Hi All,

Well finally I got my new mackies and I must say they are the dogs bits.

Done 2 venues with them one with 100 people and one with 200 and they have sounded so good. The bass sounds nice as well as the tops I would recomend these to anyone looking for Active Speakers.

Just cant wait to get the bass bin now

Gavin

Howdy

Yeah I've gotta agree. I've got 450's and they're great.

Never had a problem with overheating, which I've been warned about, never even gotten them warmed up.

I'll get the base bins when the need arises, as yet, not necessary. The audience don't notice and it's only DJ penis envy that makes us go out and get thumper bins in the first place.

Darren

Aren't they a little on the heavy side, or am I a 8 stone weak lightweight (not a 9 stone cowboy) I brought powered speaker about 4 or 5 years ago, and ended up with HZ because they were the lightest (at the time)

Hi,

I don't think they are at all heavy to be honest. carried a lot of normal speakers that are alot more heavy.

Gav

Hi

The 450's are about 21kg, erm...47lbs?

They much lighter than the cabs I'd been using, also they dead simple to carry about as they have carry handles on the sides and the top. You can also get cases for them so you can lug them around like a sports bag, if you a mountain yack that is.

Darren

What sort of connection options, buttons, switches, mounting options and protection circuits do the SRM450's offer a guy or gal then?

Have a look

I would post a piccy but can't wotk put how to


(Edited to correct altered URL on Mackie website- Mod.)

Sorry

Mounting wise, they can be stand mounted, flown via integral points or used as a monitor on their side. Connections are pretty much the norm for powered speakers, the usual 3 pin in/outs. They have a fab blue led on the front as well!!

Unfortunately, I have known for one of them in the club i do to overheat and cut out as well as one of Mackie's powered sub suffering the same fate.

There is certainly a risk of these speakers cutting out - although only at power levels which won't be a concern to the average user. Opinion is divided as to why this occurs, some Techs say it is poor heatsinking design and lack of cooling, others say that it is simply because the "thermal" protection is set to come on too low a threshold.

If driven hard then you may "lose" a speaker to this problem, although if you run it at a reasonable level, then it should never really be a factor.

Hi

I've only had a speaker cut out on me once, and that was in a room that must've been well over 95 degrees c, remember that summer we ust had?

Anyways, there was no ventilation or room for the cab to breathe so I wasn't very surprised.


In the majority of cases, as long as you mount the cabs with plenty of space around them so the heat can escape, you'll never have trouble, they very rarely even get that warm.

And, I'd have thought, if you're running them so hard that they overheat, it's time to add a base bin or two don't you think?

Darren

Hi again

did I just say 95 Degrees C, no wonder everyone was bad tempered, now I know how a lobster feels.

Darren

What sort of price are these speakers and does anyone know of any stockists?

cheers

Hi

They're priced at around the £1300 mark, however, shop around, I got mine for just over a grand.

Stockists, plenty of the larger music/dj stores will carry them I should imagine.

Darren

Nice topic, if I may ask. What amp do you use on these speakers, just out of
curiosity.

Thanks

Am currently looking at the Mackies. But not too keen on the price! Like the idea of Speakers and Amp setup, as if amp blows you only need to get a new amp. just a bit wary! Is the power 450 watts RMS or peak? Since seeing Chris' advice now know what I'm looking at concerning RMS and peak etc. Thanks ;)

Nrgize

Just bought a pair of these with the bags and used them for the first time last night. It was a fairly big room and there was about 120 guests and I must say I was very pleased with the sound. As this was my first night using these I was careful not to run them too hard. The heat sinks did get quite warm. I was just wondering from those who regularly users of these speakers what sort of punishment they can take before they overheat , how hot do these heat sinks normally get?

If I wanted some more powered speakers these are the ones I would get, bar none !

PEAVEY, PEAVEY, Will take alot of persuading to change from PEAVEY !!

Hi

The Mackies will take a fair bit of punnishment, they do get hot, particularly if you're playing lots of up-to-date club music, but if you keep your eyes on them, you get a warning light come on if they being driven too hard. If this ever happens, and it is extremely rare, it's happened to me once in 18 months, you just need to back the base off a touch for 15 minutes to give them a breather.

I now run my Mackies with a pair of Skytec 400w powered subs, and jesus do they sound fantastic!

Darren

Would it not be possible to mount or place a fan of some sort, say a 12volt PC type
near or on the heat sinks of the Mackies, too much heat is not good, just a thought

cheers

Hi

Funny you should mention that, I'm gona get a couple of office type fans for that very purpose, however it's only if you're in an extremely warm closed in room that it will ever occur.

The fans will come n useful for keeping us DJ's cool too, so double duty!

Darren

Darren , you say you are now using your mackies with 2 powered bass bins. I have a set of 18" passive Behringer Bins which I think I will try out witth my Mackies. Initially I am going to use 1 bin to see what this sounds like. I take it that you still drive your Mackies full range and cut back a bit on the Bass , and let the built in x-over on the bins do their work? Or do you configure you system another way?

Hi

No crossover needed, the mackies and the skytecs each contain an xlr through.

so you can go directly from the mixer into either the tops or the subs, and through to the other speekers.

I use tthe Mackies as I've always used them and just tweek the volume of the base bins dependant on how much base is needed.

I tend to run the tops on their own for the first half of the function, then as the room starts to fill up, add the base bins.

Works very well and sounds bloody awsom.

Darren

Cheers Darren . I 'll try mine out tomorrow night and let you know how I got on.

I run the mackies with a single mackie swa1501 sub ( also powered ) gives loads of level and not really neede to get a second one ( crowds up to 250 usually ).

I've also modified the back of my mackie 450's by adding a 15cm square mains powered fan ( pc style ) mounted in the center of the heatsink where it connects to the circuit board inside. Since adding I have never overheated them !!

Hayd

Now used my Mackies with a single bin and with the pair which I will only use if I'm going to be in a large 300+ type venue. Very pleased with this system and wish I had splashed out 6 months ago.

Last New Years eve we supported a duo who had two Mackie subs with the 450's on top using the built in crossovers (I think) they sounded sweeeeeeeet ! and they only had them at half power for a crowd of 250.
We sounded like a fart in a thunder storm by the end of the night we were drooling.
On the weight side of things the "Female" singer carried out the 450's on her own ! and all their kit went into a Galaxy.
We want some

Band had 6 of them as foldbacks, along with 4 bass bins foldbacks, and 15kw of main power, sounded great.

I was lucky enough to be in the market for some new speakers about 24 months ago and auditioned a set of the SRM450's and the previous model of sub SRS... forget the full model number. ANyway I can honestly say that despite the price they are worth going overdrawn for. Never had them cut out once, sound is crisp and natual at high or low levels and the ease with which you can set them up makes these the best gig speakers I have ever had. My only criticism would be that they would have been better to carpet the subs rather than paint them as they get knocked and scratched easily after some time on the road. I'm a dab hand at carpeting cabs so I did so with mine after the warranty ran out. One thing I have noticed with other posts is this cutting out problem. If you drive these too hard and have the volume control on the units beyond the 12 'o' clock position then first thing you will do is destroy the sub harmonic filter in the SRMs (I have this info on good authority) which is an expensive repair and second the increase in excessive voltage on the audio input will result in the amplifers working harder than they should be so they get too hot and cut out. If they are used as Mackie instructs - you will never have a problem. Of course, excessive room temperature is something none of us can do anything about so here's a simple idea. Get a couple of cheap battery fans and some long 32mm dia G clamps. Attach the fans to the clamps and attach the clamps to the speaker stand/pole under the SRM450. Turn on the fans and direct at the heatsink. The increased airflow on the heatsink will help to keep the temperature down - SIMPLE.

Just popped in to say

"hi-yer"

I also use a pair of Mackie SRM 450's coupled with an Behringer EQ and it's musik to one's ears...

Thumbs up, wonderful design, crisp and pleasing to the eye, one product that many other manufactors are doing best to compete with but to date short of the margin that MACKIE have achieved...

Health and Happiness for the festive season and all the very best for 2005

Warmest Regards
Barry
aka
DJ~hi-yer

I am currently checking out some new speakers and amplifier.I want to get my speakers sorted first.
I had never even considered going powered but today I "roadtested" 3-Peavey,Mackie and some that I have not heard mentioned on this forum-LEM.
Now I am assuming that they were all within the same range and I was impressed.The sound from the LEM was to my ears,superb.It blew the Peavey away and was better than the Mackie(EQ flat).They cost about £900.
Has anybody seen ,got or used these.CP;can you get them?

I have just checked out the LEM speakers again and apparently they do a small (in size) bass bin,for about £300.The bass bins in the Cyclops or Hurcules range are just too big for me to handle even though they have wheels on them.I know that the majority of mobiles dont tend to use bass bins but just in case I need some extra power, for the size and cost, I think it might be a sound investment.What do you think guys-passive/powered?

Sounds quite reasonable for a powered bass bin . I have a pair of mackie 450's + the 1501 powered sub , plenty of power but pricey at £700 for the sub alone !

I'm sure there are plenty of threads on the passive / powered debate , have a search :-)


Hayd

More techie questions I'm afraid.
Some systems have powered subs driving the top cabs-HK LUCAS 600 like Andy has, for instance.
Now if you have something like the powered Mackie 450's that you probably use on their own, what happens when you use the 1501 sub,how do you connect them up?
Do you take the signal to the sub first and then connect the top cabs to the sub?
If so does that mean your amp in the 1501 is running the top cab, therefore bypassing the amp in your top cab?
Or do you take the base signal from your mixer direct to the sub and leave the tops connected to the outputs of your mixer?

Check out the Mackie Website , you can download a "hook up" diagram that shows all the possible configuratiuons with Mackie systems. With a single Mackie bin the sound is input direct from the mixer to the bin and split from the bin to each of the tops.

Unfortunately Woodyo try as I might I could not download the hook up info to my computer.

For mackie tops only connect mixer directly to tops with xlrs . For sub , connect mixer to sub then take line out from sub to each top. ( there is filtered out or full line out ) .
Hook up guide. link you need adobe acrobat to read



Mackie hook up guide

Sorry if I am repeating myself Haydn.When you are using your sub,is the amp in the sub running your top cabs or is it just sending the sound signal to them and they work as normal ie using their own built in amp.
The reason I am asking is if you recall the small base bin I mentioned with regard to the LEM powered speaker.
Quote;I have just checked out the LEM speakers again and apparently they do a small (in size) bass bin,for about £300.
I am not sure what the output is on these and because they are small compared to the Mackie bins and that much cheaper I am worried in case there is not enough power output for what I want.I had a demo of this system and I was impressed with the sound;at the time;but you know how it is,when you get home you can think of all sorts of things you should have found out about and didnt.

The tops still use their own amps the bass bin has either line out ( same as the input to it from the mixer ) or High pass ( ie same as line out but with the bass removed ) .
Each speaker in this kind of system uses it's own amp with line level inputs.
I don't know much about the LEM's but if the tops are powered they will also use their own amps with a bass bin.

Hayd

Been selling some stuff recently, and have found an absolute mint second hand bargain on a pair of mackie sw 15001 subs,

I heard a band using them who I was working alongdside with and I was really impressed. I'm going to use my gemini cabs a long side them.

To be honest I don't see that there are any limitations of active speakers for mobile djs. Things are less likely to go wrong, and if they do the situation is easier to resolve. Less stuff to carry etc.

I have also heard the srm 450s, they are really nice sounding cabs, the heat factor worries me though. Who said they were HEAVY! Oh my word, I carry 30kg gemini tops with relative ease and I'm a 5ft 14 year old.

For £50 more in the Mackie range, why aren't these any more popular???

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/options.php?id=67562

Good point.. they look much better than the SRM450s..

I know mackie did start using cheaper drivers at one point though.. mabye its something to do with that...

Ive been told they are heavier and not as good on the mid range freq? But only from the guy i bought my 450's from...Done 6 gigs with my 450's and single 1501 sub now in the last month since ive had them..good bass, and mid top, heavey compared to DB's etc but worth the extra effort i think! Never over heated and cheap in price now compared to what they were. I got mine for £850 brand new and the sub was £520 new Covers were £40 for the two 450's
Just have dial on back at 1 oclock never to be turned above that and will never overheat. (so i believe)

Ran my SRM450s for the first time last night.

Was very impressed. In a medium sized room with 60 people. Ran the dial on the back of them at 9 o'clock (yes, just 9 o'clock) all night, and my mixer master was at 11 o'clock and it was more than loud enough for the room. My LED's weren't even going into the Yellow.

On the speaker - I turned off the "low cut" for added bass and also turned on "mid pass" for that U-Shaped frequency respnse; and had my mixer EQs all at 12 o'clock all night.

The bass was fantastic - very warm and deep, I could have increased the low EQ from my Mixer to get that nightclub "boom boom" effect but didn't. Highs were crisp and clear too. They kept the clarity and full range frequency response even at high voulmes.

Sounded very good.

For larger rooms I'd turn on LOW PASS (to cutt off the bass) and turn off MID PASS and run them at higher power as tops, in conjuncion with separate bass bins.

As for weight - I'm not very strong (and have an injured shoulder) and was still able to lift them about 5 feet up onto stands.

It's good to see the Mackie's still returning desired results. I'm just about to invest in a pair on the recommendations from this site/thread, may I ask how much you managed to get yours for?

Last night - used my SRM450s for the second time, at my biggest gig of the year, and they performed amazingly.

I brought along two passive backup speakers as I was worried that the 450s on their own would not be loud enough - but how wrong I was!

I used just 2x SRM450s and a single 250w passive bassbin - playing to 400 people in a large room, they were very loud and the clarity was fantastic.

Ran the dial on the back at 12 o'clock and thrashed the master output on the mixer, and the Peak warning signals on the back of the speakers only flashed briefly once - a warning to say you've reached the limit - but to be fair, in a 4 hour gig, this only happened once. I hit the "low cut" button on the back so that they acted as tops only (and thus got more power out of them, as bass at high volumes consumes a lot of the 450's power) - and let the passive bassbin do its thing for the lows.

The area of the room was 415.2m - rather large.

Will try and upload some piccys