Customer Reviews

Loud but Expected More
Review by joe

Rating

i ordered the Mackies thinking that the bass would be nice and clear, the sound is very loud very good for a house party or medium sized formal party, just when you are expecting loud clear bass do not expect anything unless you are working with a separate subwoofer. (Posted on 4/5/12)

excellent powered speaker i have ever owned.
Review by flo

Rating

This is one of the best powered speaker i have gotten.I have 2 12" gemini and one of them gave up on me and i know mackie from my friends system and there i saw the thump 15 and for the price i cant sleep well till i bought it.when i received it and connect my ipod to it,I fell inlove right away.Just needs to be gentle on ur settings so u wont clip most of the time.But after i learned how to do it no more clipping since then...and the weight compared to my prehistoric gemini<<<OMG!!!!!! (Posted on 12/17/11)

Great Speakers
Review by Roy L

Rating

I\'ve owned my Thumpers for ove a year and they have been awesome. I work as a single most of the time, but have used them with a trio and quartet. The speakers by themselves are great, but if you support them with a sub or two, they are over the top. (Posted on 6/24/11)

they work for me...
Review by keyz88

Rating

5 stars!!! I\'m a Top-40 Solo Keyboardist/Singer that cannot say enough GREAT things about my TH-15A\'s. I was going to initially purchase the 12” speakers but with the 15\'s being a only 4” taller (and only 35.4 pounds each)... I went with the 15\'s. I\'m very happy. Set ups and tear downs are currently less than 10 minutes! And with NOT being as young as I used to be so lightweight speakers are great.

Design-wise, even the naturally creased speaker grill screen is ergonomically designed so your leg/knee doesn\'t have to bang against the cabinet if you carry it on it\'s side. I\'ve never have seen anyone else design a speaker cabinet with such thoughtfulness in mind. Also makes for a great floor monitor regardless of what side that you lay it on. You can even tilt it back at an angle from its\' upright position! EQ with sweepable mids are nice when needed. I sometimes fill in with bands and usually place a single TH-15a an a speaker tripod. Talk about saving valuable floor space when on stage!

I am a PA gear head that has several PA configurations & the TH-15A\'s NOW fill the bill for me 95% of the time. GREAT BANG FOR THE BUCK. They work for me. If you have a single/duo/combo group that plays for small or medium sizes venues (10-200 people or whatever small or medium means to you)... they sound just fine. Fyi – any powered speakers that cost twice as much as the Thumps will sound (and obviously perform) a little better so it\'s hard to accurately compare them since there is nothing else available (yet) in it\'s price range. The warm sound of any digital piano (vocals, MIDI tracks, MP3s or anything else) I play through really makes both me and my clients very happy!!!

Some solo gigs I only basically have to cart a TH-15A, speaker tripod stand and a keyboard (Roland Juno “Stage” that has vocal a Lo-Z Mic Input), For larger gigs I run stereo, but can utilize my other TH-15A as a backup if something happens.

BTW: Be sure to purchase a speaker cover to protect your investment, you\'ll be glad that you did. In general, any plastic speaker enclosure will scratch if handled half-heartedly. The (recessed) EQ knobs are (still) a little to long for my tastes and need to be protected accordingly.

Tips - PLEASE NOTE
Much like you can\'t drive a new Volkswagen Beetle in a official NASCAR race, don\'t expect these cabinets to work miracles for \"super hi-volume\" applications that they were never designed for. I notice that users who post bad reviews of the TH-12\'s & TH-15\'s tend to fall into the following groups that have unrealistic expectations of both themselves and their equipment:

* High volume players that think these speakers can push (their ego &) a large band sonically through them all night at full volume.

* (A few) owners that fail to utilize the need for additional sub cabinets for larger (and/or outdoor) venues.

* YES... In a pinch (or in my solo gig configuration), you don\'t need a preamp/mixer to drive these cabs at low to moderate levels. But remember... not enough initial signal for ANY powered speaker = less headroom AND your speakers will naturally clip earlier than they should.

My Thumps saved my back and my wallet. I\'m vey pleased with my purchase. (Posted on 6/22/11)

My 2 pump chump mackie thump debacle
Review by 2pumpthump

Rating

Ok I will definitely admit that this speaker sounded great when I first got it, but then I started noticing some pretty bad changes. !st, the xlr plug-in on the back within 2 weeks broke through, and by broke through I mean the hole the screws that held the mounting assembly just busted so I had to pretty much leave it plugged in or use a pair of needle-nose pliers to hold the female end to plug it in. But that was fine, I only use it for rehersal right, so I\'ll just leave it pluggged in and stationary. I then plugged my keyboardist into a passive mixer running to the speaker (where my vocals were plugged into but on different channels) and we proceeded to practice, I noticed that at times the keyboards and the vocals would be almost fighting for volume.The mixer wasn\'t peaking, I checked the peak light on the speaker while it was happening and the speaker wasnt peaking either, it just seemed like it was incapable of projecting both sounds accurately and at a fair volume. Now I admit it had some deceny volume, but it was all in the first 1/3 of the volume knob. I don\'t know why they bothered to make a volume knob that turns that far if it was going to peak out when the dial is barely over 1/3 from being off. Perhaps piggy backed with another speaker it wouldn\'t peak out, but the thing just has xlr chords and xlr male to 1/4 in aren\'t exactly common.To make matters worse, after 8 months of owning this speaker, it just completely lost power in the middle of a practice, not while we were practicing though, while we were talking about structure, there was anything playing through ir, it just died. No blue power light in front, no green power light in back, just silence. (Posted on 4/2/11)

Absolutely Eargasmic!
Review by DJ P.L.U.R (ProAudioStar MasterMind)

Rating

You have to believe me especially coming from a ProAudioStar Mastermind when I say
this system is an absolute eargasm. If you need a cheap EFFECTIVE speaker in short notice time that is lightweight, durable, compact, but will PUNCH through a wall. This system is for you.

Pro\'s:
-User-adjustable 3-band contour EQ with sweepable mid-frequency (Especially for you bass heads)
-Clear sound
-Lightweight
-Doesn\'t need to be blasted to power a small-large indoor party or even a small-medium outdoor party. (Medium-Large outdoor parties you NEED 2 speakers, and if your doing deep bass songs, get a QSC Subwoofer too)

Con\'s:
-OL with deep heavy bass while being turned up.


Hopes that helps you guys :)
Happy Mixing & Blasting

-James
ProAudioStar Mastermind (Posted on 12/29/10)

How Good Mackie TH-15A Thump Speakers
Review by Lozonr

Rating

I an VERY VERY VERY happy with this Mackie TH-15A Speakers Plenty Of Amplifacation And Definitly Compact and light weight for all of your needs i recommend these speakers 100% Buy these Speakers (Posted on 12/2/10)