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Mackie HR824 Original, Not MkII

davidki

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Joined
Jul 9, 2022
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I've posted several topics and information on some of the monitors I currently have and as I have folks in to the studio I often compare my Yamaha NS 40s against he Mackie HR 824 (original) monitors. I have the Mackie's sitting vertically and folks ask why don't I put them Horizontally and If I recall over the 20 years I've owned them I probably have experimented with them but not in this room.... So I am going to give it a try.. In the Manual the book actually says you can actually position them either way, but if you set them horizontally to do so with the Woofers in and the tweeters out.... I thought I'd ask here if any one here has done a similar comparison and what your outcome was. Right now, my stands are probably 6" higher than I like with the vertical position so, I thought changing them up might balance that out a bit. Interesting point, I started to have some issues with the monitors a few years ago.. took them in to Pro Audio here in Nashville and he looked and said... like so many others, here is your problem... he actually replaced all the switches on the back of the monitor and Wow that fixed anything strange I was feeling.... just a note for others that may be experience the same. I had them service and completely gone through and now, they are just like new.

So what do you folks think about positioning... anyone actually have the HR824 and experimented it?
 

ferrellms

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Mar 24, 2019
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I've posted several topics and information on some of the monitors I currently have and as I have folks in to the studio I often compare my Yamaha NS 40s against he Mackie HR 824 (original) monitors. I have the Mackie's sitting vertically and folks ask why don't I put them Horizontally and If I recall over the 20 years I've owned them I probably have experimented with them but not in this room.... So I am going to give it a try.. In the Manual the book actually says you can actually position them either way, but if you set them horizontally to do so with the Woofers in and the tweeters out.... I thought I'd ask here if any one here has done a similar comparison and what your outcome was. Right now, my stands are probably 6" higher than I like with the vertical position so, I thought changing them up might balance that out a bit. Interesting point, I started to have some issues with the monitors a few years ago.. took them in to Pro Audio here in Nashville and he looked and said... like so many others, here is your problem... he actually replaced all the switches on the back of the monitor and Wow that fixed anything strange I was feeling.... just a note for others that may be experience the same. I had them service and completely gone through and now, they are just like new.

So what do you folks think about positioning... anyone actually have the HR824 and experimented it?
It is better to have them vertical. 2 way speakers can have uneven frequency response in the area where the crossover is because there both drivers are reproducing the same frequencies and there will be comb filtering due to the fact that the drivers are apart from each other. (this may vary but unless the drivers are coincident it will always happen). This coloration is physically focused where the drivers are interacting (between the drivers on the baffle). As a practical matter, listeners tend to move their heads more horizontally than vertically (for example, moving on the couch), so it is more likely that you will ears will not be in the interference area if they are mounted vertically. But as a practical matter it probably won't make much difference.

I have the newer Mackies and have tried them both ways - I think I notice less timbre change when I move my head around the listening position with vertical mounting, but it could be just confirmation bias.
 
Last edited:

LTig

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Feb 27, 2019
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I've posted several topics and information on some of the monitors I currently have and as I have folks in to the studio I often compare my Yamaha NS 40s against he Mackie HR 824 (original) monitors. I have the Mackie's sitting vertically and folks ask why don't I put them Horizontally and If I recall over the 20 years I've owned them I probably have experimented with them but not in this room.... So I am going to give it a try.. In the Manual the book actually says you can actually position them either way, but if you set them horizontally to do so with the Woofers in and the tweeters out.... I thought I'd ask here if any one here has done a similar comparison and what your outcome was.
I inherited a pair of HR824 but I never tried them in horizontal position.
Right now, my stands are probably 6" higher than I like with the vertical position so, I thought changing them up might balance that out a bit.
In this case just place them upside down. There is no downside to expect.
 
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