I've heard from a handful of people that Mackie is worthless. My church
uses a midrange Mackie (it's a vlz-80, i think) board speakers, and i
think they work fine. So somebody, everybody, tell me, are they good or
bad?

All the original products that gave Mackie its start have been superceded by
competitors, and most other products fall under the SSDP heading (same ****,
different pile), except that Mackie products cost more. Mackie's most
outstanding feature is marketing. In every other way they've lost their
teeth.

In general, if a Mackie product catches your eye, your next step is to find
out who makes a better alternative for less.