Rob_Beech Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 IF the internal supply DOES supply the same sort of power as the internal one then I'd recommend HAVING an external supply but NOT plugging it in. Unless asked to do so by the client / visiting engineer / person I'm working for on the day I DON'T! plug in both external PSU's on desks, or single EXT psu's if there is one on board. From experience, it's better to have a PSU fail, and have no audio for 30 seconds whilst you plug the other one in than for a PSU to fail and take the other one with it. Do note I say from experience. Incidentally, this was a Midas Board, and a H3000 at that. So to conclude, YES, you should have the external supply, but as Mervaka points out early on in the thread, they are for redundancy purposes not for better sound quality. Nobody shall argue that the larger midas boards really are in a league of their own, but when purchasing desks of which I've probably purchased 20 or so for myself over the years, the smaller end of the market has never appealed to me through experience of using them and listening to them. This is in scenario's where, if I'd preferred the sound of the Verona to say the GL2800 I'd have bought that instead, not a budget issue. Nothing personal but I always like to add to my signature when discussing Midas. Midas uses : c.600 (mostly XL and H series)Behringer uses : c.6000 (everything from super crap to worse)Midas Failures : 3 (H1000, H3000, Venice 320) All show stoppers.Behringer Failures : 0 PS : Bring back the XL4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Of course, the other way of looking at this question is: If the internal power supply fitted by Midas DOES introduce so many faults that you can HEAR the change to an external supply, then they're getting away with charging way over the odds for a mixer and still fitting a poorly designed or inadequate supply. Let's not get all audiophile and suggest that the external unit is magically better. If you can hear an improvement, it mean the internal one has problems. Much as I'm not a fan of the Venice, even I stop short of suggesting they install a sub-standard power supply to force people to buy an extra piece of kit to optimise their sound. Do the "double blind" test suggested. You shouldn't hear a difference. If you do, it's more likely a specific fault on the internal supply in question than a general design issue. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naujac Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Has anyone used a Midas Venice 320 (or any other desks in the "Venice" series) with the external rack-mount PSU? Does it make an appreciable difference to the sound quality and operating headroom of the desk? Interested in opinions here, since its an expensive optional extra! Thanks, Dan hi dan,if you are interested in an used midas eps-1200 external psu, I can offer you one... I used it for a midas venice 320 console...naujac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidso Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Right ok I use a venice a LOT. One of the best desks for that price no matter what anyone says. The one I use is one of the first batch made so is a fair age now about 7 years of touring and rental and you know what sounds as good as it did the day it was taken out of the box. An EQ that WORKS as it is ment to AUXs that make sense and are versitile. Good PFL/AFL. Great output electronics that a pretty noiseless. But yes back on topic the external psu and the internal psu as far as I can remember as parrelled just like the legend and H series and the XL series so no there is no difference is sound or headroom(yes you have to run the desk hot its just the way it is). The external PSU is just a failsafe and I dont know anyone that has one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 ..........and I dont know anyone that has one. So, Midas users a little bit too confident with their expensive purchases then? It wasn't the PSU that failed on the venice I was using, though there was a redundant supply there too. It was just the master section caught fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Hope-Streeter Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 <br />So, Midas users a little bit too confident with their expensive purchases then?......It was just the master section caught fire.<br /> Ha ha, that used to happen to the power supplies that came with the first batch of XL3 consoles. Fortunately we always had the backup supplies on line so it never stopped a show. But having said that, after they sourced another make of SMPSU * the later ones were completely reliable. And not having to lug around a rack of PR91A's was nice. * These PSU's contained a pair of bought-in, off the shelf, SMPSU blocks from a supposedly reputable (NOT Far Eastern) manufacturer, followed by Midas-built linear regulators. Another example of the perils of "outsourcing" ... I think it caused them considerable embarrassment. I love XL4's, but the local crews aren't so happy to see them, I wonder why ... ... and give me a Mix Wiz over a Dynacord Venice any day. Half the price too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gruner Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 ..........and I dont know anyone that has one. So, Midas users a little bit too confident with their expensive purchases then? It wasn't the PSU that failed on the venice I was using, though there was a redundant supply there too. It was just the master section caught fire. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Alcock Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 OK, I admit this is a little OT, but the OP has had a good slew of answers already. All I wanted to say was that the Venice is criticised here for the 60mm faders. To my mind this is about the only thing you could wish for extra on a live-oriented compact, quality desk like that. I've thoroughly enjoyed mixing on one from time to time, and the knobs, the feel, the sound, it all seemed pretty "Midas" to me. Anyway, I came across this, which I reckon is based rather closely on a Venice(!), and guess what, it has 100mm faders (and some sort of memory). It's by Inter-M, but goodness knows how you'd ever get hold of one. I've tried in the UK but no luck. This is just for interest. Pete. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/petealcock/imx-432.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I'd be interested to see what it was like, but I couldn't see me buying one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolley1466 Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 If you're still interested Dan, an external PSU for the Venice has popped up on ebay. Linky.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ablett Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 I tell you what John from Orchid Electronics in Exeter can make anything up for you along the lines of audio and electronics.He's currently making a dual external custom PSU for one of our old Soundcraft Series TWO consoles. I'd say the're better than standard manufacturer PSU's.Anyway have a look, worth chatting to him. Orchid Electronics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gruner Posted September 27, 2009 Author Share Posted September 27, 2009 Yep I know of Orchid Electronics, a great little company! I could build a PSU myself but dont have the time at the moment. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james.sealey Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 I know this thread is about the external PSU however, I have to put my hand up and say that our current desk of choice is the Venice 320. No, we didn't go out and buy it because of the Midas badge. We bought it because it is a (fairly) lightweight, compact 24 + 4 desk which meets our needs brilliantly. Granted, the pre-amps could do with a little more head room, and it does not have built in pads, but that is easily solved by manually adding some attenuation on channels that need it, ie snare etc, which takes about 2 seconds when cabling up. And I'll be the first to admit it only has 4 monitor sends (well technically 2 monitors and 2 aux), however a 4 way monitor mix does us in most small to medium live band situations, and when we do bigger gigs we have a dedicated monitor desk. As for the fader size, this is a sacrifice we realised we were making when we purchased it, but having a more compact desk (and a compact outboard rack - 16 channels of gates and comps in 6U ;) )means we can get our small PA rig (10K) plus monitors and a reasonable LX setup inc truss onto one Sprinter, which means we keep our fuel costs to a minimum when hitting the road. Is this really about my desk is bigger than yours and/or my fader travels further than yours? <ducks, and hides> As for external PSU's not noticed a difference in sound quality, I would presume that a Midas external PSU would be a replica of the internal one? However, if we were to see one at a half decent price I dare say it would end up on our kit list as a backup. I would be interested to see/know how the desk behaves when it has power from both the mains IEC in and the external power supply? I'm assuming that the IEC would be used as a primary supply, and in the event of power loss the desk will look to the external input as a secondary supply, presumably seamlessly changing over? James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerrabit Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The external power supply tightens up the eq, making the desk more responsive.Well worth the money if you have a good set of ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmaudio Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 The external power supply tightens up the eq, making the desk more responsive.Well worth the money if you have a good set of ears. Huh? Really? Am I the only one doubting this claim? Lower noise floor I can understand - though I'm sure the built in PSU is perfectly acceptable. But more responsive? Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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