Mackie SRM350/ 450 Speakers --- Experience?

Hey guys,

I am finally turning my garage into the mancave. I have received approval from the wife to purchase a matching set of speakers, instead of using a mixed set of surround sound speakers. I believe I have my mind set on getting a used pair of the Mackie's. Most reviews are great, and most importantly, they are plug and play. They have built-in amps, so just plug them into my receiver and it should be good to go.

My question is does anyone have experience with these, or any other loudspeaker, at lower levels? My garage is not huge (barely a double car), so if I have the door open and dont want to blow away my neighbors, will these sound just as good turned to 1 as they do cranked at 8?

I already understand that a pair of SRM350's/ 450's are probably too big for that space, but what the hell, why not!!

I've got quite a bit of experience with studio monitors and PA speakers. Have you gone and listened to a pair of these? I don't think you realize just how loud and clear these things will operate. Yes they will sound just as good at low levels as they will at higher levels, but there is so much you'll never use it just seems wasteful. It is honestly like buying a new Ferarri to use to drive your child to school in a 20mph school zone all the time.

I'm not one to tell you how to spend your money though, so knock yourself out. A few things to consider is that these things are big, real big and extremely heavy. If you're going to hang them up in a corner or something, you better do it right. If you're going to put them on speaker stands, don't skimp, buy quality ones. Another thing is that pro audio speakers aren't just make to plug into your "receiver." Their input on the back is going to require a large XLR connection. So if you're going to feed them off of a standard home receiver, you're going to need to get a small mixing board to feed your small rca connection into that has XLR outputs that you can then run to the speakers. I've played on these speakers loads of times and owned a set of the JBL equivilents before. It really is insane how loud they can go. Most of the bigger clubs around use 1 of these as a monitor in the DJ booth, 2 if the club has an absolute slamming system and money to burn. To say that its overkill for a garage system just doesn't even do it justice.

You might consider something like a pair studio monitors instead. You'll get the same pro quality sound in a much smaller and easier to move package, self powered so no need for an amp if you so choose, smaller cable options (1/4" or maybe even RCA), and much more moderate in both size and price.

What he said ^

Those are gnarly loud speakers. Your neighbors wont need to call the cops because THEIR neighbors will do it for them. Ha, ha, ha.

The Mackie's are really cool, though. Ideally you'd run them off a mixer as their designed for. The "receiver" would not be any part of the equation. I second a set of studio monitors, or some nice outdoor speakers that could be screwed into the wall, up and out of the way.

And not to harp, but just to give you an idea of how big a 15" pa speaker really is, I was able to find a pic of my old setup that has a few of my speakers in it. In the upper right hand corner you can see the back half of one of mine. They're probably just under 3 feet tall, have a 18"x18" footprint at least, and weigh in at 40-60lbs a piece depending on the exact model. It makes the speakers on my desk look miniature and those are Event studio monitors. They're a self powered 8" speaker weighing around 25 lbs a piece that would more than rock out any room in a house and/or garage.

I Have a set of SRM 450's. They are part of our DJ set up. I don't know how they would work as a everyday speaker. But for the "Ultimate man Cave" they would be awesome. I haven't tryed the auto on/off but I don't think I would dig turning them on and off evertime I wanted to use them. I could swear they have a bit of noise that comes out of them when they are just sitting there turned on and no sound comming out. I don't know if everyones are like that or just my'n.

They are cool because if you want to bring the party out side you can just plug a I pod into them and your good to go. They have the ability to pass a signal from one to another and run them in MONO. I guess if you want a system that has a ton of power and can run very loud all day long a set of SRM 450's is hard to beat. If your gonna be throwing partys and can play music loud then go for it but you could get buy with a small set no problem. Or if your thinking about going into DJing your good to go.

SRM 450 are easy to buy and sell it seems like they don't go up and down in price to much and if you got a set and didnt like them you would have NO PROBLEM selling them. My advice is get a use set off craig's list. I bought a set for a friend last year for $900 two SRM 450's with stands and XLR's and bag's.

One of my buddies who is a DJ has SRM 450's. We had a pool party last year and set one of them up. There were about 50 people at the pool and it was effin loud and kept the party going for sure.

I think they would be way overkill for your garage.

Hey guys, Thanks for your help. I knew the 450's would be grossly overpowering my garage, but I figured if I can get some (with stands and cables) for $500ish, why not. The 350's would be a better choice, although still way too big.

So, I was doing some more research last night, and found that Mackie has a new SRM150, which looks kicka$$. Perfect for me. They are very compact, at only about 8 lbs. The thing is, since they're new, I probably won't be able to get a used price tag. So, I'll be paying $500 for the pair.

I'm on the search......

My brother has the set with the 15's and a set with 12's. The 15's are overkill for anything but a serious party. The 12's go everywhere with us. We've got a little mixer i-pod dock that holds/charges two i-pods and allows you to scroll menu's and mix. They're awesome on houseboat trips. Sorry I don't have the model numbers. FWIW, Mackie used to be made in the USA. They recently went overseas. My brother hate's the newer ones. Just not the same driver quality. He prizes his two pairs like they're made out of gold. So it would be worth looking at ones that are 5-10 years old.

The downside of running these powered monitors off your receiver is the volume control won't work, since you will be using a line level audio output. If you were to hook them up to a TV they often have variable audio output. You can get XLR to 1/4" cables and use a 1/4" to RCA adapter if you are bound and determined.

It is my understaind that the 450's are 12", and the 350's are 10". Am I off? There are 450's all over craigslist, but only 1 set of 350's. Thanks Evan, I'll keep my eye out for an older pair.

Oh, getting to Stanfield's question on if I have heard these or not. The bar that we go to just installed some QSC's (model unknown), and they are insane. This is why I'm interested in Mackie/ QSC. I have not heard the 350/ 450's. One of these days I will be taking a trip to the local Guitar Center to check everything out.

John -- thanks for the info. i am determined to have my garage pound. so whatever it takes to get these in.

Stanfield - Your pic makes me miss my 20/20's. Those things have to still to this day be the best bang for your buck mixwise.

for what it's worth, my preference if you're looking at powered boxes- the qsc k10's or k12's are awesome. i'm not a huge fan of the 450's. if you can find the qsc's used or pony up for new, i would definitely go that direction. they sound alot better and have better imaging. the other box i like that was just released was the ev LiveX - the 12" is great, but the 15" not so much.

Rayprisz - Yeah, the QSC's is what actually started my hunt for active speakers. My local bar has a few K12's, and they freakin' rock. The QSC's are just too expensive, and I can't justify spending that kind of cash on my garage. I tried finding some K8's, but there are not many used ones out there, and the new ones are about $650- $700 each.

I would love to get my hands on a pair of SRM350's. I lost a deal on craigslist for a pair at $600. I should of jumped on them, but hesitated. DUMBA$$! Oh well, my hunt goes on. Maybe I'll get one now, and add to it later.

Thanks again

i'm not tryin to push the company i work for, but we're dealers for most major professional loudspeaker manufacturers and can ship most anywhere . if you're interested, pm me and i can get you a price on the qsc's or the ev's.-

Rayprisz - I keep trying to PM you, but it won't let me. All it does is take me to your profile and tell me you have a private profile.

sorry mike- had a couple issues with my profie. i'll send you info on monday.

i can't pm you- email me- priszkid@gmail.com and i'll send u some info.

OK, so I purchased 1 used Mackie SRM350, and think it will do the job. I have a question about hooking it up.... I bought an XLR to 1/4" to hook the 350 into my receiver. The guy at Guitar Center said that was the correct way to do it, because I do not want a powered receiver going into a powered speaker. So, he told me to do the 1/4" into the headphone jack vs. hooking the XLR into the RCA. Seems to work, but is that the way you would do it?

Next, I also bought an 1/4" to 1/8' adapter to hook my ipod up, which also works but sounds like crap (I guess it's in Stereo?). How do you switch to MONO? Also, there are two buttons on the back, one is title "Contour", and the other "Line/ Mic". What do these do? Sorry, I didn't get any manuals.

Please don't laugh if these are stupid questions, I am completely ignorant when it comes to this stuff. Thanks a lot.

Ok, so I just printed out the manual (gotta love Google), but did not see anything about only using one speaker in MONO, and most of the language is over my head. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, I now know what the two buttons do (Contour & Line/ Mic). Thanks again

FWIW, I researched a bit, and looks like I can use an 1/8" to dual XLR, and only use one of the XLR's. Fingers crossed.