Rediscovering my Mackie HR824 Monitors!

[Flint]

As I slowly reorganize my house to make it my after my divorce and subsequently my ex-wife's departure, I have had opportunity to do things however I damn will please. I've talked about my family room system with its new Samsung UHD TV and use of my classic SVS MBS01 speakers and the new SVS 12" subwoofer.

Now I am setting up a workstation for my tablet/notebook with a docking station and a pair of speakers in my front room (sometimes called a Living Room). I like the idea of looking out my front window while I work. I don't have any smaller speakers stocked away somewhere to place on my desk, so I grabbed my Mackie HR824 powered studio monitors. They are large for the application, but I put them on the desk anyway and cabled them up. I fired up one of my favorite stations on Amazon Music and started listening while I worked.

Almost immediately I was blown away. Despite being a mere 18 inches from my ears, these speakers sounded amazing. Albeit, they were designed as near-field studio monitors, so close listening was on the minds of the engineers who made them. But damn! The imaging is perfect with the instruments and singers across the front soundstage being precisely placed in suspension. The wide stereo-effect is beyond measure because, as with headphones, I am so close that there are no reverb or echo additions to soften the wideness. WOW! The bass is deeper than I will ever need, but who needs bass, right? The tonality is perfect, and the balance is my ideal.

I forgot how great these speakers are. I am looking forward to the hours I spend sitting at my desk working... well, trying to work when a great song isn't distracting me.

 

[PaulyT]

^--- Now THAT's a proper proportion of speaker to computer!

 

[Haywood]

Now all you need is a huge monitor to stick between those speakers and it will be perfect.

 

[Flint]

I will say this... the bass performance is significantly enhanced by my hands and forearms resting on the desk. The speakers shake the desk and I feel it through my appendages.

 

[Haywood]

I love my baby Mackies other than lack of bass. I can only imagine what those HR824s sound like as computer speakers.

 

[Zing]

I will say this... the bass performance is significantly enhanced by my hands and forearms resting on the desk. The speakers shake the desk and I feel it through my appendages.

Your Mopads must be defective.

 

[Flint]

Nerd moment:

You may notice that I did not toe in the monitors so they are aimed directly at my ears. I did this because the top end treble is too harsh when I aim them at my ears at such a short distance, even with the treble switch on the lowest setting. This harshness doesn't occur once I am sitting 3 to 8 feet from the speakers. Why? Because the air itself diffuses the highest frequencies as they pass through the space. This is one of the reasons a pair of speakers you loved at a friend's house might sound terrible at your own home. The distance from which you sit greatly affects the highest treble.

 

[Haywood]

Nerd moment:
This is one of the reasons a pair of speakers you loved at a friend's house might sound terrible at your own home. The distance from which you sit greatly affects the highest treble.

Klipsch must sound wonderful at 100 yards.

 

[malsackj]

Haywood, My horns sound very sweet at 80 ft. The scoop subs Also.

 

[Flint]

Nerd Moment (continued):

I mentioned the close proximity causing a harsher top frequency sound being the reason I aimed my speakers straight forward where my ears are about 30 degrees off axis. But I didn't explain why this works - as frequencies get higher, speakers become more directional, so both the midrange from the 8" woofers starts beaming and the top-frequency treble from the tweeter starts beaming. By listening 30 degrees off axis, the beaming means less sound at those frequencies is directed at my ears, thus reducing the top-end treble as well as the midrange near the crossover frequency of the woofer.

 

[Flint]

For example, while I don't have an off-axis response measurement of the Mackie HR824, I did find one for the Genelec 8050D, which has the same driver size compliment as the HR824, so the dispersion characteristics are similar.

In this case, focus on the response curves measured at 15 degrees and 30 degrees off axis. output above 1kHz is anywhere from 1dB to 4dB SPL lower than the direct sound.

 

[Yesfan70]

Klipsch must sound wonderful at 100 yards.

I used to have those same Mackies. I had a Klipsch tower setup which expanded into towers all around when I first got into the forums (S&V days). Sold those for a full 7.1 compliment of Mackie HR824s only to sell those for bookshelf versions of the Klipsch towers I used to own.

The Mackies are an awesome speaker, but I really missed how dynamic my Klipschs were/are now.

 

[Flint]

I used to have those same Mackies. I had a Klipsch tower setup which expanded into towers all around when I first got into the forums (S&V days). Sold those for a full 7.1 compliment of Mackie HR824s only to sell those for bookshelf versions of the Klipsch towers I used to own.

The Mackies are an awesome speaker, but I really missed how dynamic my Klipschs were/are now.

Quite a bit depends on the room, how loud you listen, what content you listen to, and how far you sit from the speakers. The speakers that may sound amazing in my room at my levels might sound terrible in your room and SPLs.

 

[lakedmb]

In the past month, I revamped my desk setup to make room for my HR824's. The imaging that I get from being so close is incredible. I forgot how effortlessly these speakers reproduce music.

 

[Flint]

I am seriously considering selling my Mackie's as I am building much better speakers these days. If anyone wants them, let me know.

 

[lulimet]

So, all of this was just an advertisement to sell these Mackies. You trickster, you!