Mackie CR3.5BT Gen 3 Studio Speakers

[GO DAWGS!]

Anyone own these new Mackie speakers, and if so, how are they for what you use them for? Wanting something smallish for my desk and stumbled across these in white, and they look great. And they are reasonably priced. I'm sure there are better speakers out there but just wanting something decent for when I don't want to wear my headphones.

https://mackie.com/en/products/desktop-speakers/cr-series/cr35bt.html

Thanks in advance!

 

[Veseleil]

Personally, I wouldn't choose anything with <5" woofers, for the obvious reasons (lack of low end).
Nice looking being white and all, but if the BT isn't a must, for a tad more you can get something like this:



Which will run circles around those Mackies.

 

[GO DAWGS!]

Personally, I wouldn't choose anything with <5" woofers, for the obvious reasons (lack of low end).
Nice looking being white and all, but if the BT isn't a must, for a tad more you can get something like this:

View attachment 402945

Which will run circles around those Mackies.

Thanks for the reply. I've looked at the PreSonus Eris. Those white ones they have look nice, too. If I were to go with those Mackie's, I'd consider getting a sub if I felt the need for more bass was necessary. I haven't ruled anything out, yet. Just doing a little research. No hurry to buy.

 

[Frick]

To be clear, are these for listening or producing?

 

[GO DAWGS!]

To be clear, are these for listening or producing?

Just for listening and gaming, nothing professional. A friend has a very nice home studio with some Kali LP-6 speakers and those sound incredible. We also hooked those up to his gaming rig and it was a fun experience. I just do not need such high-end speakers for my use case. Something smallish and decent is all I need, for now. Some of the reviews I've read about the Mackies all seem to be mostly positive.

Here's a pic showing some of my friend's studio and those Kali speakers. Those also come in white and are tempting, I won't lie!

 

[Veseleil]

I've looked at the PreSonus Eris. Those white ones they have look nice, too.

The only white ones they have are the 3.5" toys like those Mackies. If you want any reasonable sound, you need 5" and up. Eris E5 are $10-$20 more than CR3.5BT.

I'd consider getting a sub if I felt the need for more bass was necessary.

Eris E5 have the low cutoff switch, so adding any kind of a subwoofer is an easy task, unlike it's the case with many others.
So it's a feature to think about if adding a sub in the future is considered.

Whatever you decide, I'd recommend front ported (front firing bass reflex) cabinets, as it makes much easier positioning, freedom to do so, even if you put them right against the wall.

Even the cheapest studio monitors are much better deal if the sound quality is a concern, than the tiny toys with multimedia gimmicks like BT, remotes, etc. Good luck.

And yeah, I forgot to mention that for a studio monitors you need a DAC. An integrated mobo soundcard won't suffice.
Another expense yes, but there are many cheap ones that do the job perfectly, might cost under $50, and add another set of possibilities. Like headphone amp, more connectivity options, etc. An example ($70):



But there are also these for as low as $10:

World's Cheapest DAC Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of what has to be the world's cheapest DAC. It is so cheap it doesn't even have a name! It is literally called "Digital To Analog Audio Converter." Actually, it is also available under many other names on various sites (Amazon, Ebay, AliExpress...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Be aware, once you go this route, there's no going back...

 

[Krit]

Just for listening and gaming, nothing professional. A friend has a very nice home studio with some Kali LP-6 speakers and those sound incredible. We also hooked those up to his gaming rig and it was a fun experience. I just do not need such high-end speakers for my use case. Something smallish and decent is all I need, for now. Some of the reviews I've read about the Mackies all seem to be mostly positive.

Here's a pic showing some of my friend's studio and those Kali speakers. Those also come in white and are tempting, I won't lie!

View attachment 402953

If you can get JBL 305P MKII for a good price it's a great deal. Good airy tweeter decent amount of detalization and bass amount is decent enough. In my personal opinion Kali Audio has worse build quality than JBL speakers. Kali Audio LP6 V2 definitely suffers from lack of air in highs and bass for a 6.5 inch midwoofer is not that strong to me it's not enough. Overall it's sounds more grainy than JBL and less pleasing to listen i'm talking just for listening not for work! Kali Audio IN-5 also has air issue in highs similar to LP6 but way better detalization in midrange area although midbass detalization in not great for such a expensive speaker when using Universal Audio Volt 1 Audio Interface. In terms of price/performance ratio just for listening to me JBL 305P MKII is a clear winner because it costs way less. In general studio monitor weak spot is that they need Audio Interface (External DAC) with costs around 100-125€ + Cables around 23€ where it's p/p ratio goes down automatically. There also is very tight competition with speakers that have built in dac (and i mean decent one) cables included and my get even better detalization/sound for less or similar money. Not a fan of SUBs usually they will not sound good in smaller rooms.

Speakers with 5 inch driver in my opinion is the sweet spot if there is enough midbass without sub help where a lot of 5" and 6.5" inch studio monitors will fall short in this area not sure about 8" never used it as its size is huge no room for that.

 

[Veseleil]

not sure about 8" never used it as its size is huge no room for that.

They can murder an unaware person. But they take a lot of time to properly burn in. I consider mine not, even after ~4 years.