K10 without the vacuum cleaner?

I've received the QSC K10, and I couldn't be more happy with its sound quality. At last I've found a frfr solution that satisfies me, it sounds incredible with Axe or with HD500, as well as with acoustic or keyboard.

But the problem is as I turn on the K10, the fan gets started and almost never stops. There's not too much heat in my room, and I know it wouldn't be a problem on stage, but I can't stand it. I thought the fan in the Axe was noisy... Well, wait to hear the fan in the QSC; together, it seems the vacuum cleaner is on!

I've read in QSC forums this is the normal behaviour of the K series, so I'm wondering if any of you have substituted the K10 (or K8, or K12) for anything similar in sound quality, weight, and (preferably) price.

Another solution might be disconnecting the fan, but that wouldn't be good for the K10, I suppose.

Any suggestions will be appreciated, thanks!
 
Last edited:
It's a bit strange because the fan should stop autom. when there's no heat. It does on my K12.
Also, the fan in the K12 is not that loud. Maybe contact QSC's support?
 
It keeps on and on without using it; I mean, only turning on the K10 and nothing plugged in, no sound coming out of it. I'll contact QSC's support, but they know this issue (maybe isn't an issue at all, just the normal behaviour of the fan), and probably there's nothing to do about it, as you can see here:

QSC forum - Cooling fan
 
It shouldn't be noticeable in any performance situation. At my quietest gigs there is enough ambient room noise to cover up the fans. When I am playing out I never notice it. I am aware of the phenomena when playing quietly at home. The fans on both my units cycle. The fans on my units seem to spend more time off than on.
 
It shouldn't be noticeable in any performance situation. At my quietest gigs there is enough ambient room noise to cover up the fans. When I am playing out I never notice it. I am aware of the phenomena when playing quietly at home. The fans on both my units cycle. The fans on my units seem to spend more time off than on.

+1

Jens
 
It shouldn't be noticeable in any performance situation. At my quietest gigs there is enough ambient room noise to cover up the fans. When I am playing out I never notice it. I am aware of the phenomena when playing quietly at home. The fans on both my units cycle. The fans on my units seem to spend more time off than on.

Yes, I'm sure about that, on stage it will be inaudible. But I'm trying to reduce my rig, sell my amps and use only Axe or HD500 + frfr speaker.

I'd like it to use it live as well as in my studio-room, but the fan makes this hard for me. Yes, I have nearfield monitors, but the sound and the feel has nothing to do with the K10; they're good for recording, but why use them to play, study, or create new presets when I have (or should like to have) a better sounding solution next to them? But if that means having the vacuum cleaner always on, I'll say no, thanks.

I'll try them for a few days to see if I can get used to the fan noise. Otherwise, the K10 would be the perfect frfr solution.
 
I think you have a defective K10. I'm very sensitive to fan noise and I've got two K10s in my studio.
The fans are inaudible when there is no input, you have to stick your head right next to the fan to even hear it, much quieter than the Axe.
When I play loud through the K10s the fans do kick on and stay on for a few minutes after I stop playing, but no more annoying than the Axe itself,
and softer than most fan-cooled power amps.
 
Last edited:
I think you have a defective K10. I'm very sensitive to fan noise and I've got two K10s in my studio.
The fans are inaudible when there is no input, you have to stick your head right next to the fan to even hear it, much quieter than the Axe.

This is what my K10 does, the fan is always on with an acceptable noise; but as I started to play, the vacuum cleaner appears and stays almost all the time!

My K10 may be defective, but I want to be sure of it because I'm from Spain, bought it from Germany, and I can't afford shipping costs of various K10 coming and going through Europe just to be sure that mine is defective or that fan noise is normal.

I'll post this in QSC forum and see what they tell me; the best solution (for me, not for the K10) would be disconnecting the fan. I've read of guys who have done it without damage for the speaker, but first I'd like to be sure about the risk of doing so.
 
I've contacted QSC Support (incredibly good support, quick responses and very helpful; thanks, Kirk!), and this is what they told me:


"Your speaker was manufactured in October, 2010. It does have the current firmware. The last revision was in January of 2010.

With that said, I did a little more research in to the revision. It is the KW Series where they made the change to the fans where it remains silent until it is needed. With the K Series, the fan IS constant but they adjusted the thermostat to where the fan adjusts its speed from an idol rotation to a faster speed based on its thermal requirements.

If you find that the fan is on at a high rate of speed then unfortunately there may be something wrong with speaker. The best thing to do is contact the company from which you bought the speaker to see if you can exchange it... But even with a new speaker, the fan will remain on.

To answer your earlier question about disconnecting the fan, that will void the warranty so I can not recommend that."


But there's people who have disconnected the fan, and they say there's no problem in doing so, no risk for the K10. I'm sure no one from QSC will tell me to do it as it would invalidate warranty, but apart from the warranty thing, have any of you disconnected the annoying fan with success? Is there so much risk in doing so? Class D amps supposedly don't get too hot, am I wrong? Here's a post from a guy who has done it and seems to be happy with it:

http://www.norduserforum.com/accessoire ... t1309.html
 
It's a bit strange because the fan should stop autom. when there's no heat. It does on my K12.
Also, the fan in the K12 is not that loud. Maybe contact QSC's support?

Same here, dont bother me at all even with 2 running
 
This is what my K10 does, the fan is always on with an acceptable noise; but as I started to play, the vacuum cleaner appears and stays almost all the time!

My K10 may be defective, but I want to be sure of it because I'm from Spain, bought it from Germany, and I can't afford shipping costs of various K10 coming and going through Europe just to be sure that mine is defective or that fan noise is normal.

I'll post this in QSC forum and see what they tell me; the best solution (for me, not for the K10) would be disconnecting the fan. I've read of guys who have done it without damage for the speaker, but first I'd like to be sure about the risk of doing so.
I really think you have a defective unit. With my K10s, when there is no input I have to literally stick my ear an inch away from the fan opening to hear anything,
and then what I hear is only the tiniest whisper of air moving.
After playing loud for 10 minutes, the fans do come on, but the combined fan noise of both K10s on full is still no more than that of the AxeFX fan.
 
Well, it's been more than a month since I received my QSC K10, I've returned it and tried to contact Musicstore (Koln, Germany) 10 times via email and 4 via phone and nothing from them, no response, nothing.

No reclamation service, no customer support, no email, no phone, nothing. They've just taken my money and now I have no money and no speaker.

At first I though it was just incompetence and the shittiest customer service, but now I don't know what to think about them. A month is too much time without notice from them.
 
Last edited:
Well, after a month and a half I've finally received a new K10 and I'm very happy with it. The fan makes a little noise, but almost nothing compared with the other K10; for home it's not the best solution but I've tried it live last weekend with keyboards, acoustic, and electric, and I'm more than pleased with the results.

As a monitor, I can't imagine needing more power from it although I'd want to become deaf, and as a backline alone (with Axe or HD500) it'll be enough for most of my small gigs.

Things I've learned: never buy online although you know exactly what you're buying (try before buy), never ever from Musicstore again (they've tried to make me paid again for it, didn't know who I was or what I was talking about when I finally contacted them by phone, and I'm still waiting for the K10's bag which I paid a month and a half ago), and don't expect to find an all-in-one solution for home and live duties.

Thank you very much for your help and support, guys!
 
Music Store have just expanded. Myself and all I know only had lousy support when trying to buy there. Go figure...
 
Back
Top Bottom