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Word of warning on the 1501s, we bought some earlier this year and they took 3 months to arrive. Within a week the internal fuse on both units had blown and we had another month long wait while we tried to organise it being taken away for repair.

 

Stage electrics don't stock mackie anymore as the build quality, availability and customer service has detoirated, and if I was buying again I would get the RCF equivalents.

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Word of warning on the 1501s, we bought some earlier this year and they took 3 months to arrive. Within a week the internal fuse on both units had blown and we had another month long wait while we tried to organise it being taken away for repair.

 

Stage electrics don't stock mackie anymore as the build quality, availability and customer service has detoirated, and if I was buying again I would get the RCF equivalents.

 

My point exactly

 

Rich

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All cos of them being manufactured in china, not the USA like previous mackie subs, take the 1801's for example wen manufactured in USA brilliant build quality, use a pair of them and they are very reliable from use.. only a couple of slip ups but they are a few years old now.. however the 1801Z produced in china.... just say there have been lots of problems with the build quality and the parts used are so to say a cheaper equivalent

 

Chris

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Hi All,

 

All cos of them being manufactured in china, not the USA like previous mackie subs, take the 1801's for example wen manufactured in USA brilliant build quality, use a pair of them and they are very reliable from use.. only a couple of slip ups but they are a few years old now.. however the 1801Z produced in china.... just say there have been lots of problems with the build quality and the parts used are so to say a cheaper equivalent

 

 

Just to clear something up, all the good old Mackie speakers were made by RCF in Italy (thats one of the main reasons for Mackie buying RCF), before RCF went back on its own and then production moved to China.

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Exactly. We still have 8 mackie srm450's and 8 1501 subs here at SLX Tyneside. However there all the old, itallian made versions. When one of the guys bought a new pair of the chineese made 450's and opened them up to compare against ours in the hire stock, it was like they were different speakers, almost nothing is the same in them. In the end the guy took his 450's back due to the amount of times he had to send them back for repair. He then got the RCF Art 322a cabs and has noting but praise for them. I also got these cabs and they blow the old and new mackies away, there so much better.

 

This also applies to the subs, the only advantage I could see of you getting the Mackie subs is that the badges on the front of your cabs will match. Thats it. The RCF's are better in almost every single way to the mackie's, the price difference is absolutly minimal considering the difference between these two cabs. The mackies sound like a sub, they make a boom, thats it. They would be OK for an install somewere, they do what it says on the tin. The RCF's however, have a much tighter sounding bass, and much louder, whilst still being lighter.

 

The final point to make is about the robustness of these cabs. The mackies have very similar characteristics to a damp cardboard box, which is a shame as the old itallian made 1501 was a very, very tough cab indeed. The rcf 705as is a much stronger built cab, which can quite happily handle being draged in and out of vans everynight and then lugged around the venue, I honestly dont know if the mackies would be able to take this kind of abuse on a regular basis.

 

If I was you I would not think twice about this decision. RCf all the way.

 

Rich

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