newbie to this forum. I am having a discussion with a member in the band that insists that his newer Mackie 8 channel mixer has better preamps than my older 1604. would anyone please chime in on this. thanks
Mackie
claims that their new preamp design is better than their older one. Probably true. Noise floor is probably the biggest improvement. But mic preamps are a commodity today. It's not hard to build a decent one. Many other things in the signal chain are far more important when it comes to audio. Mics and speakers are going have more impact on audio quality now than most mixers. But that has nothing to do with country of manufacture and everything to do with the design itself. The argument that stuff built in china is worse quality is a non-starter these days. Some of the best quality items on the market today are built in China. iPhones, high end laptops, Avid Venue mix desks, etc. The list goes on. When poor quality stuff comes out of China, it's because the company that contracted with them (manufacturing company/contractor), spec'd bottom of the barrel components or aren't doing their due diligence as far as QA/quality assurance. Mackie speakers come to mind early on when they switched their manufacturing to China after they ran RCF into the ground (before their independent comeback). Lots of Mackie powered speaker failures during that era. And no spare parts on the shelf thanks to Sun Capital trying to make their books look good for investors. But that had more to do with Mackie's poor business practices rather than China. But I digress.
Made in the USA doesn't mean much with electronics because hardly any electronics are made here anymore. The company I work for is one of the few companies I know of that actually still makes hi-tech video hardware in the U.S. and makes it well. But as far as the discrete components that go into them, most of those come from over seas. Not much choice on that. But the design, PCBs, hardware, assembly, testing, and distribution is all done in the good 'ol U.S.A...
