the box MA150 Reviews

Poor size:volume ratio

Unfortunately this was not powerful enough to use as a monitor for pub gigs. Sold it on and switched to a full range speaker.

Good value

It's a good monitor for the price - it's not out-of-this world but for small gigs it does get the job done. The sound is not as polished as some higher-end units but it does provide you a way to hear yourself and band members on stage.

A very decent monitor for Edrummer's for not a lot of money.

I really feel the need to address some points made very unfairly in a previous (sour grapes) review that could bias some people unjustly.

The standby feature on these monitors is just that! A standby feature! It wont light up when you plug the monitor in, it's not supposed to! The standby light comes on when the monitor is plugged in and turned on, but hasn't received an input signal for an hour. It is there to allow the unit to remain plugged in and powered on without consuming too much power the same as your TV, or any other electrical item with a standby feature! This units standby feature works as it should!

It is a reasonably bulky and weighty enclosure, but I like that, it gives an air of quality about it, oh, and somewhere to rest my kick tower against to stop it creeping forward, and it certainly is no where near too heavy for any normal person to carry around (the guy from the Mr. Muscles advert springs to mind here!)

Sound quality when playing my Roland TD8 through it is very good! Cymbals sound natural and a decent mid weight to the toms.

The Bass is a little light as has been mentioned in other reviews. My take on why this seems more apparent when using for an Edrum setup is this. If you turn the monitor up to a point where it is actually louder than the acoustic noise being generated from you kicking the kick pedal against the kick tower pad, then you can actually hear a decent amount of bottom end from the monitor for a kick drum. I'm quite a heavy player as I normally play an acoustic kit and need to be to cut through the racket of my band! So I do actually produce a lot of acoustic noise from my kick pad when playing. This is probably a lot louder than what you may believe, so the monitor needs to be quite loud to overcome it and start masking it with it's own sound. This again is probably another reason people say it has no bottom end, as they may not realise that what they are hearing is more acoustic noise from there kick tower being struck, than from what the monitor itself is producing if the monitor volume is set too low. I find that I have to have it at 3/4 volume before you can really start to appreciate the sound of the monitor over the acoustic sound being created kicking the pad! This volume is too loud really for me to practice for any length of time because of neighbours.

as far as the clipping issue goes, I have to drive it to close on full volume before the kick drum starts to cause clipping!

I watched a video where drum monitors were being compared before buying. (headphones are essential to really appreciate the difference in each monitor being compared)

> The Box MA120 was in the line up, and actually scored second place! It sounded great in the video, only suffering slightly less bottom end than the winner. But what you have to realise is the monitors were being recorded with high quality mic's placed directly in front of them so no acoustic clicking and thudding of the actual kit was being recorded, just the pure monitor sound. I nearly bought the MA120, but decided the 15" driver, and louder amp of the MA150 would be more beneficial. I think I made the right choice, as all this acoustic noise not demonstrated in the comparison video may well have been too much for the MA120's volume to cope with, but that is just my speculation.

So my conclusion for an Edrummer is that, if you can play loud enough for the the monitor to drown out the acoustic noise you are generating, ( which as stated, is actually a lot louder than one might actually realise!) then this monitor will sound great. If you can't, then you will be hearing more acoustic thudding from your playing of the entire kit, and not a true representation of the monitors sound, so would be pretty pointless. So if quiet practice is essential to you, you are probably better off sticking with headphones for quality sound in your ears, and just letting the neighbours suffer the loud acoustic thudding of the kit. But if you can happily drive this unit high enough to drown out that noise then it really is quite good at it's job!

Excellent Power

this is an excellent item plenty of power i use it as keyboard foldback monitor

Good monitor for the price

Taking in account the low price, this is a sweet active monitor. Use several of these in rehearsal space for vocals and drum samples. Nothing really special, but gets the job done. Very sturdy. Nice that it has Line Out, so you can daisy chain these - good if you have one mic, no mixer, but want to use several monitors.

Great value for stage monitoring and rehearsals!

I use these permanently in my rehearsal room as main speakrs, and for the value they are great. I used them for on stage monitoring as well and even as a guitar amplifier (using a Boss GT-10 in front) and i got good results from the mic placement.

Pros:

I like the fact that it has a basic EQ that you can quickly tweak , and i found useful the ability of having a line and a mic input. Also, it's not too heavy and that matters a lot if you're using it as a monitor.

Cons:

I can't think of any. I would say that the sound quality is a con (you can't compare it to a professional loudspeaker), but in this price range, it truly shines.

Good!

Robust product. I've been using it for more than 2 months - 3 to 4 times weekly for 'live' events - , and it's still good and reliable.

Massive PA for good price

This is an entry level PA Monitor but for the price the sound is amazing. It's heavy duty and needs 2 people to handle. Once in position we used for rehearsals with drums and guitar and first time we were able to hear the vocals. It could have been a little louder but certainly much better than our previous set.

Great for the Price

It sounds good, extremely clean if you just plug a mic into it. Also use this with a passive t.box speaker with the speaker speakon output, for the singer to use at band practises. It feels solidly built.

For the cons, it's heavy, although the handles are well designed for this, and also the features are slightly limited.

It's loud enough for a singer in a rock band to use with a deaf drummer/guitarist, but being able to power additional speakers is great.

Really good, clear sound

Bought this monitor for band practice. Honestly, it's more than loud enough and sounds very clear. It is slightly on the heavy side but this makes it feel more solid. Very easy to set up and is really worth it for the price.

Budget monitor

I use it as a rehersal room monitor for E-drums and vocals.

I find the sound to be okay, there is enough bass for E-drums but there is a lot of mud in the middle freq and it requires some EQing to get the drums to sound good, luckily there is the option the adjust EQ. It's not too heavy and still relatively portable. For the price i find it a good purchase but i will be buying higer quality monitors in the future.

Good for the start

It is a very good for a monitor begining for a small budget...

Unbrakable!!!!!

A little heavy but don't mind...

Very very clear for vocals, a little rough at electric guitar's metal distortion because of its low DB's peak.

But it is ok because it is a monitor and not a PA which audience listen...

Good Monitor!!

I bought this monitor to use it in my classes and some small events of the school.

I being used in an almost daily basis since last October and until now didn't failed to me

Sound is very good and its loud enough for practicing, Lessons and small events. Used this with vocal, piano, guitar and bass guitar and it does the job well for the price.

A 1/4 inch jack input is the only fail i have to point on this one...some times i miss it when using a guitar fx pedal. Two handles in this would be great as it is heavy and not very comfortable to transport. But if you're not alone in this task then no problems with it.

As i said been using this in a daily basis and until now pro problems, sound is good, so i must recommend the MA150 with no problems to anyone. Another recommendation is to anyone have or buy a xlr to jack conversion cable.

Good value

Very good for the money, I used in a 4 piece band and more than enough power for my vocals with a good EQ

Good Monitor

This monitor was bought to be used for band practices and jam sessions at a university music society. It has been heavily used for just over 6 months and has showed no problems since the date of purchase.

The sound is good and it is more than loud enough to be heard in a band setting. To my ears it sounds as good as some more expensive competitors. It won't be the greatest thing you'll ever hear, but it does the job well for the price.

I have a few criticisms. It would be nice if there was a 1/4 inch jack input for to make it easier for keyboard players. For this a 1/4 inch jack to XLR cabe would be needed. The portability is not very good. It is very heavy and only has one handle at one end making it tricky to carry. If there was a second handle on the other end it would make it would be much easier.

Good sound

Very good sound and easy to use for beginners. But big size so if you have a small room, you will have to position it vertically.

BOOM BOOM

For the price an outstanding drum monitor. Very happy. It's a beast of a unit though, especially for one man handling. Not sure how it would cope in a live situation but it's got some serious kick and a good solid sound.

Decent Speaker

Decent monitor, sound is pretty reasonable for the price. The one thing I did not like is that it is quite heavy and even more awkward to carry.An extra handle on the side (not just the top) would be a good addition in my opinion

Heavy

Very big and heavy, but great sound and volume for the price. If you've the space and the crew to carry them, 4 or 6 of these would give you a hell of a bang for your buck as a front-of-house PA.

Great monitor box for the rehearsal space.

The price seems unbeatable and the quality is up to par. The Box MA150 is not the most impressive crafted or sounding box, but it will do the job it's made to do. Perfect for the rehearsal space with a great price/performance ratio.

I wouldn't trust the input/output sockets too much if i was touring around, they can be a little wonky and also are seemingly soldered to the PCB, which makes them hard to repair if broken. But there really shouldn't be a problem if you're careful enough with it.