Heh BoB,
Both the FBT Maxx 2A and QSC K8 are excellent speakers for their price/weight range.
As mentioned, I find the FBT Maxx 2A goes a little deeper, and stays a little flatter over the midrange. A little more sonic detail there in the way they voiced this speaker. Overall I think they are a little (but only a little) fuller and more accurate. And they throw the sound farther in a larger space. But because of their more traditional "90 vertical by 60" horizontal" dispersion, I usually want a separate floor monitor when using these, unless the space is really small. (The Maxx 2A also makes a great floor monitor for larger shows, and includes EQ on the back, useful for rolling off the low end when used as monitors.)
For my "20 shows in 10 days" Illinois blitz, I'm going with a pair of the QSC K8's mostly to simplify the chore of setting up sound twice a day, and to save space in the car for a lot of merchandise. They're more compact physically. But then there's the unusual 105 degree conical dispersion of these speakers that also makes it easier to forgo a floor monitor (see below).
This is unorthodox, but can work fine if you're not cranking up the volume too loud, if you stay right on top of your vocal mic, and if you have a pickup on your guitar. By placing the K8's up at tallest setting on speaker stands, about 6-10 feet to either side and slightly BEHIND me, and tilting them down and in slightly, I can usually hear just fine what the audience is hearing, without feedback, and without a separate floor monitor. The QSC K series speakers come with their own built in 7 degree "tilt adjuster." Terrific feature... just wish it went to 15 or degrees! For more downward tilt, I use a separate Konig Meyer tilt adaptor.
http://www.k-m.de/en/products/catego...-2/?no_cache=1 Very useful for getting sound into the audience's ears, and reducing the amount of sound lost to the ceiling or echoing off the back wall.
So, while not quite as full sounding as the Maxx 2A (but almost), with the QSC K8 I save myself space in the car, an extra trip back and forth, set up and breakdown time, plus a slightly quicker sound check, all multiplied by 20.
Hope this explanation helps. Every show and set up presents some tradeoff between quality of sound, size/weight/complexity of set up, and cost. Like I said in the earlier post, if I had a roadie, or only one show a day, the choices would be different. I'm glad to have a choice of speakers based on specifics of a show.
Please give a phone call if you want to talk more details with me!
Keep playing,
Steve Schuch (603) 464-4321