Mackie CR2-X Cube Desktop Speaker Review
Big sound in a compact package
About a year ago, while setting them back up on my new standing desk, the power supply on my Bose Companion 20 desktop speakers shorted out and fried them — the power cord fused to the speaker! I had been using the Bose C20 since 2012 and I liked them a lot. I loved the volume remote pod and I thought the sound was great for a 2.0 system. The speakers were compact but had a nice clear sound with solid bass, although not the low bass you’d get with a subwoofer.
Bose no longer makes those speakers and the used prices are rather high for them. I just could not see myself buying used speakers for such a steep price, so I decided to hold off. I had a set of Bose Companion 2 Series II speakers (strange that the names are so similar) that my wife was no longer using with her setup, so I grabbed those and hooked them up with my Mac mini.
I did not like the Companion 2 speakers at all. I felt they had booming, muddy bass and weak high end. I stuck with them for the better part of a year, trying various EQ settings but I just could not enjoy the sound from those speakers.
Throughout this time I had been looking into what other options there were for compact desktop speakers, but the pickings were slim. I don’t listen to music a lot while I’m working at my desk, but when I do want to play music I want it to sound good. I don’t need it to be loud and I definitely did not want a subwoofer — my office is just too small for that.
For a while I had considered the AudioEngine A2+ speakers, but those were a little bigger than I needed and a lot more expensive than I wanted. They did look really cool, though.
The other two options that were on my list were the Creative T100 and the Pebble Pro. The T100 look similar to the Bose Companion 20, but with a more boring black plastic design. By all accounts they sound fine, especially for their $80 price, but I just didn’t like the looks. Even if I don’t use the speakers a lot (or perhaps because I don’t), I also want them to look nice on my desk next to my giant 32” display.
The Pebble speakers were also highly regarded and are smaller, but they look weird. Their angled driver is great for speakers at desk level, but my speakers will be on a small shelf so I didn’t really want them pointing upwards.
But a week or so ago in my searching I came across a speaker I hadn’t heard of before. The Mackie CR2-X Cube. They are billed as small desktop speakers and looked nice to me. Plus Mackie is a solid brand that is trustworthy. I had previously read reviews of another one of their small speakers, the CR3-X and they also were ones I had briefly considered (and are only about $80), but they were about the size of the AudioEngine A2 and just a bit too big for my desk.
I looked around for reviews of the CR2-X speakers, but there were few to be found. Normally these speakers are about $180, but Amazon had a pair for $1001 so I decided to just buy them and try them for myself. Here are my thoughts.
First, I really like the design. These are compact cube speakers, but I would not call them small. The speaker enclosure is about 5 inches square and they sit on a built-in, slightly angled stand making them almost 7 inches tall. These are wider than either the Bose Companion 20, Companion 2 or Creative T100 but not as tall.
These speakers are also heavy! Weighing almost 6 pounds each, it was surprising how much heavier they are than the Companion 2.
For features, these speakers can connect via USB-C, 1/8” audio jack or Bluetooth. The right speaker is the controller and the one that gets plugged into power. It connects to the left speaker using an RCA left/right cable.
The power cable for the right speaker is rather short. When my desk is in standing mode, it barely reaches down to the power strip on the floor. Worse, the power plug has a small brick on it that hangs in mid-air, putting stress on the power port on the speaker. I’m going to have to use some double-sided tape to mount that brick against a leg of the desk to prevent its weight from damaging anything.
Speaking of short, the RCA cable that is included to connect the left and right speakers is also rather short. I put the speakers on either side of my 32” display and it reached fine, but there was not much extra slack. If you want to spread these out on a wider desk you’ll need to use your own longer cable.
On the front of the speakers is a green LED that stays lit while the speakers are on. The power switch is on the back and not easy to reach, so I just leave them on. As far as I can tell, there is no sleep mode.
There is also a touch-sensitive slider on the front to adjust the volume (more on that in a moment) and a button to toggle through the three input methods.
Green is the theme color with all Mackie speakers, which is fine with me. There are also green color accents in the corner of each speaker. They don’t light up at all, which is appreciated.
The speakers themselves have exposed 3” drivers which are actually completely flat, and use the “BMR driver technology” that they tout in their marketing.
BMR stands for Balanced Mode Radiator. Instead of a more common cone driver, these are flat and are intended to allow better sound dispersion angles and more sound from smaller drivers.
Because the drivers are exposed, these may not be a great choice if you have kids or pets that might try to poke or play with them.
I connected them to my Mac mini via USB (using the provided cable, which unfortunately was USB-A to USB-C — I would have preferred USB-C to USB-C). Once I turned them on, the Mac immediately recognized them without me doing anything further.
I mentioned that there is a volume slider on the front of the stand on the right speaker. This slider does not control the volume when the speakers are connected via USB. It does work with Bluetooth and the 1/8” jack. Since I have the speakers more than arm’s length away from me, the slider wouldn’t be that practical for me to use, so I’m sticking with the USB connection and using my keyboard’s volume controls.
Somewhat surprisingly, the page for these speakers on Mackie’s site shows that there is a firmware update, but the updater only runs on Windows and the accompanying PDF does not mention what changes or fixes that it provides, so I did not try to apply it.
By the way, I also tried connecting using Bluetooth and the 1/8” jack and they both worked fine and sounded great.
I fired up a test track (Unleash the Archers, Ghost in the Mist) and let ‘em rip. Right off the bat I was pleased with the sound. They were loud and clear. The highs are sharp, but they sound full. The mid-range is good and there is even noticeable bass, although certainly none of the low bass you’d get with a subwoofer (these only go down to 58hz).
As an aside, Mackie does sell an add-on subwoofer (CR6S-X) for $180 which you can add on to these speakers if you’re so inclined. I suspect other small subwoofers that connect with a 1/8” plug would also work.
I enjoy the way these sound, but especially at lower volumes, which is probably my more common use case as I don’t like loud music while I’m working. The Bose Companion 2 speakers sounded like garbage at low volumes and barely acceptable at unacceptably loud volumes.
The BMR also does seem to work as described. There is a wide listening angle and the sound stays the same even as I move around. Not to mention that they sound great as well and seem well-suited to the hard rock/metal music that I mostly listen to.
In many ways these remind me more of the Bose Companion 20 speakers that I loved for 11 years. Bass heads will probably not like the lack of any low bass, but I think this works perfectly for this type of speaker and for my listening needs. If you need more bass, then the subwoofer is an (expensive) option.
Overall I am incredibly happy with these speakers. They sound great, look great and have made me want to listen to music at my desk again.
Song Listening Notes
Silent Shout by The Knife: Clear bass and highs. Bass is not boomy and does not vibrate the desk. If you’re a bass head, you will really want the subwoofer or maybe even totally different speakers.
Spirit in the Sky: Fuzzy guitar is nice and fuzzy. Snares hit well.
Like a Prayer by Madonna: I love the bass beat in this song and the CR2-X carries it well.
Radio Ga Ga by Queen sounds big, wide and wonderful.
Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue sounds appropriately vicious. The thick, loud, chunky guitars sound great.
Enter Sandman by Metallica sounded just OK. The guitar chugging at the beginning sounded a bit hollow, but things improved when all the guitars kick in.
Storytime by Nightwish has a good mix of keys and thick guitars, which sounded great to me.
IX by Trivium is one of my favorite album intros ever and it sounds perfect. The acoustic guitar at the beginning transitions great to the drums and distorted guitar in the middle. The bass guitar is clearly audible.
Dead by Night by Van Canto: This a cappella metal song is replicated fabulously through the speakers.
As of this writing they are now up to $120 on Amazon.