BillFitzmaurice.info

escapemcp wrote: It's probably your crappy 120V sagging power supply... you want some nice EUROPOWER for your rig

There may be some truth to that. 240V systems requires less current to deliver the same power, so a device pulling 3A here pulls 1.5A there (roughly). That means less heat, and heat is a primary factor in power supply failure... which might explain why you guys over the pond seem to have better luck with Behringer gear.

I'll admit that I don't own any Behringer gear, but I have used a few pieces over the last several years with a church I worked for and a band I run sound for.

The mixing consoles had dead channels, dead aux sends, and just generally didn't function very well.

The 31-band EQ worked ok, but it really sucked the signal level down. I tried setting it dead flat and comparing the signal running through it vs. just going straight from the board - audible difference in level.

Although the amps seem ok, I did have one crap out mid-gig on me.

I think they got their bad reputation from stealing others designs, then building them with inferior components to keep 'em cheap.

They may be trying to turn that around and it seems as though they are building some loyal customer base - that's all well and good. But, it takes a while to shake off years of a bad reputation. And the only way it will happen is with quality products that don't break.

BrentEvans wrote:#1 Behringer failure... power supplies. On the list of failures due to power supply :

..and maybe that is the source of it all. I may be working within environments that have far better power sources or Behringer gear doesn't work very well at 110.

[Edit: as mentioned above about power]

Behringer has developed a bad rap because they produced a lot of poorly executed knock-offs of other commercial products. I can personally speak regarding some ADA8000s that I worked on- the power supply design was idiotic, fed with 120V or 220V, purposely designed to burn up; I can't possibly believe this was just an oversight.
My understanding this high failure rate was brought to their attention, but they just kept churning them out, without any kind of resolve.

If you want to read the Behringer Saga of the good bad and the ugly: http://soundforums.net/junior-varsity/4 ... oup-q.html

Bruce Weldy wrote:I'll admit that I don't own any Behringer gear, but I have used a few pieces over the last several years with a church I worked for and a band I run sound for.

I agree... I have come across my fair share of Berry gear that has channels not working etc. The Pioneer mixer knock-off was notorious for this!

Bruce Weldy wrote:Although the amps seem ok, I did have one crap out mid-gig on me.

I've heard this said a lot about the amps (being OK I mean, not crapping out on you mid-gig! )

Bruce Weldy wrote:I think they got their bad reputation from stealing others designs, then building them with inferior components to keep 'em cheap.

No disagreement here!

Bruce Weldy wrote:They may be trying to turn that around and it seems as though they are building some loyal customer base - that's all well and good. But, it takes a while to shake off years of a bad reputation. And the only way it will happen is with quality products that don't break.

I believe that is now what they are trying to achieve. Apart from my iNuke failure, I haven't heard of any others having issues with these amps, and I've searched far and wide looking! BTW: mine was a B-stock item, so it was probably returned to Behringer, who fixed the symptom but not the initial problem - the thing blew whilst outputting 1/2W!. Other recent products also look like Berry are trying to innovate, rather than copy. If they do start producing reliable products at a nice price point, it will give a lot of other manufacturers a lot to think about. It has been done before where a bad brand becomes a decent one (Skoda immediately springs to mind), so don't rule it out. After doing my research, I believe that the corner has been turned and that they are now producing better quality kit Time will tell, but I'm pretty confident (if not then it's egg on face time whilst I wait for the "told you so"s)

escapemcp wrote: mine was a B-stock item, so it was probably returned to Behringer, who fixed the symptom but not the initial problem - the thing blew whilst outputting 1/2W!.

You would think Behringer would know how to fix their own gear properly, and load test it before putting it up for sale as a refurbished item.

It brings me no joy to say this, but that appears to be commensurate with their quality control.

Edit: Hopefully Behringer's recent acquisitions included better engineers and technicians.

Having used an X32 for the past year I can say it is easily the best piece of B* hardware I've ever used. It has been rock solid ( 3-12 shows / month ) Perhaps when B* bought Midas and Klark-Technik the inherited a higher quality manufacturing process or two. I would still purchase an extended warranty b/c of the company reputation.
I do not own the X32 I use, for my own money I would purchase a Yamaha 01v96i.

dswpro wrote:Perhaps when B* bought Midas and Klark-Technik

Don't forget Turbosound... Behringer are now one of Bill's competitors!