Question on matching an amp with speakers (watts etc)

AleksZen

New member
Hi everyone,

Just asking a question about matching an amp with speakers!

I currently have a pair of Mackie Thump 12 speakers which are 1000 W in output, but their RMS are 500 w each.

So the question is, what is the best type of amp to get in regards to it's watts etc??

Bit of a newbie to all this and doing my research but it's quite confusing!!

Thanks,

Aleks
 
Did you buy them new? Didn't the salesman try to sell you a Mackie amp to go with them?

I thought the Thumps were a powered speaker package (amps included in each speaker)???

GJ
 
nah i bought them online so there was no salesman.. yep they're "powered" but are you saying i can just plug my decks directly into them?? surely not, i must need some sort of amp no??
 
No, that's what powered speakers are. It's odd for old-schoolies like us, but the amps are already matched with the speakers, and installed as such. Each speaker is like a separate little PA/amplifier. Just plug into the speaker(s), turn on, adjust volume, and rock.

I still prefer passive speakers myself, with a separate amp, but most manufacturers and consumers are going for the powered approach-- it saves on gear, pre-matches amplifiers, and they are often lighter now than they used to be.

GJ

PS--You'd still need a mixer to send signal from multiple sources.
 
Last edited:
No, that's what powered speakers are. It's odd for old-schoolies like us, but the amps are already matched with the speakers, and installed as such. Each speaker is like a separate little PA/amplifier. Just plug into the speaker(s), turn on, adjust volume, and rock.

I still prefer passive speakers myself, with a separate amp, but most manufacturers and consumers are going for the powered approach-- it saves on gear, pre-matches amplifiers, and they are often lighter now than they used to be.

GJ

PS--You'd still need a mixer to send signal from multiple sources.


aaah man you're such a legend thank you - you just saved me about £150! it's ironic how ive played out alot and made alot of money in the past from djing, yet still dont really know shit about the technical side loool.

after selling my technics years ago, i decided to get back into djing and i got a pioneer all in one mixer turntable set up, to work with serato on my laptop. actually a really cool little set up..

one more question though while we're here, there's a kinda hiss coming from the speakers when i put the knob on them to 12 oclock, nothing major but im thinking is this to do with cables? is that something i should invest in? cos right now coming out my pioneer mixer / turntable is little stereo red / white jack out puts ... on the other end they are big red / white jacks which are going into the speakers.. im thinking i should maybe get better cables but might need some sort of conversion thing for the cables in that case.. u know where im coming from??

these things can go pretty loud though, even when i put the speakers quite low where there isn't much hiss and just control the volume with the mixer, so its not an emergency..

thanks though, greatly appreciated!
 
OK, does the hiss happen when you just turn the amps on with nothing being input, or only when you plug your gear in?

The older Mackie amps were great, some of the newer stuff has been a bit noisey, so gain-staging is very important. If the hiss is coming from your gear, quality cables can make a decent improvement (it sounds like you have standard RCA cables coming from your Pioneer; see if you can get the heavy-duty cable with gold tips), and you'll need proper adaptors to plug directly into your Mackies. As I mentioned, gain-staging is important, so you'll have to mess with the relative volumes of your gears' output in relation to the volume on your Mackie speakers until it's as close to "right" as possible. It might be your cables, it might be your mixer output, or the Mackies, the volume settings, or a combination of those factors. Try trouble-shooting one thing at a time (starting with the cables), and get the optimum settings on everything (and make notes or actually put a tiny mark on the gear to remember settings), _before_ you start fiddling with EQ. A lot of times, this can be solved by gain-staging, before you have to destroy your music material by cuttting the highs out of everything just to reduce the hiss. I have an older Mackie 808, and I had some problems with it and a little mixer I use for DJing gigs; the long and the short of it is, I finally figured-out the volume setting issue and everything's pretty optimized now. So spend the time to figure it all out before you bring the stuff to your first gig. The new room and the crowd or lack thereof will be a whole new sound issue to deal with, so if you've at least got things dialed-in from a generic standpoint, it will give you a good starting point.

Hope it all works out!

GJ

Oh, PS Again-- Your computer might also play a roll, depending on how you route things. If you hear any funky digital clicking/glitching sounds, or the hiss is coming from a computer output (not sure how you have things set-up), you may need to isolate the computer power supply or get a better cable for that too.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top