Easy-to-use Portable Wedges for a Better Monitor Mix

There’s no stage monitoring method as popular or time-tested as the good old-fashioned stage wedge speakers. They’re practical and straightforward: just stick them onstage near the musicians and dial in the gain. Send your monitor mix out an aux send, get the levels right, and you’re good to go! But today’s monitor wedges are a lot more sophisticated than the passive enclosures you used to see everywhere, and there are some features you don’t want to miss. Check out these four excellent examples from some of Sweetwater’s most popular brands.
Behringer Eurolive F1220D

Like most modern stage wedges, the Eurolive F1220D is actually a general-use powered PA speaker that doubles as a stage wedge. The two important features that make this possible are the F1220D’s angled sides and onboard DSP. That is to say, the F1220D is a bi-amped, 2-way, 12″ powered PA speaker sporting 250 watts of amplification power. It’s a great full-range speaker in itself, and it offers more than enough volume to act as the main speaker for a modest PA system. Used as a wedge, the F1220D is more than capable of the task.
One of the immediate advantages the Eurolive F1220D offers is an adjustable feedback filter. That’s a huge bonus if you’ve ever had to deal with a singer accidentally pointing the mic at the monitor. It also includes a 3-band EQ for general sound shaping. There’s a small 2-channel mixer onboard with an XLR output, making it a great personal monitor or even all-in-one PA for small gigs. Add to that a lightweight Class D amplifier, and you have a totally portable monitor wedge.

Electro-Voice ZLX-12P

Adding a 12″ Electro-Voice ZLX-12P powered speaker to your rig is one of the easiest ways you’ll find to get quality monitoring with plenty of output. A full 1,000 watts of amplification drive this impressive multi-purpose speaker, which can toss out a whopping 126dB of volume. An integrated 2-channel mixer and multiple setup configurations make the ZLX-12P a great jack-of-all-trades speaker.
As a powered monitor wedge, the ZLX-12P has a lot going for it. For starters, there’s an auto limiter onboard, which can rescue you from sudden volume spikes. Other DSP includes a series of preset Application Modes, which optimize the output for various situations. Of course there’s also a great 3-band EQ you can use to tweak your sound manually. For an affordable powered solution, Electro-Voice ZLX-12P speakers are more than worth the investment.

QSC K12.2

QSC has been a longstanding favorite here at Sweetwater because of the exceptional, studio-monitor-style sound and exquisite clarity. This stage monitor is light, portable, and easy to set up, making it a great option for clubs and bands that regularly have to transport their gear on their own. Like the rest of the monitor wedges mentioned in this article, the QSC K12.2 is an all-purpose powered speaker, and with its ample 2,000-watt output, this 2-way speaker is a beast.
Not only does the K12.2 feature great-sounding DSP, but it’s also super flexible. For instance, the K12.2 offers a number of factory presets to accommodate a wide range of spaces and applications, many of which are directly applicable to onstage monitoring. However, you’re also welcome to dig in and create your own presets, which you can store and recall whenever you need them. And to round out the K12.2’s flexibility, there’s a 2-channel mixer onboard with several unique routing options, making it easy to integrate this wedge into complex PA systems.

JBL SRX815P

Few names in professional sound reinforcement command as much respect as JBL, and their SRX line is notable for both its power and its value. The 2,000-watt, 15″, 2-way SRX815P powered speaker offers you far more than top-notch sound. This speaker comes absolutely loaded with features that make it easy to integrate into your rig, especially when you need enough power to cut into the loudest stage volumes.
The biggest perk to the SRX815P is JBL’s HiQnet network system. This DSP management system lets you take full control of your speaker remotely, and when you use Audio Architect, you can more or less automatically dial in your wedges to meet the rest of your environment. You can even walk the stage and make adjustments to the monitor mix from the convenience of your tablet. What’s more, everything is user configurable, so you can set up your SRX815P any way you like and always come back to it.

Still not sure which monitor wedges to buy? No problem. Just give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700, or check out the other monitor wedges right here at Sweetwater.com.
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