Gearank

Gearank High Notes

• May 2021: Equal Highest Rated Powered PA Speaker Under $500

Overview

This powered speaker has a 1000W Class D amplifier for the 15" woofer, and 300W Class AB for the 1.4" titanium dome compression tweeter, giving it a total of 1,300 Watts of peak power.

It features "Wide-Z" technology that allows it to handle different types of sound sources directly, including mics, line-level signals and instruments with high impedance such as guitar. The built-in 2-channel mixer has independent Vita preamps.

It's also worth mentioning that it has 4 application-specific speaker modes: music, live, monitor and sub.

Where it really shines is for DJ sets and forms of electronic music that require a solid bottom end and the 15" speaker does move a lot of air in the bass range, so much so that I've noticed other audio engineers saying that the bass response is a bit too much, but that's not been my experience. If you do find the bottom end is too strong, switch the speaker mode on the back to "LIVE" mode and that reduces the 'thump' of the low end.

It does have a monitor mode, but that still leaves in a fair amount of bottom end however it does pull 2 kHz a bit to reduce the risk of feedback on stage.

The Mackie Thump 15A is a great pick for those looking for a powered speaker with enhanced bass. Get it if you want a big sound without needing subwoofers.

Specifications

• LF Driver: 15" with Ferrite Magnet
• HF Driver: 1.4" Compression Driver
• Amplifier: Class D (LF), Class AB (HF)
• Output Power Peak: 1300W (1000W HF + 300W HF)
• Frequency Response: 32Hz-23kHz (-10dB)
• Maximum Peak SPL: 127 dB SPL @ 1m
• Crossover Frequency: 24 dB/octave @ 2kHz
• Enclosure: Polypropylene
• Mounting: Pole, Floor
• Inputs: 2 x XLR-1/4" Combo (Mic/Line/Hi-Z)
• Outputs: 1 x XLR (Mix Out)
• Controls: 2 x Gain, Main, Speaker Mode
• Dimensions: 27" x 17.4" x 14"
• Weight: 34.8 lbs.