Alclair Crankmaster 5000 Review
Church Use: Custom In Ear Monitor
When we first tested Alclair’s RSM Quad Custom IEM last year, we were blown away by the customer service, communication, and care put into each customer’s order, not to mention the outstanding sound quality! This month we got to review a pair of their brand new Crankmaster 5000 IEMs and were simply blown out of our socks at how good they sounded. We’ve tried a lot of Custom IEMs in the past few years, and here’s why the Crankmaster 5000 is our new favorite.
Features: Sporting 5 drivers (4 woofers and 1 tweeter) the Crankmaster 5000 does not lack for low end. In fact, the low end is so powerful that it felt like I had an Ampeg full stack behind me when I first plugged them in. The ears are custom molds, which mean you have to get impressions of the inside of your ear taken by an audiologist. Alclair is unique because they do all this research for you, even making you an appointment with one of the audiologists in their extensive network. Once you get the molds taken, you send the impressions to their lab where they make your custom headphones. The headphones are available in a variety of colors and you can even request custom artwork for the outside of the shells. The IEMs ship in a simple black box and come with a cleaning tool to keep them clean and clear.
Sound: The Crankmaster 5000 sounds giant! The low end is full and thunderous, making you “feel” the vibration of the bass guitar or kick drum. Expecting a bass-heavy mix, the top end actually impressed me the most out of all the frequencies. The treble is extremely present and three-dimensional, not harsh or shrill at all, making it a great balance for the power of the bass. Upper midrange frequencies are smooth and balanced, not too pronounced and never honky. Overall, the Crankmaster 5000 features the best balance I’ve ever heard in an IEM along with the most three-dimensional sound. The extra bass drivers make the Crankmaster 5000 a ton of fun to play live and are perfect for drummers and bass players who want to “feel” the bass when they play.
