Which DJ Speakers Should I Buy?
All the amazing equipment we have talked about above deserves to be heard. And I mean that literally. Enter, the speaker! Thankfully, speakers aren’t as daunting to the newcomer as the equipment above. In fact, all you need when picking your perfect speaker is a little bit of restraint when it comes to size.
What Size DJ Speakers Should I Get?
For most home setups, you don’t need to go big. I currently rock a hand-me-down set of KRK, 15-year-old, 6-inch speakers in a large theatre room and I have never wanted for more.
When you are considering the different sizes, you need to think about the size of your room. For a small study/office setup, 5-inch will be plenty. For a larger living room/theatre room, I would recommend between 5-7 Inches. If you are playing outdoors to a smallish crowd (100 people or less), 8-12 inch is plenty.
With larger spaces than that, you are stepping into PA speaker territory. If this sounds like you, I strongly recommend you get professional assistance before making any purchase.
Speaker Brands
While there is a huge range to choose from when it comes to speakers, at the end of the day, it still whittles down to a small handful of brands that I would go for. They are KRK, Pioneer, Yamaha and M-Audio. So let’s take a look at them individually and why you’d go for each.
KRK
KRK is like the Toyota of DJ speakers. They are unkillable, great value for money, sound awesome, and they are the most commonly seen speaker in home setups. You will also find a lot of these on the second-hand market, meaning you can pick up a bargain if you get your timing right.
Pioneer
Pioneer are kind of like the poor man’s KRK. They are almost as good in all the same ways as KRKs. The only reason I could see that you would want to go for Pioneer is if the rest of your gear is Pioneer and you like to matchy-match.
Yamaha
Yamaha has KRK beat when it comes to sound resolution, making them a great DJ speaker for producing as well as mixing. But they aren’t quite as tough as the KRKs, and they are usually slightly more expensive too.
M-Audio
M-Audio might be your cheapy starter option, but they ain’t no toy. Their sound quality is fantastic, they look great, they offer plenty of audio adjustment on the rear, they take XLR/TRS, the build quality is sturdy and they are literally half the price as the options above.
Life Span, Resale & Second Hand DJ Speakers
Speakers tend to hold their value surprisingly well for a product with a tangible life span. Speaker gurus claim 20 years of regular use to be about the limit for most speakers if they are cared for well. The soft parts of the speaker like the cone/surrounds, ferrofluid-cooled tweeters and onboard capacitors all degrade with time, so if you are buying second-hand, bear this in mind and give the speakers a good test through the ranges before laying down your cash.
Do I need a sub?
If you are just starting out and have a small space in which to play, you definitely don’t need to add an expensive sub to your speaker lineup. The speakers we talked about above will handle your bass needs just fine. They will, however, help extend the life of your other speakers. Saying that, for the price of a sub that doesn’t really work economically.
I would only think about a sub if one of the following is true;
- You are playing outside or in a very large space and you want your bass to carry
- You want to add a little more bass than your speakers will handle
- You play very bass-heavy tunes like Hip hop
- You have money to burn, and you don’t mind burning it
Cabling?
The last thing to talk about when it comes to speakers is cabling. With cabling, you definitely get what you pay for. Cheap cables will have thinner wire and thinner insulation which means they are more susceptible to interference and signal loss. The annoying thing is, speakers and DJ equipment usually ship with cheap cabling. So if you are hearing a lot of feedback through your speakers, your first port of call is a couple of high-quality cables.
What type of cables should I get? Well, you are usually limited by the outputs/inputs on your DJ equipment and speakers. More often than not, the outputs on your DJ equipment will be RCA. If your speakers don’t take the same type of cable as your DJ equipment, you can simply get cross over cables. For example, you can get RSA to XLR or XLR to TRS.
