Behringer B212a Powered Speaker Review

When looking for a good powered PA speaker the obvious choices of Mackie, Thump and EV quickly come to mind however with a price tag or merely a $600-$700 per speaker. A system designed with these would easily run you over $2000. The Behringer 212a powered speakers cost a fraction of their competitors, at around $250 each it would be easy to assume that these speakers are subpar and that you will sacrifice sound for savings. However these assumptions would be greatly incorrect, in our live testing we have found the Behringer’s powered speakers to not only meet the same quality as the aforementioned speakers but actually be better than them in some cases.

One thing that we love about Behringer 212a powered speakers is that they are extremely light at only 22 pounds a piece this makes setting up and tearing down at the end of the night a breeze. The speakers are also pole mountable, which means that two speakers running 400 Watts per side would easily be enough for any small bands in an average size bar.

The speakers are rated at 400 Watts and feature processor controlled 12 inch woofer and a 1.25 inch titanium compression driver for the Tweeter. While the woofer being only 12 inches large will not create the pounding low bass that say a hip-hop DJ would need they are more than adequate if using a live drummer. The loudspeaker it is also rated at 200 W RMS for the lows and 320 watt peaks for plenty of headroom. What this means is that even on those nights when you push it a little too far you do not have to worry about blowing these speakers and having to replace them prematurely.

While two of these Behringer 212a powered speakers on their own would be ideal for a small three or four piece band, if I were running a DJ service and I anticipated a lot of hip-hop music that requires the deep bass sound than I think I would have to add in a bass powered speaker of at least 600 Watts, however any 400 W speaker with the 12 inch woofer would have this need, so you cannot default the Behringer B212A for that alone.

One of the things that we really noticed about the Behringer B212a powered speaker is the wide dispersion that the speaker offered due to the cabinet being placed behind the actual speaker. With this design it is actually possible to stand at a 45° angle from the speaker and receive the same volume that you would get standing directly in front of the speaker. With the dispersion level like this you are able to play to an audience at lower levels and have less hotspots which is nice as you will get less complaints about being too loud, something that a lot of PA systems get bands in trouble for.

The back of these powered speakers are pretty much your standard fare, they have everything you would expect such as line in bass, mid, and treble controls as well as a nice cooling grid that will help keep your speakers from overheating. In our tests not once did we have to worry about the heat disbursement from the Behringer 212a powered speakers and even after usage of several hours we were able to put our hands directly on the cooling grid without it being too hot.

These have to be above the most versatile of powered speakers that I have seen in recent years. With the low weight, smooth sound and enviable price tag I have trouble not suggesting these speakers to anyone that is in the market for a great live speaker and does not want to pay for the name on the side of the speaker, as is the case with Mackie. I can honestly say I found the sound as good if not better then the Mackie speakers we had rented the night before. And they were about 10 pounds lighter to boot. Something that we were very glad for at the end of the night.

These Behringer B212a loudspeakers sound amazing for the price, are built to the highest quality standards of extremely tough plastic housing and the control knobs are set in so that there is no worry about knocking them off and transport. All around for the money you will find no better loudspeaker than the Behringer B212A powered loud speakers.