Mackie has been a defining name in loudspeakers going back a long way. Weâve made some of the most widely used, well-respected speakers in the world for decades. Even seasoned professionals who have moved onto extremely expensive, custom-made equipment will tell you: if you need professional gear that will get the job done, you can trust a Mackie.
So, how have we done it? What makes a âMackieâ loudspeaker? Weâve done it by sticking to our ethos: Mackie loudspeakers make it easy to sound good. Making it easy can mean a lot of things: making it durable, technologically advanced, affordable, etc. We are always looking for ways to push the envelope. This philosophy dates back more than 25 years to the Mackie SRM450, the first portable powered loudspeaker. It continues today in our cutting-edge loudspeakers, including the new
Thrashv2, our model of the essential loudspeaker.
What Is a Loudspeaker, Anyway?
A loudspeaker is a device that turns an audio signal into sound. The technical term is âelectroacoustical transducerâ which sounds complicated but is actually pretty simple: itâs turning an electrical signal (the audio you want to play) into an acoustic signal (the sound).
Parts of a Loudspeaker
Loudspeakers come in different shapes and sizes, but most loudspeakers share three core elements that make them work: drivers, an amplifier and a cabinet to hold them.
Driver(s)
Also known as transducers, drivers are the membranes that vibrate to create sound. Youâve seen them. Larger ones (woofers) handle bass and smaller ones (tweeters) handle treble. Many loudspeakers have one of each. Most commonly, you will find loudspeakers with a small high-frequency tweeter (often about 1 inch diameter) and a larger low-frequency woofer (often 12 or 15 inches). Very compact loudspeakers might employ a single medium-sized driver, to cover as much of the frequency spectrum as possible with limited space. Subwoofers usually have just a single large driver (up to 18 inches or more), to focus on low end. That's part of why subwoofers are so big.
Amplifier
The amplifier produces the force that makes the driver vibrate. âPoweredâ and âactiveâ loudspeakers have the amp built in. âPassiveâ loudspeakers need an external amp. Mackie has been a pioneer in powered loudspeakers. Our modern loudspeakers use Class-D amps, which create exceptional volume while being remarkably efficient and lightweight compared to older designs. You'll often find loudspeaker amplifiers with "power" ratings measured in watts (W). We don't want to get overly technical, but wattage is essentially how much electricity a speaker uses. In theory, higher wattage means louder sound. However, the design of the loudspeaker matters when turning the power into actual sound, and watts fluctuate during use. If you want to see how loud a speaker can get in the real world, you are often better off looking for the SPL (sound pressure level) since that's the actual volume coming out of the speaker.
Cabinet
Of course, you need something to put the amp and drivers inside. In addition to protecting the components, the enclosure or the âspeaker cabinetâ also vibrates, which affects the sound. Mackie designs loudspeaker cabinets to be incredibly durable while also complementing the sound quality, making sure they donât unnaturally boost or cut different parts of the frequency range. Our modern loudspeakers also use DSP (digital signal processing) inside the speaker to correct for any anomalies from the cabinet, keeping the sound as accurate as possible.
Wait, Aren't You Just Describing a Regular Speaker?
Technically, pretty much everything we call a âspeakerâ is a loudspeaker. But usually, when we say âloudspeakerâ we mean specifically a loudspeaker as part of a PA system. Loudspeakers are what make it possible to address an audience through a microphone, amplify a rock band or play tunes for the people on the dance floor. Itâs the core element of live sound reinforcement.
Why Are There So Many Kinds of Loudspeaker?
Beyond the basic components, loudspeakers vary in all kinds of ways, based on which users we make them for. Some loudspeakers are meant to be no-fuss affairs, letting you connect a single audio source and tap a couple buttons to dial in the sound, like Thrashv2. Other loudspeakers have more specialized connectivity and more powerful digital tools, like Thumpv4 for DJs, ShowBox for buskers, Thump GO for mobile gigs and SRM V-Class and DRM for installs.
How Mackie Helped Define the Modern Loudspeaker
When you hear the words âloudspeakerâ or âPA speakerâ in everyday life, most of the time theyâre probably talking about a specific kind: portable powered loudspeakers. These speakers have built-in amplifiers, rather than needing an external amp. All their components are contained in a single speaker cabinet, and they have handles for carrying from place to place. You might take these features for granted, but it wasnât always this way. Then came SRM450.
SRM450: Portable and Powerful, Made Possible
Mackie released the SRM450 loudspeaker in the late 1990s, when most PA systems were a clunky ordeal. If you wanted live sound for your show, rehearsal or event, you needed a heavy power amplifier and several speaker cabinets, plus all the cables that go between. SRM450 instead put an entire PA system into a single loudspeaker. Crucially, it sounded great, was very easy to travel with, and was actually affordable. From then on, it became perfectly normal to just plug in a loudspeaker, connect a mic, and be ready to go.
SRM450 began a long history of Mackie making portable powered PA speakers, up to the present day. In fact, thereâs a direct successor to SPM450 with the
SRM450v3.
For Sound You Can Trust, Make It a Mackie
SRM450 helped make live sound feasible for more people and places than ever before. Mackie became the sound of beloved local venues, garage bands, dance floors, buskers, and weekend warriors all over the world. Countless famous artists started out using Mackie gear. Some
still use Mackie today. Over the years, it became often-repeated advice: if you need gear that sounds great, is durable, and is fairly priced, just make it a Mackie and call it a day.
Mackie Is Back: Why You (Still) Need a Mackie
All these years later, Mackie still stands for the same thing: professional sound, made easy. Over the years, âeasyâ has come to include some cutting-edge technology, but itâs always in service to actual applications, and always straightforward to use. Perhaps the best example is our entry-level loudspeaker, Thrashv2. Itâs the perfect speaker to demonstrate what we consider essential in a modern Mackie loudspeaker: professional quality, technology thatâs easy to use, and real-world performance you can count on.
Quality: Always Pushing the Envelope on Professional Sound
Mackie focuses our efforts on delivering the best results in real-world applications, at every price point. Despite being our entry-level speaker, Thrashv2 still produces a scalding 129 dB SPL, enough to keep you from getting drowned out in a variety of situations. The quality matters just as much as the volume, so Mackie uses custom
Lavoce Italiana drivers in both Thrashv2 and and our professional Thumpv4. Mackie has never accepted the idea that affordable sound means shoddy sound. Thrashv2 sets a new standard for affordable speakers.
Performance: Designed to Work for Real Users, in the Real World
When it's time to perform, you need your loudspeaker to work. Extra features are only cool when theyâre useful. Otherwise, they just add to the price tag. Thatâs why Mackie has always been careful to choose the right features for each loudspeaker, based on how itâs going to work in the real world. For Thrashv2, we went as simple and versatile as possible: single-input, single-output design, so you can connect a mic, instrument, mixer or other source, and output sound to the next speaker in the chain. We also added BluetoothÂŽ streaming and linking, since so many people like to use phones for backing tracks and casual DJing. By contrast, our busking amp ShowBox has a fully kitted-out mixer with inputs for a small band. Our loudspeakers vary because they are designed thoughtfully, with users in mind.
Technology: Digital Intelligence Thatâs Actually Useful
Thereâs no denying the power of digital technology. But you donât want to navigate a confusing menu screen when youâd rather just plug in and play. Thatâs why Mackie speakers like Thrashv2 and Thumpv4 have built-in DSP (digital signal processing). But fear not: this tech is honed into a few simple, push-of-a-button features that you can set and forget. For Thrashv2, we chose the most fundamental ones:
voicing modes and
Feedback Eliminator, both pulled from Thumpv4. Voicing modes adapt the speaker to your application: Flat, DJ, Live and Wedge. Feedback Eliminator magically eliminates mic feedback. (Okay, maybe itâs not magic, but the technology is so seamless, it feels like it.)
Mackie Means Power for Everyone
In everything we do, from loudspeakers to mixers and studio monitors, Mackie is about bringing the power of professional audio and live sound to everyone who needs it. That includes artists, from weekend warriors rehearsing in the garage to rock stars playing the biggest stages in the world. It also includes AV pros, event organizers, houses of worship, and anyone else who needs to be heard. When we say Mackie means power for everyone, we mean everyone. And thatâs why thereâs such an array of speakers, from barebones Thrashv2 all the way up to the wood-cabinet DRM line arrays, and everything in between.
No more getting drowned out. Make yourself heard with Mackie.
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