Hey Everyone,
Well, a little background on the situation before the product comments:
I was renovating a basement room (Old walls, not at all appealing room, wanted a party room). It was done up with a bunk bed/desk combo in one corner with a closet to the side. The room is about 25x14. It was redone with drywall, white walls, and the floor joists above were left exposed and sprayed flat black with the lighting installed a few inches below so you dont look up at the ceiling. It looks more like a dark 'abyss'. (many restaurants and stores are done like this). The room was geared toward hosting raves/dance parties. DJ lighting, Laser, Smoke machine, Strobes, Mirror ball etc... were installed.
Originally I only purchased a Peavey 112PM Floor monitor to acompany my computer's surround sound system. The peavey is garbage btw. I figured it would be loud. No. So I decided I wanted(needed) more volume in the room. I was looking at larger peaveys (In particular the Peavey SP5.5, a powered version of the SP5.) It peaks at 800W in the LF and 200W HF. It was much louder than the current peavey but still had blips, the mid frequencies were lacking, and the high end quality was no the best. The base was moderately low however didnt sound very good. I heard mackies were all the rage but didnt really think I wanted to spend the money there. A customer made a comment about them(he was browsing speakers too) and I ended up asking to plug a mackie SR1521z(SRz series is slightly lower output and a couple elements that are not as extravagant as the SAz series). It was turned up to about 1/2 the vol... and, pardon me, but blew the crap out of the peavey. The sound was immaculate, it was louder, the high end was amazing, and the crossover point - I couldnt even notice at the time. The speaker hit every beat with perfect sound accuracy. I walked out with a deposit on an SA1521z. I now have it at home... it sounds amazing, and... I have yet to turn it up past 1/4 vol. because at that I can tell the type of music from the back garage, located 40 ft. from the house! This speaker is in the basement.
I am extremely please with these two series of mackie, and have yet to hear any speakers that really compare, or, none for typical private/small business applications. This speaker in particular is amazing, and as soon as I can, plan to purchase a second speaker. For anyone looking at a good quality speaker and is willing to spend an extra few hundred dollars, at least listen to a mackie.
Hope this helps anyone looking at speakers!
Cheers,
Chris
