HA4600 headphone amp -- got a lemon

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jrosenstein

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just brought home a behringer ha4600 headphone amp today, and ...


channels 2 and 3 refuse to be silent. even with the the volume controls all the way down, i hear what seems to be a mono mix of the main input. it's not terribly loud, but it is very clearly audible. channels 1 and 4 are perfectly silent.

so the question is not whether it's going back to the store -- it most definitely is. but should i bother with a replacement? or should i go for a different unit .... i like the price on this one, and the "aux blend" feature, and i've read good opinions of it.

so, from your collective experiences... what are the odds of my getting a new one with the same problems?
 
I say can-it and check out one of the new Presonus ones.
Or maybe 2 of the ART ones... 4 is never enough, its seems...
 
I don't know if you should can-it or not. The one I have works good.

You may want to see if you can just exchange it. It is your call"


Pier
 
I thought I remembered Scott Dorsey posting on r.a.p. a while back that he had repaired one for somebody.

Yep, here are his comments...

"I got one on the bench right now. Don't do it. It's very under-engineered. Way too small power supply, way too little heatsinking. Lots of electrolytics in the signal path, and some really flimsy pots. This one seems to have a couple bad electrolytics, one of which took out a supply rectifier. That's not supposed to happen."

They're cheap though. I guess you get what you pay for.
 
jrosenstein said:
just brought home a behringer ha4600 headphone amp today, and ...


channels 2 and 3 refuse to be silent. even with the the volume controls all the way down, i hear what seems to be a mono mix of the main input. it's not terribly loud, but it is very clearly audible. channels 1 and 4 are perfectly silent.

so the question is not whether it's going back to the store -- it most definitely is. but should i bother with a replacement? or should i go for a different unit .... i like the price on this one, and the "aux blend" feature, and i've read good opinions of it.

so, from your collective experiences... what are the odds of my getting a new one with the same problems?
Click to expand...


Take it back and try a new one. This happened to me on another Behringer product, But I chose the product because I liked it. Don't make the mistake of trashing the product because of one bad one. Too many people do that. I, for one, got a good one and love it. Bad QC these days is here to stay. It is now with every product. The reason is that many jobs have been eliminated and all companies are/have downsized. You can believe me now, or later. ALL companies worldwide are having a difficult time with quality. Times have changed and so have the scope of the jobs that people have today.
 
Re: Re: HA4600 headphone amp -- got a lemon

acorec said:
[BBad QC these days is here to stay. It is now with every product.[/B]
Click to expand...
Not true at all.... the high-end stuff rarely has to go back - and if there were a problem, serious companies take care of it...

It's the cheap-ass prosumer companies you have to watch out for because THEY'RE the ones cutting corners.
 
If you can, try and get something by Rane or Symetrix.

With companies like those, you can usually get something cheap, the quality will most likely be higher, and it will hold it's value much better.
 
I bought four Behinger MDX4400 multicoms (4 channel comp/limiters), for my 16 track mobile rig - one of them was D.O.A.. So, hey, one in four odds of a d.o.a. behringer sounds about right!

On the other hand, my experience with the behringer stuff is that it doesn't break down, really, it's just that it's either working or dead when you first get one out of the box. I've had to return several behringer pieces, but so far none of the replacements have ever broken down - just the initial d.o.a. that seems to be the problem...

I sorta figure that ALL headphone amps in the price range are probably of equal crumminess, and they're just gonna get abused anyway, so... I happily use a 4600 powerplay and more or less trust it.
 
Thanks guys. As much as I'd like to, I really can't justify $300 on a headphone amp. I'm just going to exchange this one.
 
In that price range, you're not talking about a major investment here, and it's not something that will affect your final product adversley.

I say save your money for more important gear, and take your chances with the Behringer. I have not had problems with mine, and it's seen a lot of use.

It puts out a good strong signal, it gets the job done. It's very versatile.

For what you get in flexibility it is definately worth it.
 
Re: Re: Re: HA4600 headphone amp -- got a lemon

Blue Bear Sound said:
Not true at all.... the high-end stuff rarely has to go back - and if there were a problem, serious companies take care of it...

It's the cheap-ass prosumer companies you have to watch out for because THEY'RE the ones cutting corners.
Click to expand...


High end products have stricter QC. They pay people to do QC. The price justifies the added expense. However, I have worked for many high end companies ( not jus audio) and, trust me, QC jobs are going the way of the dinosaur. Electronic companies have cut jobs and added extra "hats" to remaining employees. I am *right now* in the middle of a serious disaster at my company because of shitty QC. Too little, too late. We ARE the topest of the top of the line in our product field! All companies are doing it! You are right that low end companies do it far more because their profit margins are real low. But, beware of all of them, they are all doing it these days.
 
i own the same behringer headphone amp

and have never had any problem with it. If you can get one that is working , i don't see how you can beat the price. One feature that i love that you won't get on any of the other similar priced units is the high and low Eq section. Chances are if your using behringer gear your prob not using the greatest headphones either right? With the eq you can sort of adjust so that krappy set of headphones is at least useable. Just my two cents
 
second time's a charm. the replacement appears to work perfectly.

i'm actually using pretty good headphones - i have a couple of pairs of Sennheiser HD280's. i was a little worried because of the "100-ohm min impedance" for the unit (the 280s are 64 ohms). but it seems people use this amp with all kinds of cheap low impedance cans with no problems.
 
The bottom line with any and ALL Behringer line of products is it's either hit or miss (and mostly miss)!!!

Behringer has lucked out on thier comps & gates (AutoComm,Composer & the Intelligate) offering decent (not great mind you) perf and operation for it's price and mos' def'ly got over huge with it's omni, the ECM8000, but overall what the buyer is basically doing is taking a hi-risk gamble; betting that the
particular Beh product he/she has just purchased will provide adequate processing and will not succumb to early breakdown.


Word of advice:

Always find out the return/exchange/refund/repair policy of ANY Behringer unit you have purchased from any musical retail outlet!

DO NOT buy Beh products online!

You'll def'ly won't know what the heck you're getting!
 
I have one and it works fine. It's my only beh. product but I like the way it is set up with tone controls and a DI mix control. The is another company that has the exact same unit repackaged but I can't remember who. Strange isn't it. I think the behringer came first in this case. That's why I think it's a repackage (with a black face plate)


Might want to test it out in the store before you take another...


Good luck.


F.S.
 
Samson S-Phone

Behringer HA4600

Oh, and now the new one!

New Behringer HA4700 XL

i was a little worried because of the "100-ohm min impedance" for the unit (the 280s are 64 ohms). but it seems people use this amp with all kinds of cheap low impedance cans with no problems.
Click to expand...

Well J, looks like you might want to go take that one back and get the 4700, it goes down to 8 ohm loads!

Lokks like that's the only difference.:D
 
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