The 10 Best DJ Speakers

Editor's Notes

November 26, 2020:

We made some changes to this list with our latest update. The Electro-Voice ZLX was updated to the company's latest model, the Electro-Voice ZLX-15BT, which now supports Bluetooth connection. The Behringer Eurolive was updated to the Behringer Eurolive B12X. This saw major improvements with the addition of a built-in 24-bit DSP system from Klark Teknik. The company also developed an app that pairs with the speaker and allows the user to take control right from their smart device.

March 09, 2019:

Boy, speakers are just great, aren't they? And you know, it can be fun to toil away for hours on end doing math and planning circuitry and running cables (at least for some of us it can be), but the bottom line is, if you've spent countless hours designing and arranging your sounds, compiling and organizing your library, driving to shows and unloading gear, or any combination of those three, you'll understand just how nice it is to have a professionally assembled, self-powered performance speaker. And, frankly, a good active speaker, that's been put together by the pros, is engineered to simply sound fantastic, at all times. So most DJs (at least the ones I know, have booked, and have performed with) prefer to make a slightly larger investment in self-powered speakers. Without further ado, unless you're willing to sell an organ or take out a mortgage for a set of Funktion-Ones, you should strongly consider some TurboSounds. If you make intricate, bass-heavy music, these are the ones for you, because they will perform consistently, for a very long time, and they'll give you complete control over the output, and no matter what you feed through them, they won't drown themselves out or cause distortion or noise (as long as you know what you're doing, of course). But they're pretty darn expensive. Mackies, on the other hand, also do an amazing job, and cost far, far less. In fact, Mackies are one of the most popular for DJs, even the used Mackies — which is a testament to how durable and long-lasting they are. JBLs, Electro-Voice, and Peaveys are good compromises, as they're in the middle of the price range, get relatively loud, and still sound great pumping out your uncompressed tracks. On the other hand, say you're a wedding or Bat Mitzvah DJ, and your audience isn't packed with audiophiles who would just as soon criticize your sound quality as dance. Well, you'll have a fantastic time playing behind some Rockvilles. There's really nothing bad to say about them, especially if there's anything by Rick Astley or the Spice Girls in your library (both of whom are fantastic artists). And if you're ready to make a serious investment, and don't mind maybe leaving your speakers fixed in one place, those Yamaha DXRs are pretty tough to beat — just ask nearly any pro music venue in the country. But NO MATTER WHAT, please do yourself a favor, and prolong your career, by wearing some high-quality musician's earplugs and/or sound-isolating headphones whenever you DJ. Your eardrums will thank you.