[NAMM 2015] Numark Lightwave DJ Speakers

Here’s a smart idea from Numark launched at NAMM 2015: Speakers that can be used for practising at home, for small parties, and that have their own lights built in. The Lightwave concept ticks a lot of boxes for DJs who like to be able to put on a show at private parties, family occasions, smaller venues and so on, but don’t want to invest in separate lighting.

We’ve always liked speaker systems that can be used in our home studios but that are designed to withstand use at parties, because we’ve seen too many speakers physically destroyed (feet through cones by mistake when things get, ahem, out of hand), or electrically destroyed (ie played too loud until they break). No chance of that here: they pack 200 watts of peak power, 100 watts continuous of Class D amplification and are built into durable speaker cabinet, despite being just 8.4 x 29.2 x 10.1″ and weighting 23lbs.

They have five customisable lighting modes plus brightness and on/off for the lights, XLR and 1/4-inch combo, Stereo RCA and ⅛-inch inputs for DJ mixers, microphones or instruments; dual volume controls for input level balancing: XLR link outputs for use with multiple speakers or subwoofers; rubberised feet with standard 36mm pole sockets for stand mounting.

• Lightwave will ship with an MSRP of £219.99. Check out our talkthrough video.

Nice idea, or gimmick? Good move to make speakers that can be used at home and at parties, or is this definitely a case of needing a different pair for each use case, in your eyes? Please share your thoughts below.