Mackie Onyx 1640i Sent Back For Repair :-(

[Lee7-uk]

Hi to all,

Been a bit lost since the offical Mackie forum headed South!!!

I recently bought a Mackie Onyx 1640i from a UK stockist DV247 back in February 2013, since buying the desk I have been very happy with it. I looked at various makes and models, but I wanted something with a small footprint that didn't lack on the feature front. Needed a minimum of 16 channels and at least 4 Aux's.

We play at a lot of festivals and revival weekends were the PA is provided, but also play smaller events were we use our own PA, again, this is a Mackie system that is made up of several SWA1501's, SR1530's and SRM450's that have been worked tirelessly for 8 or 9 years without any problems whatsoever.

Up until last week our new desk has been working fine, then channel 2 started acting up, one minute the vocals would sound great the next, all you would hear is the vocals coming through the bass bins, but not the top speakers. Changed leads to no avail, plug in to a spare a channel and everything back to normal, that same faulty channel has gone down altogether.

The other minor issue was the main L&R output meter, since purchasing the desk it has only ever worked on the Right side, not both. No matter whether you were using one channel or all sixteen it would only ever show up on the Right. This didn't affect what was being sent out front though, so it didn't really bother me too much.

My desk was collected yesterday to go back to DV247 then on to either Loud Technologies (now in administration) or straight to Mackie's repair centre in Germany, I have been told that it could up to 6 weeks before I get it back repaired or replaced with a new one. I have also asked the supplier if they could get the engineer to switch the internal jumpers so that the Aux's are Pre EQ rather than the default Post EQ. I find this a bit troublesome at times when all the monitors are on the go.

Apart from this I think it is a great sounding desk that is well built and has some really good features, some I use other do not (firewire).

So for the foreseeable future I have had to go back to using my old and trusted Yamaha MG24/14 workhorse!!!

Lee

[Greg C.]

The number one problem causer on all Mackie analog mixers from the medium to larger size models is ribbon cable connectors going bad. And it's a problem that's persisted for nearly 2 decades. Once it happens, the problem usually returns in short order after repair. Repair means replacing the ribbon cables and deoxidizing the connectors on the PCBs. I've heard the chronic issues are due both to incorrect tolerances of pin vs sleeve size as well as mis-matched metal alloys used on the pins vs. sleeves. During my years in post production for various TV shows and films, I purchased many hundreds of the 1604s in all flavors as well as several of the 8 Bus line. Once they started having problems, they aways came back after service.

After doing the marry go around servicing on many, we'd just send them to the E-waste recyclers because they were never reliable again. Depending on your ethics, if you can get your working reliably after service, I'd recommend unloading it and getting something else before it goes intermittent again.

[Lee7-uk]

Hi Greg,

That is sad to hear, why do these manufacturers not take notice of what consumers are having issues with and sort out the underlying problems, surely it would be cheaper in the long run?

Must admit, up to now I have been really happy with desk, the PA sounds nice and crisp, wherever we play we get comments on how well the system sounds.

If I was to sell it off I would more than likely lose money, I would rather it came back repaired or replaced and see what happens, if it continues to be problematic I would request a full refund and start again. May look at some of the Soundcraft desks, always had a good name here in the UK.

Only recently I actually saw a Yamaha LS-9 up close and didn't realise how well compact they are, but after talking to a former BBC outside broadcasting engineer the other night who said that the LS-9 pre's are garbage and very digital sounding, I now have reservations.

Before purchasing the 1640i I did look at the DL1608, but due to not being able to connect a footswitch for muting the vocal effects when doing on-stage mixes it wasn't an option. Pity, as I really like the concept and portability of it.

Watch this space..............

Lee

[RoadRanger]

Before purchasing the 1640i I did look at the DL1608, but due to not being able to connect a footswitch for muting the vocal effects when doing on-stage mixes it wasn't an option. Pity, as I really like the concept and portability of it.

My #1 bitch about the DL1608 is the lack of even a master FX mute "button" like the MixWiz has. The Behringer X32 series can do that via a mute group and as they support MIDI you should be able to use a MIDI pedal to mute the FX also .

[Lee7-uk]

Hi RoadRanger,

Until I get my 1640i back buying another desk isn't really an option, I have heard god reports regarding the X32, I would need to see one in the flesh to see if it would be ok for us. I don't mean features ect, but physical size, this is were the 1640 wins for me, ideal for FOH or for on-stage mixing. DL1608 is better still for the latter.

Watch this space on the coming weeks......

Lee

[WK154]

While your waiting let me entertain you with all the next features Mackie has in store for you.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MKBT3ghN7g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MKBT3ghN7g</a>
Make sure your wife or girlfriend is willing to lend you her hairdryer.

[Lee7-uk]

Saw this video when I was researching various mixers, this guy's mixer has problems with the inboard power supply, something that plagued first edition 1640's. Mine is the later one.

About 2 or so weeks ago after sending mine back for repair I bought a second hand 1640 inc flight case off a former BBC outside broadcasting engineer for a good price, he has now moved over to the DL1608 for the majority of his outside PA hire jobs. He rated the 1640 very highly, thought the pre-amps were very good, obviously he was/is used to very high end pre's, coming from a professional organisation like the BBC.

So I basically copied all my faulty mixer settings and transferred them over to my temporary 1640, which I already have a buyer for once mine has been returned.

The 1640 is slightly different from the 1640i, doesn't have built in F/W, the mixer itself is a little bit shorter in length.

Fingers crossed for the return of mine very soon.