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A little tease from Allen & Heath


Alec

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Can't remember where I read it earlier today but a Windows driver is under development for the USB interface.

 

Whilst I agree that not being able to add extra channels does seem a shame when comparing to other digital desks, how many analogue desks can you expand the number of channels on?

If you will only ever want 16 channels then it's perfect and priced accordingly...

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Spec page says:

 

dSnake Inputs - Remote source for channels 1-16, ST1, ST2, ST3. Doesn't look as if it's really set up for 24 mic channels...

 

how many analogue desks can you expand the number of channels on?

 

erm... Allen & Heath GL series and MixWizards? ;-)

 

 

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and even the old Studiomaster desks with their 8 channel expansion boards.

 

But you can still buy the Mixwiz and GL desks and fit Syslink boards to them...

 

The 'problem' with digital desks is that we expect them to have fantastic flexibility, infinite expandability and ever increasing affordability. Our response to this desk has been to concentrate on what it cannot do than marvel at what it does offer ;-)

 

 

 

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Our response to this desk has been to concentrate on what it cannot do than marvel at what it does offer ;-)

 

"Concentrate on what it cannot do compared to a Behringer that costs less yet likely sounds indistinguishable" might be a bit closer to the mark, and this is mountain that A&H have to climb.

 

Given that Behringer own a factory producing moving faders to their own design, and the seeming economies of scale, it'll be an uphill battle for any manufacturer to win back this end of the digital desk market.

 

I spoke with a designer from another manufacturer (not A&H) at the Plasa show last autumn. He was convinced that the X32 was being sold at a loss, he had a good enough understanding of the components required to construct the desk and couldn't understand how it could be sold for the price it is. Unless Behringer drop the ball very badly with long term reliability or service, I think the door is slamming shut on other manufacturers.

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I spoke with a designer from another manufacturer (not A&H) at the Plasa show last autumn. He was convinced that the X32 was being sold at a loss, he had a good enough understanding of the components required to construct the desk and couldn't understand how it could be sold for the price it is. Unless Behringer drop the ball very badly with long term reliability or service, I think the door is slamming shut on other manufacturers.

 

If that is the case, then the X32's current state may not be sustainable. A&H know this territory better than most, and I doubt they'd release a product they didn't think would sell. If Behringer's game plan is to start a race to the bottom and win, then it's a question of who takes the bait. This may be a sign that A&H resisted, and stuck to their strengths.

 

 

Would you buy your broadband from a company like TalkTalk? A similar service for cheaper doesn't always work out best, corners are always cut somewhere.

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If that is the case, then the X32's current state may not be sustainable.

 

Given the quantities they are selling, there is no way they could be selling them at a loss. However I do notice that the price has risen quite a bit since launch.

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Given the quantities they are selling, there is no way they could be selling them at a loss.

 

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting that Behringer were selling the X32 at a loss, merely that they have managed to get their costs so low that other manufacturers couldn't see how they could be selling for a profit. Knowing what we know now about Behringer's supply chain, it's clear that they have a significant advantage over other manufacturers aiming at similar specifications and price points.

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I'm sure there is a little drifting in the price of the x32 and only behringer know for sure whether they are selling at a loss but I have seen this topic discussed elsewhere and Uli being quoted as saying one of the fundamentals to making the desk so cheaply was manufacturing the components. apparently (I have no idea if this is true or not) most other desk manufacturers 'buy in' the motorised faders but behringer developed their own from scratch for the x32 - and it makes sense that they would be cheaper than average to make when you think about it.

sales are supposedly over 30,000 and there are new desk versions coming to market shortly which will undoubtedly boost sales further. so we could easily assume a turnover of close to a million faders in say two years since manufacture began - that has to have a huge economy of scale compared with other manufacturers. and it may explain A&H's higher unit price. with 17 faders it has exactly the same number of faders as the x32 compact and x32 producer. the x32 producer is the nearest equivalent to the A&H qu16, is rumoured to be coming to marker at £1,300 plus VAT, has 16 input plus 8 aux in plus another 16 channels via digital stagebox.

I'm not coming down on one side or another as the better desk and I should imagine I would be very happy to sit down in front of a qu16, if I only needed 16 channels and was asked to mix one. but I'm sat here working out which digital desk I should be saving towards - for me I think it has to be x32 compact

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