Thats what I'll do, I'll maybe checkout the Mackies first. I'll give them a few days get used to them & If I don't like them, swap the for the JBL's.



I know how you feel, my local music store pretty much exclusively sells westfield guitars & Cube amps!! There's no chance of checking out studio monitors there. Even if I travel about 35 miles down the road to Belfast, the only thing I've seen there is KRK Rokits.

I found another Review of the MR5MK2's

Mackie MR5MK2 Active Studio Monitor Review | Mix Author Michael Cooper Reviews Mackie MR5MK2 Active Studio Monitor

Haven't heard anything bad about them yet.

Where do you live?

SSShhhhh!!! Don't want the wife to hear....I couldn't resist, I ordered the Adam A5X's. I just know I'd be kicking myself in a few months for not just going for them in the first place.

No seriously she doesn't mind.....too much.

Belgium =/

You must have an understanding wife. heh

I couldn't see your location when I posted. I thought europe was the hub of music technology. heh

Sent from my U20i using Gearslutz.com App

Yeah in Germany are 2 giant music stores where i order my stuff from.
But i can never test things :'(....sh*t, i would even sleep on the parking lot with a nice camping tent and a flashlight ;D '' Window shopping from a distance''.

I don't think the gendarmerie would look too favourably on that.

Is one of them Musikhaus Kirstein? I nearly bought some monitors from them a few months back cause they had a 30 day grace period but decided against in the end cause return shipping would have been too expensive.

Still waiting on my A5x's, UPS are so bloody slowww. Looks like they won't be here until tomorrow now. This is the first time I've had a delivery from UK mainland take more than 24 hours, Come on UPS get your finger out!

Gonna get some acoustic treatment going in my room too just for good measure. When I get the A5x's I'll get back to y'all & let you know what I think, probably better to give my ears time to adjust first.

No. The stores i order from also have 30 days grace, shipping wil be done on their costs etc etc....GREAT SERVICE.

Sorry I thought I was on a different topic and quoting a different person, just realised been on this thread already before lol.

Anyway good luck with your new monitors.

Give them a little breaking in time before judging properly. My experience my A7x's did not need as much break in time as say Focal, but they do need a bit, so just go gentle with them at first with some quite bass heavy music, don't push them at all (you won't need to as these have massive output) give them a couple of days as the bottom end will open up and sound more smooth, and the ribbon tweeters will sound more clean as the hours go by.

Though as said before you may find them a little to bright at the top end (you may want to consider sitting a little away from them instead of really close) but you can adjust this with the hi shelf filter, and set this to your taste, then your good to go. But you will need a few days to adjust and maybe tweak them to your taste.

BUMP!

Did anyone else compared them ?

I listened to the MR5 mkiis when i got my hs80ms and i thought they sounded quite muddy, i read some stellar reviews since then so i'd have to go back and have another listen. If the hs50m is brighter than the hs80m then you might find it too aggressive, a few have said they are harsher...

Alright.

If you go to listen to them again,in comparison to the hs50m I would be verry happy if you write your opinion since I cant compare them myself :-)

I owned them and send them back a week later because they were so muddy and I missed lots of detail. Also I found the high end to smooth for my taste. I am getting a pair of Yamaha msp5 today.

Like someone else on this forum told me, threat the room and get the HS80's.

I know I did, and they are awesome speakers for mixing. Don't listen to the low end HS80 bashers, they also have great bass response, just threat the damn room..

You will be happy with Focal CMS 65. It seems that the HS80 have a hipped bass and highs.

He might not be happy with the CMS65, such as he might not be happy if he got the HS50's or MR5 or whatever monitor.

All a matter of taste, try before you buy as you could miss out on something that will enable you to mix much easier then something you do end up getting, or just not having a monitor that fits your personal needs.

I had a quick listen to the hs50s and thought they sounded pretty good, more bass than i expected, they were actually connected to a moog prodigy.

I didn't have much time to compare to both but Syliano has the same opinion after owning some which totally goes against the reviews i've read.

Tbh i prefer to go on personal experience than reviews or opinions, even stuff i read on GS! This is probably the best source of info on the web, just take things you read online with a grain of salt innit? heh

If you can't demo yerself the best thing to do is get a pair from a place with a grace period so you can return them if you don't like them. Honestly monitors are such a personal thing. I chose the hs80m cause it has much better midrange resolution than most other budget monitors and it will make a good second reference if/when i upgrade.

It would be a matter of taste if all monitors translate great to all other systems. Now if you like monitors that will sound great in your room but you waste a lot of time trying to figure out why your mixes don't translate to other systems then go for it, there are so many to choose from, but if you want monitors that will help you achieve great mixes, than you just have to wait until you have the budget for great monitors.
You had me little bit worried about the humming so I soon as I got them I hocked them up and I put my ear right against it but I found no humming whatsoever. Now Woooow my mixes are translating to clubs, the car and other systems the way it should be, I should have done this a long time ago.

Do the MKI and MKII Mackies look different? How do you tell them apart?

Today at the Guitar Center in Hollywood Listening to 50 Cents "Disco Inferno" here is what I heard.

Mackie MR5 MkII - Highs were not clear. Mids were dipped and bass was Exaggerated.

Yamaha HS50- Highs were flat which is (good) and mids present but sounded boxy, also it felt like a whole frequency range was missing couldnt feel the track at all. The yamahas sounded almost like a clock radio (only after A/Bing them with the (Tannoys)

KrK rokit 5s and 6s- Sounded similar to the Mackies just with more mid range but not detailed of crisp.

Tannoy Reveal 501A - Wow!!!! Bass was smooth, the mids were exellent, the song (Disco Inferno) poped out at me heard all the sibalance and detail in the mastered song. The highs were a bit bright, im sure with hitting the switch on the back would solve this problem.

Advice listen for yourself, I dont see how you can get a good mix on the yamahas when you cant hear some of the stuff that is there. . I own the 1st Gen MR5s and they still lack the detail the Tannoy 501As reveal.

Hope this helps..

I have the MR5's and for what I need in a small work area - they are great. Very enjoyable. I've mixed on an older pair of tannoys for years - the mr5's are similar. I'm taking the time to really learn these and they will translate well here after that. I've played several previous mixes through these speakers and the detail is revealing for their size. For a 5 inch speaker, the bass is nice - maybe a little exaggerated, but I can work with these fine. Mids and highs are clear with plenty of detail for this $level of monitor. The important part of this process is to learn your speakers!

Once I decided to purchase, I found them for 99/per at musician's friend which was a nice surprise, actually it's almost nuts. So far, I'm impressed. I think these speakers could easily compete with the group of monitors at the next price rung.

MR5's aren't a 5" speaker though, they have 5.25" woofers. Do you think that extra quarter inch makes all the difference in pumping out more bass?

It might but the rear ports certainly do.

i just sold my yamahas hs50m and bought my self the mackie mr5 mk2 and they sound crystal clear great for mixing

i just sold my yamahas hs50m and bought my self the mackie mr5 mk2 and they sound crystal clear great for mixing you wont regret getting this monitors at all trust me yamahas hs50m stay behind with this new bad boys trust me i love them hope this helps you decide.

swag musik studios

I was really excited about the prospect of the MR5 MkII when they first came out but when I tried them out in the store I wasn't a fan at all.

I ended up buying the HS50s used and I couldn't be happier.

I don't understand all the complaints about the HS50s lack of bass (I get that it doesn't go as low as some people want, but what's there is definitely present).

I thought the MR5s have an over hyped woofy sounding bass whereas the HS50s had a bass that sounded clear and accurate without drowning out the rest of the mix.

FWIW and for your reference the main tracks I was using to test the monitors were the first couple from Foo Fighters' "Wasting Light," Bad Religion's "The Empire Strikes First" and some random metal songs.

I like a bass that's clearly audible but not dominating and I feel like it's easier to get that with the HS50s

Final caveat: this is all just my opinion

What's the difference between the MR5 version and the MR5 MKII version?

Mackie MR2 MKII for sure!. i went to the music store in copenhagen. Tested the Yamaha hs50, a krk50, mackie mr5 mkII and the new bx5. The Mackie MR2 MKII, was the only speakers, able to pull some bass. The other sets require a subwoofer for even thinking about being able to mix or master the lower sections. I never had any experience on monitors before, and i am so glad that i checked it by my own ear. I was looking at the HS80 as well, but the storekeeper even said he thought them as having some low mids. Not optional for studio editing. I can only recommend the Mackie. You have to hear em out.