The Lowdown
The Mackie CR5BT is a pair of affordable studio monitors for DJs looking to build a set-up on a budget. They have 5″ woofers and 50 watts of power to pull from. You can play music using either bluetooth, TRS or RCA connection with an extra aux input in the front as well.
In Use
The CR5BT is the largest in the budget Mackie line and packs the most features and connectivity options. Bass response is better thanks to the larger woofer as well as a wider frequency response. There is a single volume knob at the back which also acts as an on/off switch. The CR5BTs, as the name suggests, can also connect to any Bluetooth capable device.
The CR5BTs come in an all-wood enclosure with an attractive black finish and green trimmings around the woofer and tweeters. They’re cheap considering you also have Bluetooth connectivity onboard. The package also comes with the necessary cables right in the box so you can get started at once.
The CR5BTs work better as multimedia speakers to play songs off Spotify or watch movies with than actual studio monitors for critical listening since they aren’t as detailed but they can easily take you far if you use them to practice your sets, for example.
Amazon reviewers gave the CR5BTs compliments for its sound quality which is above its price point. Some did mention that quality control issues may arise most notably the degradation of the on/off switch which also doubles as the volume knob.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a pair of aggressively inexpensive pair of studio monitors to practice with and/or listen to music on, the Mackie CR5BTs are pretty hard to beat, though bedroom producers who want a pair of speakers for their home studio set-up will want to look elsewhere.
