Extremely powerful. Compact cabinet. Level control.
Item: MACSWA1501
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85 People rated this product : 7 out of 10
6 People wrote reviews









7 out of 10
Desirability:
Great, small, can be handled by one person in transporting.
Sound:
I have used this product for a little over a year now. I A-B'd this speaker with JBL, QSC and a couple of other competitors at my local Guitar Center. The Mackie had a tighter sound and seemed to have more presence. But, I've had problems using this speaker on the gig as 'live-band' reinforcement. I've blown through 2 of them already. Maybe it's how much I'm pushing them but I don't believe so. I've been running sound many years and I'm also using 'acucurve' limiter on the subs just in case... The SWA 1501 sounds great when it's working.
Support:
Mackie has no authorized warranty repair in Orange County Califonia. That's just not cool! I had to find out the hard way that when my speaker quit instead of just taking it back to Guitar Center or using OC Speaker... I had to send the product back to Loud Technologies in Seattle Washington!
Overall:
It gets a 7 only because it wasn't totally reliable with my PA set-up.
Submitted: 3/28/2008
Style of Music: R&B, Rock, Reggae, Jazz









7 out of 10
Feature:
Has a good feature set. You can run through the speaker and take output that have the lows filtered out or take the full-range signal. I have found that the filtered signal is missing too much of the low spectrum if you are sending it to SRM450. Probably because its a passive filter as opposed to a crossover (I'm not sure)
Quality:
The construction of the cabinet is great. However, my unit failed after 3.5 months of using it 7-8 times per month. I spoke with a club owner who uses his 8-10 times a month and he has had several subwoofers fail also. My failure was in the amplifier unit. I'm still waiting to get it back, its been two weeks so far. I am the only one that moves the cabinet, so I am confident that it hasn't been mishandled or dropped. We also don't drive it that hard.
Value:
This is an expensive piece of equipment. So I would expect it to be well engineered and manufactured. While it preformed beautifully for the first 25 times I used it. I expect greater longevity for a $1,000 piece of equipment.
Desirability:
This is a very sexy piece of equipment and when used properly gives us a "pro" sound. Several musicians who have seen us play are considering adding a sub woofer to their system.
Sound:
It puts out a lot of bass for its size. It sounds fantastic.
Ease of Use:
Its pretty easy to use. You can tell when a signal is getting to the subwoofer by seeing a green LED. Once it gets a signal you are pretty much done.
Support:
I tried calling them directly and they asked me to take it apart to check and see if the speaker was seized. I was a bit surprised, I didn't want to take the thing apart and risk voiding the warranty. I figured they would provide shipping to get it out to a warranty shop. They wanted me to pay for shipping (or drive it myself) 2.5 hours. Instead I took it back to where I bought it. They diagnosed the problem and are waiting for the replacement part (the amplifier unit) from Mackie. I have dealt with them on a smaller piece of equipment and they did a swap. I am a bit disappointed on this one, but its a much heavier piece of equipment and would cost a fortune to ship.
Overall:
I will continue to stick with this product because I believe in Mackie and I think its a good product that may have a flaw. I am hoping that they get it sorted out, or that I received and faulty amplification unit.
Submitted: 1/28/2008
Style of Music: Classic Rock, Blues. Roots
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"Over the years I have purchased several thousand dollars of murchandise from zZounds and have never had a problem." - customer on February 9, 2008
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