Mackie CR5-XBT Studio Monitors Review

[tinytomlogan]

We've already adored the Mackie CR8-XBT speaker set, but what if you've got a tighter budget? Can you still get a wall of sound?

Mackie CR5-XBT Studio Monitors Review

 

[athleos]

I ordered the "Mackie CR5-XBT" last Saturday and got them on Tuesday. I assembled them and tried some music and a movie. I have an uninterrupted power supply [UPS] that cleans the power from the wall and eliminates any hiss. However, I found that sometimes speaker sound fades in and out randomly and the speakers have too much heavy bass – the bass overwhelms percussion and vocals - mid and high range sounds. Bass overwhelms vocals very badly – garbled/faded vocals. While Amazon.ca offers these at $478, I bought them from a local music store for $270 canadian dollars. I don't know if these speakers require break-in time to work properly; time will tell, I guess. A well known online reviewer 'TTL' (I love very much) said (I'm paraphrasing) that these speakers don't do well without a sub woofer - at high volumes these speakers will distort badly because they can't manage bass at high volume. However, will a subwoofer remove the burden of low frequency bass from the speakers? Thus, in theory, after you add a sub, can you turn the speakers up for the mid and high frequencies and then manually adjust bass on the subwoofer volume control. (I may get a subwoofer for this reason) So, mainly, do these speakers require "break-in" time? If so, how long?? Yes Tom, I love you like a cool brother. Your reviews are very nice, thats why I bought the "Mackie CR5-XBT", but did I get a dud from the factory??" [[A blast from the past: I saw your review of the Corsair SP2500 speakers - great review bro. and so I bought them and I loved them so much for 12 years. Sadly the sub stopped working 5 day ago - thats why I needed new speakers]]

 

[remember300]

I ordered the "Mackie CR5-XBT" last Saturday and got them on Tuesday. I assembled them and tried some music and a movie. I have an uninterrupted power supply [UPS] that cleans the power from the wall and eliminates any hiss. However, I found that sometimes speaker sound fades in and out randomly and the speakers have too much heavy bass – the bass overwhelms percussion and vocals - mid and high range sounds. Bass overwhelms vocals very badly – garbled/faded vocals. While Amazon.ca offers these at $478, I bought them from a local music store for $270 canadian dollars. I don't know if these speakers require break-in time to work properly; time will tell, I guess. A well known online reviewer 'TTL' (I love very much) said (I'm paraphrasing) that these speakers don't do well without a sub woofer - at high volumes these speakers will distort badly because they can't manage bass at high volume. However, will a subwoofer remove the burden of low frequency bass from the speakers? Thus, in theory, after you add a sub, can you turn the speakers up for the mid and high frequencies and then manually adjust bass on the subwoofer volume control. (I may get a subwoofer for this reason) So, mainly, do these speakers require "break-in" time? If so, how long?? Yes Tom, I love you like a cool brother. Your reviews are very nice, thats why I bought the "Mackie CR5-XBT", but did I get a dud from the factory??" [[A blast from the past: I saw your review of the Corsair SP2500 speakers - great review bro. and so I bought them and I loved them so much for 12 years. Sadly the sub stopped working 5 day ago - thats why I needed new speakers]]

I have the CR4-X paired with the CR-X sub with Bluetooth.
I am running through a Fosi Audio DAC to try and clean up the sound connected via TOS link to the sub then sub to speakers.
Now i must add i have 1 fully functioning ear so my spacial (how ever you spell it) awareness/ direction would most likely not be the same.
I did notice when trying for full volume the bass was an issue. With the sub that is now next doors problem.
The quality is more tuned to my tased using the gain on the sub and the gains on the DAC.

I designed and 3D printed some speaker stands (ended up using way to much material but i like them.

Ill add a photo ive not been in 1 place long enough to worry too much about cable management for now.