Review of the
Mackie HR 824
High Resolution Studio Monitor
by the Tweak
| Pros |
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Great clear, powerful sound
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Requires no amplification
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Has many settings which can be tweaked to optimize the monitor
for placement
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Excellent Bass for a monitor this size
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| Cons |
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More expensive than other home studio monitors
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Overview
When one
decides to upgrade their studio monitors, you are immediately
beset by a myriad of issues. Should you get active or Passive monitors?
Near-fields or mid fields? Subwoofer? Yes or No? Flat
sound or Hi-Fi sound? In your research you have undoubtedly heard
of the Mackie HR series monitors. Their active (powered) studio monitors
enjoy not only a rather extensive advertising campaign but wide-spread popularity
among professional studios. This is particularly so with the Mackie HR824s.
Indeed there is so much talk about
these monitors that one compelling argument to get them is simply that they
are what they are--Mackie 824s. In a way, the success of Mackie's
marketing campaign is that they have created a standard, a benchmark, against
which all active monitors can be compared. While the 824's may be
expensive relative to others in the home studio market, they are the inexpensive
alternative among the hi-end mastering lab monitors such as the Genelecs
and
DynAudio.
Mackie did a great job positioning these perfectly between the pro and home
studio camps where they would be attractive to both.
Like all monitors, the Mackies have a unique
sound. Nothing else sounds exactly like them, though many come close.
Naturally, when we talk about the sound of a monitor we are going to have
to get subjective. Here's how the Mackie's sound to me.
Your ears may vary.
The HR824mk2 has replaced the original now discontinued
HR824.
The overall sound
Compared to most speakers the 824s have
a clarity to them that other lesser monitors cannot touch. The upper
range of frequencies shine through with no artifacts and with a clear sound
you may be unaccustomed to. This becomes even more evident when one listens
to the vocal range of frequencies. Vocals are more than alive and
well. You can hear nuances you did not hear in the original recording.
And the vocal frequencies sound uncommonly smooth and pronounced---yep,
vocals seem louder, than they are on "average speakers". The bass,
which is powerful thanks not only to the 8 inch woofer but to an internal
passive radiator, can get very low. Not as low as a subwoofer can go, but
deep enough where having a subwoofer may not be so important, or a distraction.
Comparing the bass response of the HR824s to a subwoofer enhanced
system is illuminating. The lowest frequencies, say, 20-40hz range
roll off rather quickly on the Mackies even at it's lowest settings.
What this means is that the lowest of the
lows are not going to be heard. As you bring in a subwoofer, bass takes
on a dimension that is absent in the HR824 by itself. But the bass you do
hear is solid and tight, strong, but not boomy, at least in my studio..
You will not be mistaking a low F for an F# as you might on lesser monitors
with less bass. But if you need "all" of the bass, then you probably
should go for a sub enhanced system, or perhaps add the Mackie Subwoofer
to the HR824s. There is a 3-way bass roll off switch on the back which
has points at 37hZ, 47hZ and 80hZ. If you want to add a sub, naturally,
you would choose the 80hZ. Another advantage of this switch is you can have
the Mackie's emulate a smaller monitor.
Mackie HR824MKII 2-Way Active Studio Monitor (1x8 in.)
The high-resolution HR824mk2 Active studio reference
monitor sounds as smooth as it looks. The new Zero Edge Baffle minimizes
diffraction for a crystal clear image of your mix, and controls
sound waves for wide, even dispersion.
|
Mackie HR624MKII 2-Way Active Studio Monitor (1x6 in.)
With the same design as the HR824mk2 in a smaller
package, the HR624mk2 high-resolution Active studio reference monitor
is the perfect alternative when space is limited. The new Zero Edge
Baffle minimizes diffraction and controls sound waves for wide,
even dispersion.
|
Mackie HRS120 Active Subwoofer (12 in.)
The Mackie HRS120 is a THX-approved, 12
in. active subwoofer that is ideal for applications where precise,
low frequency reproduction and flexible monitoring and control options
are required. The HRS120 is engineered to work in harmony with the
HR824 and HR624.
|
Mackie
MR8 2-Way Active Studio Monitor (1x8 in.)
Mackie MR8 Studio Monitors deliver truly professional
quality and everything you need for critical monitoring — at a
price that’s unbelievably affordable. Wide, even dispersion means
a broad sweet spot, minimizing funny dips or peaks in frequency
response when you move off axis.
|
Are the Mackie's the Perfect Reference Monitor?
The true irony of any exceptional
monitor is that the better it sounds, the less you tweak your mix.
Why? Because what you hear coming out of the Mackies is excellent.
Is this a problem? No and yes. No, because you can hear imperfections
in your tracks with great clarity. You are unlikely to let by any
damaged audio because it will be sticking out plain as day. Yes, because
great sound is deceptive. Here's some areas where the Mackie's might
actually deceive someone at mixdown.
Vocals
With such great clarity in the vocal range,
it is easy to put a track to bed with little hi frequency enhancement.
You sense it does not need it. However, when you reference on your
less adorned monitors you might find the vocal dull and more buried.
After a day working my most recent mix and feeling I had it in the can,
I burned a CD and took it to the living room to listen on my old bookshelf
speakers. Shock, it sounded awful. So back in the lab I ramped
up the hi freq EQ and killed the reverb. This made the vocal sound
"edgy" on the Mackies. But it made the living room mix sound "right".
I then went around the back of the Mackie and set the high frequency contour
to -2. This seemed to help give the 824's a more "real world" transient
response.
Imaging
They are not kidding when they say the
Mackies have a large sweet spot. All you have to do is A/B them with
other monitors in your studio and this will become obvious. The image
of the 824s is incredible. It has a huge "center stage" that makes
other monitors sound "narrow". Again, there is some risk of deceiving
yourself that you have a wide and spacious mix when in the real world, you
don't. I found I had to go through a spatial processor to get the
living room mix as wide as I wanted it
Bass
One thing about the 824's bass--it is quite
powerful and clean. I am happy to report that it actually helps me
get the troublesome bass level set properly. I also found that a moderate
bass level on the Mackies translated to a strong bass on my other monitors.
If I were to mix up a strong bass on the Mackies my other speakers got boomy.
This is no doubt due to the fact that the Mackies can handle strong bass
tones without breaking up. While other monitors may pop their woofs
and wheeze out their ports, the Mackies simply remain tight and solid. Once
I got used to that and compensated by not tweaking in too much bass, I found
that my mix sounded right on both subwoofer enhanced systems and on bass-shy
speakers.
I am finding this is superior to mixing
with subwoofers. Why? When you mix with subs it's easy to have
great bass definition that does not translate at all to bass shy speakers.
Lets take timpani for example. Mixing with a subwoofer, its
really easy to get a thundering tone, that blasts deep into your internal
organs. Yet on a small speaker system, it turns to a metallic-like
cardboard box sound. Mixed on the HR824's you'd never hear that really low
thunder tone like it is on the sub so you'd boost the lo freq of the timpani.
This adjustment makes it sound perfect on a bass shy monitor and awesome
on a subwoofer. This is just to say that the roll-off of low frequencies
where they are can make for a better, more universal bass mix. (Mackie claims
the HR824 is flat down to 39hZ where a typical subwoofer will be able to
reach down to 30, 25 and even 20hZ).
There is a switch that effects bass response
on the back that has settings for placing the 824's in corners and flush
against the wall. These settings attenuate the bass to compensate
for the room's exaggeration of bass frequencies. I did not need it,
but it is nice to know it is there.
The True Test
The true test of a reference monitor is:
Does an excellent sounding mix translate to other systems? The answer,
as you should have guessed by now is, it depends. It depends on your
experience. I have already learned that I need to notch up hi frequencies
to get a vocal to sit up properly on my other systems. I've learned not
to push the Mackies on bass. I have learned not to trust the spacious,
luxurious Mackie sound as the end point in the game. This is not a
deficiency but a rite of passage one has to go through with any monitor
Other issues
Power
You can read specs all day, but you won't
have an idea of how powerful the monitors are till you hook them up to your
gear. I have mine connected to the control room outs of my Behringer
MX9000 which outputs a +4 unbalanced line level signal. Set to full normal
operation, the Mackie's were extremely loud at the center position of the
control room pot. I turned down the Mackie's input sensitivity to
-10. Now the level is moderately loud at 50% and I usually mix at
30% which is a comfortable level. The Mackie's sound good both loud and
soft. One has a feeling that there are immense spare power resources under
the hood. For those that want specs, the bass driver can produce 150 watts
continuous (or 350 watts peak) and the hi frequency driver produces 100
watts continuous (or 210 watts peak). That's plenty of juice for any
home studio
There are many ways to connect the Mackies.
Options on the HR 824 include XLR (mic cables), 1/4 phone (you can use both
balanced or unbalanced cables on these jacks) and RCA for home stereos.
tape decks, DJ gear, etc.
Are they Nearfields or MidFields?
I have my 824s positioned 4 feet away in
the typical equilateral triangle. I certainly would not want them
any closer than that. I am confident they would work well 5 feet away and
sound awesome. Placing them further out, as is the case with all monitors,
will bring in more "room sound". If you consider 4 feet to be a nearfield
then that's what you have. My other near fields are stationed 3 feet
away and my mid- fields are 5 1/2 feet away.
Summing it all
The Mackie HR824 monitors are beautiful
sounding monitors. They sound great enough to be used in not only
as mix-critical reference monitors but as living room audiophile speakers.
As one expects from Mackie products, they appear to be rugged and reliable
and nicely designed. You will definitely hear your mix with astonishing
clarity in all frequency regions with no artificial hype coloring your hearing.
And you'll have a monitor that can outperform most other speaker systems
an average person might have. If there is any fault at all to the
Mackie's it is that they sound too good and your ear may be deceived into
thinking this goodness will translate to other, lesser systems. But
that is your job to figure out how things translate. Their job is
to present you with your sound in all its fullness. They did their
job well.
All the best,
Rich the TweakMeister
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