Samson Expedition XP312w Portable PA System (Channel K)

This PA system is the system that I have been searching for, for years. Battery operated, powered speaker, wireless microphone receiver built-in to the active speaker. I am very surprised that there are not more reviews on this system. This blows away with those battery operated 8” Pa for the reasons listed above. For me the prose is right for such a versatile unit. I do singing telegrams and small shows using the system as my one stop shop. Bluetooth for backing tracks and wireless mic with reverb for sing. The battery option allows me to pop in with no setup time.

My unit is less than 2 years old and will not hold a charge. Very disappointed. Tech said the batteries are warrantied for 90 days. 90 days??? That’s a joke in itself.

This is an amazing speaker for the price. Bought it for a “voice of god” speaker on film sets and it is perfect for that.

I spent close to $500 including tax on this unitBattery died in less than 2 yearsWorse, there is NO customerNo phone or email service.Filing a formal complaint with Amazon and the BBB.Horrible service model.Do not buy this if you expect longer than 2 years of ioperation

Editing this to remove a star: Samson’s customer service is terrible, and the wireless microphone problem described below seems to be present in every speaker unit.You have to give this speaker credit for trying to be a true all-in-one solution. As a wedding DJ I use it as my ceremony speaker and cocktail hour speaker when those events are held outside or somewhere far from the main reception. Some positives:-Exceptionally portable - the built in handle and wheels are genius. I can take it off a stand, wheel it to a new area, and set it up again in minutes.-Great sounding and loud - I often find myself turning the bass up a bit on the EQ section, but once that is done it sounds very good, especially considering the price point and the fact it is battery-operated. At full volume, I could even use this for a medium sized house party and have used it for casual beach parties - it's that good.-Good battery life - the battery life is NOT 12 hours at full volume. At medium-high volume levels it has lasted around 6-8 hours, which I still find to be very impressive especially with the solid low end it is capable of producing.-wireless potential - I note some issues with the wireless system below, but you have the potential to use 3 different mics at once with this system (2 built in concert 88a units, which can link with either a handheld or belt pack, and the usb port which can link with a belt pack). That's pretty cool-Many connectivity options - you can have an external instrument or mic, an aux music source, bluetooth, 3 different wireless mics all working at the same time, and there's a line out as well. What more could you want? (maybe phantom power for condenser mics)Negatives:*note: I may have a defective unit, so I will be updating this section when mine is replaced**the unit was replaced, and the replacement unit had the same problem*-Wireless range is nowhere close to the advertised 300'. I have gotten maybe 30' out of it before dropouts start to happen. Range is better with the handheld mic than with the belt pack.-With my unit, I get random very loud scratching/distortion noises when using the built in wireless mics. I have tried both the K and D band concert 88a receivers, and both experience this. I have ruled out radio interference. The root of the problem seems to be bad circuitry/programming in the part of the speaker that handles antenna optimization switching when a signal gets weaker (when the microphone is further away from the unit). This problem halves the value of the system for me, since I can't depend on it in critical situations like a wedding ceremony.

Nice and loud, but when we use the audio input we have to keep the volume low or it sqeels really loud... and we've tried everthing including a 25 foot cable to keep the input device far away.