Mackie 2xSA1232z vs 4xQSC HPR122i

[OTO1702]

Good afternoon everybody,

I have recently got an offer for 2x SA1232z mackie speakers, these are new and priced about 2500$ for the pair. (Canadian money).

Thus anyone have used these speakers by the past ? I will mainly used them as PA for some live bands ( small to medium size venue).
Is there something wrong with them ?

I already have 2 qsc HPR122i and I am thinking about adding 2 more, I would like to have your inputs about this : As a comparison, 4 x HPR122i VS 2 x SA1232z
For sure, the qsc's will be completed with single 18' subs that I have (DAS - Sub18+MT2400 amps).

The Mackies are a bit are more expensive than the qsc but the power is way higher.

Thanks for your help

[BillESC]

I'm not a fan of mixing speaker brands, too many time alignment issues.

Mackie service may also become problematic in the near future.

[OTO1702]

Oh !

The idea is about using only two SA1232z or 4 HPR122i

Sorry for the misunderstanding !

Ot

[BillESC]

Four of the QSC's will give you more options. The Mackie's are not pole mountable or flyable.

[museav]

I would not do either. I wrote a long, detailed response but it took so long that I got logged off while writing it and the post was lost when I submitted it. But the bottom line is that the HPR122i that you have should already be able to outrun your subs by 3-6dB and unless the desired change is for coverage rather than output, changing the mains seems to make no sense without also upgrading your subs. While you are apparently being offered a great deal on the Mackies, if you want a larger box that can run without subs for many events then I'd look at the QSC HPR153i, which is much more comparable to the Mackie SA1232z than is the HPR122i.

As Bill noted, the Mackie SA1232z (and QSC HPR153i) are much larger and heavier boxes that typically make them a bit less flexible than the HPR122i. So also consider transport, setup, etc., do you want to have to deal with 4 foot tall, 120lbs. speakers by yourself?

Also, while the 1300W for the Mackie SA1232z versus the 500W of the QSC HPR122i may look impressive, all it really means is that the Mackie requires more power from the wall. Between it being 500W over two drivers versus 1300W over four drivers and the critical factor of speaker sensitivity (how much output you get for a 1W input), the power is not really related to anything other than how much power it requires to run thee speaker. The Mackie SA1232z does indeed have more output than the QSC HPR122i, but for powered speakers you have to look at the output levels rather than the power for any valid comparison. FWIW, while it would likely get louder than the HPR122i, many people question the claimed 136dB maximum output of the SA1232z.

[OTO1702]

I decided to go with the HPR, I got a deal also yesterday and its pretty interresting.

The Mackie's are not flyable, heavy and a bit complicated to work with unless its for an installed application.

What I don't understand is the concerns regarding the subs. I should add more subs ?

Everyone told me the same, the HPR are much better for the application and they sound better.

For about 3-400 personns, 2 HPR122i by side with wooffer should be in off ?

Thanks,

Othmane

[museav]

I would not use two HPR122i side-by-side covering the same area. They are not close enough to sum over the full range so you get summation at lower frequencies but then lobing and combiltering at higher frequencies. You may get about a 3dB overall increase in level but at the expense of the lobing and combfiltering.

The comment about the subs results from the 98dB/1W/1m sensitivity and 8 Ohm spec that DAS publishes for the Sub18H/HP and the 520W/channel stereo into 8 Ohm and 2,070W bridge mono into 4 Ohm spec for the MT-2400, which give a maximum output for each of your subs of 126dB with one per channel on a stereo amp and 128dB with both subs on the amp run bridge mono. The maximum output for the HPR122i is published as 131dB, so the 126-128dB maximum output of each sub is 3-5dB below that of a single HPR122i. Realistically, with the amps rated at 1kHz, etc. there may even be a dB or two greater difference. If you grouped the two subs together so that they coupled you might have a better match in output capability, however for music applications many people like to have the ability to have a system with more bass output than mid and high frequency output. So at least based on the numbers, a single HPR122i box is capable of at least 5-6 dB more output than you sub and sub amp combination and it would be unusual to need more output from the mains without also addressing the subs.