# Sound boards



## tyleredgett (Nov 9, 2006)

I came here at the recomendation of blademaster. I have a Allen & Heath MixWizard WZ3:16:2 16x2 Live Mixer and a Mackie 1604-vlz pro. Which of these boards is better?


----------



## soundlight (Nov 9, 2006)

The allen and heath. Hands down. The A&H (besides costing $200 more) is higher quality and is a nicer board. I've actually worked with both, and I really like the MixWizard.


----------



## soundop (Nov 9, 2006)

personally id use the allen and heath, i have had bad experencing being a 4 year vet on sound, but it also depends on how many mics your running. allen and heath has more channels so personly id use it


----------



## soundlight (Nov 9, 2006)

With these models, the A&H and the Mackie are running the same number of mic inputs. But, the A&H has internal effects and 3 mix busses, if i remember correctly. (Left, Right, Mono/Summed). The A&H is still also a better console overall.


----------



## kovacika (Nov 9, 2006)

Allen and Heath- preamps sound better, you have more features and a better board all around


----------



## SHARYNF (Nov 9, 2006)

Allen and Heath, well respected, excellent service and product.
The mackie was respected in its day, has a potential problem with RF (am radio) Interference, has potential problems with ribbon cables, not a bad unit, but the Allen and Heath is better
Sharyn


----------



## Eboy87 (Nov 11, 2006)

Plus, if I remember correctly, the A&H has 100mm faders, not 60mm like on the Mackie. Trust me, once you have the longer throw on them, you don't want to go back.


----------



## Too_Tall (Nov 12, 2006)

I would have to agree with everone else, the A&H is way better, over the past 5 years I have much better experience with the boards and i feel that they have a better outpt


----------



## blademaster (Nov 14, 2006)

tyler, I told you they could help you. I personally have worked with both mackie and A&H and i would rate A&H in the next bracket for sound boards. Earlier i was actually looking at those two boards and decided to go with the A&H because of the quality that i knew was there as well as the service and brand that has stood up against many names


----------



## mackem_techie (Nov 15, 2006)

whoa i didnt realise A&H was such a respected company! we recently got a new sound board (and a load fo other stuff) and i just assumed our A&H PA-20 was a sorta mediocre board, nothing special, but to me it sounds like they are a really good company. Am i right?


----------



## soundlight (Nov 15, 2006)

Well, they ain't Midas, but they are definitely better than many boards out there. I'd say that they are about on par with Soundcraft.


----------



## SHARYNF (Nov 15, 2006)

They are a good company and make a wide range, its not a Midas ;-)
In general today a lot of people would probably recommend going with the Yamaha 01v96 as a better digital alternative with more flexibility, and build in processing. So I guess in the economical range where MACKIE was very strong, A and H has moved in very effectively especially with the mix wizard and some of the newer lines. In the UK the selection would probably have been Behringer (LOW end), Allen Heath and Soundcraft and Yamaha. 

Sharyn


----------



## Eboy87 (Nov 15, 2006)

Doesn't the MixWiz also have each channel on it's on PCB unlike the Mackie which is all on one board? I may be mistaken, but I thought I read that somewhere. Makes the A&H easier to service.

And Sharyn, yes, everyone does seem to be reccomending going digital. Over at the PSW forums, everyone highly reccomends the 01V, or the DM1000 to the beginners. If I had the money, and didn't need to replace my EQ's and comp., I'd be looking into the 01 to replace my ONYX.


Edit: my spelling really does suck.


----------



## scotts9219 (Nov 15, 2006)

I concur. I have seen some real issues with Mackie VLS boards with crosstalk problems. I have one in particular that you can have all the channels muted and still have signal at the mains. Not cool when you have a quiet show.

Stick with the A&H or better. Personal taste for me is Yamaha. I find the mix "warmer" and quieter than most.

Scott


----------



## SHARYNF (Nov 15, 2006)

One very bad problem that many of the Mackies have is RF interference. I have seen ones where you constantly got the local am radio station on them. There are mods to fix it but it was a problem that Mackie for years tried to ignore
Sharyn


----------



## Van (Nov 16, 2006)

Eboy87 said:


> Doesn't the MixWiz also have each channel on it's on PCB unlike the Mackie which is all on one board? I may be mistaken, but I thought I read that somewhere. Makes the A&H easier to service.
> 
> And Sharyn, yes, everyone does seem to be reccomending going digital. Over at the PSW forums, everyone highly reccomends the 01V, or the DM1000 to the beginners. If I had the money, and didn't need to replace my EQ's and comp., I'd be looking into the 01 to replace my ONYX.
> 
> ...


 
I believe you are correct the A&H use a pcb per channel. If I'm remebering correctly. I believe one I used to run a few years ago did anyway. Makes repairs a lot easier to track down,.


----------



## Chris15 (Nov 16, 2006)

I can confirm that at least the PA series of A&H mixers use individual PCBs per channel. I am reasonable certain that the higher end A&H mixers do also. I would imagine that the mixwizard range probably does as well.


----------



## Eboy87 (Nov 16, 2006)

Just checked A&H's website (should have done that in the first place). Yes, the MixWiz does have each channel on its own PCB.


----------



## jkowtko (Dec 7, 2007)

In addition to buying a Yamaha 01v96 for a digital board (which I will keep for myself but bring to the theater for musicals) ... I'm thinking I would like to upgrade our Mackie CFX-20 to something with better sound quality and also with smaller footprint, to leave at the theater for general usage and for FX playback during non-musicals.

The A&H Mixwizard seems to be the board of choice, and it looks like I can pick up a 16:2 around the $600-800 range ... sounds like a deal for an upgrade from the CFX which I can probably sell for close to $500.

The question is, will it fill the requirements that the CFX-20 current does?

- I need access to at least 8 discrete output channels, to have FX speakers in each corner of the theater, 2 more on stage, and subs. The block fdiagram on the 16:2 wasn't totally clear (i,.e. A/B outputs) ... can I directly address at least 8 outs from the input channels?

- inputs include 8 channels from the sound cue PC, plus two input channels for backup PC, plus god mic, plus occasionaly wireless on stage. 16 channels should be sufficient for this ... 12 maybe be cutting it close.

Is the mixwizard 16:2 OR 14:4:2 going to be a good board for this? Any issues with any of the boards in the mixwizard family, or any other obvious choice that I'm not looking at?

Thanks. John


----------



## jkowtko (Dec 7, 2007)

Okay, from the looks of it, the MixWizard 16:2 won't let you disconnect the input channel from the LR without a full Mute, which will also prevent you from channeling it to the Auxes. If this is the case then I would need to have something like the 14:4:2 which lets me individually select/deselect groups and LR alike. Am I correct?


----------



## avkid (Dec 7, 2007)

jkowtko said:


> Okay, from the looks of it, the MixWizard 16:2 won't let you disconnect the input channel from the LR without a full Mute, which will also prevent you from channeling it to the Auxes. If this is the case then I would need to have something like the 14:4:2 which lets me individually select/deselect groups and LR alike. Am I correct?


Wait, run that by me again.
Slower this time?


----------



## avkid (Dec 7, 2007)

Ahh, I see now.

Yes, you will need something like that.

The Mackie 1642 VLZ Pro will also work.


----------



## jkowtko (Dec 8, 2007)

Sorry for the mumbo-jumbo, but I'm just reading the block diagram!


----------



## MircleWorker (Dec 9, 2007)

Allen and Heath


----------



## dj_illusions (Dec 12, 2007)

We have a 48 channel GL2800 in our main theatre and a 48 channel GB4 in our smaller performance venue and the A+H desk wins hands down. I dont believe the soundcraft is anywhere near as well designed and built as the A+H, although the GL does get tired easy especially the previous range and required somewhat regular servicing.


----------

