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Mackie SRM150 Reviews

5 4.2/5.0 based on 13 customer reviews
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Customer Reviews

Derek
from Rochester, NY
May 8, 2012

Love them

They're quiet, powerful and will mount on a mic stand. They also look great in a pit!

No complaints.
Marco Guarino
from Richmond, VA
March 30, 2011 Music Background:
Live Sound Engineer, Sound Production Director, Technical Systems Director at Bethany Place Baptist.

Great quick spot monitor

Wow, this is one great speaker! Take any full 12 or 15" floor wedge, take that and a small loss of bass, and you get this thing. Perfect for sitting on the side of our grand piano, or on a micstand for the choir director and orchestra musicians. Outstanding volume and clarity, and deff. worth the price. Great buy, and sweetwaters shipping is amazing as always :) Another pleased customer :)
David Moody
from Mesquite Texas
August 27, 2009 Music Background:
Live, reorded, music mixing and editing and oh year......MUSIC ENJOYING!

The best monitors period!

Being a "Fogie" musician, I am always on the look out for ways to decrease equipment bulk. After trying out the SRM150 I realized not only did I succed in lowering my equipment load but improved my monitor operation unbelieveably. I have since bought monitors for all for the entire band. No more wedgies for me.
TiannaHallDotCom
from Houston
August 1, 2007 Music Background:
Full Time Professional Jazz Vocalist / Jazz Quartet Bandleader

wonnnnnnnnnderful little PA

I purchased this little PA to use on gigs while my BOSE PAS system was being repaired and have been blown away by the power, quality & size of this women's shoe box sized PA provides. I gig 5 or 6 nights a week, so it has been a lifesaver. People keep looking around me and my trio to figure out where my "big PA" is. They can't believe that this itty bitty thing is what is producing all that sound! I reccommend it whole-heartedly and am beyond thrilled with this product. I'm not a reverb using kinda girl, so not having onboard effects/reverb is fine with me. I use the FABulous Neumann KMS105 every night with this PA but was happy with the sound with my Sennheiser "Evolution Series" E935 as well as the good ol' Shure SM58. I would have been happy with a PA with half the quality of this one considering the tiny price tag. Don't think about it... just get it. You won't be sorry.
Stephen "Bruno" Brunson
from High Springs, Fl.
July 19, 2011 Music Background:
Pro musician

Perfect Monitor for Drummer

I explained my need to my sales rep Jason. We discussed several options. My band does not rely on volume but the stage noise can get muddy. Certain cues, like a guitar riff or a vocal prompt were getting lost. The Mackie SRM 150 sits on a mic stand approx. 2 feet to my side. I hear everything. And the other band members can't even tell it is on.
Mike Barden
from Waupaca, WI USA
February 17, 2009 Music Background:
Pro Musician, Live/Recording Sound Engineer

Loud and Clear

This little monitor is the perfect mix of functionality, quality, clarity, and VOLUME.

The other powered monitor I've used, with MUCH frustration, is the Fender 1270P. While the Fender is a feedback machine even at it's lowest volumes, you can turn the Mackie up and go for it without worry.

I've used this on small intimate gigs, for vocals and keyboards, but I also monitored a vocal group singing on a parade float, where it had to cut through crowd noise, the truck pulling the float, and the generator used to power the sound system! I was really impressed.

The only thing I want now is more of them to cover the rest of my band.
Andy Blunden
from Australia
November 6, 2011 Music Background:
Playing since 1968 - currently live duo with big sound

Looks good, solid build and integrates well

Solid build, heavy duty plastic, made for the road. Lots of options which make it great for fold back or practice. Clear front and graphic easy to use on stage. I like it. Not sure if it really puts out 150 Watts though....
Andy
from Western NY USA
September 23, 2011 Music Background:
Karaoke host.

Nice little monitor

Great sound for a little tiny lightweight speaker. I can set in on top of one of the carpeted boxes on my table and point it at the karaoke singers. It's amazing how much better some people can sing when they can hear themselves.
Loren Davidson
from San Francisco Bay Area, CA
June 15, 2010 Music Background:
Songwriter, performer

Excellent, with one exception

In six months, this has become the only amp I use for my shows. Next time I'm in a bigger venue, I'll probably need to drag out the big PA, but this has handled every small- to medium-sized venue I've been in. When I get more money, I'll get something like a JBL Eon and use this to power it. As-is, it's cut the amount of stuff I need to schep to one trip most of the time - essential when parking isn't right up close to the venue.

My one complaint is about the threaded connector at the top for a boom mike. The threads have stripped out, after only six months' use. And I've tried to be careful. There's no easy way to fix it.

Even when using it, I was at the mercy of wherever "tight" was, which affected how I had to place the amp on its mike stand.

I will continue to use it and love it, but now I will need to take a second mike stand to shows or use my headset mike.
Bob Lieberman
from Portland, OR
August 20, 2007 Music Background:
Performing electric and acoustic violinist

Essential for violin on a loud stage

I recently purchased this unit after trying a TC-Helicon VSM-200. THe VSM is voiced for vocals, and I found it both muddy and sluggish for electric violin. The Mackie is much clearer. Also, the on-board EQ (that doesn't go out the pass-thru to the board) is very helpful in bringing my sound up front in my personal mix without driving the sound guy crazy. Our salsa band is very very loud on a small stage. I play horn parts along with a trumpet, two saxes and a trombone. With the Mackie I can let the PA worry about the warmth of my violin. What I need in a personal monitor is to hear the notes or my intonation will be off and I will start to hide on stage. I have the Mackie on a mic stand at armpit level about 3 feet from my right front. It's just perfect. I used to rely on either the PA monitor, or my own amp on stage. But a violinist needs to hear himself loudest always and hear it before everyone else, in order to have correct intonation. With the PA or the amp, we all hear me at the same time. With the amp, I was blowing away the poor soul who was standing next to me. I've found, in my 20 years playing, that the band never wants the violin monitored as loud as I need it. But the Mackie has solved that problem. It's light, easy to mount and unmount, and fits in my all purpose carry bag with my other gear.
Al Diaz
from SF Bay Area, CA
March 18, 2011 Music Background:
Pro Musician, Live Sound Engineer.

Great active monitor, with some limitations...

We use 5 of these for personal monitors with each performer getting their own mix. But due to design limitations of the SM-150, our configuration is an SM-150 on a stand, a separate direct-box, and a separate mic stand, and in some applications a separate headphone amp.

The primary monitor source is a line-level mix using the main input on back. The issue with this arrangement is that I'd like to use the SM-150 mixer for an acoustic guitar or keyboard direct box send to the FOH mixer...this would eliminate the need for a separate direct box. Unfortunately, the "thru" connector sums the mixer inputs with the rear main input and this cannot be defeated. So, when used as a monitor in a larger system, the mixer inputs are essentially useless.

We do run the instrument out from the direct box to the inputs for a "more me" monitor mix, but the gain slope on the inputs is pretty lousy...it goes from not loud, to not loud, to not loud, to BAAAAAM. I initially thought it was a bad unit, but all five are the same...definitely not the "mackie" preamp quality I expected.

The mike stand threads on top are not worth using. It's impossible to get the stand tight in the right position...so the boom has to be perpendicular to the front face and then you hope it doesn't move... Best to think of this as a monitor on a stand and plan on using a separate mic stand.

A headphone output would be nice...but that's mainly because we use these in a fixed installation and some performers use the linked direct-box "station" with in-ears and don't need the speaker.

With a little more Mackie quality on the mic pre's and a few design upgrades, Mackie could have hit a homerun with the SRM-150. But in my house, they came up short of the fence.
Blair Barrett
from San Jose, CA
July 24, 2010 Music Background:
Pro Musician, Musical Director

Good sound but fragile

I've owned two of these so far. I use it as the main output for my wind synthesizer. They sound great but you have to baby them a bit or they'll stop working. They look rugged, but I've found they aren't very road worthy. They're great if you don't move around much.
Ed
from Independence Mo.
May 25, 2010 Music Background:
Been Professional Touring Musician with Major Country artists, but now play locally for fun

Mackie SRM150

I love the sound, and the weight, but mine pooped out right in the middle of practice, not stressing it AT ALL...I play country gospel, so you know we weren't kicking it too hard..there's a neighbor right next to the church where we practice that calls the cops when we get too loud...anyhow..the solid state unit just crapped out, this SRM 150 is only a couple of months old..so now I'm kinda wary

Mackie SRM150

150W Active PA Speaker with 3-channel Mixer, 3-band EQ, and 5.25" Driver

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