Monitor Speakers recomendations anyone

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Ben!

Im thinking of replacing my old 1030A Genelecs, as they are a bit hard to mix with. Id like to know the differance between the Mackie Tapco series, and the Mackie HR series! They are bouth 6" and 8" active monitors!

Price range, which marked they are pointed at, usage aera etc..?

I might be interested to get a pakage from mackie with the onyx mixer w/firewire and a pair of 8" monitors! Will the onyx mixers be bundeled with T2?

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check out the reviews for both on soundonsound.com

Paul White reviewed both the HRs and the Ss, so the comparison should be pretty fair.
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My two tips:
1. don't jump on the active hype
2. Alesis M1 Passive (they are great/easy to mix on and transfer very good; professional results; really cheap)

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What amp would you recommend to go with those speakers?
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The Tapco are our budget series speakers, they sound great for the money, tons of low end from a real small speaker. But, if your used to the Genelecs, then look at the HR series. The 626s are my favorites. The imagining on them is amazing. The HR824s have more low end and there is a reason why they have been so popular for so long. The 624s sound great as well but just not the same low end. Basically if you are used to 6 inch versus an 8 inch, that is the difference. I personally own the 824s but their unfortunately sitting in storage while I'm in London.

And re. the "active hype". It is most definitely NOT hype. There are things that an design engineer can do if he/she has control of the speaker and amp that can't be done with a passive. The Mackie HR series were designed to be incredibly flat and accurate; the only way this can be done is with an active design. You can have the best passive speaker on earth, but you never know how it will sound with a particular amp. Add a crummy amp (for example, one that is way underpowered), and you can end up with a speaker that sounds horrible. With active, you get the consistency. The designer is able to create a system that specs out far flatter than a passive amp combination can under most conditions. That is why you see active systems in the real high end from the likes of Genelec, Adam, etc. They can design their system to sound exactly as they want; the designer simply can't do that with passive.

Also, don't confuse Active with Powered. Powered means the company threw an amp on the back of a speaker. This is not active. Active means the amps and speakers were designed together, frequency responses tuned and accounted for electronically to give a superior package. For example, all Mackie HR series are individually tuned at the factory at the end of the production line for an extremely flat response (I forget the spec off the top of my head) and the frequency response from the factory is signed and sent with the speaker.

Sorry for the sales pitch but as an engineer, I really believe in Active technology, no matter what company produces it. I will most deffinitely never by another set of passive speakers again. In fact, I've been saving up for 5 HR626s for my home theatre setup. Talk about an unbelievable system. Someday.

Ben

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valley wrote:check out the reviews for both on soundonsound.com

Paul White reviewed both the HRs and the Ss, so the comparison should be pretty fair.
Hm, ok thanks!

He says the Tapco S5 is not suted for reaggie and dance, which kind of is what im doing... Im curious on what the Tapco S8 has to say to theese sounds..

The Review on the HR626 was nice, but the price differense is rather steep! But then again they look realy nice! Might I ask what led you towards the HR626s?

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Lunch Money wrote:What amp would you recommend to go with those speakers?
well, persoanlly I'd recommend a Roland SRA-50. A second hand one would do fine. One say, with slightly faded writing, a very small scratch just below the power button, and a slightly loose terminal on the left +ve channel. You could probably pick one up for around a $150 (buyer pays shipping) if you wanted...


:hihi:
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Sleepwalker wrote: He says the Tapco S5 is not suted for reaggie and dance,
nothing with that small a cone, if not backed up by a sub, is going to provide the bass extension needed to mix sub-bass heavy music.
The Review on the HR626 was nice, but the price differense is rather steep! But then again they look realy nice! Might I ask what led you towards the HR626s?
626? I'm not looking at the 626s, I think they are more for center channel usage in 5.1 mixing aren't they?

I was looking at the 624s (the one cone version of the 626). My brother-in-law has a set of the 824s and I just love the sound of them. The 624s would suffer the same bass extension problems as the Tapcos, but even with heavy amounts of treatment my room still has issues with low-frequency nodes and a tendency towards boominess (I have event 20/20s which are 8"), so I'm looking to go with the smaller speakers to better suit my working environment.
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valley wrote:... they are more for center channel usage in 5.1 mixing aren't they?
Most definitely not. Like all Mackie HR series, they are designed to be used as mains, center or surrounds. Ideally you would want to have the same speaker in all locations for a surround setup. This is the only way to have the same frequency response from all your speakers. The only reason the diapolito design has flourished in home cinema is because you can lay it flat on your TV.

Ben

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Beno wrote:The Tapco are our budget series speakers, they sound great for the money, tons of low end from a real small speaker. But, if your used to the Genelecs, then look at the HR series. The 626s are my favorites. The imagining on them is amazing. The HR824s have more low end and there is a reason why they have been so popular for so long. The 624s sound great as well but just not the same low end. Basically if you are used to 6 inch versus an 8 inch, that is the difference. I personally own the 824s but their unfortunately sitting in storage while I'm in London.
thanks for the long reply, Ben :-)

Well, as valley said, it might be the 8" HR824 is what im looking for, to get the sub-bass needed.. In comparison the 626 is more in the 6" range of bass?

And what about the Tapcode S8? Coming from Genelec land, this is the wrong way to go?

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The 828 will definitely have the most bass. And yeah, coming from Genes, I don't think you will be as pleased with the top end detail or imaging with the S8s. But definitely check out the 824s.
Ben

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Beno wrote:The 828 will definitely have the most bass. And yeah, coming from Genes, I don't think you will be as pleased with the top end detail or imaging with the S8s. But definitely check out the 824s.
Ben
OK, ill set up a demo apointment with a local dealer, and giv`em a go!

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Beno wrote:The only reason the diapolito design has flourished in home cinema is because you can lay it flat on your TV.
I'd just assumed it was to strengthen the center speaker.

:oops:

Oh well. Live and learn. It makes using a group of 624s as part of a 5.1 setup cheaper if it is correct to use 5.1s all the way round. I'm trying to use this approach to sell the idea of replacing my monitors to my wife. She gets a nice 5.1 set-up with an overhead projector, if I get to replace my aging 20/20s... :D
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Sleepwalker wrote: OK, ill set up a demo apointment with a local dealer, and giv`em a go!
They rock!

:love: :love:
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Beno wrote:The 828 will definitely have the most bass. And yeah, coming from Genes, I don't think you will be as pleased with the top end detail or imaging with the S8s. But definitely check out the 824s.
Ben
Oh, and whats the difference between 828 and 824?

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