Mackies or Behringers?

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I'm not going to address the actual question, either, having no experience with either model of monitors (and really, unless you have used at least one or the other, do you have any business say one might be better than the other?) but I think it is a crying shame that Mackie has gone the Behri route. Not very long ago- I am talking less than a decade, I think, Mackie gear was made in the USA. Personally, I won't touch a Mackie piece that is from China- I'm even more like to use a piece of Behri gear. I was further distressed to learn that Peavey went to China for manufacturing of much of their line a few years ago, too. I would think that distinction is important to lots of other people.

IMHO, Mackie was at least two notches up from Behringer, and Peavey was better, too, until they went to China for cheap. Now, they are all just the same. A sad, sad situation.
 
The trouble is, everybody wants cheap gear and nobody wants to pay for quality. Look at all the threads in here that ask "what's the best xxx I can buy for under $100?". How rare is it that anybody asks "I want really good quality--what's the best xxx?". When I started in this game, there was not really any such thing as "home recording". All the gear was professional and priced as such.

Now, I don't have a house full of Neumann mics and Neve consoles--but I do buy less gear and get the stuff I think is good rather than simply within my budget. I'd also rather have a second hand--but good--item than something that looks flashy but is designed to a price.

I don't necessarily share the view of historic Mackie--I've always thought their stuff was a bit over-rated but that was just my opinion. However, whatever they USED to be, now they have a greater emphasis on a good PR department and past "glories". They're another Behringer--but still try to pretend otherwise.

Bob
 
stevieb said:
I won't touch a Mackie piece that is from China- I'm even more like to use a piece of Behri gear.
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So....are you saying that Chinese made Behringer gear is more preferable to you than Chinese made Mackie gear?

:laughings:

Not sure how "close" Mackie gear is now days to Behringer gear...but I would still consider Mackie monitors before Behringer just on name alone....sorry.
Behringer "Truth" monitors sucked ass when they first came out, and while they are now advertised as "improved", it's still pretty much the same design. AFA those Mackie MR5 monitors...I can't say anything specific about them, I'm mostly familiar with the 824 and 624 monitrs...which are not top-shelf stuff that costs $3k-$5k/pair, but are certainly some of the better ones in their price range.

AFA the "made in China" thing...hey, get over it. I buy USA-made whenever something is available and when it's what I need and (not necessarily *just* 'cuz it's USA-made), but there's a LOT of audio gear either made 100% in China or manufactured but assembled elsewhere, and it's not all shit. You just have to cherry-pick a bit when going from brand/model to brand/model.

I'll be honest...I don't even know for sure if my Mackie 824 monitors are USA or China made...???
When I bought them, it was after extensive auditioning in both stores and my studio, and they won hands-down over a half dozen other similarly priced brands/models (Yamaha, Hafler, KRK, Tannoy, JBL, xxx?). I bought them back in 2002 I think, and never even checked where they were made. They've been working perfectly for almost 10 years now...but I'll check later today if they are USA or China made now that the question has come up. :D

To the OP...

Go to the stores...try to get them to your studio space for an audition. Some stores will let you do that with at least a credit toward some other brand if you don't like them after a couple of days.

That's the best way to decide what works for your in your room.
 
in this price range i dont thinks theres that much difference, its far more important that your ears get used to them and that you know how professionally produced music sound on them..

I did quite a bit of listening to nearfields when I bought my last monitors...and I couldnt hear much of a difference in sub $500 monitors tbh....

funny enough FutureMusic rate krk 5s above monitors four or five times the price, not sure I believe that but???

buy what satisfies your budget and get used to them....imho, oh and dont listen to steveb, the guys a balloon
 
Absolutepower said:
What's Behringer's sordid history? I never knew about this. Is it thick with intrigue and revenge?
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they reverse engineer other products and put out clones of them. On some of their early products the circuit boards were copied so closely that the mackie logo was etched on them! :D Apparently the Chinese workers just copied everything.
Then they use similar names like the Xenex mixers after Mackie came out with the Onyx.

Some of their pedal copies are almost dead ringers for the pedals they're copied from.

Personally, I don't give a shit ..... that's just me. But I find it funny when people react with horror about the unethical behavior when that's basically what goes on and has gone on in competing corporations since there have been corporations.
Hell ...... Mackies' designs were based on long time designs that have been around forever. He may have brought the prices down but he didn't invent all that stuff.
And now he's not even a part of it anyways.

The thing is ..... for those of us that have been around for 40+ years in the biz, most of even the cheap stuff we get today is better than what was considered good back in the day.
I can't count the number of bands that just used a Shure mixer with no tone controls or anything for their PA systems. There simply wasn't anything else to buy.
Potliquor, a Louisiana band that had some success in the 70's, used Shure Vocal Masters for their PA and they were a semi-big band.
Go google Shure VocalMaster and you'll be surprised because it's crap. 100 watts thru 2 columns ...... they used 2 heads and 4 columns. :D That's one reason bands back then had big-ass bass rigs ....... you couldn't put the bass thru the PA because it wouldn't handle it.

But that's mostly all there was until Voice of the Theaters and power amps started being common. And even then, for mixers .... you didn't have much at real world prices. Kasino, early Peavey dreck ....... occassionally I'd see an Altec board.
So I have no problem getting acceptable results out of most budget gear ..... there are exceptions but mostly if you know how to use it you can go cheap and do alright.
 
There are a lot of urban myths floating around about Behringer "copying" designs--things like "they even copied the Mackie part number on the circuit board" have been repeated so often they're accepted as fact.

However, the truth is, the Mackie case against Behringer was thrown out of a US court because the Mackie design wasn't patented there...and later thrown out of a UK court for a similar reason. Frequently it's down to two manufacturers using the same 3rd party design for circuits. For example, if you open up a QSC amp and a Behringer amp of the same power, the circuits look very similar and, when noticed, everyone thought QSC would be suing. However, the truth is, they both bought a design from the same (far Eastern) source.

In any case, that's history now. Behringer has grown and matured--and the holding company now owns high-end companies such as MIDAS, makers of some of the best (and most expensive) live mixers on the market.

Behringer is now just another company marketing products at the economy end of the market. Some of their stuff is pretty useful, other things I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. But, for the money, many of their things represent good value.

Bob
 
A "balloon?" Lay off the drugs, dude. You're an idiot.

I remember Potliquor! I may even still have one of their albums. I thought they were going places, but they never came to a full boil. I guess somebody turned the flame off too soon... So true, Lt. Bob- I remember listing after stuff back then, that I would never dream of using, now. Can you say "Kustom?" :D

Not going to get into a Behri flame, here. My point is that Mackie and Peavey seemed to have nice niches in the market, and IMO should have stayed there, instead of following the Behringer model.
 
yeah Im an idiot...youre a balloon, full of hot air dude...blah blah blah mackie, blah blah blah behri...an authority on nothing :)
 
Yeah, I don't know anything.
Just ask the folks who run the rock n roll summer camp, who asked me to go down to Boca Raton and pull their fat out of the fire when they didn't have anyone to rent backline gear, provide the live sound rig or record their bands for their camps there, last summer, and asked me to provide services for the Atlanta camp again this year.

Or ask Chater-La, who thought the review I posted to Audiofanzine was so well-written she first thought I cribbed it from someone else.

Yeah, I don't know anything. That's why I am an investor in a professional recording/rehearsal studio in New Orleans, and not knowing anything is certainly why I am succeeding with a live-sound production company here in Atlanta.

Surely, only commenting on posts when I have real experience with the piece of equipment in question, or something very similar, is certainly a sign of someone who does not know anything.

You just can't get away with doing any of those things if you actually know anything about them.

And you are still an idiot.
 
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Far as I'm concerned, there was no tangent. The OP asked "Mackies or Behringer" and someone qualified their answer with their dislike of Behringer. It's not a tangent, it's a reason (or an opinion). Whether to go with that reasoning or not is up to the buyer...

Personally, I do not know what all the negative fuss is, about Behringer. I've used their gear in the past and it's been great. Obviously, if I had a lot more money to spend, I probably would look at more 'refined' brands - but I think they make great affordable gear for music hobbyists who are on a budget.
 
I'm sure a lot of us are on this forum, hence why we frequent on this forum. To try and become less of an idiot (hopefully) and become somewhat more knowledgeable in the field... But that doesn't mean we can have an opinion.

Now I'm not one for ranks or "elitist" in society, but in situations like this, I think I can kindly state that we have two sides of the spectrum here that have voiced their opinions.

Now obviously seeing as you're high and might and have all this rep. and whatnot. And it's great I bet, but not everyone in the world is as you are. And I bet to hell that you've prolly not touched a "low end" product of Behringer or any other "crap" similar to it.

And it really all the fault of companies porting over to China for alternative routes. Some, if not most, is due to these "harsh" conditions and "labor unions" that demand that $10-15 per hour plus a multitude of benefits and vacations aren't enough to savvy what they work for in factories, seeing as of course, half those people don't have past a high school education or a valid college education for that matter...

But for us "lowly" people that just get by in life and don't have the luxuries of the higher end, we have to go buy what is being offered to us at our price. Now obviously it's not as great and miraculous as the high end stuff, but it's nothing to shun either.

Times change, and it annoys me how "traditional" typist always label "alternative" gear as compared to the quality of gear over 20-40 years ago. I'm surprised that they feel jealous that today's society even has the opportunity to use such decent gear for the money.
 
Ninja_Drummer said:
I'm sure a lot of us are on this forum, hence why we frequent on this forum. To try and become less of an idiot (hopefully) and become somewhat more knowledgeable in the field... But that doesn't mean we can have an opinion.

Now I'm not one for ranks or "elitist" in society, but in situations like this, I think I can kindly state that we have two sides of the spectrum here that have voiced their opinions.

Now obviously seeing as you're high and might and have all this rep. and whatnot. And it's great I bet, but not everyone in the world is as you are. And I bet to hell that you've prolly not touched a "low end" product of Behringer or any other "crap" similar to it.

And it really all the fault of companies porting over to China for alternative routes. Some, if not most, is due to these "harsh" conditions and "labor unions" that demand that $10-15 per hour plus a multitude of benefits and vacations aren't enough to savvy what they work for in factories, seeing as of course, half those people don't have past a high school education or a valid college education for that matter...

But for us "lowly" people that just get by in life and don't have the luxuries of the higher end, we have to go buy what is being offered to us at our price. Now obviously it's not as great and miraculous as the high end stuff, but it's nothing to shun either.

Times change, and it annoys me how "traditional" typist always label "alternative" gear as compared to the quality of gear over 20-40 years ago. I'm surprised that they feel jealous that today's society even has the opportunity to use such decent gear for the money.
Click to expand...

what?!???


:confused:
 
Ninja_Drummer said:
I'm sure a lot of us are on this forum, hence why we frequent on this forum. To try and become less of an idiot (hopefully) and become somewhat more knowledgeable in the field... But that doesn't mean we can have an opinion.

Now I'm not one for ranks or "elitist" in society, but in situations like this, I think I can kindly state that we have two sides of the spectrum here that have voiced their opinions.

Now obviously seeing as you're high and might and have all this rep. and whatnot. And it's great I bet, but not everyone in the world is as you are. And I bet to hell that you've prolly not touched a "low end" product of Behringer or any other "crap" similar to it.

And it really all the fault of companies porting over to China for alternative routes. Some, if not most, is due to these "harsh" conditions and "labor unions" that demand that $10-15 per hour plus a multitude of benefits and vacations aren't enough to savvy what they work for in factories, seeing as of course, half those people don't have past a high school education or a valid college education for that matter...

But for us "lowly" people that just get by in life and don't have the luxuries of the higher end, we have to go buy what is being offered to us at our price. Now obviously it's not as great and miraculous as the high end stuff, but it's nothing to shun either.

Times change, and it annoys me how "traditional" typist always label "alternative" gear as compared to the quality of gear over 20-40 years ago. I'm surprised that they feel jealous that today's society even has the opportunity to use such decent gear for the money.
Click to expand...

i couldnt have put it better....lol
 
a very important stevieb said:
Yeah, I don't know anything.
Just ask the folks who run the rock n roll summer camp, who asked me to go down to Boca Raton and pull their fat out of the fire when they didn't have anyone to rent backline gear, provide the live sound rig or record their bands for their camps there, last summer, and asked me to provide services for the Atlanta camp again this year.

Or ask Chater-La, who thought the review I posted to Audiofanzine was so well-written she first thought I cribbed it from someone else.

Yeah, I don't know anything. That's why I am an investor in a professional recording/rehearsal studio in New Orleans, and not knowing anything is certainly why I am succeeding with a live-sound production company here in Atlanta.

Surely, only commenting on posts when I have real experience with the piece of equipment in question, or something very similar, is certainly a sign of someone who does not know anything.

You just can't get away with doing any of those things if you actually know anything about them.

And you are still an idiot.
Click to expand...

:laughings: :laughings: :laughings:

up in the air in my beautiful balloon.....
 
Ninja_Drummer said:
I'm sure a lot of us are on this forum, hence why we frequent on this forum. To try and become less of an idiot (hopefully) and become somewhat more knowledgeable in the field... But that doesn't mean we can have an opinion.

Now I'm not one for ranks or "elitist" in society, but in situations like this, I think I can kindly state that we have two sides of the spectrum here that have voiced their opinions.

Now obviously seeing as you're high and might and have all this rep. and whatnot. And it's great I bet, but not everyone in the world is as you are. And I bet to hell that you've prolly not touched a "low end" product of Behringer or any other "crap" similar to it.

And it really all the fault of companies porting over to China for alternative routes. Some, if not most, is due to these "harsh" conditions and "labor unions" that demand that $10-15 per hour plus a multitude of benefits and vacations aren't enough to savvy what they work for in factories, seeing as of course, half those people don't have past a high school education or a valid college education for that matter...

But for us "lowly" people that just get by in life and don't have the luxuries of the higher end, we have to go buy what is being offered to us at our price. Now obviously it's not as great and miraculous as the high end stuff, but it's nothing to shun either.

Times change, and it annoys me how "traditional" typist always label "alternative" gear as compared to the quality of gear over 20-40 years ago. I'm surprised that they feel jealous that today's society even has the opportunity to use such decent gear for the money.
Click to expand...


Lt. Bob said:
what?!???


:confused:
Click to expand...


Double what?!???

:confused:

Who is your rant for since you keep saying "you"...?
 
I like the KRK's better because they are yellow.
 
arcadeko said:
I like the KRK's better because they are yellow.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this

they're fraggin YELLOW, man! Mackie and Behri's ain't got nothin on the YELLOW.:D



...but I just use some old stereo speakers to mix on, so what do I know. now, what was the question again? just buy what you can afford, and if you don't like it, return it, sell it, burn it, whatever, then buy something else. chalk it up to a learning experience
 
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