After a lot of consideration, I got a Tascam 246 off of ebay from this seller with really good reviews and positive feedback. The dude advertised it as "[Pro Refurb]" and even included a bullpoint list of the services he supposedly did on the machine. One of those was "Audio level calibrated and balanced". Given the current market for these things, it didn't make sense to get a 244 as they cost nearly the same now and so I decided this supposedly serviced 246 was going to be a good option. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that a proper working mixer should receive the same audio source at the exactly same level on all inputs (assuming all settings on all inputs are the exact same, and yes I did pan hard left or right depending on odd-even placement). Right off the bat, the record level and playback level of each track did not match--was not calibrated, each channel input routed the signal at different volume levels, and the L PGM and R PGM vu meters read nothing when it came to tracks three and four(audio was still audible). The only time track playback matched on the track vu meter and monitor vu meter, was when I adjusted the monitor volume knob, even them the PGM meters were way off. Called the seller, nothing but "you're using it wrong, you have to put the fader to 10". I took it to a local shop and I intend to get a good partial refund once I have a receipt. Am I missing something? mixers are supposed to be consistent right? as well as record and playback levels?
