Hi all

I am thinking of buying an Ultradrive Pro (the behringer speaker managment system)

But I have been told by a friend that they are unreliable! I was in a bar a couple of days ago seting one up with there sound system and found it to be a great peice of kit!

So my question is: How good are they? (I know its a buget piece of kit but my funds are limited!)

Thanks in advance

I've used them a few times and my only experiences of them have been good. I've heard of story's of them failing but only from people on t'internet, I suspect its either an isolated case thats been talked about a lot or people are expecting them to stand up to heavy touring in cheep flightcases.

A while back I used one to temporarily replace a Driverack PA that decided to self destruct, it's still there a year later as the house engineer preferred it, despite him being the one who chose the driverack in the first place!

As with most behringer kit good considering the price! we've got three and never had a problem with any of them, I have heard from somebody who tours with them that the ribbon cable inside can come loose if the rack they are in gets knocked, but thats the only issue I've heard about with regards to reliability.

Behringer seem to provoke the most vehement opinions, both for and against.

Personally, I've always found the DCX2496 to be an excellent and reliable piece of kit which equals or even out-performs competitors costing substantially more. I've not personally had any reliability problems with Behringer gear (despite owning several items...and where I have heard of problems, they now seem to have a no quibble, new for old swap warranty.

If the DCX suits your needs, I'd go for it.

Bob

Mine gets used a great deal, and I would not hesitate to recomend the product. I've had one for nearly 3 years, and it has always performed faultlessly - and I have recently bought a second.

It is versatile and well-specified, although not the easiest bit of kit to get the hang of!

While on the subject of Behringer, I also have a couple of Ultracurves. These, too are very useful, and have never misbehaved!

Yes, I second the ultracurve, I have three EQing my FOH, one on the monitors, and another in my portable DJ box.

I have bad luck with Behringer decent digital products. I scared a graphic thingie to death just by being nearby when it failed, and actually posess a dead DCX. This is not internet anecdote, I have the thing on a shelf. There is no path to repair, only replacement.

They are a massively annoying product. They have an excellent feature set, and work well. Their nearest competitor (the Driverack PA) is more expensive, less capable, and likes to blow up speakers, but the DRPA comes from a manufacturer that people believe in, unlike the DCX.

I guess I'll be buying a replacement DCX next year, as I can't really justify the next decent thing up, which is the Driverack 260 (I think it's the 260, anyway, its the next up from DRPA).

BBE now make some relatively low cost loudspeaker management units that may be worth investigating, but I have no experience, check out their website.

I've owned one and it went wrong in two weeks.

My local had one that locked up and didn't respond - had to buy a new one.

I for one wouldn't buy another!

The Behringer policy is to replace gear under warranty without quibble. If your local dealer isn't honouring this, I'd suggest an email to Jim Savery at j.savery@behringer.com . He's their global support manager, a really good egg, and a regular poster in a number of sound forums.

Edit to say I wouldn't normally post an email in an open forum, but Jim has already widely publicised this address in a number of newsgroups and sound forums...and indeed asked that it be relayed to anybody that needs it.

Bob

I have lots of Behringer kit (as part of my hire stock and use for wen I need it on my bigger jobs) from eq's to gates and even fx units and 2 of there desks
including 2 of the ultra drive
I have had a couple of problems I had one eq die on the first outing but it was replaced no problems I cant knock their kit but I also would agree if you have a bit more to spend I would do that
and go for a drive rack or if you have lots a xta

Actually, a Driverack 260 is a LOT more to spend (£6-700 street) than the Behringer. If you're thinking of the Driverack PA, that's one unit I would NOT touch. It has a never-fixed design fault causing it to emit Driver-killing splats every time there's a mains glitch. The DRPA must be a favourite piece of gear for suppliers of replacement drivers!

Bob

Good until they break...

I've used maybe half a dozen DCX units, and only one of them has worked flawlessly every time. Others have suffered from 'frying eggs' sound (ribbon cable problem), outputs dropping out (cold solder joint) and a failed PSU that was DOA. All of them have been fixed, though some took a long long time to get that way.

I'd probably be tempted to spend money on a Xilica unit from Autograph rather than DCX these days.

Regards

Chris

There are good threads on Prosoundweb and speakerplans.com about all of the problems with the DCX2496, mostly stemming to the poor connections on the internal IDC headers. I have personally had to fix the 'frying eggs' problem on mine by remaking the connection, and its been fine since. Given that you can buy 2 new for significantly less than an equivalent unit (The DRPA is NOT equivalent in my book) I'd buy more if I needed to. They don't sound half bad either.

What Norty said ^^^^^

Plus I fixed a few of ours with a layer of gaffa tape under the pcb...( quality control seems to forget to cut the legs short on a few components and so they can " short" against the casing. Frying eggs is as said the ribbon cables, and careful replacing with silicon sealant sorts that out.

I for one actually like the screen layout versus other better brands! It is simple and the crossover screen is way better to navigate than individual pages?

Would I buy more for work / installs ...yes but would mod them before using.

.p.

I think that the shorting issue is a red herring. the reason why it seems to 'fix' the problem is because you disturb the IDC connections when you remove I/O board to insulate under it. I did this on mine to begin with, but the problem came back, thereby nullifying the resolve. since remaking the connection on the ribbon cable its been all sweetness. Some people replace the ribbon but I don't think thats neccessary.

I have found the Ultra Drive Pro (and Behringer stuff in general) to be hit and miss.

The venue I work in can have upwards of 7 functions on at a time - so most things we buy in multiples. Bought UltraDrive Pro's for three of the 'combo racks' and 2 of them had intermitant faults, and 1 worked perfectly. The same sort of thing has happened with other Behringer stuff we have (which is not much to be honest, a couple of effects racks and a bunch of the 2 channel DI's) - some works, some fails repeatedly.