Mixers/Consoles Another reason to go M32 rather than X32
- Thread starterJohnD
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TimmyP1955
Well-Known Member
There are lots of X32 videos on YouTube - get a drink and something you can eat with your non-mouse hand, and get comfy. There are a couple of groups on FaceBook, and of course the X32 forums on the Behringer website.
TimmyP1955
Well-Known Member
As to X32 issues: When you sell 100 times as many consoles as the competition, 1/10 the failure rate is still 10 times as many failures.
And you're 1/10 as likely to experience a failure.
Fountain Of Euph
Active Member
Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
I don't know what software he's using, but there are 7" and 10-11" touchscreen case kits for the RPi for pretty cheap (<$200 total).
Not trying to be a total Behringer slam here, I don't own an M32 for comparison. I will echo what others have said about the reliability. We've had an X32 in our church for just over 2 years. In those two years, we've lost two motorized faders. We were well warned by the seller that "if you have your finger on the fader when the motor moves it, the fader will strip out!" Now I'm not certain of the circumstances of losing those two faders, but I can tell you on my Yamaha M7, if you have your finger on the fader when it moves, well, it moves your finger out of the way! The M7 is going on 8 years old and all the faders still work great! (Just to be clear, the faders on the X32 still work manually, they just don't move any more)
We also suddenly lost one of our two digital snake heads (S16) for the Behringer this week. They're under warranty, so we're shipping it back for repair, and thankfully we still have a small analog snake installed to temporarily stand in for the digital.
One other small annoyance we've noticed on the Behringer personal mixers is that if someone uses Apple style earbuds with Tip, Ring, Ring, Sleeve they don't get consistent stereo on the Behringer personal mixers. Again, not a problem on our Avioms.
Yes, they're cheap; yes, a small church can get into a "digital" console for a reasonable price point. In a venue like ours where the console is often being run by volunteers, I would certainly recommend paying the additional dollars and get into a system with more reliability. (Again, not to derail the original topic of this post, I don't know if the M32 is more reliable than the X32, but I would hope for the additional dollars you're getting better pre's as well as better reliability.)
We also suddenly lost one of our two digital snake heads (S16) for the Behringer this week. They're under warranty, so we're shipping it back for repair, and thankfully we still have a small analog snake installed to temporarily stand in for the digital.
One other small annoyance we've noticed on the Behringer personal mixers is that if someone uses Apple style earbuds with Tip, Ring, Ring, Sleeve they don't get consistent stereo on the Behringer personal mixers. Again, not a problem on our Avioms.
Yes, they're cheap; yes, a small church can get into a "digital" console for a reasonable price point. In a venue like ours where the console is often being run by volunteers, I would certainly recommend paying the additional dollars and get into a system with more reliability. (Again, not to derail the original topic of this post, I don't know if the M32 is more reliable than the X32, but I would hope for the additional dollars you're getting better pre's as well as better reliability.)
Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
For me, it's that when faders are tied, you have to remember not to try to move both of them -- but this happens on my LS9 as well. Our M32 is 3 years old now and hasn't lost a fader yet. That said, the faders are actually both cheap and easily available, and easy to replace -- there's a complete teardown video on Youtube.
Possibly, but this is actually largely due to your *adapter*. It expects a 3 conductor 3.5, which is standard, rather than a 4 conductor one, which is not, really. Find the right adapter, and you shouldn't have a problem. Or, y'know, buy a pair of DT-770's.
I dunno if it's actually more rugged or not. But the small house in which I have one is nearly all volunteer run, and we haven't had a failure yet, that I'm aware of. Sure; you let George Of The Jungle in your booth, he'll screw up a PM-4000. But....
Wasn't there an issue with the early units which was later fixed?
IIRC they changed a small pulley-like component to have flanges on each side, rather than just 1 side.
I have a 4 year old X32 in my personal inventory and it went back to the "Care" facility in LV to have a bad fader replaced right about the time the 1 year mechanical parts warranty ran out; they replaced it and paid for shipping both ways without a quibble.
Everything will eventually fail regardless of brand, country of manufacture or how nicely it is treated. The key factor is how the manufacturer or distributor handles those failures with the end users/product owners.
Faders break. The Avid desks have massive fader issues... hence the reason for vegas mode... Slipping belts happens. You are getting a 24 fader desk for 2 grand. That was unheard of before this desk launched. I have one of the original desks before they bullet proofed them and have never had a fader issue.... Also you can get a 5 pack of replacement faders for 99 bucks.
In my mind I have yet to see a real M/X32 killer from a competitor, is there one with a similar price point?
The riders I get try hard to avoid the x32 but when the engineer walks in, he has his show on a thumb drive.
If my early generation x32 ever starts giving me problems it would likely be replaced by a M32. Primarily to ease the B prejudice of visiting artist's. Yes a 10 year warranty makes that choice look even better.
The riders I get try hard to avoid the x32 but when the engineer walks in, he has his show on a thumb drive.
If my early generation x32 ever starts giving me problems it would likely be replaced by a M32. Primarily to ease the B prejudice of visiting artist's. Yes a 10 year warranty makes that choice look even better.
They all would rather have the X32 vs any of the smaller soundcraft/presonus/etc consoles. Any console in that pricepoint simply is not as rider friendly as the X32. The X32 behaves like a much more expensive desk... things are where you expect and the software has enough depth to do exactly what you need it to.
Søren Steinmetz
Member
Don't get me wrong, I am happy if the problems I have seen (and witnessed others have) are a thing of the past.
Might even try one out my self for my smaller gigs.
(who am I kidding... got too much Y in my blood since early 1980'ies)
Might even try one out my self for my smaller gigs.
(who am I kidding... got too much Y in my blood since early 1980'ies)
Looks like a new contender may be stepping up to meet the m/x32 challenge.
http://www.allen-heath.com/ahproducts/sq-6/
http://www.allen-heath.com/ahproducts/sq-6/
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techieman33
Well-Known Member
Maybe, but just carrying the Allen&Heath name will all but insure it won't be rider friendly for the foreseeable future.
