable" method of tri-amping or quad-amping separate speaker boxes. And forget all the electronic crossover hookup and power amp tangles!

The midrange speaker is the key. They do vocals exceptionally well. From top to bottom, the sound of the rig is exceptional. I have used Mackie 1521 and EAW CF350s before, and the QSC have a much more ear-pleasing sound (not to slight either of these other fine products). The coverage angle is about what would be expected for this style of box. I can drive this rig mercilessly and it barely breaks a sweat.

The side handles have a nice rubber-ish padding on them. The 181 subs have 2 swivel wheels and 2 stationary wheels, that work very smoothly. The 153 box is way too heavy for "speakers on sticks" use.
The rubber feet on the 153s are very sturdy and don't pull off. They don't slide well at all (but they shouldn't). I bought some third party covers (QSC didn't offer them at the time). I cut some pieces of thin plywood to lay on top of the sub grills to add some protection for the grill, as other gear is always wanting a ride to the trailer during load-out. Having 4 swivel wheels would definitely be a plus.

At around a thousand+ a box, this isn't a cheap rig to acquire for part time musicians. But it truly performs as well as systems costing much more. I have never had a venue I couldn't fill, nor a single complaint about the quality of sound, nor a feedback problem. I have never had any failure of the equipment. Actually, musician friends that have come to hear my band and remark how clear and clean the sound is, then have to check them out!

We've had a pair of these in service for a year now, as front of house speakers with an 8-piece motown-oriented band playing weddings, clubs and corporate events. It's an active 3-way speaker (tri-amped), but we run them with a pair of double 18" subwoofers crossed over at 100hz. One of the nice things about active speakers is that the manufacturer can tune the whole thing to have flat (or pleasing) frequency response. We carry 31 band EQ to use when needed, but we seldom use it. We really only EQ these speakers if the room acoustics are terrible.

Titanium tweeter, 6.5" midrange speaker, and a 15" woofer. This is pretty much optimal in my experience. 2-way speakers generally have to compromise (or at the high end, use a lot of custom eq/processing) to cover the frequencies between the sweet spot of the woofer and that of the horn...which happens to be the prime vocal range. These sound great for vocals, and they're loud and solid enough to handle miked drums, guitar, bass, keyboards and horns at the same time.

The sound is KILLER. Very flattering to (good) singers' voices, even while carrying a fully miked band.

XLR input and "thru" connector; volume knob (sensitivity, really); optional 100hz high pass filter. These things are heavy (120lb each) but they're well balanced on a dolly, and comfortable for two people to lift in & out of the trailer, and up and down from atop the subwoofers.

We use the 100hz high pass filter in lieu of an external crossover. The Crown XTI4000 amp that we use for the subwoofers has a 100hz low pass filter option in its DSP, so it works out perfectly.

I can't think of anything else I would need feature-wise.

This rig is considerably bigger & heavier than speakers on poles, but with the great sound and volume to justify it. I wish it were lighter, but that would violate the laws of physics, so I won't deduct any points.