I appreciate everyone's responses and feedback. I've thought about getting the Mackie SM450v2 for a while now for live use and may eventually get them. By the time I decide though Mackie will probably have a successor to the SM450v2's available in stores. Which may be a good thing in my case because that will bring the price of the SM450v2 down some and I could save a buck. I don't mind spending money on something of high quality if it fits the bill for my playing needs but I also consider myself somewhat frugal and try to save where I can. Thrifty I guess you could call it. As opposed to Spendthrift. You know, like Fran.. lol Just kidding Fran!

Ensnareyou, I know what you're talking about. A set of monitors costing under $3,000 (a pair) is not what the recording engineers of America consider as truly professional from what I've heard. That said, some companies are able to produce outstanding quality speakers at a price point below that threshold and still give a person professional results. If they know what they're doing of course. Not that I do, you understand. lol.. Hopefully I will learn as I go and not mess things up too badly with my recordings.. ha ha. Time will tell but like I said it won't be the Mackie's fault. They will take some time to adjust to as well since I've used the MSP5's exclusively for a few years now for my monitoring purposes and they have a different sound needless to say.

Also Ensnareyou, I see from your profile that you are a recording engineer yourself. Are you working in the field currently or retired? Did you or do you work with any well known artists? Just curious..

Thanks again everyone. Yeah, they're definitely keepers alright.

Best,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 05-14-2008).]