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In Reply to: Powered speakers posted by edta on February 23, 2007 at 05:52:29:
>>How do these [Mackies] handle the crossover issues? <<Short answer: I don't know. Mackie claims "onboard Active crossovers (which eliminates the need for external processing and eliminates phase anomalies), and time-correction circuitry, so the highs and lows reach the listener at the same time." But I haven't made any careful time-domain measurements on this. Certainly the use of active crossovers provides more flexibility than passive designs, but this isn't a subject I know much about. And a lot of people would tell you that active crossovers have their own problems.
I suspect that the (subjective, to me) superiority of the Mackies has more to do with a flatter in-room response and the tweeter waveguide, which helps to match the dispersion of the tweeter to that of the mid-range driver near the crossover point. But who knows? I feel as though I should add that I view these speakers as transient, though that might be due to a prejudice on my part. They are highly (and well) engineered, built to a price point in ugly (but very solid) little boxes, and without a lot of loveliness or charm. To me, their superiority to my old Vandersteens (which were Stereophile class B, full-range) is obvious, yet I find myself characterizing them to people as "making fewer mistakes"--which is to say that, though they are clarly superior to the Vandy's (at least in terms of what I value in a loudspeaker), the Mackies are not easy to love, for me at least.
The better pro gear features no-nonsense engineering at a high level, avoiding some of the mistakes made by a lot of audiophile gear--which makes them better than most audiophile stuff. But I currently believe that audiophile gear has more potential for exactly the same reason that it makes more mistakes: It's less beholden to engineering orthodoxy.
If one wants a good pair of speakers that won't mess things up, the Mackies are a very good choice, IMO.
Best,
Jim
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Follow Ups
- Re: Powered speakers - Jim Austin 06:13:40 02/23/07 (3)
- P.S. - Jim Austin 06:28:30 02/23/07 (2)
- Re: P.S. - mauimusicman 13:01:12 02/28/07 (0)
- Impressive. Thanks. nt. - edta 13:17:48 02/23/07 (0)
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