by 
Mackie SRM450 loudspearker / DJ monitor
Ah yes, the good old Mackie SRM450. One of those old school speakers that still sound good. Get the older “made in Italy” ones. They were much better. Eventually, as is the way with all things, Mackie pushed the manufacturing to “somewhere cheaper” – I forget if it was Taiwan or China but they were never the same after that.
Well, I have to blow my own trumpet a little bit here. Because if there’s anyone on this planet who’s qualified to review this product; it’s me. For many years I installed them on more small stages and in more DJ booths than you could possibly imagine. I’ve toured with them. Used them 5 or 6 at a time as stage monitors for bands (who love how good they sound). Traveled thousands of miles with them. Used them under extreme conditions such as at the Burning Man dust and at 110 degrees at the Joshua Tree Music Festival. And loaded them in and out of the sound truck countless times. I can set them up and use them blindfolded. I’ve even used them as an additional mix reference in the studio (don’t tell anyone!)
They can be tripod mounted, stood upright or lain on their side – which is cut away in order that they can be positioned as wedges. They sound great, they’re self powered, they’re physically virtually indestructible (we really have thrashed them around countless stages, and we’ve we’ve never managed to damage one physically beyond denting the front grille when it was seriously dropped). And I think in all this time we’ve probably only blown about two tweeters. These things have paid for themselves many times over.
As a touring musician I’ve found them invaluable. To take them to gigs and patch them into my keyboard submix means to guarantee a good monitor sound regardless of whatever else might be happening. And being self powered, and having a volume control on the back, means that I’ve had perfect control of levels at all times. I’m quite sure that this, together with the clean sound, has been a partial factor in preventing hearing loss; and although I could never claim to know this as absolutely true, I’m quite convinced of it.
I only have one criticism of the Mackie SRM450 – and that is that it is known to “thermal cut out” when driven very hard in a warm environment. However, we have found one absolutely failsafe cure for this, which is to blow air onto the heatsink at the back fo the speaker. Even a small portable fan will do fine for this, it cools the heatsink down tremendously and will prevent thermal cutout.
Use the SRM450 in conjunction with the SWA1501 sub for that bass-heavy club sound. And if you need a more powerful top end, switch out the 450 for the 1521, the next one up in the range. Those go even louder. 🙂
You can still pick these up for cheap on eBay. As mentioned, don’t bother with the more recent ones and be sure to go for the “Made In Italy” ones. For the next step up in terms of quality, look at the QSC K12s.
