Still Torn: Mackie HR824 -VS- Event SP8

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Myriad_Rocker

Myriad_Rocker

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I went and demo'ed these two over the weekend. After listening to them, I'm still torn between the two! The SP 8's seemed to have a tighter bottom end but I'm not sure if the room was just to blame for that.....the Mackie's have a very strong reputation and a lot of studios have them.

Don't ask if my room is treated....I'm currently working on it. Home made bass traps in corners, cloud over mixing position, trapping on walls, etc. :D
 
The Mackie's don't really have that strong of a reputation in my opinion. Also, there are nopt that many good studios that really use them either. They were popular for a year or two, but now they are VERY easy to find used. Personally, they just don't sound very good to me. Maybe for a home theatre set up they might, but thats about it.
 
xstatic said:
The Mackie's don't really have that strong of a reputation in my opinion. Also, there are nopt that many good studios that really use them either. They were popular for a year or two, but now they are VERY easy to find used. Personally, they just don't sound very good to me. Maybe for a home theatre set up they might, but thats about it.
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Then what would you recommend in that price range?
 
I just got a pair of sp6's. They are much more accurate than my previous 824's and 624's. With the Mackies, I had to make one mix and transfer it to a car stereo to make sure it was OK. I think it is because of the loud bottom end on the mackies. With these Events, I can make a mix and be confident it will sound good anywhere.
 
I hear the HR824s will make great subwoofers for your car :cool:


Anything but mackie, you'll thank yourself in 10 years.
 
Personally, I am a Dynaudio fan. I also like the Truth passive monitors (the brand, not the Behringers). Quested makes some nice stuff, as well as EMES and ADAM. Some of those may be in your price range, some may not. Personally, I like the Mackie 624's better than the 824's. I dislike the Event line, but the newer ASP series definately sound better than all of their other lines. You might be able to find a set of E series KRK's used in your budget as well. There are a lot of options, but monitors are a pretty personal choice and your room will always play a big role in how they sound. Even where you place them in the room will make a difference.

The bottom line is that you should do the best research that you can, listen to as many as you can, take as many as you can, and then decide. When you do decide, try and add about 30 or 40% to your budget and see if your options change. Basically, I highly reccomend when buying monitors that you buy the absolute best ones you can squeak out. They will change the way all of your equipment sounds and feels to you. Everything you do is impacted by your monitors whether it be tracking or mixing decisions.
 
I posted this on another forum and opinions over there seem to differ. That's why I remain torn about it. I don't have the kind of dough it takes to buy them both and compare...that just won't work for me. I don't want anyone to make a decision for me. By nature, I'm the questioning type. I even question myself sometimes. I guess that's my perfectionist attitude. But it's hard to be a perfectionist when you aren't an expert on the topic.

Tough tough decisions...I'm leaning slightly toward the Event SP8's, though.

Like I told my friend when he was with me demoing though....I don't want something that sounds better...I want something that tells me the truth. Then if it sounds good, I know it sounds good. Not because the monitor made it sound good.
 
honestly man... you couldnt go wrong with either one of them... I personally would go with the SP8's as I have heard incredible things about them, but, i would be happy with either one of them... i wouldnt stress yourself over it, just grab the best deal you can get...
 
Diffusion said:
honestly man... you couldnt go wrong with either one of them... I personally would go with the SP8's as I have heard incredible things about them, but, i would be happy with either one of them... i wouldnt stress yourself over it, just grab the best deal you can get...
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There is only a $20 price difference in the two. It's hard to just make a decision. I know they're both good monitors. But I don't want to regret my decision down the road. I want to smile, knowing that I made the correct decision. And right now, I'm finding that to be a hard task.
 
I demo'ed the Mackies long ago, and really thought the low end was sort of "weird". I have Event 20/20 passives, and the comparison is a lot like already described above!

pipelineaudio has some of those Mackies too, and he was complaining about couple years ago about how mixes weren't translating on them very well. He hardly uses them now.
 
Events

I went through a lot of monitors recently, and settled on the Event TR8s. I was going to go with the 8XLs given some really good reviews, but the TR8s have all the same components, speaker materials, etc. except for the amplifier has more juice and a different transformer. The 8XLs are rated to go 3db louder. XL is meant to stand for extra loud. I don't mix loud, and my room is small, so I went with the TR8s and spent the $70 difference on good cables and Auralex iso pads.

I am entirely pleased with the purchase. These monitors seemed to be the most neutral sounding I was able to find. Potential for good mixes. I liked the way my music sounded on them the best.

Nearfield monitors are supposed to give you accuracy in the sweet spot. The SP8s are front ported, and the Mackies appear to be sealed. This is probably the explaination for more bass out of the Events. But is it accurate bass is big question ? Since these monitors are 3 times as much as my TR8s, and are pro grade, I would not hesitate to say yes.

Were you listening to the bass in the sweet spot ? Once you start moving around, bass usually picks up due to reflections. If I move about one foot back from my sweet spot, the bass picks up a bit due to the back wall reflections, but I don't mix from that point.

Did you A/B some specific recordings between the pair ? Take some CDs with various aspects you like, i.e., good solid bass, good vocals, good stereo imagining, etc. Compare the two monitors with those.

I also got a good pair of studio monitor headphones, and evaluated my recordings on their as well. A couple of weeks with these (AKG 240S) really helped develop my ear.

I put on my AKGs and have compared them to the TR8s in the sweet spot. I am convinced that I am getting pretty accurate near field monitoring from the Events. As long as you get the volume between the two right, their should not be a huge difference between good studio headphone monitors and good studio nearfield monitors IMO. Headphones just get me a little closer to the action, and let me evaluate the stereo panning a little better, and also any effects, etc.

I really like my EVENTS. Silky smooth and not fatiguing. I was in a pro/home studio last night, in which I totally flipped on the guys monitors a year ago. Now, I would rather hear stuff on my TR8s and my AKGs.
 
To answer a question...yes, I took a CD that I was pretty familiar with. As stated, it could have been the room but the Mackie's sounded not quite as defined as the Event SP8's. More so in the bottom end. It's not so much that either had more bass...it just SEEMED that the Event's handled it better in that particular room. Of course, this is all considering my limited knowledge. :D Limited meaning that I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination.
 
What are you purchasing them for ? What is going to be your mixing situation ? Room, music, etc. ? What have you been using ?

I compared both the SP8s and the Mackies, and did not like either. They also were way up in the air on a shelf. The price also kept me from seriously auditioning them anyways ;)

But, I heard the Event 20/20 passives, and was like, whoa, those sound nice. The tr8s are pretty much exactly the same speaker, but powered. Time after time, I kept settling on the tr8s.

I can't tell you how much listening to some good solid studio headphone monitors for a couple of weeks really helped me make my near field decision with a LOT more confidence.
 
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I think that any quality monitor with a flat frequency response is a good one... they all have slight differences in sound and not all rooms which they are in are the same... In my opinion you have to let your ears learn the monitor... and in time you'll start to know how they translate outside of your studio... but in any price range i'd take one with a 6" in it rather than an 8". the amount of low end that 8's can handle is probably more than needed in a nearfield monitor.
 
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