[mjbuoni]

Well, I just learned something new. I decided to do a direct A/B comparison of the Rockets and Mackies. My initial impressions were without A/B comparison. I learned that I had EQed out way too much upper midrange in my Mackies in an attempt to make them less fatiguing at high volumes. The result was a perceived loss of soundstage. Once I brought the mids back up, the soundstage blossomed (to my ears). They sound noticably bigger than the Rockets now and image better, although the Rockets are overall a more detailed speaker top to bottom, but not by a lot. However, at lower volumes I'd have to say I enjoy the Mackies bigger sound more. I seriously doubt I will keep the Rockets at this point.

I need to make a revision to this judgment regarding the Mackies. I never would have believed it, but cables DO really make a noticeable difference in sound. I had previously been using some lower priced Belkin RCA's to connect my Onkyo PR-SC885 to the Mackies. All of my impressions over the time since I've owned them were using these cables. I decided to try using a set of American Recorder Ultra High Definition XLR cables that were the same interconnects used in the JM Labs Grande Utopia system I have auditioned many times. Wow! Seriously, the different was not small. Detail improved top to bottom and the upper midrange smoothed out to the point that listener fatigue is not an issue any more even at pretty high volumes. I know some of you think I hear what I want to hear, but not the case. I was going to return the cables if I didn't hear much of an improvement.

I have A/B'd the Mackies (with SVS PB13 subs crossed over at 80 Hz) with my LS6's on many different types of music. The LS6's are obviously more detailed and dynamic, but the difference isn't as big as one might guess. The Mackies hold their own very nicely. I'm really convinced they are a unique speaker and an outstanding value for sure (with built in amps).