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[Bob Leonard]

In the OPs case it appears he has made a lateral move based on the pre-conceived expectation that newer would be better. Entry level is always entry level regardless of manufacturer. Anything will work almost forever if used within the products design parameters. Entry level hardware is seldom if ever designed for more than entry level use. Pro level hardware will always be designed with possible failure an equation of the design itself and possible abuse or harsh conditions taken into account.

In other words, don't drive your H2 Hummer around Afgahnistan and expect it to stop bullets.

[Kenny Deal]

In the OPs case it appears he has made a lateral move based on the pre-conceived expectation that newer would be better. Entry level is always entry level regardless of manufacturer. Anything will work almost forever if used within the products design parameters. Entry level hardware is seldom if ever designed for more than entry level use. Pro level hardware will always be designed with possible failure an equation of the design itself and possible abuse or harsh conditions taken into account.

In other words, don't drive your H2 Hummer around Afgahnistan and expect it to stop bullets.

Hey Guys, before this gets out of hand let me clarify some things. I didn't move to the SA1521z because they were newer, I moved to them because they are larger more powerful speakers and based on my needs should be more than enough. I have not had to turn these past unity and previous to me they were used at a church so yes, I stand by the statement that they have been barely used. I was always a Mackie buff as entry level gear the stuff in the past has always been pretty well built IMHO. I had CFX20 that I used for many gigs. Not the best preamps and a bit noisy but the board took a beating. Same with my previous 808m. My SRM 450's WERE pushed past their limit many many times which was why I moved to the SA1521z's but I never had an issue with the SRM450s other than an occasional shutdown from Thermal protection which I solved by adding cooling fans to the heat sinks. That said I went bigger. These speakers are of poor quality for the price. They are not cheap. They don;'t sound that good and they have had numerous problems including both speaker and circuitry. I was at a Mackie Authorized shop when I learned from the tech that the quality of the stuff tanked after Loud technologies took over and I posted that information here for future reference. Am I a pro ?? No. But these speakers should hold up better than they have for the price they cost. That was my point.
I have not once ran them past unity and so far have lost 1 driver and amp and now a horn.
Last night we only had vocals though them a a very low level.

[Kenny Deal]

Kenny.....

In most cases such as yours the problem is very likely pushing the product over its design limits or keeping it max'ed out over a period of time.  These "consumer grade" speakers are often bought on limited budgets and are not really a substitute for a pro grade box.

They are what they are.  Don't ask too much of them.

Hey Dick,
4 vocal mics only on a patio setting and I lost the horn. They were below unity and I was running them off a Mackie 808s from the line level output. The tech at Pane Audio showed me how poorly made the circut borads are and these are still better than the new HD series. Those cannot even be repaired. Guitar Center even stopped pushing Mackie stuff. They still sell it but they don't push it like they used to. They have been pushing the QSC stuff but IMHO you could buy EAW for what the QSC cost.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

.... previous to me they were used at a church......

Or mis-used at a church.  Sorry, but church sound volunteers can do as much or more damage to the gear as anyone else.  Sort of like buying a used car which was "only driven to church every sunday by an old widow lady"......who never changed the oil, drove with the parking brake engaged and parked it using the "Braille" system.
 

[Kenny Deal]

Let me try and post the spec sheets. I cannot upload them.

[Kenny Deal]

I do realize that this is not pro grade stuff but for a bar band like we are it's sensible. Even with this light setup it still takes me a good 1.5 hrs to setup . A full pro system I could never setup and run by myself.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Let me try and post the spec sheets. I cannot upload them.

The bottom line is that these were USED gear.  Never mind the spec sheets.  USED gear means all bets are off........

[Chris Chambers]

Anyone heard about other cases of entire shipments of Mackie stuff failing? A friend of mine in the UK had an entire container of Mackie HD series and none of the amplifier modules on the subs were working.

Another guy took apart his HD 3way box and found the main driver only held in by 4 screws instead of 8....

[Tim McCulloch]

The bottom line is that these were USED gear.  Never mind the spec sheets.  USED gear means all bets are off........

+1, yet again.

[Tim McCulloch]

Hey Dick,
4 vocal mics only on a patio setting and I lost the horn. They were below unity and I was running them off a Mackie 808s from the line level output. The tech at Pane Audio showed me how poorly made the circut borads are and these are still better than the new HD series. Those cannot even be repaired. Guitar Center even stopped pushing Mackie stuff. They still sell it but they don't push it like they used to. They have been pushing the QSC stuff but IMHO you could buy EAW for what the QSC cost.

LOUD Technologies owns EAW.  If LOUD is responsible for the problems with the Mackie, why presume the EAW would be any better?

EAW has had enough problems with order fulfillment and QC that LOUD is moving most EAW production back to Whitinsville, MA.  I doubt LOUD will move Mackie back to Washington state, but we could hope, eh?

[ProSoundWeb Community]