Mackie CR3.5

Sources split. Sound On Sound, Stereoguide, Sound & Recording, PC Gamer and most owners hear a natural, well-balanced sound for the price, and Professional Audio found it fairly even at low volume. Bonedo heard it strongly treble-tilted with three resonances, HigherHz calls it harsh and "smiley", STEREO finds it a little cool, Musiker-Board hears emphasised upper mids, and a Reddit regular calls it a really bad speaker. All tested with the Tone knob fully left (the flat setting) unless they say otherwise.

Sources split. Sound On Sound, STEREO, Stereoguide, PC Gamer, Sound & Recording, konsolenfan and many owners find it punchy and defined for a 3.5-inch woofer. Professional Audio measured a steep drop below 100 Hz with little left under 70 Hz; Bonedo and Musiker-Board heard little bass, HigherHz "no lower bass", and one owner hears cones break up on amp-sim guitar. Placement matters: Macworld found it enough on a desk but too weak on stands away from a wall. Most reviewers suggest the CR8SBT subwoofer for real low end.

Sources split. Sound On Sound, Stereoguide, PC Gamer and Macworld praise natural, clear vocals and speech, and owners describe full mids. Bonedo heard a resonance around 2 kHz, thin 500 Hz and reserved mids in the flat setting; Musiker-Board hears emphasised upper mids, STEREO a cool midrange that gets borderline at high volume, and an owner who bought it alongside the PreSonus Eris 3.5 finds the Mackie harsher in the midrange.

Sources split three ways. Sound On Sound, Stereoguide, PC Gamer and Sound & Recording find the silk dome detailed and smooth. Professional Audio (hi-hats that pinch at higher volume), Bonedo (too much around 9 kHz), Macworld (somewhat aggressive at volume), HigherHz ("runs hot") and Musiker-Board (sibilance in the boosted setting) hear it edgy. STEREO alone wants more brilliance. Turning the Tone knob up adds treble as well as bass, which several reviewers say makes sharpness more obvious.

Consistently praised for its size. Stereoguide hears a wide stage, Bonedo a nice listening stage, STEREO a spacious sound (especially with the Tone knob turned up), Sound & Recording a slightly wider spread in Bookshelf mode, and Amazon owners a big stereo sound. All at desk distance.

“Another positive aspect was the precise focus and the wide soundstage of the small studio speakers.”

Stefan Schickedanz, Stereoguide

“der Sound ist körperhaft und vor allem bei auf Partymodus stehendem Klangregler auch sehr räumlich”

Markus Mizgalski, STEREO (German: “the sound has body and, with the tone knob in party mode, is very spacious”)

The strongest point of agreement. Sound On Sound calls the imaging excellent; Bonedo, Stereoguide, Sound & Recording and Musiker-Board describe a clear, well-focused stereo image at the desk, and Professional Audio a decent one.

“they have excellent stereo imaging”

Paul White, Sound On Sound

“Das Stereobild ist klar und bildet eine schöne Hör-Bühne ab.”

Patric Louis, Bonedo (German: “The stereo image is clear and forms a nice listening stage”)

Agreed: more resolving than the price suggests. Sound On Sound, PC Gamer, Sound & Recording and Musiker-Board praise the detail, and Bonedo, otherwise critical, finds the treble precise rather than smeared.

“Dennoch ist die Auflösung des Audiosignals erstaunlich gut für ein Boxensystem dieser Preisklasse!”

Wil_Riker, Musiker-Board review (German: “Still, the resolution is astonishingly good for a speaker system in this price class!”)

“定位が分かりやすく、解像度も高いので、初めてのニアフィールド・モニターの導入としても最適です。”

Park, Sound & Recording Magazine (Japanese: “Positions are easy to place and the resolution is high, so it is ideal as a first nearfield monitor”)

Mostly loud and clean for the size at a desk: Stereoguide, PC Gamer, STEREO and owners note how loud it goes, and Bonedo finds plenty of output for the desk, with an audible but tolerable limiter if pushed. The caveats are about level and distance: Professional Audio found it most pleasant up to about 65 dB, STEREO hears the mids near distortion when loud, HigherHz hears a lot of distortion at higher levels, and Macworld and konsolenfan find it short of punch when filling a room.

“What’s more, the Mackie CR3.5BT can play quite loud for their size and remain pleasantly clean.”

Stefan Schickedanz, Stereoguide

“Will man zu hoch hinaus, setzt ein Limiter ein, den man zwar deutlich hören, mit dem man aber gut leben kann.”

Patric Louis, Bonedo (German: “Push it too far and a limiter kicks in that you can clearly hear but can live with”)

“Am angenehmsten erscheint das Signal bei Abhörlautstärken bis 65 dB.”

Nicolay Ketterer, Professional Audio (German: “The sound is most pleasant at listening levels up to 65 dB”)

A nearfield desk speaker. Macworld found the bass enough on a desk but too weak on stands at ear height away from a wall, and recommends a larger model for a shelf; konsolenfan kept its rear ports about 10 cm from the wall. The Desktop/Bookshelf switch divides opinion: Professional Audio measured Desktop as the more linear nearfield setting and Bookshelf as a lift below 250 Hz and above 5 kHz, and Musiker-Board and Sound & Recording hear Bookshelf spread wider, but PC Gamer, konsolenfan, a Thomann owner and Bonedo could barely hear a difference. No tilt or stand is included.

“What was sufficient on the desk, the bass, is too weak when positioned at some distance from a wall.”

Thomas Bergbold, Macworld

“I switched between the two settings quite regularly and listened from various distances and at various speaker positions, and in the confines of my small front room, I couldn't really tell the difference.”

Andy Edser, PC Gamer

Sources split. Sound On Sound says it won't stand in the way of a balanced mix in a small room if you check the low end on headphones; Professional Audio finds it usable for rough nearfield judgements at low volume (and recommends the CR4.5 for mixing); Stereoguide and Sound & Recording call it a fair first monitor. Bonedo and HigherHz say it is not fit for the studio work Mackie advertises, and owners who mix agree it colours the sound.

Mostly quiet. Professional Audio heard a slight hiss only with an ear at the tweeter, Bonedo almost none even at full volume, and Musiker-Board and a Korean owner none at all; Bonedo and Musiker-Board also note near-silent power-on. A minority of units hiss: a Thomann owner hears it clearly at half a metre (Mackie offered a replacement), and a Reddit owner hears it from about a metre in a silent room. Sound On Sound notes the two-pin mains lead has no ground, which can invite hum with laptops, though it heard none.

Well equipped for the price: balanced TRS, RCA and 3.5 mm inputs that can all play at once, a front headphone jack that mutes the speakers, a left/right switch for the powered speaker and the Tone knob, which PC Gamer found genuinely useful. The gaps reviewers list: no USB or other digital input, no remote, no app or real EQ, no automatic standby, bass and treble boost that can't be set separately, and (on the BT) basic Bluetooth codecs.

“EQ adjustment knob is very useful”

Andy Edser, PC Gamer

“Although a digital USB input is missing, the features are impressive for the money.”

Thomas Bergbold, Macworld

“aunque los codecs bluetooth son muy básicos, lo que hace que note bastante la perdida de calidad de sonido”

Sierra SoundSystem, Thomann owner review, CR3.5 BT (Spanish: “though the Bluetooth codecs are very basic, so the loss of sound quality is quite noticeable”)

Simple to set up, with fiddly details. Owners call setup easy and Sound & Recording likes the front Bluetooth pairing button. The complaints: a volume knob that jumps with small turns (Professional Audio), knobs that are stiff and sit nearly flush (Musiker-Board), no volume sync with a phone over Bluetooth (Stereoguide), awkward spring clips recessed into the passive speaker, a Tone knob some hear doing little, and no automatic standby, so the rear switch is the only way to cut power.

“Geringere Drehbewegungen am Regler machen mitunter große Sprünge aus”

Nicolay Ketterer, Professional Audio (German: “Small turns of the knob sometimes make big jumps”)

“The only annoying element in the sound test was the analogue volume control, which worked in Bluetooth mode without synchronization with the smartphone.”

Stefan Schickedanz, Stereoguide

“Zudem sind am passiven Lautsprecher die Klemmen aufgrund ihrer Versenkung in der Gehäuserückwand schlecht bedienbar.”

Wil_Riker, Musiker-Board review (German: “The terminals on the passive speaker are awkward to use because they are recessed into the back panel”)

Sources split, unevenly. Reviewers rate the vinyl-wrapped MDF cabinets highly (Professional Audio, Bonedo, Musiker-Board, Stereoguide, Thomann owners), with small reservations: STEREO felt an edge where the front meets the cabinet, and several dislike the spring-clip speaker terminals. A minority of Amazon owners report units that cut out, play one channel, blamed the L/R switch or died within weeks, and a YouTube commenter's power supply failed after a year.

Strong. Sound On Sound notes it costs less than an overdrive pedal, Stereoguide scores it 10/10 for value, and PC Gamer, Macworld, Sound & Recording and owners (Amazon value mentions run 32 to 1 positive across the CR range) agree. The dissent: Professional Audio thinks the CR4.5 is worth the extra €40 for mixing, a Thomann owner and Reddit regulars rate Edifier's MR3 and MR4 as better buys, and HigherHz calls it cheap but not good.

“In summary then, a worthwhile upgrade that still costs less than you’d expect to pay for an overdrive pedal.”

Paul White, Sound On Sound

“Hier lohnen sich die 40 Euro Aufpreis zu den CR3.5”

Nicolay Ketterer, Professional Audio, on the CR4.5 (German: “Here the €40 extra over the CR3.5 is worth it”)

“Edifier MR3 and MR4 are so much better.”

Zeeall, r/BudgetAudiophile