Mackie HD series back up and running

[Phil Lewandowski]

Hey All,

Just wanted to let you know there have been some good reports that Mackie has figured out some major issues with the HD series. I'm going to wait probably a good 6-8 months to call is official, but its looking good.

I can soon again start recommending the HD1531 as the best value powered speaker for $1000 or less. At almost $1000 on the dot, the HD1531 is a steal.

(Gets very loud and still sounds good when hitting the limiters, overall sound is excellent for a sub $2000 speaker and actually does do something very similair to the time domain correction found in the EAW Focusing ("Gunness Focusing"), the only downside is the weight.)



Take Care,
Phil

[GaFFLe]

I compared these 3-way HD1531's to my 2-way EV ZXa5's. The Mackie's beat the EV's in every category except weight. They were louder and yes, they did sound good, even into clipping. I didn't get them because they were Mackie (bad service) and I had read and seen Youtube reports of them failing religiously. My club purchased a pair of HD1801 subs and they fail all the time. One unit has been in repair for over 2 months because the repair shop is still waiting on the replacement driver from Mackie. The other failed just recently but may have been due to another group of DJ's that were over driving it.

[Phil Lewandowski]

Yup, that's why if they figured out these issues, as right now it is sounding like they have. Then these HD speakers are a great deal!

[djdran]

??? where is the news that they have figured things out??? what was the issue before ???

[Al Poulin]

??? where is the news that they have figured things out??? what was the issue before ???

I wouldn't bet on the Mackie boxes now being problem free... We are talking about Mackie here.

The issues were multiple : speakers not powering on at all, amplifier modules failing, high freq. drivers failing, built-in protection not actually doing what it is supposed to do - protect the woofer/horn etc... Since their release, Mackie HD owners have been posting about failures fairly regularly.

Al

[Phil Lewandowski]

That's why I would wait 6-8 months but there have been several very promising reports, like beyond "oh they fixed my gear and it works now."

But again, for what you get in a sub $1000 powered box, man are they hard to beat. Like I said the only con is weight with the 1531. (I am not a Mackie person either, I only own a pair of SRM450's from back in the day and are they workhorses making the rental $$. But sound wise and output wise, man the HD series is hard to beat)


It's just too bad that the line kinda shot itself in the foot with the many issues from its inception, and I am really surprised that no one has come out with a line that rivals it yet in that price range.

~Phil

[DJStevieRay]

I am really surprised that no one has come out with a line that rivals it yet in that price range.

~Phil

That is because it costs more to use amp's that don't fail, and to use labor that properly solders, glues wires etc. So if someone is going to make a line that sounds as good AND works, it is going to cost more.

[Incognito]

That is because it costs more to use amp's that don't fail, and to use labor that properly solders, glues wires etc. So if someone is going to make a line that sounds as good AND works, it is going to cost more.

Good point, but really I think with the proper outsourced company at the production level you can find the right balance between cheap labor & sound products without too hard of an impact on the bottom line. There are a couple companies (some outsourced, some not) out there producing reliable products at cheap prices, take a look at the Peavey IPR series, take a look at the Behringer amps. Now use amp modules based on these budget amp modules & use something like the built in DSP found on some Peavey IPR amps & you have a low priced, reliable amp module & the rest comes down to speaker design which over all Mackie already has down with HD series.

[Unknown DJ]

Are they going to offer free fixes to all the current owners of there product? If not I would stay far far away.

[Phil Lewandowski]

Are they going to offer free fixes to all the current owners of there product? If not I would stay far far away.

No clue on that, but time will tell if they actually got it right this time. As Al mentioned, Loud's customer service hasn't had the best record in the past couple years but of course that doesn't mean they can't turn it around; but if they fixed it to the point where it is like my Mackie's I have owned for the better part of a decade, and all they have done is made me money, you can't complain about that.

It would just be a shame to see a speaker series like the HD series go down because of it. As I mentioned several times they, sound and output wise they demolish anything in the under $1K region.


~Phil