Mackie HR824mk2 8.75 inch Powered Studio Monitor Reviews

The low end response on these monitors is fantastic! They faithfully reproduce low end information without hyping the sound or distorting. Some monitors have an overwhelming, muddy sound to their bass, but these Mackies avoid this pitfall without sounding weak or thin. Having this kind of low end is rather difficult in a passive radiator design, Mackie did something very impressive with these monitors.

They're also surprisingly loud, but they sound very neutral at any volume. They also avoid the "mid-forward" sound in other monitors that can obscure details in recordings and mixes. These monitors are very revealing, solid mixes will sound detailed and nuanced, and errors and problems will stick out. I highly recommend these for critical listening applications.

The one criticism I have is in the high end. Personally, I'm more used to monitors with a hyped, "sparkly" top end (KRK V8s, Adam A7Xs). Because these Mackies are so neutral, I sometimes miss the boosted high end. Additionally, I auditioned these monitors with another audio engineer, and we agreed that there might be some slight tweeter-related distortion happening between 8 kHz and 10 kHz. However, these Mackies still compared very favorably with a pair of Neumann KH310s and a pair of PMC Result 6s, the primary differences being that the Mackies are louder, but the Neumanns and PMCs have a more "open" or "natural" (for lack of a better word) high frequency response.

I bought a pair of the original Mackie 824s back in 2004, and they are still going strong today. They are 100 per cent stock. No failures. I run them just under the blinky light, to protect my hearing and the speakers. My background is studio engineering. When I got these, the facility I worked at was pretty much all top end new Genelec monitors. I would take my CDs to work and listen to them off a Calrec 24 bit digital console in a treated, million dollar, 5.1 mixing room. To my ears, the Mackies at home always sounded better, which I attributed to my superior treated room acoustics, not anything wrong with the Genelecs, which are world class monitors.
The Mackie manual states right up front, you have to have a well treated room to get professional results. This point cannot be overstated. Room acoustics dominate any speaker installation, by orders of magnitude. Before you spend serious money on monitors, get the room right, whatever it takes. One more important point. Do not buy unpowered monitors. The crossover circuit totally screws up the phase in an unpowered monitor. Phase is what makes stereo sound good. Powered monitors (should) use seperate amplifiers for each speaker. The crossover is done at line level and is phase coherent. This is huge.
So recently, I decided to get my room really right. Many trips to Lowes and Home Depot for fiberglass insulation, wood, screws and fabric. It will never, ever be finished, but what a return on the investment!
I signed up for Amazon Prime HD streaming about the same time. The difference between digitally mastered and analog masters is stunning. The digital masters kick, with sharp impact, phase coherence, and definition. Every instrument is isolated, positioned, and clarified. I always had a soft spot for analog, but not any more. I actually have found music that I formerly missed when I was a workaholic, to be quite good musically, after admiring the technical quality of the mix.
The Mackie 824 series is an amazing value for the price. If something happened to mine, I would replace them with the exact same make and model.

I used to have these monitors when i had a full studio, they sound great they are big, but only because of the 8 inch speakers, so they are not bigger than other 8 inch woofer monitors, so when i had to go with a small in my bedroom sort of setup i almost cried when i realized i just didn't have room on my small desk in my room, if i had a bigger desk i could have kept these because even at low volume which i would have had to use them at, they sound so full yet so accurate at the same time. when i was able to use them as monitors are meant to be used at medium volume for mixing or high volume for tracking or showing off the final mix for clients, the room felt like a stadium concert, but way clearer. I now have rokit 5's only out of necessity if i could have chained these to my ceiling to keep them I would have, when i did purchase these originally it was from sweetwater and it was my first purchase to fill up my studio, i purchased these with about $7,000 of other equipment that i needed for a full start up, and even though it was 1400 for the pair i believe that out of all of the equipment that came that one faithful day in the mail through sweetwater, which was like christmas in july these were that special gift under the tree that was your favorite in the morning

get these, for me and when when you listen through them think about how i am jealous that you are doing so

If you've got your own set up, whether it be a full size room or a closet in your apartment, you absolutely cannot go wrong with these.

Now I know most of you who produce trance, dance, etc; will almost always go to the KRK's, but seriously, if you want to do it right the first time in the studio, buy these and you won't regret it. Sure, these speakers aren't going to be nice to some beginners; you're going to find that everything you were producing in the past didn't REALLY blend as nicely and your channel settings weren't THAT perfect- but that's exactly what you're looking for- some HONEST active monitors that show the true color of your work so you can be more precise and get it right. These have helped me from making some big time fails in the studio on even the smallest errors. Not only that, they're awesome to just you know, listen to music like we all obviously want to do. I have people come over just to listen to new releases through my speakers. Kind of king.

If you've got yourself a typical living situation with a bunch of people who are always complaining about the BASS ("what is that, that pounding! I can hear it all the way out in the yard!" kind of people), these monitors are also great in terms of control. You can have them blasting, which is out of this universe, but when people are sleeping or crabbing or having headaches or whatever you can still get that full room sound complete with harmonics and detail at a low volume level. Great thing for us stubborn people who feel that "turning it down" ruins the experience.

Yeah, these are probably the love of my life. Enjoy.

Mackie does it again and does it better this time. This new design is fantastic and the sound they produce is almost identical to my original pair of HR824's. Mackie monitors, in my opinion are the absolute best out there for the price. And the amazing thing is that after allmost 20 years the cost was not that much different from back when I put my first studio together. Back then I had a bit of help in deciding which monitors to go with and I must have spent 3 hours in the Mars Music listening room trying different monitors with a reference mix I had put together. After all that time I still could not find any speakers that sounded any better for the price then the Mackies. I bought these sight un heard and am VERY pleased the quality control at Mackie is still top notch.

If near flat response and clear lows, mids, and highs are what you crave then look no further then the Mackie HR824 Mk2. Oh, and BTW, they look very cool!!

wide sweat spot. just got them a few days ago and i am redoing my mixes all over especially the bass and mids...scarry how low these gets. besides translations to good mix, i jumb on it before the price goes up some more lol. i guess the guality and value just keeps going up lol. anyways do get them but be sure you cleared it through wify or else lonely night sets in...but hey, more time playing and creating music...

I have owned several Mackie products over the past decade, and they never fall short of amazing quality for the price point. The HR824mk2 has been on my wish list for a long time. Well, needless to say I was completely blown away by the deep, tight bass response and the articulate, detailed midrange was everything I could ask for in an accurate nearfield monitor. The high's are realistic without causing ear fatigue and I love the room tayloring switches for lows, highs, and acoustic space placement. The auto power on function is a nice included feature as well. I will be using them for mixing and rough mastering in a home environment, and once again Mackie gives you a lot of "bang-for-the-buck". They have perfected this second generation monitor without question! I just wish everyone could hear my mixes on them...

I've had the original HR824's - a pair of the American made ones, and a pair of the Chinese made ones. There was not very much difference between them.

The mk2's, however, have a tighter, more focused bass, and wherever you move in the room - the sound is very consistent. They are definitely an improvement, by about 25% in my opinion. They are very well made, and I never had any problems with the original pairs I have had for many years. I have recorded and mixed many records on them, and everything translates well to other systems and sounds great on the radio.

These monitors will identify exactly what changes you need to make in your mixes. Accurate mixes without accurate monitors is close to impossible. These monitors will give you the pinpoint accuracy and the confidence to make decisions on your mixes that will save you much time. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THESE MONITORS!!!!!!!

All I have to do now when I mix is make it sound good on these monitors, and I know that it'll sound good everywhere else too!

These are amazing speakers for the price. Tight lows and crystal clear highs. I usually turn and run away from Mackie, but these have totally changed my mind about the company. I would recommend to any project studio as a must have.

YOU would think with this speaker when you first start listening to them that its has a huge colored button but thats not true .with these speakers what you put in is what you get.The speakers are natural al the way.I DO alot of caribbean groves reggae ,soca,dancehall and some pop and I just had to write a review on these babies.I don't normally write review but I had to take time out to do this one.I notice sweetwater has incresse the price by 50 dollars its starting to get really pricey but with these its still worth every penny since thats what you will be hearing your mixes through.I just wish the had made these earlier .Now I just have to go do all my mixes over.THANKS KEVIN SCOTT AND SCOTT DEMARKO I HOPE I GOT YOUR NAMES SPELL RIGHT. GUYS IF YOU GOT THE MONEY TO SPEAR BUY FOUR 2 TO USE IN THE STUDIO AND TWO FOR WHEN MACKIE STOP MAKING THEM SO YOU WOULD STILL HAVE THEM AROUND.YES THEY SOUND BETTER THAN THE ORIGNAL HR I HAVE HAD THE OPERTUNITY TO SAMPLE THEM BOTH .NOW these are in my studio permernently

These are very nicely made, heavy and handsome, exuding quality of build. And to cut to the chase, in case you don't want to read the rest of my gibberish, I do believe these monitors are good enough to mix and master on, if properly set up..I only own 2 other sets of (lower priced) monitors to compare them to- Alesis 5", and the popular JBL 5". All of these monitors sounded VERY thin, to my ears, having done live sound for over 40 years, with Big subs and BIG bass.. I thought I would have no trouble being a studio engineer, after being very successful as a FOH guy and performing musician for so many years. Bought a nice iMac in 2012, installed Logic Pro, and mixed a few songs, checked them out in my car, and had my lunch handed to me... 20 years prior, I had mixed my band in a finished basement, on an old Sunn 16 ch analog mixer direct to a Teac 2 track tape deck, using headphones, and the sound from those recordings is still very good, so what the heck was going on here?? Well first of all, I believe that digital mixing is very different from analog, and if you were brought up on analog, there will be a learning curve as far as what you thought would work with EQ settings, etc.. I find analog mixing more forgiving, because it naturally rounds out transients, and enriches the sound with added harmonics and distortion, making your mix bigger and more 3D... But, fast forward, now I work 100% in the digital box, and with very very good success. But here goes:...you must realize that your room/monitor system is the very first thing that must be right. I spent $ on 6" thick mineral wool traps, and that got me 50% of the way there. Everyone on You Tube seemed to believe that you should NEVER EQ your monitors, and that LEARNING them was the solution. Did not work, for me. If I put a beautiful commercial recording through my monitors and it sounds very poor, how can I ever make judgements on my mixes?? Fed up, I purchased an earlier version of Sonarworks, used a Behringer reference mic, and analyzed my room, and got no improvement whatsoever. After reading so many glowing reviews of Sonarworks, I bought the sonarworks reference mic, (these mics include an id number, which shows THAT particular mic's EQ profile..., analyzed my setup, and I got instantly improved sound! Fast forward a few years, and I am now getting some great mixes, mastering them myself, and they stand up well, and are sometimes better, than commercial mixes! And the Mackies are my main monitors- beautiful stereo image, accurate to my room, with the Sonarworks software engaged... I have an older (decent) AIWA boom box that I check my mixes on, alongside commercial mixes, AND I CONSTANTLY REFERENCE my favorite commercial mixes. I also use a pair of Audio Technica 50mx headphones to check my mixes on, both with and without the sonarworks correction.. Some tips, take 'em or leave 'em: 1).These are pretty big drivers, so I recommend trying to get a 6 foot triangle if possible, (certainly no less than 4 feet), to give your sub frequencies time to "bloom" into your space. If you cannot get that much distance, consider going with a 5" driver. 2.) Get the Sonarworks, and don't be afraid to take it a step further, by adding a simple EQ setting, with more bass for example, if your ears like that. But do not go beyond any setting that does not sound good with every commercial quality mix you feed into it! 3.)You NEED room treatment, and you should study how to achieve it. A (4'by 2')/ 3" thick panel, or even 10 of them, will NOT control bass frequencies, and bass inaccuracy is your biggest enemy. If you can't afford the thicker panels, you might actually have better luck standing an up old mattress, or placing a thick, plush, couch in your mix area. 4.) Place your monitors facing into the longer dimensions of you room, if possible, but don't be afraid to experiment. I also found that your mix space and monitor system should be placed (centered) in an area as symmetrical as possible, with equal distances from the walls to the left and right, even with the room correction software...6.)Using these Mackie monitors, compared to my cheaper ones, makes my job easier, so get the best you can afford. Get hurt ONCE! 4 pairs of crappy monitors will never be as good as one quality pair. I also don't like the idea of switching back and forth between multiple sets of monitors. Learn ONE pair well, and USE REFERENCE MIXES to constantly check your work 7.)If you bought your digital interface way back when, as I did, consider an upgrade. Most everything out there is pretty good now. I am using a Midas MR18 stage mixer as my interface, and it works very well...When you are nearing the finish line, you can then check your work on something like a good quality boom box, and then maybe even a little blue tooth device, but just use these devices to check for translation- MIX on your monitors.. I truly hope this helps, because I went through a lot of frustration and anguish, partly caused by misinformation, partly by poor equipment, and partly by lack of STUDIO mixing experience, where TRANSLATION TO OTHER SYSTEMS is of paramount importance..

I've owned a pair of Mackie HR824MK2's for approximately 5 years, and
they're great. Never had a problem with them. These are the first active
studio monitors I've ever used

I'm super impressed with the clarity and tightness of the low end in these monitors. The adjustable parameters on the back of these monitors make them very versatile as far as placement in your studio go. For the price, these are an ABSOLUTE MUST. With the right amount of thump and nice creamy highs, I would recommend these to anyone looking to go from the hobbyist / $200-$500 per-pair range, to something more professional and accurate. These beasts can handle very high SpL's with ease.

One of my Event Precision 8 tweeters blew out and I had a session coming in. So I went with my gut and got 2 Mackie HR824mk2s. I should have gotten these a long time ago. My mixes are more true from the studio to the car or ear buds, etc. I also used to have a bass node in my control room with the other boxes. Somehow, this node disappeared when I installed the Mackies. They really are mached perfectly to the Mackie 1640i which I raved about on my previous review. Mackie has become my favorite all around company for all my mixing and monitoring needs.

I wouldn't suggest these to mix with but they totally rock when it comes to getting a great A/B on sound. They auto turn themselves off and on. And sound great with a lot of power.

They do however add bass and warmth to the sound that may be too much color to mix with. they do for us. But this is our second set!

I'm not a fan of the passive radiator design and one of my speakers developed a weak tweeter after a few years. They are a joy to listen to but I will go with a closed cabinet with no bass enhancement when I replace them.

I realize I am the minority here, but I have listened to these speakers for hours! I can tell you that they are certainly not perfect.

I am glad Mackie provided some guidelines and a few parameters on the back to help, but even so, these monitors have a color to them that sounds the opposite of what most are listening to.

I need to experiment with the room I am in to be more precise with this review, but I can say this. For all the money you will spend, shouldn't you get something more accurate?

I have to go listen to my mix in my car's stock speakers to get a more accurate rep of what the song sounds like. I shouldn't have to for this price.